by Starla Night
He nodded because that was the correct response. Of course she was right. Intellectually he knew this. In his soul, though, he was still confused.
“And if you don’t belong to any city then make your home me.”
His heart tripped.
“Make my home with you?” he repeated.
“That’s what I said.” She held his hand in both of hers and pressed his palm to her chest. “Home is right here. Wherever we go it’s together. You and me.”
A lump choked his throat.
He swallowed hard and stroked her peaceful cheek. “Then I will not leave it. You.”
Her soul burned even brighter. “That’s right. Together.”
Lady swooshed through in a panic, stirring the mantis shrimp to a click click click warning.
“Lady?” Harmony rose. Her fins extended. “What’s wrong?”
The house guardian flew around her with arms extended as though ready to beat on an enemy.
Danger.
“Retract your fins,” he ordered, and Harmony did so. He’d thought they had more time. Where was his trident? There, across the meadow—
The teal-and-white warrior, Kusi, darted into the clearing and cut Faier off. His trident slashed.
Faier reversed course.
Kusi followed, slashing aggressively. Other warriors poured into the clearing. Chiba and Kusi together smashed him into the coral. They manacled Faier, yanked his limbs back, and bound him so he could barely breathe.
“Stop!” Harmony shrieked.
The mantis shrimp swarmed in alarm. Lady circled Harmony, arms out.
“Leave him alone. Or else!”
Tibe entered behind Harmony. “Do not listen to your female, rebel. Come at us. Fight.”
She jerked away from him. “Tibe? Get away from me.”
“You should have obeyed King Kayo.” Tibe floated too close to Harmony. “Now you will watch your male die in front of you.”
“No!” She lifted her hand to the mantis shrimp. The shrimp swirled around her open palm. She turned to unleash them on Tibe.
“You are immune?” Tibe watched her movements with shock and then fury. “No.” He dropped his trident and popped the dull handle into her belly.
She folded over with an oof. The mantis shrimp dissipated harmlessly.
Lady attacked.
Tibe swept the house guardian aside with the trident base and jabbed her with the sharp blade.
“No,” Harmony croaked. “Lady.”
The green house guardian evaded and puffed dangerously around Harmony, yowling in warning.
The warriors binding Faier had not noticed Tibe’s attack on Harmony.
Rage colored Faier’s gaze to deadly. “Do not injure a sacred bride!”
“Come at me.” Tibe lifted the point of his trident near Harmony’s neck. “Give me a reason to slip. Slash you all.”
The warriors brought Faier to Tibe. A knowing smile filled his sharp features, just like those “true sons” of Rusalka, who’d known they would not face any consequences. He gripped Faier’s index finger. “How well do you fight without hands?”
“Stop it,” Harmony begged weakly, shaking hard, her soul as black as when she had first screamed in fear and called him a monster.
Her fear and pain hurt him. “Harmony. Be str—argh!”
Tibe cracked his index finger past the breaking point.
Harmony cried. Her chest vibrated. “Please.”
“Speak again, and I will break the rest.” Tibe kicked past Harmony, leaving her behind.
Faier’s tortured fear eased.
The sharp mango warrior sneered at his relief. “Too bad you will not be alive to see, once your life is severed, how quickly she entwines her soul with my king.”
The other warriors dragged Faier through the hole they had drilled and out into the open ocean.
Tibe grinned sharply. “Are you grateful to escape your imprisonment? You should not be. The All-Council has arrived to bestow its judgment!”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Harmony’s stomach throbbed, hot and painful.
This was nothing. Lifet had kicked her harder. Tibe hadn’t ruptured an internal organ.
Probably.
She forced herself to unbend.
Faier’s life was in danger. She should have guessed Elder Bawa was lurking because he’d sighted the All-Council judges. King Kayo had made him promise to tell when they were sighted, but he hadn’t. She should’ve known to skip the sex and the tattooing and instead focus only on escape.
She should’ve known. But she hadn’t. So now she needed to act.
Harmony scooped up the trident. It was heavy, awkward, and weirdly balanced. If she lifted it, she banged into walls, and if she didn’t lift it, it dragged on the coral with a nerve-shredding shriek.
Lady curled her small tentacles around the heavy head and heaved, pulling Harmony through the twisting maze of coral.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
Lady’s free tentacles curled into fists.
Around them, mantis shrimp swarmed, mirroring the aggravation in Harmony’s heart. Her fins unfurled.
The jagged new entry hole swirled with fearful fish.
Above, Faier writhed. They dragged him into the center of the city. Warriors crowded the space. Most were from Aiycaya, but some were not.
His struggle tore into her soul. Her heart flopped like a fish in her empty chest. Her strength drained out the hole.
In Port-au-Prince, she’d sat on the harbor wall and watched boat after boat leaving. Day after day. Each one she’d imagined was heading back to America. They had left her behind, powerless and alone, each time.
Now, despite her work to reach King Kayo and the other warriors, they were taking Faier away from her.
Make them listen.
Anger swelled in the place where there had been weakness.
She would not lose Faier. She would not walk onto a plane without a fight. She would not.
“There she is!” Warrior Poro kicked hard toward her; Warrior Luin flew right behind. They had been waiting at the other entrance. “Are you hurt? Sacred Bride Harmony!”
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped.
Warrior Poro’s face fell.
“I told you,” Warrior Luin sniped.
Warrior Poro slowed. “I apologize, Sacred Bride. I—”
“That. I told you before I’m not a sacred bride. I’m just Harmony.”
They both protested.
“You will address me the way I ask.”
They dropped silent.
Her anger swelled to a new rainbow color. Iridescent. Clicking.
She kicked out of the new hole. Her fins unfurled and Warrior Poro, still smarting from her shortness, pointed them out. “The fins you do not have are showing.”
“Here.” She hauled the trident around and shoved the sharp tip at him.
He kicked back, shocked. “Sacred Br—er, Harmony! Do not be angry.”
“I’m not attacking you. Take the end.”
He touched the honed edge. “Sharp.”
“No, beneath the blades. I need to get up there,” she pointed at where Faier had disappeared in the center of the city, “as fast as possible. So you take that end, and Warrior Luin take that end, and I’ll grip the middle. Go fast.”
Warrior Luin gripped the dull end. He jolted and lifted one hand. A mantis shrimp crawled across his knuckles. He bit back a scream.
“Grip it,” she ordered, snapping him to attention. “Fly me to Faier. And don’t argue.”
Warrior Poro growled at him. “Luin.”
Warrior Luin hardened, mastering his fears. Deadly mantis shrimp buzzed around in a cloud, and her octopus flew. She gripped the trident in the center and kicked. The two warriors kicked hard. As a trio, they flew up the stalk into the center of the city.
Warriors crowded around the open area before the Life Tree. In their center, Faier writhed, suspended between Kusi and Chiba. Tibe
hung back, out of reach, a wary hand gripping his trident. Even though Faier was tied, Tibe considered him a threat.
An unfamiliar, distinguished older warrior judged Faier.
Behind the judge, dangerous-looking guards flanked him. The crowd of Aiycaya warriors made a respectful separation for a unit of the All-Council judge’s warriors. They carried shiny, reflective daggers and large, imposing tridents.
Well back from the judgment, King Kayo argued with his elders. His words were muffled, but his passionate disagreement was obvious.
Harmony slowed her approach and floated in the back.
The warriors in front of her barely noticed her arrival. The strange All-Council representative and his personal guard of dangerous-looking warriors consumed their attention.
“—and, Representative Rikoy, with this presentation of the notorious rebel Faier, you must accept our petition to woo females living on other sacred islands,” Elder Bawa was saying.
The distinguished Representative Rikoy threw back his haughty shoulders. “You have a sacred bride now.”
“Yes.” He harrumphed. “Now. But—”
“One sacred bride fulfills the ancient covenant. When her duty finishes, acquire another.”
“Yes, of course, honorable Representative Rikoy. That is very logical. However, we have found only one bride in twenty-nine human years—”
“Search harder.”
“—with King Kayo himself being our last young fry born of a sacred bride. His mother had told his father, then-Warlord Kamuy, that disaster had struck our sacred island, as I have explained in my petitions—”
“Mer must stay hidden.”
“Yes, but we must seek brides at a new island. We must. Or King Kayo will be the last young fry of Aiycaya.”
His words hit Harmony square between the eyes. She almost saw stars. “King Kayo was the last person born from a sacred bride?”
The nearest warriors looked back at her.
“Yes, Sacred—er, Harmony,” Warrior Poro murmured. “It is common knowledge.”
“But my mom was the last sacred bride.”
“Oh? I see.” But he didn’t, actually.
“I can’t be King Kayo’s sacred bride,” she pushed.
“Yes, you explained that you are no sacred bride below.” His aura dimmed with hurt again.
“But don’t you understand why?”
He stared at her blankly. So did Warrior Luin and the warriors closest enough to have heard her speak.
“Have you ever heard of siblings?” she demanded.
“No,” Warrior Poro said.
“Brothers? Sisters?”
“Ah. We have not had one in generations. Twin seeds. They are rare. Two young fries produced instead of one.”
The heck? “No, like an older brother and a younger brother. You know. The same parents having multiple children?”
They stared like she was crazy.
“You, there!” Representative Rikoy called out to their group. “Silence, rude ones. Warriors who disrespect the All-Council will taste our blades.”
His guard lofted their tridents and gave an intimidating shout.
Warlord Sao squinted in her direction as though noting who to discipline later. He saw her and blanked. He kicked forward and muttered to Tibe.
Tibe fixed on her with cold anger.
“Excuse me, Representative Rikoy.” Elder Bawa harrumphed again. “Back to our petition. We—”
“Denied.”
“But Representative Rikoy, we have captured this valuable rebel—”
“Useless.” Representative Rikoy motioned for his guards. One swam forward. “Rebel Faier is no good to us alive. The rebels refuse to negotiate. They do not assign him any value. Execute him.”
Her stomach dropped.
The guard aimed his gleaming trident for Faier’s abdomen.
Faier writhed in his tight bonds.
Elder Bawa kicked forward in protest. “But our petition!”
King Kayo’s voice cracked across the ocean, arresting everyone. “All-Council Representative Rikoy. You have forgotten your manners.”
The distinguished warrior twirled and looked down his nose at the king. “You believe you, the youngest king of the ocean, can quote mer law to me?”
Her anger built. The buzzing in her ears and on her skin increased.
The Aiycaya warriors growled low.
Tension filled the city with dark unease.
“Yes, my improper guest.” King Kayo kicked into the center between the All-Council guard and Faier. “I believe I, King of Aiycaya, captured this prisoner. We offered him to you as a courtesy. He is of no use to you? Then leave. He is of use to me.”
Oh, thank goodness. King Kayo had heard her after all. He was saving Faier.
Representative Rikoy laughed a deep, disturbing belly rumble. “Your youth is showing, small king. Do you truly believe you rule this city? No. The ancient covenant rules. Tradition rules. And I am the highest, most traditional representative. I rule.”
King Kayo showed his teeth. But his aura changed color. He did not trust the others would support his decisions. That was why he relied on Tibe. He was just like her.
Just. Like. Her.
Well, of course he was.
They were family.
King Kayo tried to recover. “You think to unseat a king inside his own city? With what army?”
“My army is a human day away.”
“But now, my army surrounds you.” King Kayo forced his cocky authority. “We will report your death to the All-Council. Perhaps they will accept our petition.”
“It would be tragic if Aiycaya’s king died without a successor. Again.” The representative turned his shoulder to the king and studied the restless warriors. “But I will select an appropriate replacement.”
His gaze slid across Xarin and lit on Tibe.
Elder Bawa kicked forward, hands shaking, chastised. “Representative Rikoy, do not be angry with King Kayo. He is young. We will teach him.”
“Some warriors cannot be taught.”
“Yes, but Representative Rikoy, please—”
“This city has been a colossal disappointment, Elder Bawa. There is no need for me to waste any more courtesy.”
“Representative Rikoy!”
The representative flicked his fingers at his guard. “Execute the rebel.”
His guard lowered his trident once more.
King Kayo snarled and kicked forward, his trident out, to stop the execution. But he was too far away.
No one would save Faier.
She had to act.
Harmony screamed. “No!”
Shing!
The Life Tree made a shattering sound, as if all its arms cracked off and the pearls exploded. The Aiycaya warriors spasmed with pain, as if someone had stabbed them in the heart. A shock wave pushed the foreign warriors out a few lengths.
Representative Rikoy’s guards surrounded him, tridents out, defending against their invisible attacker.
She yanked her trident from Poro’s and Luin’s lax hands and kicked through the twisting Aiycaya warriors.
Tibe recovered first. He floated between her and Faier. “Sacred Bride Harmony. I should have—”
“Fins!” a warrior exclaimed through a groan. “She has fins!”
Harmony kicked her fins. They were about to see a lot more.
“A queen!” Representative Rikoy scrambled away from her, shoving his guards before him. “Get her away from me! Guards!”
They formed a wall of tridents separating her from the representative.
“She is a queen?” Tibe eyed the representative with disgust. “Coward.” He focused on Harmony again. “Her power is a mild irritation. The giant hagfish wields a more deadly shriek.”
“Get out of my way,” Harmony demanded.
“You have no place here. Go in King Kayo’s castle and gestate his young fry.”
“Ick. No.” She clenched Faier’s trident to keep it
from slipping. The metal bobbed and wove in her untrained hands. “But since we’re calling each other out, you’re supposed to obey King Kayo’s orders, not lie.”
A vein stood out on the first lieutenant’s forehead. “Do not embarrass King Kayo in front of his warriors.”
“You’re the embarrassment,” she shot back. “He attacked while you watched. Are you going to sit around while a stranger replaces your king? Where’s your loyalty?”
King Kayo held her gaze for a long moment. His aura fluctuated bright to dark. He wanted to thank her, protect her, and deny her.
Tibe’s feelings were less complicated.
He growled. “Go on now, Sacred Bride, before I do something dangerous.”
“Attack me, and you’ll regret it.”
The vein throbbed. But his tone was cool as he tightened his grip on his trident. “Perhaps I will surprise you.”
“Perhaps I’ll surprise you. All of you.” She addressed the panicked All-Council representative. “I’m the last descendant of their sacred brides. Understand? You should approve Elder Bawa’s petition. I can tell you where they’ve gone.”
“Do not speak to me, queen scum,” Representative Rikoy spat.
“She is no queen,” Elder Bawa protested. “She is an impostor sent to sow confusion.”
“Actually, Elder Bawa, my being here is your fault. You sent King Kayo to the surface. He found me. But I’m not King Kayo’s sacred bride. We’re not even married.”
Shock ricocheted through the warriors. Mutterings and outcries followed. Accusations.
In the center of the storm, Faier’s aura glowed calmly. He stopped struggling and, through the bindings that immobilized every part of him, smiled. He was proud of her. He believed in her. He was in her corner.
He was the only one.
“Get rid of her.” Representative Rikoy curled his lip. “She is a sea snake at your breast. Elder Bawa, you have turned Aiycaya into a rebel city.”
The elder blanched. “No, representative. She does not know what she says.”
“I know exactly what I’m saying.”
“We are traditional,” Elder Bawa insisted.
“Look at her rudeness. Her confidence. She is a rebel queen.”
“The king indulges her. He will do so no longer.” Elder Bawa motioned imperiously to King Kayo.
And King Kayo kicked toward her. “Go to the castle, Harmony.”