The Deepest Blue(99)

She wondered if she was strong enough to summon an air spirit to catch herself. She’d never tried such a thing. Maybe she wouldn’t feel so intimidated if she’d used her time on the island to learn how to use her power like she was supposed to have.

But I’m not here to fight Lanei.

The courtier halted and gestured to a doorway. It was blocked by a gossamer fabric. Pushing it aside, Mayara entered. She was in a round room with arched windows all around. This had to be the top of the palace.

The sea was visible in all directions.

Lanei stood by one of the windows.

Queen Lanei, Mayara corrected herself.

She was dressed in white silk, and she wore a crown of shells. Mayara tried to think of what to say, but all she could do was suck in air and try to shake the dizzy feeling of climbing too many steps on too little sleep.

“I think I hate the water,” Lanei said. “Unfortunate for the queen of an island nation.”

“Lanei . . .” Mayara began.

“Queen Lanei.” Lanei then turned to her and smiled. “But you can, of course, call me Lanei. Without you, I wouldn’t be here. You gave me the way to make this happen. Because of you, I can fix everything that’s wrong on our islands. So I owe you a debt of gratitude.”

“You aren’t going to kill me?”

Lanei laughed. “What you must think of me! No. Of course not. Why would I?”

“Because I know what you did.” She was talking without thinking again, she knew. It might have been smarter to dissemble or plead or flat-out lie, but it was too late now.

“I became queen, that’s what I did,” Lanei said. “And everyone will forgive the rest, because they want to live. Renthians need queens. You don’t replace them lightly.”

There was so much wrong in everything she said. She had replaced a queen, and it sounded as if she were threatening the country. “Lanei, there’s something you don’t know about the Deepest Blue. Queen Asana told us before she died—the way to keep the leviathans asleep. Have you spoken to any of the heirs? It’s something they’re taught after they survive the island.”

“I know all about the Deepest Blue,” Lanei said, with a dismissive wave. “It’s a lie. Used to limit the queen’s power and to control people, by keeping them afraid.”

“What? No—you’re wrong.” She’d heard the fear in Queen Asana’s voice. The dying queen had used her last moments to warn them and to send her daughter with her warning. She wouldn’t have done that if it weren’t true. “Everyone knows—”

“Do they? Have you ever met anyone who has seen a leviathan?”

“The bones of our islands—”

“—are just that. Bones. The leviathans are gone, long ago.”

She’d heard the tales and the songs. She’d grown up knowing what every Renthian knew: that the queens of Belene protected everyone from the monsters of the deep. This was why the heirs were needed, because the queen had a greater duty. It was dangerous lunacy to believe that a danger wasn’t real just because you hadn’t seen it for yourself. “But the queens—”

“Oh, innocent Mayara, there are no monstrous spirits to threaten our people. All the monsters are within. The Families. They are the ones whose power needs to be subdued and contained. I am going to create a new way forward by dismantling the ways things have always been done. It’s the dawn of a new age.”

“The Deepest Blue is real,” Mayara said. “Queen Asana—”

“Lived in fear. Afraid of the Families. Afraid of her power. Afraid of myths. Bound by tradition.”

“She was very specific about how to get them to sleep,” Mayara said. “You have to convince them that the world hasn’t changed, that humans don’t exist. Lull them into dreams of the world before the Great Mother died, when there were only spirits. And they’ll be content. And you can find them by following the trail of their dreams. Can you at least try? Please? Just to be sure.”

“I’m not putting myself in a trance and making myself vulnerable to you,” Lanei said with a light laugh. “I assume you have poison in your pocket that’s meant for me? I was told you came with Queen Asana’s daughter and her favorite poison-maker.”

Mayara’s hand went to her pocket. Should she deny it? Say she didn’t plan to use it? Tell Lanei that she despised what she did but knew Belene needed a queen, even one as broken as she was. “Check for the monsters. I’ll leave the room. You’ll be safe.”

“There are no monsters. You can either trust me or not.”

“I can’t trust you. Your brilliant plan was to kill us all!”

“But I’m letting you live now. I’m giving you what you want. Freedom. You don’t need to be a spirit sister anymore. You never wanted to be. I know you never wanted to use your power, never bothered to learn how. You can go home. So can Roe. And that poison-maker, whoever she is, is free as well. You’ll be happy to know that your surviving spirit sisters—a grateful two survived—as well as any Silent Ones left on Akena have been evacuated from the island already. The test will be canceled, and future heirs will be drawn from spirit sisters who are willing—with the understanding that the only danger of death will come from the spirits themselves. No more Akena Island. In fact, I’m thinking of destroying it. It’s only made of bone, you know, and riddled with holes. Get enough spirits into those holes, and the whole island could be torn apart. Don’t you like that idea?”