The Veiled Descendants

by Sophia Menesini

  ​Beck still looks confused, so Shea pats his shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll tell you the story sometime.”

  Eventually, Caen and Beck leave to scout the escape path.

  Triton has to head down to meet Thetis and the elves, so he leaves too.

  Poseidon lets her know that he’s going to survey the throne room for any security risks, and eventually Jo and Shea are left up in the tower all alone.

  Their fates decided in a matter of hours.

  Shea walks over to the rail where Caeruleus is sleeping and picks him up in her arms. Jo steps up beside her and scratches the top of Caeruleus’s head, making him purr.

  “We should make the final rounds, confirm everything, and then get some rest. We don’t know when they’re coming, and we need to be ready.”

  “Agreed,” Shea sighs, staring out at the Lycon camp, wondering if Perses is staring back at her.

  Her mind curiously wanders back to his door, but she forcefully pulls herself away from it. Because even among the darkness there’s something familiar about his magic. Something that feels like her own. He’s a demigod like her; she thinks of Triton as her brother, but he’s a god. He’s immortal, but Perses is the same as her. Mortal.

  She thinks about the blood that dripped from her nose, and what she did to the Merrow on Orena. There was darkness in that, a need for revenge, a need to kill. She shudders, thinking about Perses’s offer. To open the connection between them, but what would that do to her?

  “Did you hear me?”

  Shea turns to Jo, startled, but covers her thoughts with a smile.

  “Sorry, what was that?”

  Jo grins, cupping the side of Shea’s face.

  “You go check on the boundary, I’ll check in on the evacuation and Soren, and we’ll meet at my chambers. Remember where they are?”

  Shea nods, not trusting herself to speak.

  “Good. It’s going to be okay,” Jo tells her.

  Shea murmurs a see you later before she’s left alone in the war room. A couple pinpricks on her hand remind her she’s not alone as Caeruleus yawns up at her, waking from his nap.

  That’s right, she’s not alone, she thinks. And maybe that’s what holds her back from becoming Perses. Because she has people who will pull her out of her darkness.

  Chapter 41: The Focal Point

  Shea

  Caeruleus flies above her down the hall as she heads to the courtyard once again.

  When they had discussed the plan, Triton had told her he’d need to choose a focal point for the boundary—a random point somewhere near the main gate, and since the main gate is off of the stables and courtyard, she figures that’s where he’ll be.

  Some confirmations from fleeing royals and a couple palace guards, and she manages to make it to the door leading out. She’s just about to go through when she’s stopped by another royal.

  ​“Miss, you should be evacuating,” Shea tells her as the beautiful lady with dark skin and curly brown hair comes marching toward her.

  ​“And I will be,” the woman answers with a rich tone, similar to Jo’s.

  ​She stops in front of Shea, and when the elf attempts to move past her, she’s stopped once again.

  ​“Can I help you?”

  ​“Jo should be evacuating too,” the woman demands.

  ​Shea raises a brow, examining her once again. Recognition floods her brain, as she thinks of the letters Jo used to write her when they were apart.

  ​“Uh, Berry, right?” Shea attempts, and from the unimpressed look on the lady’s face, she guesses wrong.

  ​“Beroe.”

  ​“Right!” Shea smiles. “Right. Um…I’m sorry to hear about your, um, co-lady-in-waiting—”

  ​“Then you should understand my concern for Jo’s well-being; as her wife, you should tell her to get on the ship.”

  ​Shea chuckles awkwardly—news travels fast. “I don’t know if you really know Jo, but I can’t tell her to do anything. In fact, she’s usually the one giving the orders.”

  ​“And yet here you are deciding the fate of Arethusa,” Beroe bluntly argues.

  ​Shea sighs, getting a little tired of this confrontation. “Jo’s made her decision, I suggest you accept it and evacuate.”

  ​“Arethusa doesn’t need you!” Beroe growls.

  ​Shea stops, and stares at Beroe.

  ​She huffs. “Look. Jo is the queen. She’s our leader, by her birthright, she is who belongs with her people. We need her. And let’s face it, you’re expendable. We can live without you, but we cannot continue without her. Now she’s staying because of you! So, I’m asking you to do the right thing for once in your criminal life and tell her to go.”

  ​Shea’s eyes widen, not because she’s insulted, but really because she’s impressed. She tries to hide her amusement and instead looks Beroe head-on.

  ​“I like you,” Shea states. “You’re obviously loyal, smart, courageous, and if we survive, I hope you remain in Jo’s service. But I need you to hear me. I don’t control my wife, never have, never will. And so as much as I would like to get her on that ship, I’d also like to just accept her wishes, move on, and figure out how to keep her safe with what I’ve got. You may not like me, but your queen chose me. You’re grieving, I get that.”

  ​Shea continues, stepping into Beroe’s space, and the woman at least has the decency to look sorry. “But don’t ever assume that I do not have my wife’s best interests at heart. Get me?”

  ​Beroe’s face is like stone, solemn and still, and then her eyebrows start to crinkle. Her nose scrunches up and tears spring from her eyes.

  ​Shea jumps back.

  ​Beroe is sobbing in front of her, and the captain is not entirely sure what to do.

  ​She takes a step toward the woman, placing a hand on her back and then finds her arms full of a lady-in-waiting, sobbing into her shoulder.

  ​“Eione was my best friend! Jo is too, I’m so sorry, I just don’t want to lose her.”

  ​Shea huffs fondly—she really likes this lady.

  ​“Well then, be there for her. Get to safety so you can help her. There’s always a chance I might not live through this.”

  ​“Really?” Beroe looks up, and Shea sincerely hopes that’s not longing in Beroe’s eyes.

  ​But she comforts her anyway. “Yeah. She’ll need people she can count on then.”

  ​Beroe sniffs and nods. She smiles at Shea and, to Shea’s surprise, hugs her.

  ​“Try not to die,” she offers before heading back in the direction she came.

  ​Shea shakes her head. Well she knows one thing, if they survive and she actually becomes a real queen consort, this place definitely won’t be boring.

  ​Shea steps out of the palace door into the courtyard and quickly avoids a group of soldiers marching toward the gate.

  Her mouth drops as she looks in the direction of the palace gate and sees a purple, distorted shield floating around it.

  Elves in maid and butler suits have their hands pointed at the boundary, and the purple shield seems to be pulsing in response.

  She approaches them, looking around for Triton and Thetis, but they’re not near the entrance to the gate.

  Shea asks one of the elves working on the boundary, and the young man points along the gate to the left. She offers her thanks, and as she’s sticking close to the gated wall, she smiles when she sees the stable hand that lent her that magnificent stallion at the start of their journey. People always surprise her.

  The farther down she goes, the darker the purple boundary turns as it gets stronger.

  She runs her hands along the bars, feeling the power of the shield, and it reminds her of a heartbeat. She thinks she might have gone the wrong direction when suddenly she hears shouting from up ahead. She’s just about there when she sees a break in the boundary, a tear between one side of the shield and the other. That must be the focal point.

  Beside it are Triton and Thetis,
arguing so loudly with one another that they don’t hear Shea approaching.

  “Why did you come back?”

  “I had to. For you, for Proteus!”

  “Don’t say his name,” Thetis threatens.

  “You shielded yourself. After the banishment, I went looking for you and our child, but I couldn’t find you. I came back,” Triton explains.

  “Too late,” Thetis growls, pushing him away. “Too late! You claimed me at sixteen, you seduced me at seventeen, and then when I was old and used up at twenty-one, you threw me away like garbage.”

  “I was selfish, and horrible. I know, but I never meant to hurt you,” Triton soothes, trying to get close to her again, but Thetis slaps him across the face.

  “I didn’t love you, and you didn’t love me…You siren spelled me. I know that now, because after I got picked up by slavers and taken to Lycos, I hated you. And that hate was the truth, not the fake love we shared.”

  “I didn’t—” Triton argues.

  “Save it. Proteus is mine! I will not let you take him from me,” Thetis cries out, slapping Triton again and again.

  Shea’s had enough.

  She jogs the rest of the way, grabbing Thetis’s hand before she can strike again. She pushes the other elf to the ground.

  Thetis screams in outrage, quickly standing. Her hand goes to her conch shell necklace and her eyes turn a vibrant red.

  She realizes the conch is amplifying her voice into a siren’s spell. Shea summons her water from her flask and thrusts it toward Thetis’s throat, wrapping around her tan neck and tightening until Thetis chokes on her magic words.

  Thetis scratches at the water to release her, but her hand passes through the liquid unable to grasp onto anything.

  Shea smiles at the pathetic display. Her hands feel Thetis’s neck through the water. She thinks if she just squeezed a bit more, she could snap the fae’s neck like a twig.

  “Shea!” Triton barks.

  His voice snaps her out of whatever strange trance she’d gotten herself into, and she immediately releases Thetis, who falls back to the floor coughing.

  Shea stumbles back, and Triton catches her.

  “Are you okay?” he whispers into her ear, but before Shea can respond, Thetis looks up at them.

  The betrayal is clear in her eyes, but Shea stands by her decision. She stares coldly down at Thetis.

  “So, you’ve made your choice,” she mutters.

  Thetis gets up from her place on the floor and brushes off her clothes. She sniffs, and gently rubs her neck as she begins to walk away.

  “Where are you going?” Shea demands.

  “To check on the others,” Thetis rasps, “Your Majesty. I’m beginning to wonder who the real monster is.”

  Shea flinches at the accusation and opens her mouth to respond, but Thetis is already gone.

  Shea walks toward the gate, slamming her fist into it.

  “Stupid,” she mutters to herself.

  “No,” Triton argues, “you’re not.”

  ​“I shouldn’t have pissed her off like that, she can be very…unpredictable.”

  ​“You don’t need to tell me,” Triton laughs.

  Shea smiles in response.

  ​“Thank you.”

  ​Shea raises a brow. “What for?”

  ​“For defending me. She’s not entirely wrong, I was horrible to her, but I never knew she thought I siren spelled her.” Triton shakes his head.

  ​“What she did to me?” Shea asks.

  ​Triton nods grimly. “That’s a very dark version of it, what my true sirens use to lure enemies to their deaths. But what she speaks of is very similar to what Aphrodite can do. Charm speak. She can make a man or woman do anything she says, anything she wants. Sirens on the other hand can only induce feelings, manipulate, persuade decisions but not command. A person technically retains their free will.”

  ​“That’s horrible,” Shea murmurs. “Why did you create something like that?”

  ​“Well…the first siren was a water nymph. She got caught, by pirates,” Triton tells her, and Shea sighs, figuring where this probably is going. “They took her against her will. I found her. She was a good friend of mine. She was angry, she felt so powerless. So, I used the shell, to grant her revenge. She lured the pirates to their deaths and crashed their ship on the cliffs of Erebos.”

  ​“How long ago was this?” Shea asks, intrigued.

  ​“Eight hundred years.” Triton chuckles. “Give or take a hundred.”

  ​Shea whistles at the number.

  ​“I tried to turn her back, but she refused, asked if I would grant her the power to make more from other scorned people she found. I granted her the ability, but only the willing can become sirens, and so their voices only work on the willing. They manipulate, sure, but some part of you has to want the manipulation they’re offering for it to work.”

  ​“I can’t imagine,” Shea remarks.

  ​Triton gestures for her to step away from the gate and he closes up the focal point with a wave of his hand.

  ​“That should do it.”

  ​The sun is setting overhead. Night is falling, and soon the war will be upon them. It’s quiet with just the two of them and Shea feels at peace.

  The heartbeat from the boundary keeps beating and she relaxes into the sound.

  ​“It’s comforting,” Shea says, and Triton turns to her.

  ​“What is?”

  ​“The sound from the boundary.”

  ​Triton raises a brow.

  ​“It sounds like a heartbeat,” she explains.

  ​Triton stares, as if he doesn’t understand what she’s saying, but then his eyes widen before he squeezes them shut.

  She feels a quick probing within her chest and realizes he’s touching her door in his mind.

  ​“Can’t you hear it?” she asks.

  ​“Yes,” Triton breathes and opens his eyes.

  ​There’s a beaming smile stretching across his face and Shea has to laugh.

  ​“What?”

  ​Triton is grinning at her like a fool, but then his face freezes and he turns deathly pale.

  ​“Triton?”

  ​He takes a step toward her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

  ​“You need to be careful tomorrow.”

  ​Shea cocks her head, grateful for the concern.

  ​“I’m always careful,” she teases and with that she excuses herself for the night.

  ​Triton lets her go and she doesn’t think about how odd the turn in their conversation was. She doesn’t see Thetis when she passes the front gate, and she continues down the halls, making her way to Jo’s chambers. It’s not long before she arrives at a pair of grand doors. She passes Caen and Beck on their way back from scouting and bids them rest before the battle tomorrow.

  ​Shea enters the doors and is happy to find Jo on the other side. She’s smiling at something, staring at her bed, and Shea rolls her eyes as she looks and finds Caeruleus curled in a ball on the blanket.

  ​“How’s everything?” Jo whispers, careful not to wake the mangy Lionbird.

  ​“The boundary is up; the guards have retired from the lower gate.”

  ​“And the city has been evacuated, all that’s left is to wait,” Jo finishes Shea’s sentence for her, and she nods.

  ​She opens her arms and Jo folds into her. They stand there embracing each other for a moment.

  ​“I ran into your friend Beroe.”

  ​“She’s okay?” Jo whispers.

  ​“Yes.” Shea smiles into Jo’s shoulder. “She’s okay.”

  ​Shea looks out the window and gasps when she sees a shimmer of purple. She breaks the embrace and heads to the open archway, gesturing for Jo to follow. She points out at the air and it takes a moment, but a bird or a leaf, or something disturbs the purple barrier and it shimmers enough for it to be visible.

  ​“Amazing,” Jo murmurs.

  ​Shea wrap
s her arms around her wife and kisses the back of her neck.

  ​“Whatever happens. I’m glad I met you, Joana of Arethusa.”

  ​Jo leans into the touch. “I couldn’t be more blessed being your wife; it is my greatest achievement.”

  ​“Are you saying I was a conquest?” Shea teases.

  ​“Most definitely,” Jo remarks, and Shea jokingly huffs, tickling Jo’s sides.

  ​Jo shrieks with laughter and they carry on until Jo has managed to turn in Shea’s embrace.

  She leans down and kisses Shea hard.

  ​Then the queen takes her captain by the hand and leads her to the bed.

  They don’t take off their clothes, they can’t. They have to be ready. So, they lie down, side by side, with Caeruleus at their feet, and pretend to dream until true sleep captures them.

  Chapter 42: Dawn

  Shea

  The castle shudders, marble quakes, and Shea and Jo jolt up in bed as the double doors to their chambers slam open.

  ​Caen has his hammer and Beck is carrying a steel sword as they stop in the entry way, breathing heavily. Caen is wearing his normal boots and pants, but he seems to have found a chain mail shirt that fits.

  Beck must have changed as well, into new boots, leather pants, and a long-sleeve peasant blouse with a leather vest.

  ​Shea looks out the window and startles as a giant flaming ball comes flying at their room, she tackles Jo to the floor, but it explodes on impact with the purple barrier.

  ​Shea stands quickly, helping Jo up before running to the open window.

  The sky is orange and red with a hint of dark blue. She can see the sun rising in the east.

  ​It’s dawn and the battle has begun.

  Shea can see from here that the Lycon troops have broken through the low town gate. Thalassa is burning, and tiny ant-like soldiers are everywhere.

  Catapults have been stationed just inside the city, but the boundary isn’t letting the molten iron through.

  ​She needs to get to the throne room.

  ​When she turns back around, she finds Jo dressed in silver armor, as Beck helps her with the cinches.

  She pins her hair up in a bun as Beck ties off the last piece. Jo reaches into the chest at the end of the bed and pulls out Shea’s gold sword.