Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga, #1)(26)
“Lie still, Mom,” said Serafina. “You have to rest now. How about we trade places for tonight? I’ll be regina, you be principessa. And my first act as monarch is to order you to bed. You are to put your fins up, listen to gossip conchs, and eat plenty of kanjaywoohoos.”
Isabella tried to smile. “Neela brought them?”
“And chillawondas, bing-bangs, janteeshaptas, and zee-zees. My chambers look like a Matali sweet shop.”
Isabella laughed, but her laughter brought on a terrible fit of coughing. Blood sprayed from her lips. She moaned piteously. Her eyes closed.
“Help her! Please!” Serafina whispered to the doctor.
But the doctor shook his head. “There’s very little I can do,” he said quietly.
After a few seconds, Isabella opened her eyes again. Their gaze was not far away now, but focused and sharp. She squeezed Serafina’s hand. “You are still so young, my darling. I haven’t prepared you well enough. There’s so much you still need to learn.” There was an urgency to her voice.
“Mom, stop talking. You need to be still,” Serafina said.
“No…no time,” Isabella said, her chest hitching. “Listen to me…remember what I tell you. Conte Bartolomeo is the wisest of my ministers. Vallerio will be regent, of course, until you’re eighteen, and Bartolomeo’s the only one strong enough to put your uncle in his place.” Isabella paused to catch her breath, then said, “Conte Orsino, I trust with my life. Keep a close eye on the Volnero and the di Remora. They are loyal now, but may work to undermine you if they sense an advantage elsewhere.”
“Mom, stop!” Serafina said fearfully. “You’re scaring me. I was only joking about being regina!”
“Sera, listen to me!” Isabella’s voice was fading. Serafina had to lean close to hear her. “If we are not able to fend off the attackers, you must get to the vaults. And then, if you can, go to Tsarno. To the fortress there—” She coughed again. Serafina wiped the blood from her lips with the hem of her gown.
Vallerio joined them. The doctor looked at him. “Send for the canta magus,” he said.
Serafina knew what that meant. The canta magus was summoned when a regina was dying, to sing the ancient chants that released a mer soul back to the sea. “No!” she cried. “She’s going to be all right! Make her be all right!”
“Your Grace,” the doctor said, his eyes still on Vallerio, “you must send for the canta magus now.”
Vallerio started to speak, but Serafina didn’t hear his words. They were drowned out by a deafening roar, a sound so big, it felt like the end of the world. The very foundations of the palace shook, sending shock waves up into the water. Serafina was knocked backward. For a few seconds, she couldn’t right herself; then, slowly, her balance came back. She looked up, still dazed, just in time to see a large chunk of the stateroom’s east wall come crashing down. Courtiers screamed as they rushed to get out of the way. Some didn’t make it and were crushed by falling stones. Others were engulfed by flames ignited by lava pouring from broken heating pipes buried inside the walls.
Jani?ari swam to the breach in formation, armed and moving fast. “Ejderha! Ejderha!” they shouted.
No, Serafina thought. It’s impossible.
Grasping the side of her mother’s throne, she pulled herself up.
And then she saw it.
Ejderha.
And she screamed.
A MASSIVE BLACKCLAW DRAGON, her head as big as an orca, stuck her face into the gaping hole she’d made in the wall. She reached an arm through, swiping at Jani?ari with foot-long talons.
The soldiers attacked the beast, but their swords and their spells were useless against the thick scales covering her body, her bronze faceplate, and the stiff frill of spikes around her neck. Mermen wearing black uniforms and goggles sat on her back in an armored howdah, controlling her with a bridle and reins.
The dragon bashed her head against the palace wall and another large chunk of it fell in.
“Stop her! Stop her!” voices screamed.
But there was no stopping her. The stateroom was deep inside the palace. The dragon had already knocked through heavy outer walls to get here. An inner wall would be nothing to her. She would be inside the room in seconds.
“Get the regina to the vaults!” Serafina heard her uncle shout. “The princesses, too! Do it now!”
She knew he meant the treasury vaults underneath the palace, where the realm’s gold was kept. The hallway that led to them was too narrow for a dragon, and the bronze doors enclosing them were a foot thick and heavily enchanted. Food and medical supplies had been stored within them in case of a siege.
Two Jani?ari converged on Neela. Five more rushed to Isabella and tried to lift her. She screamed in pain and struggled against them.
“Mom, stop it. Please. You have to let them take you. You’ll be safe there,” Sera said.
Isabella shook her head. “Lift me onto my throne,” she commanded her guard. “I will not die on the floor.”
Serafina’s heart lurched at her mother’s words. “You’re not dying. We just have to get you to the vaults. We just have to—”
Isabella took Serafina’s face in her bloodied hands. “I’m staying here to face my attackers. You will go to the vaults, Sera. You are regina now, and you must not be taken. Live, my precious child. For me. For Miromara.” She kissed Serafina’s forehead then released her.