Page 102 of Midnightsong
He kept moving. There were no mer there, and he found himself surrounded in unnerving silence. A blue shayu brushed past him, its long pectoral fin nudging his arm as it passed.
Once the shayu was gone, Kaden moved into the caves.
Pieces of a shipwreck littered the seafloor, indiscernible as to what type of vessel it was from. Kaden furrowed his brow. The area was isolated and he hadn’t heard of any other recent attacks on human ships.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss as he moved through the cavern. The tunnels seemed never-ending and he knew why mer didn’t frequent the area. The archives were a pain in the tail to get to.
An unexplainable force crawled beneath his skin.
Worse, when he finally reached the archives, his tail and arms were sore and fatigued. It was one of the largest cavern spaces he’d ever laid eyes upon, and if he had to guess, it could house all thousand mer who worked at the palace, and they’d all have enough room to comfortably move around.
He searched the rows and rows of stone slabs housed on each shelf. It seemed as if no mer had been there in ages, with the slabs and rock walls covered with haixing, deep sea barnacles, sponges, haidan, and the various segmented worm making their appearance.
No archivists in sight.
Kaden chewed on his bottom lip and moved to where they kept records of his family’s history.
One slab after another, and another, and another, and another.
Low suntide turned to high suntide, and he had found nothing useful. The slabs contained information about their family tree, Saeryn’s date and location of birth, and his education. The same information that was available to and for all mer in their queendom, organized by tidesyear. The same information the sentries had gotten for him.
With a grunt of frustration, Kaden slid the last stone slab back into its place, and he slid out a piece of kombu kelp from his waist bag, where he inscribed the names of Saeryn’s tutors when he was an adolescent.
They were his final hope to dig up some of Saeryn’s secrets. The council hadn’t specifiedwhenthe monarch needed to have committed a crime, only that they had to.
He set off back to the palace.
The tides changed and Kaden floated before Adrielle and Cyrus’ room, holding a fistful of sour eelgrass blades and chewing on them. Saeryn’s tutors offered nothing useful, and all he wanted to do was rest his weary muscles and bones.
He needed to talk out another plan, and perhaps they would be available to brainstorm.
Adrielle slid the door open, beckoning Kaden to enter.
Cyrus sat on the edge of the hammock, and Adrielle swam back to him, sitting beside him and lacing his fingers through hers. He rested his head on her shoulder.
“Any luck with the council and Saeryn?” Adrielle asked.
“No. I only have information that he abandoned his lifemate,” Kaden replied, curling his tail around the usual stalactite.
“What?” Adrielle and Cyrus cried in unison. “He did? Did you go to the council with this?” Cyrus’ jaw dropped open.
“They told me they can’t expend resources to look for her.” Kaden folded his arms over his chest, tailfins brushing up and down the stalactite. “I’ve talked to his old villagers, tutors. Looked for information on him in the archives. I have nowhere to go from here.”
“Then we need another angle,” Cyrus said, resolute. “He and his staff are driving us up the wall. They’re disrespectful, avoidant, and no surprise here, but they’re his loyalists. Uncle has became emboldened since the attack.”
“What else can we do? He’s physically and mentally able, so our last option would be trying to prove he doesn’t follow Sanyue’s teachings. But that will be a tough seamount to scale, and he already pledged himself to Her service when he was coronated.”
Adrielle put her free hand over her face.
The three remained silent.
A commotion burst through the doors, and Kaden whirled around. Adrielle sat upright and bolted over his head.
Marina, the twins’ keeper, propelled through the doors behind Libbi and Hadrien, holding an armful of what looked like trash.
“Princess Adrielle, Prince Cyrus!” She ushered the twins ahead of her, and Adrielle grabbed their hands.
“What’s wrong?” She looked at her children, both of whom shrugged.
