The Deepest Blue(110)

“You trained us well enough in three days to survive the island,” Roe said. “Imagine what you could do if you had a year to train spirit sisters. Or longer. With me fighting alongside the heirs, you can take the time to train new spirit sisters properly. All we ask is that when your students graduate, they are as ready and capable as you and the other heirs.”

“And that they’re alive,” Mayara put in.

“Do you accept?” Roe asked.

Heir Sorka looked as if they’d handed her the moon. “Yes, I accept.”

Good, Mayara thought. That was the first step. She hadn’t thought Sorka would refuse, but there was always a risk. Stepping forward, Mayara said the next part of their planned speech. “If choosing to become an heir becomes less dangerous and therefore more appealing, then that also means that becoming a Silent One doesn’t need to be such a terrible option.”

“You must still be Belene’s enforcers,” Roe said, jumping in. “We need you. There’s no question about that. In fact, I need you to watch the ruling Families especially carefully. Despite their pledges, I don’t trust them. We need to ensure they make decisions for the good of the people.”

“To clarify, we want to ensure that they don’t decide life would be better if they murdered the new queens and went back to the old ways,” Garnah said. She twirled a pouch on one finger—Mayara wondered if it held poison. Probably, she thought.

Roe continued. “I need you to wear your masks and keep your silence while you serve—the islands aren’t ready for so much change in our ways. But during the times when you are not on duty . . . Being a Silent One shouldn’t be a punishment for those who didn’t want to die on Akena Island. To that end, I am changing the law for the Silent Ones. I want your loyalty. And I do not want it out of fear. I want it out of gratitude. I know you have served out of threat to your families’ lives and well-being. That ends now. From now on, you will reclaim your names, your voices, and your families. You will have the opportunity to join Heir Sorka’s school and even reconsider your choice, if you wish—and in exchange, you will serve the queen of Belene. I ask you to pledge your loyalty to me.”

One after another, the Silent Ones lifted their masks and pledged loyalty to the queen.

The first to raise her mask was Elorna.

ANNOUNCEMENTS WERE ISSUED AND SENT TO ALL THE ISLANDS.

Akena Island was no more.

The test was over.

Spirit sisters still had to come forward or risk being charged with treason, but instead of facing death, they would be trained to live. All of them. Those who wished to and those who showed the aptitude for it would serve as heirs, fighting alongside the queen of Belene. Those who preferred not to fight the wild spirits would don the masks of the Silent Ones but keep their names and their families in exchange for their willing service.

Tradition would not be destroyed. But it would change. Not because there was a new queen of Belene, though she was instrumental in implementing the altered laws. But because there was now a queen of the Deepest Blue.

It was the combination of Mayara and Roe that made change possible.

And the two queens made sure everyone knew it.





Chapter Twenty-Nine

The funeral for Queen Asana was simple. With so many of the islands still in ruins, Queen Rokalara ruled that an elaborate spectacle was not appropriate. And as she’d told Mayara, she didn’t believe her mother would have wanted that anyway.

Mayara wore her uncomfortable crown, though, and told no one that a leviathan was awake and watching the ceremony through her eyes. She couldn’t have explained why she was allowing the dragon to inhabit her mind instead of forcing him to sleep.

They wouldn’t have understood if she’d said he was lonely.

I do not understand such sadness for a life that was destined to be short anyway, the dragon said.

You know what it means to lose and to mourn. Don’t pretend you’re so superior that you’re beyond grief. I have a city in ruins that says otherwise.

She felt the dragon flinch. If you expect me to apologize . . . I do not apologize to humans. I destroy them.

Across the street, the Silent Ones carried a casket. There were no bells, no voices, no sound from the watching people. They stood along the sides of the wrecked buildings, in the muck that still remained from the flooding, and watched the procession. Many held hands. A few were crying quietly, into the shoulder of their neighbor, or openly, with tears streaming down their cheeks unhindered.

You dream a lot about destroying then rebuilding. . . . What if you skip the destroying part and just build? Mayara suggested. Not right here. This part of the sea is already occupied. But there’s a lot of ocean out there. What if you made some new lands?

This time, she felt the dragon’s surprise. And she thought a bit of his curiosity. They’d been so focused on what they lost that the leviathans had never considered they could build anew.

Think about it, okay? If you’re tired of sleeping, there are other options besides raining death and destruction down on your neighbors.

The dragon felt like a swirl of confusion.

Build, she ordered him. Then added: When you’re ready.

He withdrew, but she could still feel him watching and thinking. It was a start, at least.

Standing beside her friend, Mayara watched as the procession led to the steps of the palace. Then she began to softly sing the mourner’s lament. Around her, other voices joined in. Roe sang loudest, her voice breaking over the words.