My son? She’d remembered seeing a bust of King Merric in the library and hearing stories of his greatness, but he couldn’t be the same merman. The King had died ages ago when Phaleon took the throne, and he looked so… old.
A staccato of gasps came from the mers, then a lone courageous voice cried out, “He’s dead.”
“Dead?” He scratched at his beard, his face suddenly pained. “I see.”
Behind him, a whole host of merpeople hovered, wrinkled and aged just like him, and yet they carried weapons, eyes alert, ready for battle. Then she spotted her parents in the crowd with Fin and Ash, anxious but steadfast. Why wasn’t her father rounding up the rebels to attack and capture Azor’s men?
Nervously, Tatiana watched, refraining from swimming across the square to them. She caught her mother’s eye, at the concern filling her face.
“Then who’s in charge?” King Merric bellowed.
“King Azor,” a merman in the crowd said.
“Hmmm.” He thought for a moment. “I’d like to speak with him. Have my grandson explain this mess.”
Grandson? When no one spoke, he moved forward, whipping his golden fin behind him. “Well, where is he?”
“He left,” a mermaid replied timidly.
Tatiana’s heartbeat boomed in her ears. After her speech earlier and with Azor's absence, she had to account for what had happened, to make things right, to be the one she’d professed herself to be. Queen.
“I’m in charge,” Tatiana said with her head held high, voice quivering.
A rush of whispers filtered through the water. Her family gasped and moved forward, objecting. The King waved them off with a flick of his trident.
“Mighty brave for one so young,” he said as he crossed above the crowd toward her.
“I can explain.” Tatiana momentarily pinched her eyes shut. I hope.
She rehearsed her defense, intending to reveal all of Azor’s secrets and lies. But upon opening her eyes, she locked onto Pearl who hid in the nave of the palace entrance. In her hands squirmed Xirene’s merling, the blue-tailed girl. Responsibility hit Tatiana. If she told the truth, she’d criminalize the child’s father, ushering the babe into a life she’d promised Xirene she’d protect her from.
With a gulp, she turned to Merric, lost for an explanation. “We have no excuse,” Tatiana said grimly. “Azor and I have been at odds since our promise and, in light of King Phaleon’s death, he hoped by becoming king, he could create peace again.”
An angry murmur pulsed from the crowd.
“They’ve only been promised two weeks! How could they have a child so soon?” an array of voices yelled. “Harlot! Tramp! Whore!”
: : :
Jacob waited impatiently in the audience for Jack and the Lost Ones to attack. That was why they’d come, hadn’t they? But he couldn’t help himself from staring hard at Tatiana, hurt and confused. And how could she have kissed him and not told him about the child? She never even really showed. Was her pregnancy the whole reason why she’d hesitated to kiss him to begin with? Why she wouldn’t leave? Anger surged when imagining Azor forcing himself on her. Crossing his arms over his chest, he watched her grimace at the accusations as she fluttered her tail in the current.
“I think after everything,” she continued, smoothing her trembling hands down her skirt, “we should start by freeing the rebels and disbanding the Dradux.”
A collective gasp flowed around Jacob, silencing the attacks against her virtue. But Jacob only saw Azor for the animal that he was. He sucked water over his gills, trying hard to slow the blood crashing through his veins. Azor would suffer for hurting her, mating with her, then forcing her promise—die miserably.
“—and actually, I’ve since discovered I wasn’t promised to Azor to begin with…” She raised her hand as proof, but light caught her ring finger. She clasped her hands, to hide the evidence. Jacob’s heart stopped for a beat as he studied the black shards of light erupting from his hand, evidence of their bond.
Hissing and vitriol worked its way through the crowd again, condemning her.
“Liar! She is promised,” someone yelled behind Jacob.
Chants broke out all around him. “To Bone Island with her! Arrest her! Off with her fins!”
“No!” Jacob kicked his tail, bulleting himself above the crowd. “I’m the one. The one who should be punished! Not Tatiana!”
“Jacob, no!” Tatiana gestured him away with her hand, then someone yanked on his tail, pulling him down.
“Hover somewhere else, sympathizer!” a woman screamed in his face.
Jacob scowled, putting space between them. He bumped into another mer, who shot him a look, wary of his trident. “I’m here. Find your own spot!”
“Jacob,” Grommet said from behind, pulling him backward. “What are you doing?”
“Silence!” The people hushed and looked up, frozen in a trance under Merric’s hard gaze. “It seems we have a discrepancy of who’s responsible.”
“Ya think?” Grommet mumbled.
“I’ll kill him,” Jacob seethed quietly. “If he’s even so far as touched her—”
“You and me both,” Grommet agreed.
Azor interrupted from the other side of the square. “And who are you?”
Jacob panned to his voice, his body shaking with adrenaline.
Merric raised one brow. “I’m your grandfather.”
“I highly doubt it, old man.” Azor snorted.
Whispers from the mers flew around. Was this actually Merric? Or was it someone else?
Merric postured, bristling his fins. “I’ve come to help you.”
“What?” Azor smirked. “Help me? I think I’ve got things under control!”
Jacob grunted, flexing his fingers around the shaft of the trident, arching his fins. Why was Jack waiting? Why were they entertaining this idiot?
“Imposter!” someone yelled from the crowd. Jacob and Grommet followed in suit, “Imposter!”
“Ahhh, now.” Azor sneered and moved into the light. With a stretch of his neck, he displayed the crown, and floated down towards the stage opposite Merric. Six Dradux guards flanked him, scythes pointed outward. “You all saw Queen Desiree crown me today, and as you know, an heir doesn’t necessarily have to be a male to make one king.”
All Jacob could focus on was Azor’s pulsing jugular and how he’d love to slice into it and watch him bleed in the current.
Merric’s gills flared. “In special circumstances, yes, but you have passed her off as a boy—”
“I accepted the crown on Tatiana’s lies.” Azor pointed his spear toward her. “Struck with grief over my father’s sudden death, I wasn’t there for the birth. How was I to know? I took her word.”
“You murdered King Phaleon after he wouldn’t die on his own,” Tatiana interrupted. “And you’re not of royal blood! Your mother confessed she switched you at birth!”
Azor threw back his head and laughed. “We’ve been through this already. My mother is grieving and—” He scanned the crowd and pointed. “How was I switched with my sister Galadriel? Explain that.”
“Because I am not Galadriel!” A girl yelled behind them as she rose in the current. “I’m Ashlyn Frances Lanski, born mer and switched at birth because I wasn’t a boy! So my father could be king!”
“Ashlyn?” Azor yanked his chin back, then shook his head before readdressing his people. “Are you going to believe this nonsense? The mad words of a woman? Or your King?”
The crowd murmured, unsure. Without hard proof, they couldn’t decide what to believe, who to follow. Jacob stared at Tatiana, at the woman he loved, withholding his desire to yell out and demand Azor’s death. But if she didn’t say something soon, the crowd could turn on her and even with Jack’s army, she could lose her life in the upheaval. Her eyes briefly met his, flashing fear.
“Tell them,” Jacob mouthed.
Her chest heaved as her chin rose. Courage replaced her fear. “Then explain why your d
aughter doesn’t have the mark of royalty, Azor?” she yelled.
Jacob watched fear cross Azor’s face. “The what?”
“The mark of a royal. This—” she turned and lifted her dress, revealing her fleur-de-lis.
“Of course my daughter has the mark—”
Heartache thudded in Jacob’s chest, watching the merling girl in Pearleza’s hands as she swam to Tatiana’s side, the daughter she shared with Azor. But when she lifted the babe, the merling didn’t have the mark of a royal.
How can that be?
Hope pulsed into Jacob. Hope that the whole thing had been a ruse to look like Azor’s kin. Hope that his girl was still untouched. Hope that they could get out of this alive.
“Arrest them!” Azor called abruptly.
Madness broke out as mers swarmed in all directions. In a brief glimpse, Jacob saw the Dradux guards surround Tatiana, holding her arms and mouth. He kicked his tail, unable to gain ground as the massive crowd squeezed and pushed him, trapping him under their bodies and tails.
“No!” Jacob called, elbowing against those around him, ready to sting anyone who’d get in his way. Trapped in the sea of moving mers, he couldn’t free himself from the angered horde’s path, when suddenly the mers broke apart. He found himself face to face with Azor.
Azor’s shock was briefly entertaining, until his Dradux guards pushed Jacob away.
“We meet again,” Jacob said with a wry smile. And it’s not going to end pretty.
: : :
Tatiana thrashed against her handlers when King Merric held out his trident.
“Silence!” He waved his weapon over the swarming crowd. “We will handle this civilly!”
“I am King!” Azor yelled. “Arrest them all!”
In the tumult, Tatiana scanned the crowd, unable to see Jacob. She panicked, calling out to him. But the older mers couldn’t compete with the Dradux strength and weapons. She pinched her eyes shut to think, then reopened them, spotting Jacob next to Azor, held off by the Dradux guarding him. She lifted her chin, infused with courage, and yelled, “Azor cannot be king because the merling is not mine!”
Jacob’s eyes widened as a hush overtook the square.
“What? No—” Azor began.
“It’s true!” Pearleza called from the nave. “This child is Xirene’s, Azor’s handmaiden. They were promised first,” she said, pointing at Azor. “I kept the lie because Azor threatened to kill my child. I swear to you, Tatiana did not birth this child.”
The crowd murmured in anger and confusion.
Then Queen Desiree’s voice floated from behind Tatiana. “It’s because I switched Ashlyn with Azor as a baby. He cannot produce a child of royal blood.” She lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Azor. But it’s true.”
“Lies! All of you!” Azor seethed. “The King wouldn’t have accepted me as his son if I wasn’t. I’ve fulfilled the law and produced a child. I’m the king!”
“But you broke our law!” Tatiana interrupted. “You kissed me while promised to another! You must pay for that crime!”
“I—” Azor looked around nervously. “Well then, where is she? This other woman, Tatiana? You have the promised tattoo and so do I.” He raised his hand.
“No!” Jacob yelled, gritting his teeth. “She’s promised to me! Tatiana’s tattoo matches mine!” He held up his hand as well.
Another gasp fell over the crowd. “Bone Island!” they yelled. “The shark tank! Off with their fins!”
Tatiana’s heart rocketed blood through her body. Her promise to Jacob was going to be their doom. She looked to her father for help. He kept a conflicted expression, holding off a band of Dradux determined to get to Merric.
“And what’s your defense, Tatiana?” Merric asked.
Tatiana’s head whipped around. She blinked, unbelieving the blame was being pinned on her.
“Defense? It’s my word against his,” she said plainly.
A sneer filled Azor’s lips. “And I did nothing wrong.”
She leveled her gaze to Azor. “You stole my choice, Azor.”
“I did no such—”
“I’m not finished!” she interrupted. “You claim you didn’t kiss another, but this war is evidence you did. If you were bonded to me, you would have understood why my father interrupted our ceremony and forgiven him. But no! Even against King Phaleon’s advice, you went after my father. And when you didn’t find him, you punished the people instead by starving them and taking away their loved ones. And even today, you deceived them with this child and tried to behead the rebels in the square!
“But before our ceremony, you had unconditional love. If you would’ve been honest and told them you’d fallen for a servant, they would have accepted her as their queen. Your bigotry and impatience killed that love. And in these last two weeks, we’ve watched you pit mer against mer and suffocate the song, killing the Natatoria we all loved and fought to preserve.”
Azor laughed. “I was not in charge. Queen Desiree drove us to this ruin. And how can you, a land-walker, think you’ve got this all figured out? By bringing Merric and his bag-of-bones army to usher us into a utopia again? You’ve only graced Natatoria with your presence for a month and proven your worth by committing promise polygamy. Everyone knows you, the rebels, and your father have created this war. If you think by letting the mers decide between you and me who is at fault, then let them. They’ve experienced hell under Desiree’s leadership, and now they need a man. And I will start with the removal of the rebellion!” He gestured to Jack.
Tatiana pulled her shoulders tight, fear pulsing through her veins as the crowd, newly energized, began to chant, hate behind their eyes. They were going to kill her dad.
47
: : :
Revenge
Mers surged around Jacob, pushing and pulling, chanting for Azor’s, the rebels’ and Tatiana’s deaths. Jacob’s fear spiked. He had to get to her before anyone else did, save her from this mess.
A siren emanated from the rush of bodies as a clang reverberated from the center of the square. Bodies tumbled outward from the spray of blue essence, previously trapped behind a gel dome. Like magic, the Lost Ones around the spring became youthful once again. Jacob sucked in a cleansing breath of the water, feeling his muscles rejuvenate.
The tide of the crowd turned like a snake looking for something to devour. In the distance, Jacob spotted Azor and the four Dradux fleeing behind him.
“Let’s get him,” Grommet growled, charging ahead. Fin, Jax, and Badger filed in next.
Jacob panned backward to Tatiana, watching her flee with Jack and Merric. He faced forward; joining in the cry with his fellow warriors, weapons raised.
“Get back!” Azor yelled, whipping his tail in attempts to stab anyone who dared get close to him.
The four pressed onward, corralling Azor and his men like fish caught in a net. Acting as if they were fleeing for their lives, Azor and his men swam with all their might. But instead of hiding in Azor’s compound like Jacob had suspected, he and the Dradux entered the shark tank, slamming the door behind them.
Azor turned with a smile, hate brewing in his eyes. “You think you’ve won,” he said with a laugh, eyeing the four of them. “But you haven’t! I’ll live to see another day. You’re idiots to listen to Tatiana’s lies!” His glare pressed into Jacob. “She’s incapable of love! All she cares about is the crown!”
Jacob glowered at him from between granite spires of the shark tank. “I pity you, that you still can’t admit you were wrong. You’ll pay for what you’ve done to her.”
“Done to her?” Azor swam off laughing, holding his sword out as they crossed through the swarm of sharks. “I’ll see you in Hades, Jacob!”
“Come on,” Fin said, grabbing the door of the shark tank. “Let’s follow them!”
Badger flashed his cuff. “You go right ahead, but I can’t.”
“Red Tide!” Jax cussed, gripping the bars. “But I’ll be damned if I’m following him in
there.”
Jacob shook his head, angered. “That sorry son of a bass won.”
“Aye,” Badger said, gripping onto his shoulder. “He might have escaped, but he didn’t win. He’ll be back, mark me words.”
At a screech, everyone doubled over and held their ears. When it stopped, they lifted their heads and stared across the pen. Ferdinand appeared and stood guard at the mouth of the Pacific Gate.
“Ferdinand!” Jax yelled. “What the hell is he doing?”
At each attempt of Azor’s men to gain ground, he shrieked, paralyzing them. The sharks, antsy and angry at the noise, began to dart about, passing closer and closer to Azor and the Dradux. Everyone watched on; fear tightened in Jacob’s gut.
“Stop him!” Azor yelled, pointing at Ferdinand.
The Dradux attempted to swim faster. But a shark turned, barreling toward Azor as he hovered behind the pack.
Jacob turned at the last second when a sickening crunch filled the water. A bloodcurdling keening followed in short choppy bursts and Jacob winced, watching the shark whip Azor’s lifeless body in the current. Blood coated his gills as the rest of the Dradux were attacked, and after several minutes of chilling screams the water was silenced, finally.
“Aye,” Badger said, palming his beard. “What a way to go.”
Jax swam to the spires, yelling for Ferdinand. But through the murky waters, no one could see anything.
: : :
“Tatiana!” Jacob yelled, swimming up to her, his gills flapping out of breath.
“Jacob!” she called back, leaving the shelter of Merric and her father’s circle.
They crashed into one another, their bodies pressing so close that nothing was between them, their lips hungry to know their lover was alive, safe.
“What were you thinking?” he asked, pushing her hair from her face, studying every inch of her skin.
Everlost (Mer Tales, Book 3) Page 29