by Starla Night
A tentacle curled out of it. Both nets emitted a black, inky smoke.
So, the house guardian had been captured. His gut burned. Although he lost his seed today, please let Lucy be safe.
“I wish to be judged by my king,” Torun said, again. “He is a friend. You are only his advisers. Where is he?”
“My father is dead.” Jolan’s jaw tightened in his pale, bruised face. “You missed your friend by hours.”
No.
The king’s patience had stayed the Council for years. Torun had fought beside his king to defend their borders, and the king had always liked him. Him and his impassioned ideas, which, although possibly wrong, the king said had heart. He had been a friend. His loss wasn’t just of a liege. The pain panged deep.
“May he sleep in still waters, and hunt ever-long in the blacknight sea,” Torun said.
Jolan nodded once. He was king now.
But without a son, he couldn’t assume the throne. Only a mer who had raised a son could assume the responsibility.
Which meant the head of the Council, the aged elder who had raised Torun’s father and trained Torun, now was the king.
Torun’s grandfather met his gaze. He straightened and grasped his ceremonial trident tightly. “Jolan’s last act as prince was to request your forgiveness.”
What?
Jolan lifted his chin and stared straight ahead, avoiding Torun’s gaze.
How noble. Despite their fight, the injuries Torun had given him, and the dishonor he must have faced returning to Sireno empty-handed, Jolan had used his last favor to honor his father’s friendship with Torun. He saved Torun’s life this day. Someday, Torun would return the favor.
“In recognition of his dedication to uniting the city under the rightful law, I will grant his request on one condition.” Torun’s grandfather glared at Torun. “Recant your support of the insane prisoner. Rededicate yourself to the sacred brides of the covenant. Abandon your treasonous acts.”
Please let Lucy be in the chamber.
“I cannot.”
Jolan stiffened.
His grandfather smirked. “Then see your castle destroyed and your male seed castrated.”
Torun braced himself. His most precious household member was still at his castle. He would retrieve her as soon as his injuries recovered enough for him to swim, and then, he would take her away together.
Jolan turned to the Council head, who was now also king. Bitterness lined his lips. “My king. We did not collect the castle’s seed.”
“How is this possible?”
“It was not on the dais. However, we captured another traitor.”
Another supporter? Torun searched the faces of the citizens. Who could it be? He should have appreciated another ally.
“The traitor will be judged also.” His grandfather flicked his fingers.
Jolan and Malem shook the nets. Lucy tumbled out.
Torun’s heart descended from his chest. His body turned hot and cold. No. Please. No.
She spun across the arena. Ink drained from her mouth. She choked and arched her back.
“Which city has such plain markings?” Torun’s grandfather asked. “I do not recognize this blankness.”
“I do not know, my king.” Jolan grabbed Lucy mid-spin and yanked her to a stop. The seed flew out of her hand.
Torun’s blood pumped. She had gone to save the seed. Curse it all. He would have done the same.
Malem grabbed the seed. “It is Warlord Torun’s seed.”
“Place it in the offering bowl here to be destroyed. Then, we will remove Torun’s male essence. He will never sire young fry. Then, we will judge his accomplice. Who is it?”
“I cannot tell.” Jolan roughly studied her. Lucy hunched away, curling in on herself. Jolan shook her, forcing her to straighten.
The vibrations slowed as his senses tightened to high alert. Higher than when he outswam the jaws of the trench monkfish, closing in on him with fangs and fury. Higher than his first battle with raiding warriors.
He would rip the young prince’s throat out. “Take your hands off her!”
Jolan’s frown lifted. His eyes widened and he obeyed, releasing Lucy and retreating several strokes to a safe distance. “It is a human.”
A bride.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lucy heard Torun snarl at the warrior to remove his hands. The force of his rage reached her. Oh, he was angry. She had never heard such spine-tingling fury.
Gasps silenced the arena. The warriors floated in shock, staring at her.
Her heart pounded. Her stomach squeezed. Her body trembled.
She tightened her hands into fists.
The purple-tattooed warrior, Malem, stared at her in awe. “A bride.”
Many voices spoke at once. “A bride is here. A bride has come! Torun was right. We have a bride—”
“She is not a bride. She is not a bride!” The evil, old head of the Council made his quavering voice carrying over the rabble, demanding silence. “Torun. You have damned us all with your flagrant disregard for the health and happiness of Sireno.”
“She is my queen,” he said.
Queen, the others whispered.
Malem repeated it aloud. His sarcasm fled. Belief filled his voice. “Queen.”
The old male shook with anger. The others around him continued to stare at her in awe. Torun was right. They would not hurt her. No, the true danger was still to him.
“She is not a queen! She is an unaltered, untransformed human of the basest kind.”
“She is transformed,” Torun snarled.
“She is no mer.”
“Look at her! She spills no bubbles. She is able to see. She moves as one of us, without the bulky cages and lights and air.”
The others agreed.
“Look at her hands,” the Council head said. “They are human hands.”
Uh oh. She spread her fingers. Were they supposed to be webbed or what?
“Look at her feet. If she were truly your queen, she would have fully transformed to our form. Instead, she hides in her own.”
Darn it. Lucy tried to flex her feet. It had almost, half-way, sort of worked the other day. “Well, I had it. I can do this. Just give me a few.”
They all gasped again. The two warriors closest to her backed off another few strokes, giving her a direct line of sight to Torun.
“She speaks.” Torun burned his faith and promise into her. “And she shines. She chose this of her own will. You cannot be blind to her light.”
They murmured.
Lassie crept free of the other, now unattended, net.
“This is madness,” the Council head said. “You cannot bind yourself to her. She is not of the sacred island. The covenant does not apply. You have brought a human to our city and you must be punished for your blasphemy.”
He ordered the closest warriors to grab Torun.
They refused.
“You,” he shouted at Malem in frustration. “Take away that human!”
“She is another warrior’s bride.” Malem dropped Torun’s house seed and backed away. “I cannot touch another warrior’s bride. Even if she did inexplicably choose Warlord Torun.”
The Council head shook his fist harder at their insubordination.
Lucy paddled forward and grabbed the sinking seed.
“Listen, my mer.” The Council head commanded silence. “You are confused. But the disgraced exile Torun threatens to destroy us. The last bride who chose out of turn killed Jolan’s rightful father. It nearly destroyed us.”
“Impossible,” Torun cried. “This never happened in my lifetime.”
“You were away. Jolan’s mother rejected the male who had earned his right. Her arrogance caused the deaths of two worthy warriors; one, death with dishonor.”
“I do not believe you.”
“Ask our former prince.”
Torun swung to Jolan. “It is not true.”
Jolan sighed heavily. “It is tr
ue, Warlord Torun. The king confessed it to me before passing into the blacknight sea. My intended father, who had earned the right to sire his son, was betrayed by his best friend, who stole my mother away. In the ensuing battle, both lives were lost. That is why I was raised by the king.”
“How have I not heard of this?”
“The years were troubled. Many wished to forget the dishonor, and many others did not know the details.”
“This tragedy happened because the bride chose,” the Council head intoned. “She broke the sacred covenant. She caused the Life Tree to wither. She caused another male to raise the orphaned young fry. Now, you bring another bride who chose you out of turn. She will be the death of the Life Tree!”
The others murmured. Warriors clenched their tridents. The rattling of armor overpowered the tinkling music of the Life Tree watching over them.
Fear curled in Lucy’s belly.
“I won’t,” she promised. “I don’t want to hurt anything.”
The warriors ignored her.
“See, my fellow mer?” The Council head crowed with victory. “The way of Torun lies madness. Cast him out.”
“Wait.” Torun’s deep bass commanded attention. “There is another way to understand what occurred.”
“Ignore his words. He has committed treason.”
“Jolan’s mother made her choice,” he shouted, as the nearest warriors converged on him. “Our warriors did not respect her! That is the lesson. The brides of the sacred island left us because we broke their covenant. They provided us with a bride. We denied her the male of her heart!”
Jolan’s jaw dropped. He swayed back, hands out, eyes huge. “Could it be?”
His unit shifted uneasily.
“Lies.” The elder pointed his trident at Lucy. “This false bride has led you astray.”
“She is not a false bride. We shared everything.” Torun’s teeth clenched. He flexed against his bindings. “She is the heart of my castle. She is my future.”
“As you no longer will possess either, that is of no importance.”
“You cannot deny our union. It is blessed by the Life Tree.”
“Then you are the reason for its unnatural cry.” His snarl grew. “You are the reason we ended the king’s remembrance ceremony early and returned here. Your blasphemy is killing our Life Tree. It withdraws its protection and caused our king to die.”
“No.”
“Warlord Torun, you are hereby stripped of your honors and essence.” He pointed his trident at Torun.
Warriors clamped their hands on him. The largest grabbed a long, wicked dagger. He slit Torun’s bindings. The others forced his legs apart, baring his genitals.
Torun fought them. “She is my queen!”
“Stop!” Lucy paddled for Torun. “Stop it!”
The Council head motioned for Jolan to arrest her.
Jolan did not move. His warriors hesitated with him.
She swam toward the violence. “Stop!”
Warriors loyal to the Council barred her way with their sharp tridents. She pushed on the metal. They shoved her back with the broad side of the blades. Even so, the sharp edges sliced her skin. Ow! She cried.
Torun bugled his rage. “Do not touch my queen!”
“She is no one’s queen.” The Council head stared right through her. “She is an air-breathing human from the ordinary mainland who cannot even transform. Do not covet this kind of bride, my kinsmen. She is unworthy.”
Torun screamed insults at the Council merman.
“Someone, silence him.”
They brought another bola and tied it around his diaphragm, silencing the vibrations.
“What about her?” one of the warriors asked. “She knows of us.”
“She does not matter. We will take her to the surface. She is broken and worthless.”
She is broken and worthless.
The words burned in her like acid.
What good are you? Blake had asked after the last failed fertility test. Her heart repeated those words with every slam to her self-worth. It repeated until Torun came and made her see the truth. His belief in her made her start to believe too.
Now some old fish stick who didn’t even know her, who just spouted whatever the heck he felt like, was going to call her worthless too?
Well, fine. They noticed her shining, right? She’d give them all a better sense of her worth.
“Let him go,” she said.
The warriors barring her way frowned.
Not bright enough?
Torun said the more she channeled her anger, the brighter her soul star shone. Those mermen threatened her love. The old fish stick called her worthless. She was stronger than that.
“Let him go!”
They shifted back and glanced at the Council head. He ignored her.
“Let. Him.” She grabbed their tridents and shook the metal. “Go!”
It worked. The two warriors dropped their tridents and shrank back.
The Council head shouted at the other warriors. “Carry on! Quickly, you must remove his essence!”
She paddled across the arena, stupidly slow. Where were her fins? “Don’t you dare hurt him!”
The warrior with the dagger looked back at her, then at the old Council head. Doubt warred with duty. “Proceed before the cauterizing is ready? The loss of blood will not stop. He could die.”
“Now! Do it now!”
The warrior knelt and gripped Torun’s masculinity. He positioned the knife to cut it all off.
But they hadn’t had a chance to try for a baby. They were supposed to prove his theory right, and save the city, and have a child. He needed to at least have the chance to try.
The warrior flexed to cut.
No. Not her love. Not her Torun.
Her scream ripped from the deepest part of her soul. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
A supernova exploded in her chest.
In her hand, Torun’s house seed cracked. Thick black lines criss-crossed its surface.
The supernova flared outward, traveling in blinding shock wave across the arena. The warrior scrambled backward. The knife fell from his hands. It was clean. He had not cut yet.
The others holding Torun shielded their eyes and dove away.
Crash!
Beyond the arena, glass shattered. The horrifying sound went on and on and on. An entire glass skyscraper collapsed.
The Life Tree shuddered. All its Sea Opals fell off. It split down the center and snapped off at the base.
The Life Tree of Sireno toppled from its dais and sank out of sight.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The destruction of the Life Tree sliced a cord in Torun’s heart. Pain spilled into his chest cavity.
But more importantly, the others were distracted. They, like Lucy, stared at the fallen Life Tree with horror and grief.
He had already sworn to act after they unmanned him. Despite his disfigurement and pain, he would seize the moment to save Lucy and escape.
Instead, Lucy had saved him with her power. His manhood remained intact and unharmed. And now he was released.
He kicked free of his boneless captors and gripped the punishment dagger in his human feet. He sliced his bonds and flew to Lucy. “Put your arms around me.”
She shook herself. His cracked house seed dropped from her fingers.
Lassie darted free of the nets, snatched the seed, and bolted past the shocked mermen. The house guardian disappeared over the edge of the arena, swimming back to the castle to return the seed to its home.
Lucy remained stunned.
“Lucy!” He shook her. “We must leave.”
His countrymen moaned and swam to the fallen tree.
“Torun.” She struggled to obey. Her voice in her chest thrummed with quiet grief. “I am the evil destroyer they warned against.”
“No, Lucy.” But she would not let go of this sadness soon. Neither would he. He secured her hands. “Come.”
Torun flew fr
om the arena. The others would follow. He needed to put as much distance between them as possible.
She rested her head on his chest and cried.
He thanked her for her tears. She expressed his sadness, grieving for both of them. Bidding farewell to his old life as an honored warlord of Sireno, and farewell to the Life Tree that he had tried to save.
“We failed,” she sobbed. “Now you’re all going to die.”
Like the dead king, he had striven to give hope. Lucy was that hope. She was not a destroyer.
Or, she was not only that.
They swam hard and far. His muscles ached. Only recently he had journeyed hard and fast; now, before he was fully rested, he had to swim harder and faster yet. His blood beat in his bones. He would not rest until he carried his queen to safety.
She sobbed herself to sleep and nestled against him. The depths changed as he traversed the sea, rising and also crossing great gulfs. The ocean song wrapped around them, so ordinary and so soothing. Despite their tragedy and the loss of his city, the world continued to turn.
When she awoke, calm replaced her uncontrollable grief. Her fingers traced his pectorals. “You really don’t blame me for what happened.”
“I do not.”
She thrashed as though he had blamed her. In fact, she blamed herself. “I couldn’t let them hurt you! I didn’t mean to break anything. Or shout so loud. Only stop them.”
“You acted as a queen.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No.” He risked slowing them by lifting his hand to stroke her sinuous back. “Never apologize for protecting our castle.”
She buried her face in his shoulder. “I don’t even know how I did it.”
“Females have a great capacity for power. In the ancient tales, four females once defended a city from attack. The warriors were drawn off, the castles all fell, and no defenders remained. The females gathered their young fry around the Life Tree. They resonated with such force, no invader could approach. As a young male, I thought the story a ridiculous parable. Now, I have seen your power and I understand it is historical truth.”
“They were defending their Life Tree. I destroyed it.”
“You protected me.”
“What will happen now?”