“What were you thinking?” Dane swam back and forth, taking breaks only to glare at me. I sat on a settee underneath a magical fountain in Annaruth’s chambers, although calling them chambers was a vast understatement.
It was kind of like a mini-palace of her own.
The walls were decorated in ornate mosaics, with carved shell tiles and stones and what looked like real gems here and there as well. The bed was through a high archway, and it looked enormous. And this room held cabinets, a desk, trunks, and low couches surrounding the fountain, which was also tiled in stunning patterns.
The water was tinted in a never-ending kaleidoscope of colors, spelled to stay separate from the cold salt water around it.
“Tell us again. Leave nothing out.”
I started my story for the second time, this time going into more detail. When I was done, Annaruth and Dane were silent.
They exchanged a glance.
“What?” I demanded.
“Messengers have been going missing,” Dane admitted. “It started with your father.”
I stared at them.
“These . . . Mers might have something to do with my father’s death?”
Dane nodded once.
“He might not be dead,” Annaruth ventured. “There is a chance he could even be—”
“Don’t say it,” I warned her as I shook my head violently. “My father is no traitor!”
“He wouldn’t have to be a traitor to serve their cause. Not if he was magicked.”
I felt fury at the thought. My father used against his will for so many years? It was unthinkable.
“Triton . . . for all this time?”
I might be young for a Mer, but we aged differently. Slower than two-leggers. If my father was still alive, he had been suffering for a very long time.
“What do we do?”
“The Queen will have to be notified. She will want to hear this directly from you, Katriana.”
I lifted my chin and nodded. Annaruth turned to fetch a servant when I stopped her.
“And I will need to hear from her what she intends to do to save my father.”
Dane and Annaruth both turned to stare at me.
“So be it.”
Dane swam closer when she departed. He reached out to take my hand. I looked at our hands where they intertwined, then back at him. He was visibly upset. Worried. For me.
“Be careful, Tri. My mother is wily. She never gives anything without asking for something in return.”
“Even with her own son?”
“Yes,” he said solemnly. “Even with me.”
In the end, I faced the Queen alone. I didn’t have my friends to guide or steady me. The Queen had two advisors present.
Lia and Gwond. I looked all three in the face one by one after I bowed.
I was still in my training clothes from the day before. The Queen had not given me time to change. I suspected that this was deliberate.
To say that I was out of my element was a vast understatement.
It was nearly dawn when I was shown into the room. Somehow, the Queen was already dressed and looked awake, whereas I was close to falling asleep as I explained what I had seen and what actions I had taken. When I finished, my voice was raw with emotions.
“I should have intervened. I should have tried to save her,” I said, nearly weeping.
“You did the right thing. An untrained young Mer would have been no match for them. Even our fiercest warriors could not face so many.”
I nodded once, thanking her for letting me off the hook. Though I wasn’t so sure I deserved it. What if it had been my father they had enchanted? I should have done something, and I knew it.
“You may go. And say nothing of this to anyone.”
“What of my father? The other messengers? Is anything being done to help them?”
They looked angry at my question, but I held my ground, raising my chin to face her. She nodded then.
“Yes. We have been searching for the missing messengers. We never gave up on any of them. This may aid us in our search.”
“Can you use magic?”
She nodded.
“Now go, child. You have done well.”
I bowed again and left. There was nothing else to say. I was tired and angry at myself for abandoning the messenger, who was most likely even now on yet another traitorous journey without rest or time to regenerate her magic.
“Breakfast?”
My stomach rumbled as I turned to see Dane. He’d been waiting for me. I nodded.
“You okay?”
I shook my head numbly. I was not okay. I would not be until I found out what had happened to my father.
“If he’s alive out there, I have to find him.”
Dane swam beside me, his voice hushed as we left the Royal chambers and swam toward the Academy.
“I know.”