Page 115 of Oceansong
Angie flinched, but kept her eyes trained on Serapha’s back and contracted tail. “No.” Her exhale carried the word. “Kaden and I were trying to stop this. I swear, I didn’t lure him. Why would I? I just returned Cyrus to you.”
Serapha’s hands curled into fists at her sides. “Keep Cyrus out of this.”
Angie set her jaw. “Your people have died, and so have mine. They’re killing each other in the palace as we speak. Can’t we come to an agreement, for both of our sakes?”
“I’ve heard nothing from you about whether your leader had agreed to negotiate in the first place. I was still open to talking of peace, but then your divers sieged us. Clearly peace is not what you landwalkers want,” she sneered.
Angie held her breath for several seconds before letting it go, slowing the pounding pulse beating through her veins and arteries. “Your Maj—Mer-Queen.” She hoped the title wouldn’t offend her. The Queen said nothing, didn’t move, and Angie took it as her cue to continue. “I’m sorry about King Aqilus. But I heard Prince Cyrus still lives. I kept my promise, didn’t I?”
“His heart still beats, but he is far from alive.” At last, Serapha faced her, and Angie sat at attention, her hair fanning around her head. She eyed a coiled, striped nautilus drifting by. “I have already lost too much.”
She turned her back to Angie again, and she took the hint and stopped talking.
Angie didn’t have the first idea of how much time had passed, and shewas numb from sitting in the same position for so long. She longed for a way out, but with the cave’s single entrance and the sentinels never leaving her side, it left her no choice but to sit and wait for what happened next, much as she loathed not knowing what was to come.
A second attempt at speaking with the Queen yielded stony silence, and Serapha hadn’t deigned to turn around to face her.
Finally, a lone sentinel entered the cave. “It’s safe to return. The landwalkers are gone.”
Serapha raised a hand and gave them a nod. Without a word, the sentinels took Angie by the upper arms and traveled back to the palace.
A small group of haggard mer greeted them at the palace gates. Mer and human corpses littered the courtyard floor, and salmon and Greenland sharks were closing in. “My Queen, you are safe. Thank the Goddess.” The mer lowered their heads in a bow to her. Then their gaze moved to Angie. “This is the human captive?”
“Yes.”
Many of the mer glared at Angie, but the one who had addressed the queen continued, “A small landwalker group flanked the rear. Entered one of the sanctuaries, stole a netful of fish. We’ve lost fifty soldiers, but we took their lives in equal measure.”
“This is how they wish to try to end this? By attempting to steal the fish back for their own terrible use? I will not let this come to pass,” Serapha said, her silvery voice full of resolve.
“What do you propose?” One of the sentinels escorting Angie asked.
Serapha tilted her chin upward. As they inched closer to the surface, dread unfurled in Angie’s innards.
“We follow them,” Serapha ordered. “They cannot outswim us. Call what sentinels and soldiers you can. We will make for the shore. I wish to end this on this tidesday. The landwalkers will cede to me or see their end.”
Forty-Six
Angie went limp once shesucked in her first breath of fresh air. Sunlight hitting her face disoriented her. The grips around her arms tightened, and she felt herself being dragged forward, the sea’s peaks smacking her face.
They stopped short, and she blinked, her vision clearing. They had reached the delineation between sea and land, before the water grew too shallow.
What was happening?
The beach stretched end to end with people, including Nick, Bàba, and Stefan. Behind her, a large gathering of mer. There must have been over a hundred on each side facing off with each other. The mer had their lances and tridents raised, and the people with their guns in hand. Stefan must have informed them the mer were coming.
“Motherf—” Nick raised his shotgun, but Bàba moved to stop him.
“Beibei? No!” Bàba gaped, horrified when his and Angie’s eyes met.
Angie wanted to call out to Bàba, but her voice came out as a croak, her throat too scratchy and dry to produce a sound that would travel far enough to him. Instead, Angie tried raising a hand to greet her family, but the mers’ unyielding clutch stopped her.
The tension hanging in the air was so thick Angie thought it would suffocate her.
“Landwalkers! You will surrender to me, or lose her. Stealing from us once wasn’t enough?” The spurts of wind carried Serapha’s voice, amplifying it. In response, Bàba held up a loudspeaker.
“Let my daughter go, and I’ll consider it.” Angie heard the quiver and worry coating his voice. “Please.”
Nick whispered something to Bàba, and Bàba handed him the loudspeaker. Nick yelled into it. “Why should we surrender? After all the horrible things you’ve done? You stole from us. Starved us!”
