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There were not many folk whom Maurits implicitly trusted with his life, but Neese was one of them. She was old—gods only knew

how old—and he could remember her lurking in the dark edges of the water ever since he was a child. Her kind, the nix, were

not well-liked by the other water folk. He had never been sure why exactly, but he suspected it had something to do with the

fact that they were notoriously merciless hunters, and had no compunction preying on weaker creatures. That had not stopped

him from untangling the nixie from a fishing net when he came across her as a boy, and she had rewarded his kindness with

her fierce loyalty. After that, they had become fast friends, much to the dismay of the rest of his family.

So when Neese had sought him out in the cave, claiming to have information about Thade, he took her seriously.

“Your brother is planning something,” she had told him without preamble as they glided to the lower reaches of the seafloor,

where the light was dim and the water colder.

He watched her as she slid a mackerel down her throat, leaving the delicate skeleton behind in her webbed fingers.

“He inferred as much,” Maurits said. “He’s eager for the throne, and I think he’s trying to impress our mother.”

Neese shook her head, her dark hair spiraling in the weak current. “It is more than that. He is working toward something bigger. I heard from the basilisks that he plans to send a flood. Another one, even more destructive than your mother’s in Franeker.”

This gave Maurits pause. He knew his brother to be ambitious, but this seemed unduly aggressive, even for him. “At my mother’s

bidding?” he asked.

“The queen is unaware of his actions.”

He stared at his friend for a long moment, a sinking feeling in his stomach. “What are you saying, Neese?”

“You know exactly what I’m saying. Just as you know that your brother has ambitions, has always had ambitions beyond his place

as second in line for succession.”

Tension was building behind his temples, and he closed his eyes. As if he didn’t have enough to deal with between caring for

Clara and keeping her safe from his mother. At the thought of Clara, his eyes sprang open.

“I have to go,” he told his friend, who was busy deboning another mackerel with her teeth. “I cannot leave her alone for long.”

“Do you know what you’re doing with that girl?”

“Why does everyone keep asking me that? Of course I know.”

Neese inclined her head the barest bit, a mocking show of respect that he only tolerated because she was his friend.

“And what of you?” Neese persisted.

“What of me?”

“If Thade is up to something—thinking of taking the throne, perhaps—then what forces will you call on to stop him?”

Maurits began to laugh, then saw the deadly earnest expression on her face. “I have no forces—you know that. And if Thade

wants the throne so bloody badly, he may have it.”

In a flash of sharp teeth and tangled black hair, Neese was in front of him.

She was his friend, yes, but she was also a deadly predator that could slice him from head to tail in the time it would take him to blink.

“You’ve spent too much time on land if you think that Thade won’t act quickly and dangerously,” she told him, her teeth glinting in the dark water.

“Queen Maren is loved not just because she rules judiciously, but because she chose you for her heir after your sister died. You are seen as the great hope for the water. Thade, while connected and ambitious, is not well-liked.”

Maurits tried not to feel too pleased to hear her assessment of his brother.

“You smile, but it is hardly a light matter,” she reprimanded him. “Thade is ruthless, and will not extend the same consideration

your mother does to the humans. For all their bluster, the water folk want to have good relations with those on land. Thade

would not rule gently, and he would gladly destroy whatever diplomacy your mother has worked to build.”

“You rebuke me for spending too much time on land,” Maurits replied, his tone cool but his heart pumping fast and angry, “yet

you fail to understand how the humans see us. They think nothing of diplomacy. The elder generation is determined to forget

us and the bargain, while the younger generation is unaware of us completely. My mother has done nothing except wreak havoc

on their livelihoods and loom over them like a threatening storm cloud.”

“So you disagree with her? You think the humans should be allowed to continue destroying everything in their path unchecked?”

Maurits scrubbed at his eyes, suddenly beyond tired. “I disagree with my mother about a great many things. I am not going

to become entangled in a debate about the humans with you.”

There was only one human about whom he was particularly concerned, and right now she was sitting alone in a cave, hating him.

“If that is all, Neese?” he asked, already thinking of how he could win Clara’s trust back, how to earn a chance to hold her

in his arms again.

She bowed her head, deeper this time. But Maurits didn’t miss the sharp flash of disappointment in her eyes. “That is all.

Again, I do hope you know what you are doing, Prince.”