by Starla Night
She smiled and evaluated her situation with careful eyes. “How come the mantis shrimp don’t obey King Kayo? He’s tied into the Life Tree too.”
“You are a queen. You have powers he does not.”
“I’m not getting stung, so you must be right.” She lifted a palm, scooping up the mantis shrimp, and looked at the small creatures. “Let’s be friends.”
The handful buzzed cheerfully.
“Will you let Faier come with me?”
Click click click.
“No,” he translated, keeping his distance.
“Right. I, uh, order you. Please?”
Click click.
“Still no. Are you sure I can boss the shrimp around?”
“Feel confident.”
“Confident. Okay. Well, we are communicating. That’s a start.” She opened her palm wider and the mantis shrimp flew off in a multicolor, shimmering rainbow.
Her soul brightened, and her smile widened.
“You are growing confident.”
“I have an idea.” She squared her shoulders, scooped up a handful of mantis shrimp, and spoke to the small buzzing shrimp. “I need your help on this, okay? Back off. Let them get close enough I can talk again.”
Click click click.
“Yes, I know you don’t want to, but if they act out, you can just sting them.”
The mantis shrimp flew off her hand. The swirling concentrated around her.
“Harmony?” King Kayo called. “Are you all right?”
“Barely.” She made fists again. “Send no one else near me.”
“We are sending in Warrior Luin.”
“Do. Not.”
“He survived the first attack, so he will once again—”
“You’ll kill me.” A mantis shrimp crawled across her knuckles. “I know Tibe wants me to die, but I thought you cared.”
“My… Harmony, First Lieutenant Tibe wishes you no harm. Why do you accuse him of such a wish?”
“Because you’re wrong and I’m hungry!”
“Hungry! Again?”
“Yes, again. I lost my food when that giant fish attacked.”
Faier’s heart squeezed. He had failed to provide for his mate. “I will hunt for you, Harmony.”
She hushed him and rocked her head, then vibrated loudly to converse with the king. “And how long until you tunnel to free me?”
“Tunnel! That will take…that will require a long time.”
“So bring me food! Enough to last ‘a long time.’”
“We are… No, we are not tunneling. We are sending in Warrior Luin to—”
“To do what? Die? How will that help?”
“His sacrifice will empty the tunnel for you to escape.”
“What?” Harmony screwed up her face. “Are you idiots? Whose idea was this?”
“This was Tibe’s idea,” King Kayo replied confidently. “Yes, we are idiots. Perhaps. What are ‘idiots’?”
She blinked and shook herself. “Seriously, King Kayo, Tibe is actively trying to kill me.”
“No warrior would dare to—”
“There are enough mantis shrimp to cover Warrior Luin and kill him with plenty left over to get mad and kill me.”
“Sacred Bride Harmony—”
“And then when that doesn’t work, I’m guessing ‘tunneling’ will be the best choice, except that I’ll already be dead.”
“—it is not Tibe’s intention to—”
“Furthermore, Warrior Luin is my guard, so his death leaves me vulnerable during the next fish attack, increasing the chances that a fish will kill me.”
“Sacred Bride.” Tibe’s sharp voice pierced the sea. “You need no guard. After I free you, someone will escort you back to the king’s castle where you belong, and you will not leave for the duration of—”
“And obviously Tibe was intending me to die in the prison, because he ordered Xarin to go away after you told him to stay.”
King Kayo’s vibration shortened. “I have punished Xarin for abandoning his post.”
“Punished for obeying Tibe’s orders to leave so the giant fish could kill me?”
There was silence.
“Bring me food,” she snapped at them through the tunnel. “And a, uh, trident too!”
“She is hysterical.” Tibe’s cold voice took over. “Sacred Bride. Is the prisoner with you?”
She grinned at Faier.
“Sacred Bride? Sacred Bride, answer me at once.”
She cooed to the mantis shrimp on her knuckle. “You are so pretty. Sting nobody except maybe Tibe, okay?”
It hummed.
“Sacred Bride!” Tibe growled with anger.
“Harmony?” King Kayo sounded worried. “Are you still there?”
“Yes,” she answered. “Are my food and trident ready?”
“You did not answer First Lieutenant Tibe.”
“Sacred brides only talk to their husbands.”
“Yes, but you speak with many males you should not.”
“Tibe is the only one who yelled at me for doing so. I just can’t make him happy.” She made a pleased thumbs-up gesture at Faier.
“Yelled? He did not—”
“In the prison, when you asked him to leave because he frightened me, he shouted, ‘Anyone who disobeys me should be frightened!’”
There was another long silence.
The king’s voice sounded more strained. “Is the rebel beside you now?”
“Nope.” She waved at Faier across the meadow. “Not right now.”
“But he is there with you?”
“I will not swim around looking when I’m this hungry.”
Silence again except for the buzzing of the mantis shrimp.
“Harmony,” Faier whispered, and she tilted her head his way. “You are a skilled negotiator.”
Her chest brightened. “Thanks! I was just thinking about Lifet. And things I wished I could’ve said. Anyway, it’s a lot easier to yell insults with a nest of killer bees between us.”
Time passed.
Unease chilled his veins. The Aiycaya warriors would not bring Harmony food or a trident. They had found another way in and would burst around a corner, capturing him and dragging her away against her will.
The question in her eyes and the flickering in her soul said she harbored the same fears.
“Sacred Bride Harmony!” Warrior Poro’s voice sounded nearer, making them both jolt. “Your food is here.”
Boxes weighted with rocks dropped through the tunnel. She kicked backward to make room. A rusty old trident lanced between her long fins and buried itself in the coral up to the handle.
“And your trident!”
She put a calming hand on her chest. “Um, thank you! Warrior Poro.”
“You are welcome, Sacred Bride Harmony.”
She yanked on the trident, dragged it out of the mantis shrimp zone, and swam it and the food over to Faier. “This is for you to heal. And in case my plan fails. I’ll do my best to get you pardoned. Buf if I can’t…”
His heart shrank. “I will come for you.”
“Yeah.” She swallowed. “If that’s okay.”
Every nerve screamed, No. He could not protect her. The warriors had threatened her. She must not leave.
But she was a queen. She had the power to protect herself, challenge the king, and change the city. If only she believed. He must let her go. If he interfered with her awakening power and took away her confidence, then he would imprison her in doubts and crush dark her soul.
Like the others who had bruised her. Faier never would.
He rested his palms atop the boxes. “If they hurt you, I will pull up the Aiycaya Life Tree and poison its roots.”
A relieved smile flashed over her face, and her soul brightened. “Okay. Don’t raze the city.”
“I will do this. You have my vow.”
“Then I have to make sure I don’t get harmed.” She hefted the rusty trident. It rotated over her wrist and
nearly smacked her nose. “Whoah.”
He took it from her grasp and controlled it. “Thank you, Harmony. You are providing well for me.”
“Well, you took care of me on the surface.” She glowed. “I’ve been living off others’ kindness for so long. And it’s my fault you’re in this predicament.”
“No.”
“Yes.” Her soul brightened, and her eyes reddened. “I just… I want to help you. In case…”
Yes. He understood. Even though he hated being unable to protect her, they both knew he was the one at greater risk. “Be safe.”
“You too. Oh, come here!” She dove into his arms.
Faier closed around her protectively. She nestled against him. The fit was right. Pressed against him was where she belonged.
Someday he would draw her into his arms and she would remain there. Forever.
He tried to imprint every beat of her heart, every flash of her soul, every texture of hair and skin and softness into his memory. Like looking upon Nerissa the final time. What had been his final view? During his desperate escape, ash had obscured the city. So, when? He had not known it would be his last, or he would have looked for much, much longer.
She wiggled.
He released her.
“I’m ready for this,” she said, but her soul light flickered. The words were for herself, not for him.
“You are strong.”
She brightened. “Yes. Strong. I bet you wouldn’t even recognize me from the first day.”
“You have changed.”
“Good, I hope.”
Lady jetted around them with excitement.
Harmony held out her hand, and the house guardian entangled it.
“Stay with Faier,” she told the small house guardian. “Keep him safe.”
The house guardian made a throaty declaration of discontent.
“She should go with you,” he said. “She is a formidable warrior.”
“But I’m the untouchable sacred bride.”
“Harmony—”
“I, uh, order her to keep you safe while you heal.” She kicked to the mantis-shrimp-lined tunnel entrance, ending the argument. Her fins propelled her swiftly. Expertly.
She was such a natural. As if the surface world was foreign to her, and she’d always been meant to live under the water like him.
“Harmony.”
She paused just under the entrance. “Yes?”
“Sacred brides do not make fins.”
Her soul light flickered.
“Save them for an element of surprise.”
She nodded jerkily, retracted her fins to ordinary human feet, and inched through the tunnel buzzing with danger.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Harmony ascended into a much quieter sea than the one she’d escaped.
Loosely above floated a small group of warriors: Xarin, Luin, Poro, and Kusi. They watched the progress of warriors tapping coral as if they were testing the thickness of ice on a lake. No one saw her exit.
Warrior Luin’s fins were ragged on the edges and punctured, but pink with healing.
She squeezed up through the hole.
Lady yowled, melancholy, beneath her.
Harmony left the rainbow mantis shrimp behind and floated level with the group. “Where is King Kayo?”
The warriors startled and wheeled, tridents raised, jittery with shock. Kusi, closest to her, even slashed his trident at her.
She hugged her head. “Eek!”
Kusi raised his trident to slash again.
Clang.
Xarin’s trident blocked Kusi’s. “Stop.”
Kusi didn’t hear. He slashed. Clang.
“Stop!”
Clang.
Warriors Luin and Poro recovered and pushed her behind them, forming a thick wall of male and metal between her and the rampaging warrior.
Xarin parried Kusi’s next blow and locked his trident so he could no longer move. “Stop. Calm. Think.”
Kusi’s nostrils flared and his face reddened. “She startled me.”
“Blindly striking risks lives. Single-minded focus is only strength after you consider your actions. Understand?”
“Yes. Sir.”
“Call the warriors.” He jerked his chin at the group tapping the coral.
Kusi backed away, refused eye contact with any of them, and flew headlong at the other group.
The warriors in front of her parted.
Xarin fixed her with a dark, measuring gaze as though she had popped out to frighten them on purpose. “Sacred Bride Harmony. You found an exit.”
“Er, yeah. Where’s King Kayo?”
“At the Life Tree.” Xarin studied the hole, his trident still gripped at the ready in his hands. “Tibe captured the exile that drove the Trench Jack into the prison. Where did you exit?”
“The mantis shrimp tunnel. It turns out that as a human, I’m kind of immune to…”
All three warriors were staring at her feet.
She also looked down.
Her fins! And after Faier had just warned her to keep them a secret. They must have come out when she’d ducked away from Kusi. She snapped them back to human.
The warriors stared at her wide-eyed.
You can order them. Faier’s words echoed back to her. Could she really? But this was an emergency. She had to try. “Don’t. Tell. Anyone.”
Xarin’s jaw clenched. “I must report to the first lieutenant.”
“No!”
“The first lieutenant enforces the will of the king.”
“You know it wasn’t King Kayo’s will to send you away from the prison.”
His hard gaze snapped to her for an explanation.
Huh? Had he thought King Kayo had changed his mind?
“Tibe’s controlling everything,” she hissed. “With Elder Bawa, they’re trying to get rid of me. And Faier. That’s not the will of the king.”
Xarin’s eyes narrowed. “Your thoughts are treason.”
“Didn’t you hear how Warlord Sao tried to kidnap me?”
“No warrior would dare to cross mer law.”
“He tried. On Elder Bawa’s orders. Not King Kayo’s.”
“Elder Bawa continues on without reprimand. So his orders are the will of the king.”
At her side, Warrior Poro reassured her, “Do not fear First Lieutenant Tibe, Sacred Bride Harmony. He sounds dangerous, but he is very skilled.”
“Stop speaking to a sacred bride,” Warrior Luin told Poro.
“Oh yes. Sorry, Sacred Bride Harmony.”
Warrior Luin’s aura flared in exasperation, and his chest vibrated to protest again.
Harmony turned away from them and lowered her vibrations to beg Xarin. “Please.”
“I must report.” Xarin’s blue-green irises dulled with regret and duty.
The second party flew to Xarin. They carried long poles for plumbing the depths. No one had seen her fins.
She had only moments.
Make them believe you.
“Xarin. I know you want to reassure the king that you’re not trying to take over Aiycaya. But blindly obeying Tibe is not the way.”
He sharpened on her with a jolt. “How? You—”
“That’s why you do everything he asks no matter how dangerous or unreasonable. That’s why you obey First Lieutenant Tibe even when you know his orders go against the king. You want King Kayo to know you respect him. Someday, he’ll recognize you. But only if I can reach him. Please, help me get him to that day.”
He stared at her with a mix of distrust, horror, and awe. She had seen something in him no one else had.
“I watched you,” she explained. “I listened to you. The king fears you because he thinks you are worthier to lead than he is.”
His chin wrinkled. He shook his head. “King Kayo is the heart of Aiycaya.”
“I agree. And once I convince him, he’ll let go of his fears and see you not as ‘worthier’ or ‘the warrior who might have been King
’ but as you. Xarin. Loyal second lieutenant who wishes him well.”
He rubbed his chin, smoothing the wrinkles. The rims of his eyes reddened, and he swallowed. Hard.
The other group had nearly reached them. Her time was over.
Make them believe you.
“I’m not asking you to lie. Just stick to the facts.” She changed tactics and raised her vibration. “Sacred brides can’t make fins. That would be crazy. No one would believe you.”
“That is true,” Warrior Poro agreed.
“Do not speak to her!”
“I am not speaking to her. I am agreeing. It is a known fact that sacred brides cannot make fins. Eh, Xarin?”
The other group clustered around. Tattooed males unknown to her, seemingly relieved that she had escaped the mantis shrimp without harm.
New determination shone in Xarin’s eyes. “Right. You are right. Sacred brides cannot do this.”
“Great. So, there’s no need to bother anyone with crazy talk.”
“That is why we report to First Lieutenant Tibe,” Warrior Poro said as if he’d not heard anything she’d just said. “Because the king is always busy. First Lieutenant Tibe will tell us the king’s will.”
Harmony wheeled on him. “Do not tell Tibe.”
“Why not?”
“Because he doesn’t need to know about me.” She hugged herself. “He doesn’t care. He already yelled at me, remember?”
“The king said it was a misunderstanding.”
“Tibe’s misunderstandings are likely to get me killed.”
“No, Sacred—”
Xarin snapped to attention. “Warrior Luin. Warrior Poro.”
Both straightened.
“Sir,” Warrior Luin said. Poro echoed it an instant later.
“Quiet.” Xarin turned to the other warriors. “The rebel Faier is still beneath the coral. Resume your work. Summon me once you have broken through.”
The warriors in the second party returned to the distant coral.
Kusi lingered.
“You also,” Xarin ordered.
The teal-and-white warrior eyed her with anger and rebellion in his eyes. But in silence, he flipped on his fins and flew back to the coral-testing group.
Xarin ordered the two warriors, “You are not to speak of fins to anyone. Understood?”
Their eyes widened, but both nodded curtly.
“And you will not leave Sacred Bride Harmony alone with First Lieutenant Tibe.”