The Deepest Blue(101)

“Tell that to them,” Sorka snapped.

“Try to get them back to sleep,” Roe urged. “You need to convince them their dreams are real—that they’re still living in a time before humans. That’s what my mother said.”

“She’s right,” Sorka said. “You would have been taught this, if you’d bothered to obey the law and become a proper heir. They must be kept in a state of perpetual sleep. Otherwise, they’ll destroy the islands. And when they’re done with Belene, they will move on to the rest of Renthia. This is the purpose of our queen! This is what you agreed to when you bonded with the spirits of Belene. You must use the power the island spirits gave you in order to keep the monsters at bay. Like every queen who came before you.”

“I was supposed to be different from every queen that came before!” Lanei cried. In the distance, her spirits were still gleefully dismantling the Island of Testing. It had been swallowed in a swirl of smoke, steam, and water.

“If you are, we all die,” Sorka said. “Do your job, Your Majesty, and put them back to sleep! Now!”

Staring north, Mayara saw what looked like a surge of sea coming toward the city. The leviathans had circled the island and were rapidly approaching Yena. “They look very awake.” She wanted to run and dive into the ocean and swim as far away from all of this as possible, all the way home to Kelo.

Closing her eyes, Lanei focused her attention.

Mayara felt the Belenian spirits shift their attention from Akena Island toward the other islands. The spirits were still hungry. They wanted to destroy more. Stop, she thought at them. Calm! Rest!

There was no sign that any of them heard her.

“Keep them at Akena,” Sorka ordered.

Stay, Mayara thought. Tear it to nothingness.

They liked that.

She didn’t know what would happen when every shred of the island was gone. Stay. Destroy where you are. She glanced back toward the leviathans.

A wall of water was moving toward the island. “Is that . . . ?”

“Tsunami!” Roe cried.

“You have to stop them!” Sorka begged. “They’ll drown the city!”

Lanei was on her knees. Sweat poured down her face. “They aren’t listening to me!”

“Lullaby,” Mayara said. “It has to be like a lullaby. Soothe them back to sleep.” They did not look soothed or like any creature who could ever be soothed. There were three: a dragon as black as char, a kraken with tentacles that looked as if they could pull down the moon, and a snake with more heads than she could count. They rode the waves, so high above the sea that they looked as if they would swallow the whole ocean and all the islands.

“Your Majesty, they’re coming closer!” Sorka called.

“She can’t do it,” Garnah said.

“If she can’t, no one can,” Sorka said. “She’s the queen.”

“She’s a bad queen,” Garnah insisted. “Her own ambitions cloud her focus. She’s too much like them. Too much rage and ambition.”

Mayara wondered if Garnah was right. But there was no other choice. Lanei was the queen now, for better or worse, and she had to be the one to face down these monsters. Mayara knelt by Lanei’s side. “You can do this. I know you can. You’re strong! You lived on that island alone for an entire year. You evaded all the Silent Ones. Stayed alive despite all the spirits. And you did all that before you had the power of a queen! Use your power.”

“I am! They won’t listen!” Lanei spat out the words. There was blood on the corners of her lips, as if she’d bitten her cheek or tongue. Her hands were curled into fists, and Mayara saw blood weeping from her palms where her nails had dug into her flesh.

Still the tsunami came closer.

“The bells should be ringing,” Sorka said. “I’ll alert the guards and rally the heirs. They’ll need to be ready to fight.” She strode toward the door of the tower.

“The Silent Ones too,” Mayara called after her. “They can help!”

“That’s not their function,” Sorka said.

“They’ll do it if the choice is this or death.” Mayara was certain of that. They’d chosen to become Silent Ones out of fear of death. “Tell them Mayara says they have to choose between death and life. It’s time to fight for their families.”

“They know who you are?” Roe asked.

One does, Mayara thought. And if they could reach one, she didn’t doubt that Elorna could persuade at least some of her “silent sisters” to fight too. At the very least she’d know the message came from a trusted source. “It might help.”

“Heir Sorka, can you pass along Mayara’s message through the spirits to the Silent Ones?” Roe asked.

“Yes, but—”

“Do it,” Roe commanded. “Send the message to the Silent Ones, rally the other heirs to control the Belenian spirits, and order the guards to sound the alarm to evacuate the city.”

Sorka ran out of the tower room, shouting for guards. Out the window, the leviathans were approaching. Mayara didn’t know what more she could do. She wasn’t powerful enough to even think of stopping them.

“They won’t sleep!” Lanei cried. “We’re going to have to fight them.” She then turned her attention to the spirits on the island. “We’ll use the spirits.”