Sea Spell (Waterfire Saga #4)(9)

Play the board, not the piece. Harass the opposition with clever, far-thinking moves. Stay out of check. Sera knew all this, but knowing it and doing it were two different things. She stopped rubbing her head; it wasn’t helping. She knew why the headaches were happening. Every time she thought about sending her troops into battle—whether it was in Cerulea or the Southern Sea—an image came back to her: the image of her hand after she’d met with the N?kki, covered in blood.

“I knew you’d be awake,” said a voice, dispelling Sera’s painful vision. “This isn’t good. It’s nearly two a.m. You need to sleep.”

It was Ling, floating in the cave’s entrance. Sera gave her a tired smile. “Worry has a way of keeping you up.”

“Let me guess…Vallerio,” Ling said, joining Sera at the table.

Sera nodded. “He’s attacked us six times now. Each time, he’s known exactly where my fighters would be and when they’d be there, thanks to his spy. He’s bleeding us to death, Ling, and I’m letting him. I’m letting him steal our supplies and slaughter my soldiers. Because I don’t know how to find his spy. I don’t know how to stop him. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Don’t talk that way. Don’t even think that way, or Vallerio will win,” Ling scolded. “You need to keep believing in yourself, Sera. You need to keep faith.”

Sera laughed bitterly. “How, Ling? How do I keep faith? I’m starting to doubt every decision I make.”

“That’s okay,” Ling said. “That’s how it works.”

Sera gave her a skeptical look. “It is?”

“Yes, doubt isn’t the enemy of faith; certainty is. It’s easy to believe in yourself when you’ve got every reason to. Faith is believing in yourself when you’ve got every reason not to.” Ling reached across the table and covered Sera’s hand with her own. “You can do this.”

“It only gets harder, not easier. You don’t know what it’s like. To rule, to be responsible for so many lives…”

“You’re right, I don’t. But I know you.”

A lump rose in Sera’s throat. She squeezed Ling’s hand, feeling lucky to have her for a friend. “Thank you for listening,” she said. “You’re always there when I need you.”

Ling squeezed back. “And I always will be,” she said, releasing Sera’s hand. “But now I need you to listen. I have an idea. That’s why I’m here. I’ve come up with a way to catch the spy.”

Sera’s eyes widened. “What is it?”

“A ruse. A pretty big one. To pull it off, I need to borrow Sycorax’s puzzle ball.”

Sera blinked, speechless. When she found her voice again, she said, “Ling, have you lost your freaking mind?”

“No, I haven’t. I need the puzzle ball, Sera,” Ling insisted.

“Ling, it’s a talisman. A gift from a god. It’s priceless and powerful and my uncle, and Orfeo, they’ve killed thousands trying to get it. They don’t know we have it. Only our inner circle knows. If the spy ever found out—”

“The spy has to find out.”

“What?” Sera said, convinced now that Ling had definitely lost her mind.

“Try as we might, we haven’t been able to reveal the spy,” said Ling. “So I’m going to get the spy to reveal himself.”

Sera shook her head. “No way,” she said. “I can’t let you take the puzzle ball. It’s too risky.”

Ling leaned forward. “A moment ago, you said Vallerio’s bleeding us to death. He’s doing more than that. He’s circling for the kill.”

Ling’s words struck Sera with the force of a gale wind. They were rough, and terrifying. Worse yet, they were true. She decided to hear her friend out.

“What, exactly, would you do with the puzzle ball?” she asked.

“Start a rumor,” Ling replied. “Sycorax was Atlantis’s chief justice, right?”

Sera nodded.

“I’m going to let it get out that we’ve got the puzzle ball, and there’s something inside it that Sycorax used to help her tell the innocent from the guilty.”

“But you don’t know what’s inside it,” Sera said, confused. “Nobody does. Because the puzzle hasn’t been solved. You only believe there’s something inside it.”

“It doesn’t matter what I believe,” Ling said impatiently. “Don’t you see? All that matters is what the spy believes.”

Understanding dawned on Sera. “I think I see where you’re going with this,” she said, her fins prickling with excitement.

Ling sat forward in her chair. “I’m an omnivoxa,” she said, her eyes sparking with intensity. “My gift is communication. But sometimes, to really communicate, it’s necessary to listen instead of talk. What I’m listening for now is the voice of one who’s hurting.”

“Go on,” Sera said, trying to follow where Ling was leading.

“Pain needs to speak,” Ling continued. “It needs to be heard. If it isn’t let out, it grows inside, pushing out everything bright and good until it’s the only thing left. I know this, Sera. It happened to my mother. She was hurting so badly after my dad disappeared, she turned away from everyone, including me.”