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“Your majesty! Two more are missing.”
I frowned at my counselor who floated above me. His arms were crossed, exposing the tiny fins protruding from his elbows.
“By death or departure?”
“Does it matter?”
Squinting, I set my jaw. My counselor wasn’t always this impudent. Of course it mattered.
“I’m sorry, Prince Kai. I only mean—”
“Yes, Lorcan, you of all Perlnauts should know how important this is to me.”
“Their bodies were not found, so we assumed they moved on to where their powers won’t be further weakened.”
I glanced down at piles of opened shells scattered around my throne. Production of the pearls needed to sustain us had slowed to a crawl. There should have been more of them. I blamed the humans.
Pressing my hands into the seat of my throne, I sprang forward. I glided several paces through the clear, fresh water before pumping my tail fins to propel me farther.
“Your majesty!”
I turned left into a tunnel and raced a turtle to my palace’s front entrance before allowing Lorcan to catch up with me.
“Where are you going?”
“I must go to the surface.”
“No one will hear you up there.”
“Perhaps not, but I must try. Before we become extinct.”