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Irritation surged from her head to her toes. Jade tamped it down. Irritation never won friends, and she wasn’t going to forget all the lessons she’d learned about people just because terror was nipping at her. “Actually, I hoped to join the diplomatic corps someday and serve here.”

“Really.” Librus shot Electra a look that Jade had no hope of interpreting on land or sea. “Clearly the working of the One.”

“I seriously doubt that,” Electra mumbled.

“Electra.” The warning was so sharp in the word that it sliced through the distance between them. Did a priest outrank a general? “You sound as though you doubt the wisdom of our prince’s plan.”

Their prince ? Yes, there were two of them, and Electra had already mentioned Finn. But Finn wasn’t in charge of any military operations—that was certain. Queen Ralia kept a tight rein on their forces, not even letting her heir, Mariana, have any control over them.

Electra shifted, her face going utterly blank. “Not at all.”

“Good.”

Conversation stopped there, giving Jade the freedom to look around.

She spotted the spires of what had to be the Marine Palace up ahead, and even given the circumstances, she found herself straining for a better view of it.

Each of the Sunken Cities had a palace for the royals, but the Marine Palace had always struck her as the most beautiful.

They never got close to it though. They walked only a few minutes before turning to pass between intimidating looking gates and then entering a building that looked as blue-green as the rest of the world under the dome.

Guards opened the doors as they approached, though she didn’t recognize their uniforms. They saluted as Electra strode between them, then shut the doors and barred them after Jade and Librus passed.

Though not the palace, this place didn’t feel like a home.

More like some government building as people bustled around the rooms they passed.

They stopped at last before a wall, which baffled her until another guard tugged on what she’d thought was an ornament, and the entire thing slid to the left like a giant door.

Jade, trying not to gape, followed Librus forward.

Perhaps the building wasn’t a palace—but this was most definitely a throne room.

And the enormous man dwarfing the throne was most assuredly Prince Finn.

He looked like he did in the crystals—the sort of smooth handsomeness that always made her suspicious, a build that rivaled Storm’s in chiseled muscles, all on display, given that he wore only a tail split into pants and an ornate diadem on his head.

The prince stood as they entered. His gaze went straight to Jade. “This is her?”

Jade’s throat tightened so much that she regained the feeling of suffocation.

Electra dropped to a knee. “Yes, Your Highness.” Librus knelt too, pulling Jade down with him.

Finn waved a hand. “Rise.”

Striding down the stairs of the dais, Finn sent his gaze on a leisurely perusal of her body as she stood again.

Heat stung her cheeks. She curled her fingers into her palm, suddenly wishing for something other than the tight-fitting dive suit she still wore, which hid nothing.

When his eyes returned to her face, she saw only calculation within them. “Well she’s certainly as beautiful as you promised. That bodes well. You verified her blood?”

Librus stepped forward now, inclining his head. “Yes, Your Highness. She cut herself on the Awakening Blade we planted, as intended.”

The what? Jade sucked in a sharp breath and moved her thumb to probe the tip of the finger she’d sliced. She’d seen Awakening Blades before, but never one like that. But then, she’d never seen a mer Awakening Blade.

And what did he mean, verified her blood?

Finn lifted his brows. “And? I see no mark on her palm.”

“Curious, I admit, but there were flourishes in the water. I of course did not have time to perform a full Awakening, but it was enough to verify.”

No. No! Jade pressed her thumb to the traitorous fingertip. It wasn’t true, couldn’t be true.

Yet even in her drugged state, hadn’t she noticed that the blood in the water wasn’t cloudy like it should have been, but was swirling, curling, flourishing?

“Well, we have no time to waste. Electra, the bowl. And the Blade.”

Jade’s gaze had dropped to her hand, but it flew up again to track Electra as she went for the two items sitting on a table near the throne.

Panic sank its teeth into Jade’s throat.

She knew how Awakenings worked, even if she didn’t understand why .

She knew that the first cut of the Blade didn’t Awaken fully, that it merely primed the magic.

Only the blood of another Awakened could activate that magic.

Which meant that until her blood mingled with someone else’s in that bowl of brine, she was still her . Still free. There was still hope.

Please, Triada. Please, please, please. Have mercy on me. Save me. Protect me.

As Electra returned, Jade’s blood pounded in her ears. She spun, trying to find the door that looked like a wall, or a window, or some other escape.

Librus gripped her hand, and heat seared her skin. She tried to jerk away, but he held tight until, a moment later, calm washed over her.

Part of her wondered what he’d done. How he’d done it.

She didn’t have time to wonder for long. Finn reached for her other hand and directed it over the bowl that Electra held between them. The Awakening Blade glinted in the light.

She was supposed to have another month. She was supposed to attend a Ceremony with her sister and Storm, with their parents and friends. She was supposed to have the chance to say goodbye before her life changed forever.

Please, Triada .

Finn sliced her finger, squeezed it to make the blood well, and turned her hand so the red dropped into the bowl.

Please, please, please!

Not a flourish. A cloud. Relief and confusion warred within her.

Finn’s grip on her hand went painful. “Librus. Explain.”

“I warned you this could happen,” the priest said, not a hint of panic or confusion in his voice.

“It is a new magic in her veins, after all. One cannot expect the magic of the skies to manifest this far beneath the surface of the water. It could be that the water stifled it and kept the mark from appearing as well.”

She didn’t mean to speak, but the words came tumbling out. “Magic of the skies? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Librus sent her a soft smile. “Have you perhaps noticed the angel that circles you day and night?”

“My hawk?” Something went heavy in her stomach. All her hopes, all her dreams, turning to lead. The cloud of her blood hadn’t been the Triada granting her deepest prayer—just granting her a reprieve.

“We have been waiting for such a sign,” Librus said.

Finn dropped her hand, the curl of his lips looking more like disgust than a smile. “Well now what? Why didn’t you fully Awaken her close to the surface?”

“We had no opportunity. This is why we’ve been preparing the island, Your Highness. We will take her there as soon as we can to perform the Awakening.”

“This is not ideal.” Finn spun, strode back toward his throne. “I wanted to have her power at our disposal before all the underworld breaks loose tomorrow.”

Jade curled her still-bleeding finger into her palm. She didn’t know what the underworld breaking loose meant, but it didn’t sound good.

Librus took a step toward the throne. “I know but—”

“You are certain you saw the flourish in the shallows?”

“Without a doubt, Your Highness.”

Finn looked to the general. “Electra?”

The woman was sliding the bowl back onto the table. She hesitated only a moment, after sneaking one more scathing look at Jade. “Yes. I saw a flourish.”

Finn’s sigh sounded more like a growl. “You’ll have to use this time to train her, I suppose. Librus, teach her what you can of magic. And Electra…”

Electra rolled her shoulders back, clearly not happy at being given any task that had to do with Jade.

The feeling was mutual.

Finn sat down on his throne. “Teach her how to be a queen. We’ll marry as soon as she’s Awakened.”