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W ith her vision distorted by the glass helmet, Jade might not have noticed the destruction.

She might not have even registered that the debris on the ocean floor was something more than a shipwreck or a collection of detritus left behind by random currents.

She would have swum right over it without a second glance.

But Electra stopped. Pulled Jade to a halt with her.

And, more startling still, let out the breath she’d been holding, sending a panic of air bubbles rising toward the distant surface.

That was when Jade followed her gaze and realized that the collection of blackened debris should have been something more.

It was when she glanced down at the counter on her air tank and realized they’d been swimming for an hour.

It was when she realized that this was—should have been—a waystation. One of the places between the cities where the mer could stop to rest and breathe without needing to surface, to drink or eat.

As they hovered there in the water staring at the destruction, Electra taking a frantic hit from her own backup air tank to replenish the air she’d released in shock, Jade wished she’d been given the chance to learn their language of clicks, so that she could ask what had done this.

What could have? She swam a little closer—Electra didn’t stop her but rather kept pace beside her—to better see the damage.

The black marks were what drew her attention. On land, she would have called them evidence of fire. But here? The only thing that could cause it under the water was electricity.

Electra gave Jade a “stay put” hand signal and swam closer to the wreckage, examining a few boards. Jade considered disobeying and going in for her own inspection but was glad she hadn’t when Electra aimed her trident at another piece of wood and sent a shock of blue light out of it.

On land, Jade would have jumped. Here in the abyss, she merely jolted, then had to kick to keep herself from drifting away with the current that caught at her hair and limbs.

Electra compared the wood she’d shot at with the piece she’d been examining. Even from her safe distance, Jade could see what she’d been about.

The marks matched. Not just scorches, but scorches of a particular thickness, that started as three smaller ones before combining into that single line of sizzling destruction.

A trident did this. But the tridents were powered by the magic of the Awakened—no other mer had them or could use them if they did.

Which meant that this had been done by a Black Tail, or else a rogue Awakened who had escaped the revolutionaries.

Though from the last report she’d overheard Electra giving to Finn, there were no unaccounted-for Awakened beneath the waves.

She’d sounded proud as she gave the report, certain.

Every Awakened has joined our ranks. We are at our peak strength.

To Finn and Librus and Electra, it had clearly been the signal that now was indeed the time to make their final stand.

When the wall fell, Mariana must have believed the claim Librus had instructed Finn to make, that it was their doing.

She must have believed that King Seidon was coming to aid the Black Tails, because she’d sounded a retreat.

Her army had fled Usquerbis and taken up position around her capital city of Margarita Civitas, to guard her during her coronation.

Finn had ordered the Black Tail army to follow this morning, and Librus had gone with him—his magic could well be needed to battle Mariana’s. Which left Jade with Electra.

They had been at the tail end of the exodus, but they’d been on the same general path. Which meant the Black Tails had already come this way. One of them had clearly done this.

But why? She looked to Electra, but the crease in her brows—combined with the very experiment she’d performed—said that she had no idea. It hadn’t been part of the plan.

But Librus and Finn had both been with the magical army, every single member—whether warrior or civilian beforehand—clad in black tails, and with every officer and priest armed with tridents. It had looked like a sea of darkness as they left. Of despair. Of death.

So much black. So much anger. So much rage.

Her stomach churned at the memory. Her nerve-endings recalled the way they’d recoiled when Finn strode up in his black-as-death uniform that morning. The way he’d taken her chin in his too-strong hand and glared into her eyes.

There’d been no warmth there. No promise. Nothing soft or tender. Nothing at all to remind her of the way Storm had cradled her face so gently between his large hands, except by sheer contrast. He hadn’t said anything to her. Hadn’t forced another too-harsh kiss onto her lips. Just glared.

And then turned to Electra. “If Librus is right, meet us as planned. If not, you know what to do.”

Electra had gripped her trident in answer, looking every inch the general in that moment in her black armor.

Her soft-flowing hair had been braided into a severe, uncompromising knot at the nape of her neck, too tight to be teased free by any tide or current.

Today she didn’t look like a princess, distant cousin of the crown. She looked like exactly what she was.

A killer. And that was what she would be again when she drew that silver-gleaming curved Blade at her belt over Jade’s finger and learned the truth. She’d kill her, unless Jade could get away.

But she couldn’t. Even on land, she knew she couldn’t outrun Electra, especially not with that nasty trident in her grip.

Could she disarm her? Then run?

But where? They’d be going to an unoccupied island. Even if she did disarm her and outpace her, there’d be nowhere to go. No way to escape.

Unless…unless she became a killer. Unless she turned that trident on its owner. Even without magic to power it, it was still a weapon, each barbed tip perfectly capable of spearing a person through.

Her churning stomach threatened to heave. It seemed life was determined to make a warrior of her, even as everything within her screamed that this was not her way.

She didn’t exactly like Electra. They’d had a few moments of camaraderie over the last two months, and there had been many times when Jade understood why her unwilling hostess had made the choices she had.

But what Arden had always called Jade’s charm had utterly failed her with Electra. The nicer she’d tried to be, the more the princess had sneered and insulted her.

Even so, Jade couldn’t hate her enough to want to kill her, or even to want her dead. Electra hadn’t wanted to help lead a rebellion. She’d just been left with a choice of life or death and had cast her lot with the best hope of survival. Who could blame her for that?

And Electra had given her that warning about Librus. Without that, would Jade ever have begun to question him, his intentions? Would she have thought to try to follow the path of his magic whenever she could, to see the thoughts he’d never meant her to see?

Hatred. Bitterness. Death.

Glimpses she knew very well he wasn’t sending her intentionally.

He didn’t want her to know those things.

He wanted her to believe in him. To believe he was good.

Holy. Righteous. That his cause was the just cause.

That was the message he so carefully curated for her, that he’d been feeding to her with every touch and lesson.

And clearly he thought she’d received the message. After Finn had strode out that morning, prepared to lead his army, Librus had pulled her aside.

“I wish I could Awaken you myself,” he’d said, his voice so very gentle. So caring.

Such a lie.

He’d tucked a curl of hair behind her ear, nothing but tenderness on his face. His expression had been so close to Storm’s that she’d wondered for one panicked moment if he had broken into her mind, if he’d stolen her memories, if he was trying to recreate them.

But even if he had, he hadn’t found what she’d discovered. He hadn’t seen her determination to ruin his plans in whatever way she could. Otherwise he never would let her walk out of that chamber with his sister.

He would have put a trident through her heart himself.

Instead, he’d stroked his thumb lightly over her cheek. “Electra is as well trained as I or Finn. She will keep you safe. And she’ll deliver you back to me. I must be there to confront Mariana. I am the only one she may consider listening to.”

Because he had some sort of agreement with her. Because it was all part of his plan. Jade had forced a wobbly smile. “I pray she does.”

He’d gazed for a moment at her lips as if he meant to kiss her, but praise the Triada, he hadn’t.

He’d only drawn her in for a moment’s embrace and then propelled her to Electra’s side.

The woman had taken her arm in one hand, the bite of each fingertip telling her that no mercy could be hoped for in her company.

That she would be shown to be magical, or she would die that day.

How many hours now until her death? How long until they reached this island that Electra had them aimed for?

Her guard thumped the butt-end of her trident against the boards in clear fury and turned blazing eyes on Jade. As if she were the one that had wrecked the waystation. Jade kicked herself back a bit instinctually.

But she could see by the way Electra jerked around, the abruptness of her command to keep pace with her as she continued, that she was putting the pieces together.

An Awakened had done this. A Black Tail.

One of her own had been the one to obliterate this shelter, to destroy the walls and release the air, to crack the pipes that fed it.

They’d done it with magic channeled through a trident, and no doubt after their own army had made use of it and continued on.

Which meant one of the last Black Tails in the contingent had done it.

She would be remembering, as Jade was, Finn’s suggestion of this very thing.

But also that Librus had volunteered to bring up the rear while the prince led the army.

To “instill confidence in any stragglers,” he’d said to Finn.

Who hadn’t questioned him even for a second, not when he assured him that he’d catch up with Finn before they reached the capital, that he’d create a current strong enough to carry them all there at otherwise impossible speeds.

They could be there already, for all Jade knew. How fast could his currents flow? Too fast. Too powerfully. Leaving too much destruction in their wake.

Electra glanced once toward the path the army had taken.

Was she wondering what her brother had done to the other waystations?

To the cities that lay between them and the capital?

Was she regretting that she hadn’t been there to help him, or glad that she’d have the privilege of killing the annoying sander she’d been tasked with?

They swam away from the army’s path, to the north, toward these islands they’d been talking about so much.

The one on which Librus and Finn had apparently built her a home to live in, to practice in.

Where she’d be expected to work for them, to forget her family, Storm, everyone she’d ever known and loved.

If they believed for even a moment that she’d ever do that, they were the biggest fools ever to live.

They swam another couple hours, pausing now and then for Electra to take a hit of oxygen so they didn’t have to surface, and for Jade to rest and switch air tanks, before Jade began to struggle against the currents.

Before visibility reduced. Before even Electra seemed to be tiring.

They’d been aiming slowly upward as they went to let Jade decompress, and now Electra pulled her straight for the surface.

The churning, white-capped, wind-tossed surface. Waves rocked and rolled and crashed all around them, and the clouds on the horizon hovered dark and menacing.

Electra cursed. “Hurricane!” she called over the noise of nature.

“There’s no way we can make the island we had in mind, not like this.

We’ll have to improvise.” She motioned to the east, where a pod of whales breached, spraying water into the air before they dove again.

“We’ll follow them toward another of the islands. Should be calmer there.”

Jade didn’t bother replying—Electra wouldn’t be able to hear her anyway, between her helmet and the roar of water and wind. She nodded instead and let the weight of her equipment drag her back under the tumultuous surface.

It wasn’t much calmer below. It felt like every moment that passed brought more chaotic currents, more silt and sand into her vision, more disorientation. She was glad when Electra clipped a tether to her and helped tug her along.

Maybe she wanted to escape from the woman in general—but now her captor seemed like her best bet of reaching land safely.