Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga, #1)(19)

“I don’t think the trawler has anything to do with the raids,” Isabella said. “The raiders took every single soul in the villages, but left the buildings undamaged. Mfeme’s nets would have destroyed the buildings, too.” Her voice sounded strained. Her face looked troubled and tired.

“We’ve also had reports of Praedatori in the area of the raids,” Orsino said.

“The Praedatori take valuables, not people. They’re a small band of robbers. They don’t have the numbers to raid entire villages,” Isabella said dismissively.

Sera wondered how she knew that. The Praedatori were so shadowy, no one knew much about them.

“It’s not Mfeme, either. He’s a gogg. We have protective spells against his kind,” Vallerio said. He’d left his place by the window and was swimming to and fro, barely containing his anger. “It’s Ondalina. Kolfinn’s the one behind the raids.”

“You don’t know that, Vallerio,” Isabella said. “You have no proof.”

Glances were traded between ministers. Serafina knew that her mother and uncle rarely agreed.

“Have you forgotten that Admiral Kolfinn has broken the permutavi?” Vallerio asked.

The permutavi was a pact between the two waters enacted after the War of Reykjanes Ridge. It decreed an exchange of the rulers’ children. Isabella and Vallerio’s younger brother, Ludovico, had been sent to Ondalina ten years ago in exchange for Kolfinn’s sister, Sigurlin. Desiderio was supposed to have gone to Ondalina, and Astrid, Kolfinn’s teenage daughter, was to have come to Miromara. Inexplicably, the admiral sent a messenger one week before the exchange was to have occurred to say that he was not sending her.

“In addition,” Vallerio continued, “my informants tell me Kolfinn’s spies have been spotted in the Lagoon.”

“Kolfinn has not yet informed us why he broke the permutavi. There may be an explanation,” Isabella said. “And Ondalinian spies in the Lagoon are nothing new. Every realm sends spies to the Lagoon. We send spies to the—”

Vallerio cut her off. “We must declare war and we must do it now. Before we are attacked. I’ve been saying this for weeks, Isabella.”

Serafina shivered at her uncle’s words.

Isabella leaned forward in her chair. “Desiderio sent a messenger with word that he’s seen nothing—no armies, no artillery, not so much as a single Ondalinian soldier. I hesitate to declare war based on such flimsy accusations and without convening the Council of the Six.”

Vallerio snorted. “You hesitate to declare war? You hesitate? Hesitate much longer, and the Council of Six will be a Council of Five!”

“I will not be pushed, Vallerio! I rule here. You would do well to remember that. I am not concerned with my life, but with the lives of my merfolk, many of which will be sacrificed if war breaks out!” Isabella shouted.

“When war breaks out!” Vallerio thundered back at her. He turned and smacked a large shell off a table in his anger. It shattered against a wall.

It was silent in the chamber. Isabella glared at Vallerio and Vallerio glared back.

Conte Bartolomeo, the oldest of Isabella’s advisers, rose from his chair. He’d been refereeing these shouting matches since Isabella and Vallerio were children. “If I may ask, Your Grace,” he said to Isabella, attempting to defuse the tension, “how are the preparations for the Dokimí progressing?”

“Very well,” Isabella replied curtly.

“And the songspell? Has the principessa mastered it?”

“Serafina will not let Miromara down.”

Bartolomeo smiled. “Is the principessa happy with the match? Is she in love with the crown prince? From what I understand, every female in Miromara is.”

“Love comes in time,” Isabella replied.

“For some. For others, it does not come at all,” Vallerio said brusquely.

Isabella’s face took on a rueful expression. “You should have married, brother. Years ago. You should have found yourself a wife.”

“I would have, if the one I wanted hadn’t been denied me. I hope Serafina finds happiness with the crown prince,” he said.

“I hope so too,” Isabella said. “And, more important, as a leader of her people.”

“It’s those very people you must think of now, Isabella. I beg you,” Vallerio said. The urgency had returned to his voice.

Serafina bit her lip. Though they fought constantly, her mother prized his advice above everyone else’s.

“What if I’m right about Ondalina?” he asked. “What if I’m right and you’re wrong?”

“Then the gods have mercy on us,” Isabella said. “Give me a few days, Vallerio. Please. We are a small realm, the smallest in all the waters. You know that. If we are to declare war, we must be sure of the Matalis.”

“Are we not sure of them? The Dokimí is tonight. When Serafina and Mahdi are united, their realms will be united. Their vows cannot be broken.”

“As I’m sure you recall, the betrothal negotiations with Bilaal were long and hard. I suspect Kolfinn may have been negotiating with him at the same time on behalf of his daughter,” Isabella said. “The Elder of Qin, too, for his granddaughter. Who knows what they offered him. Their ambassadors are here at court to witness the ceremony. For all I know, they’re still making offers. Until a thing is done, it is not done. I won’t rest easy until Sera and Mahdi have exchanged their vows.”