Page 27 of A Kingdom Threatened (The Vazula Chronicles 3)

Merletta frowned, debating whether to push him to explain his words. But if he had something he was willing to say, he’d say it without prompting. And she had no such expectation. Agner might not be her enemy. But that didn’t mean he was her ally.

Chapter Seven

Merletta wasn’t planning to go the island on her first rest day, so she slept in a little, making her leisurely way to breakfast later than usual.

Sage and Andre were both already there, snatching a bite before heading to their own homes for the day off.

“How’s your tail?” Andre asked around a mouthful of mussel.

“It’s fine,” Merletta said dismissively, uninterested in discussing the injury Oliver had inflicted on her the day before.

He’d been a little more enthusiastic than necessary in reasserting his mastery after his loss on the first training day of the week. The most irritating part of it all had been Ileana’s smirk as she paused in her training with her guard squad across the training square in order to watch Merletta get pummeled.

Merletta played with the squid in the basin before her as her friends discussed their plans with their families that day.

“Are you going to come home with me?” Sage asked her brightly.

Merletta shook her head. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m actually going to Tish’s shellsmith tower.” She looked up abruptly at Sage. “Does your family have a family record?”

“What do you mean?” Sage asked.

“An account of the family ancestry, written down somewhere,” Merletta explained.

“Oh, that.” Sage cast her a searching look. “Yes, it’s on this enormous stone slab at my grandparents’ house. New births and marriages are added regularly, and the older ones get re-carved as needed.”

Andre nodded. “We’ve got one the same for each side of my family.”

“Are they also at your grandparents’ houses?” Merletta asked.

Andre grunted. “My mother’s one is at her parents’ house. My father’s is actually at ours. As the oldest son, he was given care of it when he got married.”

He reached across the table for some salted cod, and Merletta’s eyes followed the movement absently, her thoughts on Andre’s words.

“Are records like that ever displayed publicly?” she asked.

Sage frowned. “Not that I’ve ever seen.”

“The Center doesn’t keep a census?” Merletta pressed.

Andre looked blank, and Sage not much more hopeful.

“I think they have in the past,” she said. “But I don’t know how recently they’ve done it. Not in our lifetime, I don’t think.”

Merletta frowned, not entirely satisfied. Keeping tabs on every merperson in the triple kingdoms seemed like exactly the kind of thing the Center would do, not just in generations gone by, but now. But on the other hand, it would be an enormous undertaking. She’d never come across any evidence of it. The closest thing she’d seen was the orphan records in which her own birth was recorded. But they hadn’t gone back very far, so clearly in that case only recent records were kept.

“What’s all this about, Merletta?” Sage asked, her voice gentle. “Are you thinking of your own family, whoever they were?”

Merletta hesitated, her first instinct to save dignity by denying it. But she shook off the thought. These were her friends, and she had nothing to fear from being vulnerable with them. Slowly, she nodded.

“I’ve wondered if it might be possible to find out who they were,” she said quietly. “It’s probably an impossible task.”

There was a moment of sympathetic silence, broken by Andre.

“If you want to see a family record, I could take you to see the one at my house today,” he offered. “If your friend won’t mind you getting to her shellsmith tower a little late.”

Merletta’s eyes shot to his, startled. “That’s a kind offer, but I don’t think your family would be thrilled to see me back at your house again after the birthday fiasco.”

“Nonsense,” said Andre stoutly. “You’re very welcome.”