The Deepest Blue(68)
“Most people would consider that a good thing.”
“When the Silent Ones came with an heir at the end of the month, I was ready to leave. I was the only one who had survived, and I was about to present myself. But then I heard her talking: the heir, saying to the Silent Ones that the queen would have to end the tests if there were no new heirs. She’d have to find a different way. A less cruel way. And I knew I couldn’t show myself. If I did, the tests would never end. And others would have to go through what we went through. But then your group arrived. And I knew one failed test hadn’t been enough. Everyone needed to die again. Then the queen would have to end this! If Belene has no more new heirs, she has to find another way to train spirit sisters. I thought if no one survived for a second time, it would be considered too costly to continue the tests. These deaths, your deaths, could put an end to all future deaths on this forsaken island.”
“So you decided to help the spirits murder us? That was your solution?”
“Sacrifice! Not murder! Your deaths would have served the greater good. It’s what we’ve always been told anyway, right? Believe me, this was not something I did lightly.”
“And I thought I had bad ideas.” Mayara tried to keep her tone light, but she didn’t release her grip on the glass knife. Lanei had not only set snares, but she’d set an overwhelming number of them, nearly every other tree. That wasn’t the sign of someone who was thinking rationally. “Here’s a better idea: How about we work together to survive the month, and then find a way to end the tests?”
Lanei shook her head sadly. “It will never work. If any of you last the month, the queen will think the test is fine. It will continue.”
A thought hit Mayara then. “Maybe there’s another way to convince the queen.” Other than our gory deaths. “I’d like to introduce you to one of my friends. Her name’s Roe, and she’s the queen’s daughter.”
“What? That makes no sense. She sent her own daughter to be tested? Our queen is more depraved than I could have imagined—”
Mayara interrupted. “She doesn’t know her daughter is here. This island isn’t the only place our traditions aren’t what they seem. And once Roe survives the month, she’ll have the queen’s ear. She can talk with her mother—heir to queen—and convince her to end the tests.”
Lanei shook her head. “I wish I could have faith it would work. . . .”
“Can you be certain your idea will work? It didn’t last time. So come meet her,” Mayara said. Meet the people you’re trying to murder. If she saw them face-to-face, talked with them, then maybe it wouldn’t be so easy to think of them as disposable. And if Roe could convince Lanei there was another way, they could all work together to survive this place.
Lanei looked as if she wanted to refuse.
“At least talk with her,” Mayara pleaded. “If we can’t convince you our way is possible, then you can go back to trying to kill us.”
She added silently, And we’ll stop you.
THEY MET IN THE CAVE WITH THE LAKE, FIRST ENSURING THERE WERE no spirits nearby. Mayara drew the line at bringing Lanei to their home cave. It would have made it far too easy for Lanei to summon spirits to attack them while they slept. Perched on a rock, Mayara listened while Lanei explained her vision to Roe and Palia.
“It has to end!” Lanei declared.
She’s passionate, Mayara thought. You have to give her that.
“Far too many women have died,” Lanei said. “And too many others live in fear of exposing their power, when they could be using it to keep the islands safe!”
“You’re not the first person to have thought that,” Palia said. She was looking a little better, Mayara thought. Not well, exactly, but out of immediate danger. “Every family with a girl who shows power feels that way.”
“Exactly why extreme measures are necessary! Everyone has accepted this ‘tradition’ for far too long, despite knowing it’s wrong. We need to remove all benefit from it and expose it for the horror it is. Force the queen to admit that a change must be made.”
“So you’ve planned a dramatic murder-suicide?” Roe’s tone was cheerful, as if they were discussing the weather, and Mayara admired how completely she rejected Lanei’s speech with a single perky question. She was obviously not persuaded by Lanei’s passion.
“I’ll kill as many as it takes, until no one is sent to die anymore.”
“How noble of you.” Roe turned to Mayara and said conversationally, “Just so we’re clear, if she calls to the spirits to end it all now, we’ll push her into the lake, right?”
“Or hit her with a large rock,” Mayara agreed. She wasn’t able to match Roe’s cheerful tone. Truthfully, this entire conversation unnerved her. She’d never met anyone who talked so eagerly about murder. It made her skin crawl.
Palia held up her hand. “No threats. She came to us to talk, didn’t she? Lanei is right—too many of us have had to live in fear, both for ourselves and our loved ones.”
“But her methods!” Roe burst out. “You can’t seriously be listening to this?”
“Don’t you want the tests to end?” Palia countered.
“Of course!” Roe said. “But this isn’t the way! If you wanted the heirs to think the test failed, you could have just brought all of us down to the caves and hidden us. Make them think we all died. Instead of trying to kill us!”