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A rden Bleu stepped onto the weathered wood of the house’s rooftop deck and scanned the horizon.

She did the same every morning, looking first to the east and the ocean, where the sun painted the sky over the water with oranges and pinks that would soon fade to blue and gray.

The waters stretched as far as the eye could see, an endless expanse of jewel-studded waves ranging from turquoise to slate depending on the depth.

Calm today—calm enough, anyway, to kick up her pulse.

It would be a good day for diving. Which made what came later sound a little more bearable.

She turned to the north, where the sand dunes stretched and waved their grasses, the wind sluicing around her and making her smile.

Though the sun was morning-cool, Arden closed her eyes and leaned into the wind, her arms out at her sides.

Sometimes, when it blew in with force, she imagined it could lift her off this rooftop outlook and carry her away.

Off to…somewhere. The mainland, perhaps, or another of the barrier islands that protected it. Right into her own life’s story.

She turned to the west. The clouds scuttling over the mainland were still lit like jewels, creating an image that would entice Mama to reach for her brushes and paints, if she were up early enough to see it.

How many times over the years had Arden come into the kitchen to find Sapphire Bleu with a brush in her hands instead of a whisk, paints instead of ingredients?

None of them minded, though. They could breakfast on yesterday’s bread, cheese, and cold meat.

They’d done it before. It was worth a cold breakfast to see what magic Mama could create with brush and pigment and canvas.

It might not be the kind of magic that won one a crown and a kingdom, but Arden was still sure it went beyond the natural, that ability to create beauty from nothing.

Though it was miles away, the mainland peeked above the calm waters of Darya Sound. Towering on its steel-gray cliffs was the current cause of the knots in her stomach.

The Tidal Palace, crystal and marble gleaming in the sun.

Usually, the sight of it made her smile and silently thank its absent monarch for the life he’d given her family.

Papa had been in King Seidon’s Elite Guard for twenty years, and upon retiring with honors, he’d been given the posting here.

High Guardian of the Barrier Banks. The only life she’d ever known.

This house, with its rooftop deck and its sprawling porches, its weatherworn shake siding and its wide windows, had always been home, and she had the king to thank for it.

Which was all well and good when said king was off in other parts of his realm and that palace stood largely empty across the sound.

But the king was back—or would be by day’s end.

For the first time in Arden’s life, King Seidon had returned to the capital city that sprawled behind the castle and would be celebrating his birthday here .

Which meant a ball. The famed Blue Ball, held every year in whatever part of the empire he was visiting.

Papa and Mama would be going. The High Guardian of the Banks wouldn’t dare refuse the invitation even if he’d wanted to.

Not that he had, of course. He hadn’t seen his friend the king in more than twenty years.

And Arden had been overjoyed for him when the data crystal arrived a week ago with the news. Until Papa had read the next line.

She and Jade would be expected to attend the ball as well, given that they were both of age—Arden twenty and Jade a year behind her at nineteen.

Arden’s breath fisted in her chest at the thought of spending two nights in that gilded cage of a palace.

She spun away from the mainland without even checking the sound for anything out of place and turned southward.

Her eyes narrowed for a moment—something dark and bulky lurked at the southernmost point of their island.

Then she recognized the hulk of the dredger.

It must have arrived last night after finishing its work in the channel between the lower two islands.

“You know, my little angel, you could trust your old papa once in a while and not redo the work I’ve just done.”

Her father’s voice brought the smile back to her lips, and Arden turned to the creaking wooden staircase Papa was climbing.

His dark head with its close-cropped hair, threaded now with silver, soon came into sight, then his broad shoulders.

She paid little attention to the brown arms hewn into solid muscle by his exercise regimen, moving straight to the important bit—the two steaming mugs in his hands.

The wind brought the scent of perfectly roasted coffee to her nose, and she reached for her cup.

“It isn’t my fault my eyesight is so much better than yours.

If you remembered your spyglass once in a while… ”

Papa loosed a sound that combined a humph with a chuckle and sipped his own coffee. “I went down for it. Then got sidetracked by the coffee. And since I’d heard you come up, why bother with the extra thing to carry?”

“Mm.” She leaned over, elbows braced on the rough wood, the hot mug cradled between her hands. She scanned the south again, then the east. “Dredger made it last night.”

“Good. Anything else? Could you see if Seidon has arrived?”

Arden shook her head, a bit uncomfortable as always with her father’s casual use of the king’s given name.

In public, he always said “the king” or “His Majesty” like everyone else.

But in their home, it was “Seidon” or even “Si.” Maybe it should have given her a warm feeling, knowing her father was such an intimate of the king.

The royal notes to Papa were always addressed to “Rico” rather than “Jericho,” proving the friendship went both ways.

But it felt a bit like when Jade spoke of the ocean depths as her favorite place in the world—like at any moment, a force so much greater than anything Arden could fight would swoop in and steal all she loved.

Swallowing her anxiety with the next sip of sweetened, creamy coffee, Arden shifted toward the mainland again. She hadn’t actually tried to see if the king had arrived. What would she look for?

Even as she wondered, things flicked into her mind, a mental list to check off.

The vehicles in his entourage would be clogging the road—which they were.

The flag would be flying atop the tallest turret if the king were in residence—which it was.

And most telling of all, the fountain that she’d heard about but never seen in action—because it could only be turned on by the magic-filled hand of the Sea King—would be spouting.

It wasn’t. She frowned. “The flag is flying, but the fountain you told me about isn’t—oh!”

As she spoke, the light of the rising sun caught on something, creating a line of liquid gold that rose and rose before it split into curls then fell into waves and swirls that defied gravity. Her breath puffed out. “It’s as beautiful as you described.”

Papa’s big hand rested, warm and secure, on her shoulder. “Wait until you see it in person. Up close.” Excitement colored his tone. “There’s so much I want to show you—and people I want you to meet. You and Jade and Sapphire, all of you. Perhaps if we hurry, we could go over now instead of—”

“No!” Arden winced at the questioning look her father sent her.

In most things, he knew her better than anyone but Jade.

But how could she tell him that she dreaded meeting the man he’d served so loyally since before she was born?

That the thought of standing before the king sickened her?

How could she explain the anxiety that overcame her at the thought of being closed into that palace, where she couldn’t fling her windows wide open and feel the wind on her skin, where she couldn’t run over the dune and plunge into the sea?

Two days, Arden , she scolded herself. It’s only two days.

She conjured up a smile. “Jade and I are going out with the others this morning, remember? And with the way the currents have been running, I think a new part of the ruins will be accessible today. We don’t want to miss that.”

Papa frowned. He didn’t exactly like that some of the Unawakened younger generation earned their living by diving the ruins to scavenge for artifacts to trade.

But given the things they’d brought up with them, he couldn’t tell them to stop.

He could only do his best to make certain they were safe while doing it. “Will Storm be with you?”

She tried not to roll her eyes. Really, she did. Because aside from Papa and Mama and Jade, Storm was her favorite person in all the Banks. The only one she could count as a friend—if one’s cousin counted as a friend. Which he did. “Yes, Papa.”

Papa narrowed his amber eyes at her, amusement sparkling in their depths.

“It isn’t an unreasonable thing to want my girls to be protected.

And Storm is the most capable young man I’ve ever trained.

” His gaze shifted. “I’m looking forward to introducing him to the king too.

Next week, perhaps. After Seidon has a chance to settle in.

I imagine there will be a call for new Guardians, but I’d like to get a word in with him beforehand for Storm. ”

She knew her cousin had been training for the role. Many of them, Arden included, had been. But she’d given up any dreams of being an elite soldier for the king ages ago. She was lithe enough, and handy enough with a weapon, but she lacked the mass to really throw an opponent.

And the opponents they were likely to face had mass aplenty. She flicked her gaze back to the sea again. “Any new reports on the mer’s positions?”

Papa shook his head. “The patrol ships saw no signs of them in the channel.”