To Kill a Kingdom(46)

I consider telling her about Elian’s truth-discerning compass and the knife he carries that’s as sharp as his gaze, drinking whatever blood it draws. How he smells of anglers and ocean salt. Instead I say something else altogether. Something she will find far more entertaining.

“He locked me in a cage.”

Kahlia splutters a laugh. “That doesn’t sound too princely,” she says. “Aren’t human royals supposed to be accommodating?”

“He has more important things to worry about, I suppose.”

“Like what?” Her voice is eager as she swipes a string of seaweed from her arm.

“Hunting legends,” I explain.

Kahlia shoots me a teasing look. “Weren’t you one of those?”

I raise my eyebrows at the jab, pleased to see some of the spark return to her face. “He’s looking for the Second Eye of Keto,” I say.

Kahlia swims forward, throwing her arms on the damp grass by my feet. “Lira,” she says. “You’re planning something wicked, aren’t you? Do I have to guess?”

“That depends entirely on how much you enjoy playing minion to your beloved aunt.”

“The Sea Queen can’t expect devotion if she preaches the opposite,” Kahlia says, and I know she’s thinking of Crestell. The mother who laid down her life for her in an act of devotion my own mother could only scoff at.

It doesn’t surprise me that Kahlia would be eager to turn against the Sea Queen. The only thing that has ever surprised me is her continued allegiance to me. Even after what I did. What I was made to do. Somehow Crestell’s death bonded us rather than tearing us apart as my mother had hoped it would. I can’t help but feel smug at the look of cunning in Kahlia’s eyes. Expected or not, the display of loyalty is all too satisfying.

“If the prince leads me to the eye, then the power it holds would make me a match for the Sea Queen.” I hold my cousin’s gaze. “I can stop her from ever daring to touch either of us again.”

“And if you fail?” Kahlia asks. “What becomes of us then?”

“I won’t fail,” I tell her. “All I need to do is share enough of our secrets to get the prince to trust me and he’ll welcome me on board.”

Kahlia looks doubtful. “You’re weak now,” she says. “If the prince finds out who you are, then he could kill you like he killed Maeve.”

“You know about that?” I ask, though I shouldn’t be shocked. The Sea Queen can feel the death of every siren, and now that she’s keeping Kahlia so close to her side in my absence, no doubt my cousin would have been there when she felt it.

Kahlia nods. “The Sea Queen waved it off as though it were nothing.”

The hypocrisy of that strikes me. My mother showed more emotion when I killed a lowly mermaid than when one of our own kind was gutted on the deck of a pirate ship. Our deaths are nothing but a minor annoyance to her. I wonder if the real reason she wants to kill the humans is not so much for the good of our kind, but so she can stop experiencing the inconvenience of our deaths. We’re expendable in this war. Every last one of us so easily replaced. Even me.

Perhaps, especially me.

“That will change soon,” I say. I reach over and place a hand on Kahlia’s arm, my palm an odd blanket of warmth over the frost of her skin. “I’ll take the eye and the Sea Queen’s throne along with it.”





20


Elian


IN THE PALACE, IT’S always hard to tell who’s in their right mind.

I stand alone in the entrance hall and fasten my black waistcoat. I look princely, which is exactly how I hate to be and, always, how Queen Galina wants me. The sun of Eidyllio has long vanished, and with it the paint-blotted sky has dimmed to midnight hues. Inside the palace, the walls are a soft red, but under the light of so many chandeliers they look almost orange. Like watered-down blood.

I try not to reach for my knife.

Madness moves at inhuman speed here, and even I’m not quick enough to stop it. I feel unsettled in this place, without my crew beside me, but bringing them would mean breaking a pact between the royal families of the world. Letting them in on a secret that should never be known, especially to pirates. So instead of bringing my crew, I lied to them. I lie to everyone these days. Whisper stories of how mundane a pirate’s life is to my sister. Wink when I tell my crew about Queen Galina and how she likes me all to herself.

Only Kye knows otherwise, which is the one favorable aspect to being a diplomat’s son that either of us has been able to find. Being aware of royal secrets – or having dirt on the world’s leaders to use when convenient – is something Kye’s father specializes in. And Kye, who usually makes it a point to be a paradox to his upper-class bloodline, has kept that trait. It’s the only thing he inherited from his father.

“Are you sure you don’t want me there?” he asked on the way to the Serendipity.

I glanced back to see if Lira was still standing in the center of the market square, but it was far too busy and we were far too fast and she was far too elusive to stay prominent in a crowd.

“I need Queen Galina to trust me,” I said. “And your being there won’t help.”

“Why?”

“Because nobody trusts diplomats.”