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I give him my most innocent expression. “Nothing, Dad.”

Mrs. Middlebrooks snorts.

He turns to her. “What did she do?”

“She locked three girls in a closet.”

“I had nothing to do with that!”

Dad glares at me, his eyes flashing yellow. The water in the room electrifies. Bumps run down my bruised arms. “Are you accusing your dean of lying?”

My mouth falls open. He’s not even considering my point of view. “Those girls are lying. They’re out to get me! They’re the ones who tied me up in the—”

“See what a troublemaker she is, Drake?” Mrs. Middlebrooks moves even closer to my dad. “Hasn’t given me a moment of rest since she arrived.”

“It’s not my fault! Dad, you have to believe me!”

His nostrils flare and his eyes glow brighter yellow than I’ve ever seen them. “Believe you? How can I do that when we both know full well you didn’t want to return to Valora? All of this is a ploy for me to send you back to land!”

I shake my head. “It’s not. I’m having fun with Halen, and—”

“Silence!”

The lights flicker. The tables shake.

I swallow and move away from him.

Mrs. Middlebrooks gives him a big smile. “If you’ll excuse me, Drake. I have some business to attend. If you need to find me, I’ll be in my office. You remember where that is, right? Where you went last time she got in trouble?”

He doesn't respond. Just keeps his angry, yellow eyes focused on me.

“Okay, then. I’ll talk to you soon.” She leaves.

My dad swims near me, the ground shaking underneath him.

I start to back up, but then think better of it. “Dad—”

“Why do you keep getting into trouble?” His eyes flicker.

My pulse drums in my ears. “It’s not my fault. There’s this group of mean girls, and they hate me. They tied—”

“You think people hate you? People hate me.” Some of the yellow drains from his irises, and he comes nearer. “I just found out there’s a movement to have me removed from office.”

“You mean to banish you again?”

His eyes return to brown and he moves closer, whispering. “No. They want to kill me. Tiberias’s followers are still loyal to him, and there’s a whole section of people who are claiming that I killed him. They want me dead.”

“But doesn’t every king have a group of haters?”

“Yes, but this group is especially large. Emotions are high, and the entire political atmosphere is on fire. The one thing most groups have in common is their disdain for me being in office. My entire staff is focused on looking into this. I don’t have time for anything that doesn’t involve protecting my life, yet here I am.”

“Next time, send Mom.”

“No.”

“Why not? Do you even care that the political hatred is also focused on me? Those mean girls tied me up in the middle of the woods, leaving me to be fish food.”

His brows draw together. “How’d you get away?”