Death Beyond the Waves

by Aleera Anaya Ceres

  It’s what made slipping in and out of the palace without being seen so easy.

  I pulled the hood of the cloak onto my head and slipped out of the cove and onto the streets of Eramaea.

  ~~

  THE SECRETS of Eramaean streets were no easy thing. At least, it hadn’t been at first. As I couldn’t afford any errors, I spent days, weeks, observing until my eyes hurt. Until I found the perfect angles of shadows and darkness, whispers and secrets, and followed it.

  Maisie told me that her precious Elias, who I knew as the Black Blade, was scourging orphanages in search of any trace of me, any trace of her.

  Since I’d gone through the exact same route and had turned up entirely empty, I knew where he would be. After all, my vast city had only two orphanages, and he’d likely already searched them. And if I knew the Black Blade, which I did in rumored whisperings, I knew he had connections. Likely, he’d try using them, calling in favors to discover all he could about every single orphanage in Thalassar.

  He was nothing if not thorough, from what I’d gathered.

  I also gathered, from the way that my cousin spoke of him, that she was in love. It’d been so obvious, from the way her fingers fluttered to grasp at the ring between her breasts. A ring made up of the same stuff as the Black Blade’s legendary weapon, the color of obsidian, sharper than steel. Very few blades of that make existed.

  Apparently, a ring did too.

  I was huddled into a corner in a tavern of ill repute. Not the Siren’s Song, but one as equally disgusting, if not more. The ambiance was deader than a funeral. I’d seen more light in the soulless eyes of my step-mother than at this place.

  And the stench was disgusting, too.

  It smelled rotten, mossy. Like something dead was decaying in the crumbling wooden and coral walls. I bit back the bile rising in my throat. Ugh, why had I sought out to do this in the first place? Hunting down a criminal to my crown to bring him back to my cousin. And all for what? To prove I wasn’t as worthless as she thought me to be? Well, if this was what it would take for her to trust me, I should have just stayed at home. The stench of ferment and depravity was hardly worth it.

  Who knew what kind of diseases lurked through these waters, what kind of ailments these disgusting mer brought with them.

  I didn’t want to wait too long to catch anything.

  Thankfully, I didn’t have to. The criminal I had my sights set on this whole time got up from a far away table. He was dressed all in black, and traveled with no cloak, so his exposed face was easily recognizable. His black hair swept over dark skin, black eyes shining as fierce and threateningly as the blade hanging from his hip. I was too far away for my staring to be noticed, but as I narrowed my eyes, I could make out a thin, pink scar along his cheek.

  He swam with purpose in his stroke, a king of criminals, confident in his rule.

  The Black Blade.

  I got up and followed him out on silentious fins.

  The trick to stalking was staying at a far enough distance that you wouldn’t be recognized, but close enough to follow. I prided myself in my self-taught abilities of stealth. My eyes never once strayed from him as he swam through the near desolate waters of this part of Eramea, the home of criminals and their place of business.

  His back was to me, and his confident swagger unmistakable. So I knew the moment he suddenly disappeared, right before my eyes.

  My body came to a stop as I looked around, but found no sight of him. It was as if he’d somehow become the shadows and slipped away from me. But that wasn’t possible.

  I swam faster; closing in on the space I’d last glimpsed him at. The moment I stepped fin in the spot, I felt a grip on my arm. I was suddenly hauled away from the street and pulled into shadows and darkness.

  I did not scream.

  It would go ignored here.

  I started to struggle and was whipped around, my back colliding into a wall. I gasped for breath, but didn’t let the pain stop me from whipping out my sword, brandishing it in front of me, the tip pointing at the feral white grin of the Black Blade.

  “Hello, Princess,” he purred.

  I thrust the sword forward in warning, but he slid back, pushing the side of my blade away with his hand. He was too confident for his own good, with all the arrogance of a shark, and all the brain of a blob of dirt.

  “Want to tell me why you’re following me, Odele?”

  The inability to use my proper title infuriated me. How dare he, the sea scum? I was his superior. He should be groveling at my fins, instead of smiling like a sneaky little catfish.

  “You don’t seem surprised to see me,” I commented, fighting back breathlessness. This scum didn’t intimidate me. He hadn’t the first time I met him, either.

  “You’ve been stalking me since I was in the tavern, so no, I am not surprised.”

  I bit the inside of my cheek.

  He was observant, taking every inch of me in. A chuckle escaped his mouth. “I’m sorry, did you think you had me fooled?”

  Because I had, I didn’t reply to the question. I lifted my sword, and pressed the tip into his chest. He barely wavered.

  “Enough talking. You’re coming with me to the palace, criminal. Now.” My commands were usually followed by immediate obedience, but only mocking laughter followed this one.

  “Oh, I think not, Princess. You see, you have no power here.” He took a stroke back, away from the sharp point of my sword and slid his own out of its sheath. I listened to it slide, watched it glisten beneath phytoplankton glow.

  His blade was the same as my cousin’s, except the hilt of his was studded with rare, black diamonds instead of sapphires, the blade longer, heavier.

  “But I suppose, if you wish for me to accompany you, you’ll have to beat me in a duel first.”

  My heart thundered. A duel I could do. After all, I was the royal Princess of Thalassar. I’d been trained in fighting and strategy since my birth. There was no way this criminal could beat me at my own game.

  “Fine,” I conceded with a smile. “Loser owes the other an immediate favor.”

  “Deal,” he smiled.

  And then he struck.

  His move was fierce and strong, the blade arcing down from above, threatening to slice me in half. I blocked it, steel scraping obsidian and causing sparks to rain over us like dozens of tiny fallen stars. The Black Blade was strong; I’d give him credit for that. But he was also an amateur fighter. There was no refinement in him like there was in me. No perfect gliding movements, or hand held positions. He hadn’t been trained for this since birth like me.

  I pushed against him and twirled under the swing of his blade. Turning, I struck, and he struck back. Our blades met, clash for clash in an implacable sparring dance, where the strokes were mismatched and savage. We swung, ducked, pushed and pulled.

  I’d hardly call the Black Blade a formidable opponent. He was nothing but a street urchin, sea scum, criminal to my crown and my family.

  And I could easily disarm him.

  Growing tired of the games, I made my final move, smashing the hilt of my sword onto his face. He didn’t cry out, but he did wince, taken aback for a moment. That moment was all I needed. I slapped the side of my blade onto his wrist, and his hold on his weapon slipped. It clamored to the silt in a cloudy puff, and I hit my tail against his, sweeping it out from under him. He fell to the ground beside his blade.

  Triumph swelled within me. It had taken hardly a few breaths to knock him down, only a few to prove that I was better than this filthy criminal.

  I pointed my sword at him, a smile pulling my mouth. “You lost, scum. Now you have to come with me to the palace.”

  His chest rose and fell steadily, and he was using his elbows to prop himself up in the sand. His black eyes regarded me with a look I couldn’t quite decipher, but had no desire to do so. All I wanted was for him to uphold his end of the agreement and come with me to the blasted palace, so I could present him to Odalaea and sho
w her that I was as valuable as this scum, or her, or the captain.

  That I mattered.

  Because I did matter.

  “There’s just one problem, Odele,” the Black Blade said coolly. “I don’t play by palace rules.”

  In a move so fast, I could hardly see it, he kicked his tail up, hitting the hand holding the hilt of the sword so hard, it smacked onto my precious face. I cried out, and a moment later, my own tail slipped from under me, the sword was torn from my hand, and a heavy body hovered over mine in the silt.

  The Black Blade smiled down at me.

  “I win.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Elias

  PRINCESS ODELE squirmed beneath me, and the thrill of winning shot through the core of my bones. A thrill that was only heightened by the look of pure hatred in the depths of her brown-gold eyes.

  “Let go of me, scum. I am the Princess,” she commanded, her voice the perfect tone of entitlement and indignity. She pushed her body up against mine, her pathetic attempt to throw me off.

  I smiled down at her, hands gripping her wrists above her head. “Careful with how you move, Princess. Do not forget that I am a male, made of flesh and blood, and my moods are as sporadic as the ocean we inhabit.”

  She tensed at the lie, which was precisely what I’d wanted her to do.

  I took her in, in this moment of stillness, noting the differences and similarities between her and my little fish. Not that I needed to memorize them. With just a glance, I could tell who was who. And the moment I’d caught the glimpse of her in the tavern, I knew I was about to be greeted by the true Princess of Thalassar.

  Her eyes were the burning tones of copper, dark and light, dancing together. While Maisie’s were twin orbs of obsidian and violet, as dark and vast and secretive as an abyss. They tempted me.

  Odele’s did not.

  “I will order you only once more to get off of me,” she hissed between gritted teeth.

  I raised an amused brow. I could make out the spot on her forehead where the hilt of her blade had rammed into her skin. It was red, though would not leave a bruise. “I find it amusing that you think you can order me about. Like you said, I am a criminal, I am scum, so what should your orders be to me but empty words falling through the water? You are not, after all, my Princess.”

  My Princess was at the palace, pretending to be Odele. Suffering because of her. Looking for her.

  And here she was.

  “Your Princess is in the palace right now,” Odele breathed. “And she wishes to see you.”

  I smirked. “Does she now?”

  “Yes, now get off of me so I can take you to her!”

  My heart thumped in my chest, so rapidly I was sure she could feel it against her own. That pounding was likely the only hint that I felt anything at all. My face remained impassive, one eyebrow arched, the rest of my features calm.

  “How do I know you speak the truth?” She could be pulling me into a trap for all I knew. While I trusted Maisie to follow her to whatever ends, I did not trust Odele, nor would I ever.

  “You don’t,” she hissed, baring her teeth in a very un-Princess like manner that I smiled. It seemed even she could be ruffled. “But my cousin needs you right now, and you’ll go to her.”

  Cousin.

  A jolt swept through my body. Maisie, she was still talking about Maisie, but she said the word ‘cousin’ so surely, with so much confidence, that I smelled the truth on her breath, in her expression.

  Slowly, I eased away from her, keeping my eyes trained warily on her as she rubbed her wrists, as if my touch had pained her. She was looking at me with narrow eyes, perhaps wishing me dead on the spot. Even if she was a royal, there were just some things even they weren’t capable of.

  “You are a brute,” she snapped unkindly. “I’d have your head for this.” She gestured at her wrists, jerking them in my direction.

  I waved off her foolishness and got up, picking up my blade and sheathing it. She stared up at me from the silt with expectant eyes.

  I sneered. “If you’re expecting me to help you up, you’ll be waiting for an eternity.”

  I could make out the flush of her face, and anger pulled tightly at her features. Obviously embarrassed, she got up, muttering nonsense that sounded like curses, and dusted off the back of her dress.

  “You’re despicable.”

  I smiled and gave her a mocking bow. “I never claimed otherwise.”

  She scoffed and retrieved her own sword. “So?” she demanded impatiently. “Shall we go? I don’t have time to hang around in a disgusting alley all day. My cousin needs us.”

  And I needed her like a dull ache in my chest that wouldn’t cease. Since the moment I’d left her side, I missed her terribly. Like a part of me was missing. But I’d gone away for her, to find out the truth. And now I was being called back to her side. Perhaps I was a fool, at her beck and call, doing her bidding, doing everything she asked of me. But where my pride was concerned, it didn’t matter.

  For Maisie, I would shatter the world and rebuild it anew if she so wished.

  So I smiled at Princess Odele, and waved a hand with flourish. “Lead the way.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Maisie

  I LAY AGAINST the cushions of the bed—Odele’s bed—feeling miserable, and entirely too alone. First, I’d practically exiled Prince Kai for having the audacity to plan a wedding without consulting me, and then I’d yelled at the Princess in her own room. Captain Saber hadn’t come looking for me, and was perhaps still with the Queen, and Elias was gone, searching for Odele when she’d been at the palace the whole time.

  My life was falling to tatters.

  And I only had myself to blame.

  If I’d just gotten here and done what I was told, if I’d just shut up, kept my head down and pretended to be Odele in every way, then my world wouldn’t have been in upheaval.

  Perhaps the truth would have found its way to me eventually. Eventually, I would have discovered who I truly was, that I came from two royal families, and two powerful kingdoms. But would have I accepted it? Did I accept it?

  I wanted nothing more than a mother, a father. Two things that seemed entirely too impossible had become even more so in but an instant. Having royal parents seemed an even more unattainable thing than wanting parents who were just un-dead.

  If King Dorian knew whom he’d waged war for, would he regret it? Would he take one look at me and decide I was better off a figment of his imagination? Would he look at my fin with disgust and mourn the daughter he wished I were? Would he rage upon looking at me and see that I was the reason his wife had been killed?

  I could not accept it.

  Some secrets were better off buried.

  My throat tightened painfully. I tried to swallow past it, but my body was unresponsive. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream.

  I wanted this to be over.

  “Cousin…”

  I jolted up in bed and turned to the tapestry. I had been so lost in my thoughts, that I hadn’t noticed the sound of stone scraping away. Odele was holding the tapestry aside, and looking at me with uncertainty. Around her shoulders there was a dark cloak of poor make, and a sword at her hip.

  “You went out,” I whispered, in a voice that was surprisingly steady. Odele looked uncomfortable for a moment. I noticed her forehead was red. As if she’d been hit. “Are you okay?”

  She waved off my concern with a flick of her fingers. “I know you think I can’t do anything right,” she said. Guilt shamed me. Even if what I said had been true, it hadn’t been the way to say it. “But I hope this makes up for it.” She moved aside to reveal a merman behind her. A merman I knew and recognized as if he were the very beating of my heart.

  “Elias…”

  The tears swelled from my eyes then and I cried, stifling my sobs by slapping my hands against my mouth. In all the world, if there was one mer who understood me, it was Elias. If there was someone out there who would un
derstand, it was he.

  Seeing him before me could almost make me forget how angry I was with him for showcasing me in front of Captain Saber like a slab of meat for a hungry shark.

  Almost.

  “You tadpole!” I shouted, grabbing a pillow and hurtling it at him.

  He dodged, and the smirk he gave was familiar, almost comforting. “Hey, little fish. Nice outfit.”

  My face flushed profusely. I’d almost forgotten what I was wearing. Now that he’d seen me in it, he wouldn’t let me hear the end of it, I was sure.

  Odele looked between the two of us. “I’m confused. Are you two lovers or not?”

  “You embarrassed me in front of Captain Saber and then just left!” I accused, ignoring the Princess.

  Elias rolled his eyes. “I left because you asked me to.”

  “But you didn’t even apologize for acting like a total barnacle!”

  Odele sighed, a lengthy and annoyed sound. “Ooookay…” She swam deeper into the room. “You two obviously need to have a very private and personal talk. I’m just gonna…” She slipped into her swim-in closet and closed the doors behind her.

  Elias didn’t spare her a glance, but did swim into the room to sit across from me on the bed. “Little fish…” His hand reached out to cradle my face.

  I pushed him away angrily. “Don’t touch me.”

  He masked the flash of hurt by arching a dark brow. “What’s got your fins flaring?” he asked humorlessly.

  My fingers went, almost involuntarily, to the ring settled warmly between my breasts. His eyes flickered to the ornament then back to my face, assessing, calculating, and gauging my secrets with the depths of his eyes.

  “Don’t do that,” I whispered, closing my eyes as if in pain.

  “Don’t do what?”

  “That,” I accused, opening them again to glare at him. “Look at me like you can pull out all of my secrets with your inquiring gaze.”