Page 79 of Tide of Waves and Secrets

“For all intents and purposes, you were. Humans have never truly been welcome there. But they will be.”

I did not doubt her words.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

Nerys tore her gaze from mine, glanced at Aneri, whose hopeful smile told me the two had discussed the same.

Stealing her shoulders back, Nerys’s chin raised. “Ready,” she said with no trace of the hesitation in her voice that had previously been there when talking about the challenge and what came after it. “If she allows me to challenge her.”

I wanted to stay. To see for myself that Nerys remained safe. To hold her hand, hold her. But she needed something more than me. Though she did not yet realize it, I had the ability to root out malintent, to help prevent the queen’s lies from continuing to spread.

“She will be forced to do so. And to that end.” I squeezed her hand. Nerys seemed to understand I was leaving. Aneri did too, judging by her expression. But instead of offering to give us a moment alone, Nerys’s guardian looked as if she were about to laugh.

“The tide’s retreat only makes its return more cherished, dear boy.”

As I suspected. Aneri knew, and had her own reasons for staying.

“Aneri, if you will please—” Nerys began.

“I will not. He will see you in a few days’ time. Until then, you need every ally possible to ensure the queen’s lies do not take root any more than they have already.”

“She’s right,” I said, reluctant to admit it. Without shame, I leaned forward, kissing her one last time, although I did not linger. “The next time I do that, you will be queen.”

“And then?”

Trust me, Nerys. Please.

“Marek is not the only one with a surprise planned. But first, we must get to the challenge.”

34

NERYS

“Are you ready?”

Caelum stood at the door’s entranceway, waiting. After three days of watching the festivities from my window—from sand-sculpting contests and the daily blessing of the tides to boat-racing and net-casting competitions—the annual festival had gone on without a hitch. Unless you counted the undercurrent that Caelum reported each day, a growing awareness that the queen would, indeed, attempt to refute my right to challenge her.

Somehow, though Caelum could not fully explain it, Rowan had uncovered a plot the day before to manipulate the council into disqualifying me by presenting a forged document alleging my family once allied with a well-known conspiracy against Elydor centuries ago. One of the five council members had been bribed to “discover” the document in the Deep Archives and pressured another to corroborate it under oath. According to Caelum, Rowan was “taking care of it” but didn’t elaborate.

The groundwork she had laid to dispute my right to challenge her, along with this claim and my inability to properly train in the days leading up to this day, had done little for my confidence, despite telling Rowan I was ready. In truth, I should have said,“I am pretending to be ready but am terrified at how the day will play out.”

“If the council does not allow it…”

“There will be riots,” Aneri said. “This day will be the beginning, and not the end, of your journey.”

“According to law, the last day of the Festival of Tides is the only one the current ruler can be challenged. If she is successful in denying me, at best, we face six months of unrest. Six months until Rowan could even hope to see the Tidal Pearl.”

Neither of them disagreed. The stakes were high: for me, for Thalassaria, and for Elydor, the humans especially.

“Put all of that from your mind,” Aneri said. “Focus on the challenge, for you may yet be battling a queen today.”

“A queen who wields water like none other.”

Caelum smiled. “With one exception.”

Me.

Whether it was luck or something more that I’d been born with such abilities, it no longer mattered. “I am ready,” I said.

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