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In this moment, with the weight of the water against my chest and darkness all around, I can admit I was relieved when he passed me over for the crown. Now, instead of disappointing an entire country, I’m only disappointing Maura.
She reaches me far faster than a magicless human could and wraps strong arms around my waist. That gets me moving. It’s one thing for me to consider giving up, but I’ll be damned before I drag Maura down with me.
We fight our way to the surface. This time, she doesn’t bother with the ladder. “Get us out of here,” she roars.
The water responds. Or that’s what it seems like. We rise in a wave…and keep rising. Right to the railing of the deck. Maura hands me off to Cai and Daichi, who grip my upper arms and haul me over the railing. She follows, landing nimbly beside me.
I slump back against the railing. So much for my dramatic exit. I should have known it wouldn’t work. That old bastard was just trying to get into the courtier’s pants. Atlantis is a myth, and if it isn’t, why would the Cwn Annwn be carrying the key to accessing it? They would hate its existence on principle. They do hate it. It was there in the old man’s voice.
I shake my head. I can’t focus, not with the weight of salt water and failure weighing me down.
“Juliette.” Maura crouches in front of me, and it’s truly not fair how good she looks. She slicks back her wet hair—gods, the sight of her makes my heart skip a beat even though I know better. Or at least I should know better.
She grabs my shoulders. “What did you do?”
Oh. Oh wow. She’s going to make me say it. My throat burns, but I have a lifetime of learning to hide what I’m truly thinking and feeling. I give her a bright smile. “Just a silly trick. Are you laughing? Because I’m laughing.”
Maura curses. “Don’t fuck with me.” She drags me to my feet. “Where did you take us?” She spins me around and shoves me against the railing.
That’s when I finally register what my brain has been trying to tell me. The sky overhead is a bright blue far more vivid than the sky I’m used to. But that isn’t the only thing that’s changed.
There’s an island in front of us. Rocks break the surface of the water, guiding my eye to the narrow entrance of a bay. But the rocks aren’t the only thing that’s changed. I register bits and pieces of ships, both familiar and unfamiliar, shattered amid the rocks…
And the flash of scales beneath the surface.
Maura jerks me back from the railing. “Mermaids!”
7
MAURA
If we survive this, fuck dropping Juliette at the nearest port and sending her on her way. The woman is a menace and must be contained. I’ll drag her to a convent, lock her up, and throw away the key. At least then she’ll be safe.
But she’s not safe right now.
Mermaids.
We’re in the wrong part of the world for mermaids. Or at least we were a minute ago. I have no idea where we are now. “Cai!”
“On it!” Ze sprints to the helm and wrenches it around, narrowly avoiding the biggest of the rocks ahead of us.
I drag Juliette to the clear corner behind Cai and push her into it. “Stay. I can’t afford anyone to keep watch right now.”
“But—”
“Stay.” I take the helm from Cai and start shouting orders. “Presta! Silas! Get those sails moving.” It’s going to be nearly impossible to navigate into that bay opening without sinking, and that’s even without the mermaids harrying our flanks. “Cai! Get every fire user on the crew to form a perimeter.”
Ze is already moving, shouting orders of zir own. It’s tempting to keep an eye on zir, but ze has been doing this as long as I have. Ze knows what needs to be done.
I have to keep us above water long enough for the fire users to do their job. “Daichi!”
“Here.” He appears at my side, almost as if by magic. “This is going to be a rough one.”
“Get into the crow’s nest and alert me to any dangers I can’t see.” That’s the problem. The visible rocks are bad enough, but the ones just below the surface will sink an unwary ship. “Go.”
“On it.” He sprints to the mast and climbs it nimbly, helped along by his air power.
“I didn’t know.” Juliette speaks so softly, I almost miss the words over the sound of my crew calling alerts back and forth and the whoosh of fireballs striking the water, resulting in steam and the shrieks of mermaids.
If—when—we survive this, I fully intend to get an extremely detailed explanation of what magic Juliette just pulled. One moment I was cursing her for jumping ship, and then it was like the whole world simultaneously held its breath and skipped a beat. A blink, and the familiar waters were gone, replaced by this strange island.
