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Barren

T here was a common belief in my kingdom that the tainted one only entered the casino when called there by the queen. Until recently, that belief had been true.

Days had passed, yet Queen Javalynn remained as oblivious to my presence as she had been when I’d first stepped into these gilded halls. Now that she’d left the safety of her office, my careful patience was paying off.

It was time to make my move.

The clink of glasses and distant laughter masked my movements as I stalked through the casino’s back corridors. I crossed to a new hall just as a muffled voice in a far-off room announced, “Here are your refreshments!”

Despite the merman’s cheerful tone, a surge of bitterness followed. It was unexpected and enough to throw me off my stride.

Internally, he unleashed a torrent of curses in our native tongue—a common sentiment. The merfolk of the Indian Ocean were far from content with their role of serving humans.

Exhaustion weighed on me as I shook the last of the merman’s thoughts away, moving ever closer to my destination.

It had been years since I’d exercised my gift with such intensity. Not since I was a merfry attempting to dodge my father within these very halls—back when his magic-induced paranoia had him believing my every move held the hidden motive of probing his thoughts.

Encountering him had never been pleasant. Eventually, I stopped letting myself be found.

Now, it was easy to note the subtle ebb and flow of the crowd, feeling for the minds of the merfolk my sister employed. Although I had to admit, the constant vigilance was taking a toll.

Emotions surged from an adjacent corridor, and my chest tightened. Profound fatigue blended with sorrow.

I pressed against the wall beside me—a futile endeavor. Even as a merfry, it had been glaringly apparent I hadn’t possessed the body for stealth.

According to my father, I’d been built to be a king. Kings, after all, were meant to be seen.

I was no king. No mer of the Indian Ocean wanted to see me. So, despite my burdensome frame, I kept myself hidden.

The fatigued mermaid’s somber melody drifted to my ears, and I held my breath tightly enough for my brace to pinch my shoulder. It was a song popular among my people, crafted to make one lose track of time while working.

Was she headed for this hall?

My eyes darted back to the hallway I’d come from. My mind reached, testing to see if it was still empty. I couldn’t be found. Not now, when I was so close to reaching where I suspected Javalynn had hidden the trident.

My trident.

I’d once willingly let my sister take hold of it, though I knew it rightfully belonged to me.

Wielding it had held no value to me then. I’d resented its power and despised the greed it had used to poison my father.

But things had changed, and I could no longer deny that I needed my trident’s magic.

The mermaid lingered in the neighboring hall, and with a slow exhale, I immersed myself in her thoughts.

Her mind was in a spiral, the endless worries inside it darting around like frantic fish. The urgency of those thoughts only grew as she willed herself to knock on the door in front of her.

Don’t answer. Don’t answer.

Seconds passed, but the pleas of her mind persisted.

I can’t do this today.

Please. Don’t answer. Don’t be inside.

As soon as I heard the faint creak of a door opening in the distance, her dread twisted to a sharp point that stabbed through my gut.

“I was told you’d be here eight minutes ago.” My ears strained to confirm that it was a man’s agitated voice. Human.

“Well, I’m here now, handsome.”

When the unfortunate mermaid entered the room, I couldn’t take it. I cut away from her mind, scrubbing my hand over my face so my palm might absorb the heat of my curse. “ Alhey .”

She’d entered one of the casino’s fantasia rooms.

This was exactly why I never came to the casino.

Although I needed the hallway empty, I would have preferred any other outcome to this.

There was a time when I thought I’d be responsible for these merfolk, this casino, and the entire island my father had built up. An even briefer time when I’d dreamed of ruling it alongside a red-haired mermaid with a genuinely kind smile.

Under our rule, there would be no need for fantasia rooms or even a casino.

I never agreed with my father’s methods of exploiting other’s desires for his gain. He’d claimed it was for the good of the kingdom, but there was nothing good in the thoughts of the broken and miserable souls of the Indian Ocean.

My sister, for all her hatred toward him, had turned out remarkably similar.

The trident had corrupted her just as it had corrupted him.

That would soon change. If she were genuinely worthy of ruling, she’d find a way to fix the kingdom without the trident.

Now that the next hall was empty, I seized the opportunity, but not before making an unplanned stop.

The door in front of me groaned beneath the weight of my knock.

“I don’t remember booking an extra service—oh, uh... Y-yes?” The man’s face drained to the color of his plush white robe as he craned his neck to blink up at me. “Was there a problem with my card? I assure you, the funds are?—”

It required minimal force for the man’s body to drop.

The mermaid behind him let out a clipped scream. Revulsion rolled off her like a tidal wave the moment she recognized me. “An’dhiri nafseve ,” she shrieked through the hand held to her mouth. Gasping, she took an instinctive step backward. “You touched him .”

With tight lips, I nodded. “Mmh.”

I was well accustomed to being branded the tainted one. I didn’t need to read her mind to know she wasn’t pleased with my interference. No matter how much she dreaded her work here, to her, I was the greater evil.

Her voice trembled with hysteria. “What am I supposed to do with him now?”

I nudged the man’s body back into the room with the side of my shoe as she hissed at me, her anger peaking. “He was my best customer! I was making a fortune from this!”

I glanced up, and she flinched, seemingly aware that I must have discerned her thoughts, even if she intended to deny them.

“It-it’s true!” she stammered as I shut the door, leaving them together.

Now that I’d touched him, he would forever be seen as tainted. No mermaid would let him touch them again.

That knowledge would be my only solace if it turned out the trident wasn’t in Javalynn’s office. I reached out mentally to check the extended hallway leading there before continuing. Still empty.

When I reached it, however, my jaw clenched.

The hallway was far from deserted.

My sister’s usual pair of mermen, dressed in strips of silk and lace, stood in front of her office. But their minds were... empty. Nonexistent.

Illusions , I realized on my walk over. They were illusions that Javalynn must have used as a deterrent for the times when she left her office.

I’d heard whispers that the queen was going on a trip. However, I knew better than to believe any information I obtained from those close to my sister. Javalynn planted false thoughts in her inner circle as effortlessly as she breathed, and distinguishing reality from her lies had always been a challenge for me.

Judging by these illusions, she had indeed left. And if the trident was in her office, it was unprotected.

But was it really hidden in those walls? I couldn’t sense its power, yet I’d somehow always suspected that the trident she carried underwater hadn’t been real.

I took a step closer to the office, and the illusions seemed to take note.

“Outsiders are not permitted,” one of the false mermen said, his voice lilting like a song.

“Our queen is not to be disturbed,” the second illusion added cheerfully.

I had no time to waste on them.

This was my one chance to obtain the means necessary to connect with Claira. I wouldn’t stand by idly and let the one who was fated for me slip away.

I had to reach her, tell her how I felt, and, most importantly, make sure she was safe.

Even if a hundred visions waited inside Javalynn’s office to stop me, illusions were just that. An illusion. I now knew what real was, and Javalynn’s tricks wouldn’t get in my way.

I approached the door, and the false mermen did something their flesh counterparts never would—they attempted to block my path. “Outsiders are not permitted.”

Perhaps it would be enough to deter another mer or a human, but not me. Javalynn clearly shared the same thoughts as our kingdom. She never expected me to come to the casino without first being summoned.

Because why would I look for the trident here? She’d pushed me so hard to abduct Claira from the Atlantic to convince me and the other kingdoms that the Indian Ocean’s trident was still underwater.

She hadn’t foreseen Claira bringing me down to the gates. Nor had she anticipated that Claira wouldn’t be able to see them, proving that the spell concealing Malkeevo from the eyes of the cecaelia was still being refreshed.

“Our queen is not to be disturbed.”

I aimed a powerful kick at the door’s lock and heard the satisfying crack of the door frame as it gave way under my strength. Although I knew the frame had splintered, the appearance of the door remained unchanged. Another illusion?

I was no stranger to things not being what they seemed.

With a deep breath, I closed my eyes and reached out to touch the door. As suspected, my fingers met with sharp, jagged wood.

“Outsiders are not to be permitted.”

I pushed forward, ramming the door frame with my braced shoulder. The illusions didn’t cease their warnings until the lock gave out, and then my body was through the door.

From inside, I could see the splintered mess where the illusion ended and the actual door began. It came as no surprise that the true door was plain and unadorned, crafted from unfinished wood—a stark contrast to the grandiosity of the trick door.

But my attention was quickly drawn to the room itself. Javalynn’s office. And instead of being filled with a hundred more illusions, it was as empty as my gift had indicated.

Days of anticipation had led to this, and now here I was.

It was time to find my trident.

I scanned the office, taking in the orderly rows of books on the shelves. If she’d hidden a camera among them, it would only be a matter of time before she was aware that I’d bypassed her fake mermen.

My hand landed on top of her desk. It was solid and imposing, even if its stately appearance was likely nothing more than another deception. I flipped it over with a grunt. It would be more than enough to buy me some time.

Loose documents flew about as I shoved the desk up against what remained of the door. When the entrance was fully barricaded, I stepped back, grinding my teeth at the mess I’d made.

The urge to pick up papers and begin straightening was difficult to resist. But this was Javalynn’s office. The mess… didn’t matter. Regardless of whether the trident was here, I couldn’t hide that I’d forced my way into her office. It was likely she would never summon me here again.

In fact, I fully expected her to banish me from the island once she realized the extent of what I’d done. But my instincts were rarely wrong. And although I loved my island, this was a risk I had to take.

Papers fell to the floor like rain as my gaze darted to my target—the back wall where Javalynn’s circular sand sculpture hung suspended.

My lips cocked. “Mmh?”

Even without Javalynn present to turn it over, a trickle of sand fell from the sculpture as though it had recently been turned anew. It was exactly what I’d hoped to find.

It hadn’t escaped me that Javalynn always kept a watchful eye on the sand stream. Now I knew why.

I approached the wall and took a deep breath before placing my palm against the sculpture’s glass surface. What I touched was far from glass. My hand disappeared, swallowed up to my wrist, as my palm met with a solid wall.

Like most things that Javalynn flaunted, the sand sculpture had never been real. It was nothing more than an illusion, running on a loop regardless of her presence.

I wasn’t surprised. My father had created many such tricks during his rule—captivating illusions that kept humans returning to the casino for more—but Javalynn had been more subtle with her use of the trident’s powers.

When the betta fish curse had hit us, she’d let the casino’s flashier illusions fade away under the guise of her trident being left in Malkeevo. Yet it seemed she’d kept plenty of the less obvious illusions for her own benefit.

I slid my palm against the back wall, searching for hidden grooves or contours. With the effort she’d put into maintaining this illusion, there was a good chance I’d find?—

Yes, there it was. A simple seam, hidden behind the false sculpture.

I pushed against it, and relief swept through me when it gave way. A concealed pocket door. The illusion had been a cunning way to hide it.

The sculpture dissolved into nothingness as the wall slid away smoothly, revealing a gaping void of darkness beyond. Deep down, I knew the trident had to be inside it. But what else did the room conceal?

My pulse quickened as I stepped forward, preparing myself for what I might find.

Javalynn was cunning. Paranoid, like our father had been. She was always a step ahead of those she thought might oppose her, and I doubted she’d ever come across a mer she hadn’t considered a potential threat.

When my vision sharpened, adjusting to the darkness, I recoiled at the disturbing sight before me.

The floor was alive.

“ Alhey …” I wavered on my feet, struggling to find my balance.

A writhing mass of tentacles filled the room, endlessly oscillating like a nest of serpents. They sprang to life before me, roused by my intrusion. A living nightmare.

No—the trident’s illusions weren’t living. It was nothing more than a creation of magic, a horror of Javalynn’s making.

Yet here I stood, frozen, my molars gnashing together. Illusion or not, they were convincing enough to wrench my stomach into knots.

A dark energy lifted off the tentacles like a vapor, daring me to come close enough to be ensnared. But I could already feel them even where I stood—the firm touch of tentacles wrapping around my flesh was something I’d never forget.

And my father advancing toward me, wielding his weapon with a vow to tear apart every bit of me that the cecaelia had tainted...

Pain seared through every long-dead nerve in my right arm as the agonizing memory of how I’d lost it replayed in my mind. A reminder that some illusions could be real.

Phantom pain, I’d learned the humans called it.

Although my brace provided some relief, I often found myself jolted awake by the sensation of pain in an arm that no longer existed.

I’d read that it was nothing more than a trick of the mind. But for me, it was as real as anything else in this accursed kingdom.

“Javalynn...” I grunted through my tightened jaw. She’d been clever, using my past and the superstitions surrounding the cecaelia to protect her trident.

She thought I would never cross into this room. No mer from our kingdom would have.

I massaged my braced shoulder, attempting to relieve the discomfort, but the pain in my lost arm remained.

This… wouldn’t deter me.

My sister may have been cunning, but she failed to understand that losing my arm hadn’t taught me to fear the cecaelia. It had taught me about trust. And that the closer someone was to you, the deeper the wounds they could inflict.

That was why I needed to reach Claira. If she knew what she was, she needed to know I could never fear her like the rest of my kingdom did. That I would always love her exactly as she was.

Javalynn hadn’t been deserving of my love. But she’d never wanted it. All my sister cared about was power.

Now, she would know what it was like to have her power stripped away.

I stepped into the fray, my eyes fixed on the sea of tentacles before me. It was dizzying, the way the illusion played with my senses. Even as my shoes passed through them, they squelched convincingly underfoot.

A bone-chilling scream pierced the air with my next step. My molars clenched. They aren’t real . I took another step, ignoring how the tentacle underneath me shriveled in on itself, pretending to be wounded.

Even if they had been real, I was already tainted in the eyes of my kingdom. This was nothing to me.

When I reached the center of the room, their tactic took an unexpected turn. Tentacles erupted from underfoot in a circle, and I braced myself, my eyes darting to keep up with their movements.

They were in a frenzy. Each futile attack became more relentless as the dark appendages swarmed, drowning me, caging out my view of the room. Despite knowing they were merely illusions, my body couldn’t help but physically react to their assault.

My chest constricted as I shut my eyes. The calm was immediate, but the relief was short-lived.

Through the darkness, a voice hissed in our native tongue. “You think I didn’t know you’d come for my trident?”

My eyes reopened to an emptied room, and my heart stuttered, thrown off its beat. In front of the shadowed walls, a figure stood before me.

Lynn .

She hunched forward, a stubborn pout on her lips as she held the trident tightly in her arms. She was noticeably shorter, her hair pulled back into a sleek braid. The crown she’d worn since coming of age was missing from her head.

She was my Lynn, the one I’d thought I knew. The Lynn who’d taught me how to use my voice, to string words together without mumbling, to speak my deepest thoughts.

Thoughts she had later used against me.

How many years had this illusion been waiting here for me?

Her chin cocked up to look at me, her dark eyes narrowing. “Even if you use its power to make a new arm, Barren, it will never be real. The entire ocean already knows the truth. They will never let you be their king.”

A new arm? So she’d thought that one day I would come here in search of the trident to restore my arm. But what use would an illusion be to me?

I was here for something far more important.

“You’ve got it wrong, Lynn.” I absentmindedly rubbed at my brace as I spoke, my voice rough and gravelly from days of disuse. “There was a time when you knew me better than anyone did, but now you don’t know me at all.”

“Oh, Barren,” she sneered, the same dark vapor rising from her that had risen from the tentacles. “A king? You were never worthy of such a title. Mother knew it. Father knew it. Look at you. You’re far too weak to rule. You always have been.”

My mouth went dry, my tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth as I reached out to her. “Lynn—I will only ask once. Hand me the trident.”

Her voice kept coming in an unyielding stream, a pre-recorded loop of the lies she’d planted in the minds of our kingdom. “You’re weak, Barren. Dirty. One of the tainted ones. Unworthy of carrying the Arwa name.”

Her dark eyes held nothing but contempt for me. She was right that I was seen as weak and tainted in this ocean—an outcast in our kingdom. But those lies didn’t cut as deep as they once did.

Even if I was standing by myself at this moment, I wasn’t alone. Not anymore.

“You think you have what it takes to be a ruler? You are nothing, Barren. The kingdom knows it. They’ll never accept you. You’re not strong enough to wield?—”

“You were never real, Lynn.” My sorrow erupted as I tightened my hand into a clasping fist around the illusion, shattering it like fragile glass.

A primal scream rang through the air as the last of the vision splintered away to nothing, leaving only the trident behind.

And although I’d barely moved, my heart pounded, my chest heaving with ragged breaths.

There it was. The tainted gold of the trident shone before me, identical to when it had emerged from my father’s corpse.

Once, I’d thought it might curse me with greed if I dared to touch it. Now, here I stood, adrenaline flooding through me at the thought of having access to its power.

Maybe I did deserve to carry the Arwa name.

I picked up the trident—the weapon that had been my birthright—and held it aloft, relieved that it wasn’t another illusion.

No, this was real. My palm prickled against its smooth surface. Bright, potent magic hummed from within it. The same magic I’d grown up despising.

Though I’d never expected things to end up like this, now that they had, I found no room for regrets.

I turned back to Javalynn’s office, only to realize the extent to which the casino had relied on the trident’s illusions. The bookshelves, the walls, the imposing desk—stripped of the trident’s magic, everything was now plain and unremarkable.

Whether Javalynn’s illusions had vanished the moment I’d taken hold of the trident or the relic had merely given me the power to see through them mattered little to me.

The trident’s power over illusions meant nothing to me.

I desired a power much stronger; the power my father had used to build his kingdom.

It was a power that, according to what I’d gleaned from my father’s thoughts, had been impossible to master until the moment he’d taken in the trident.

Somnial drifting. The ability to move through dreams.

My jaw clenched.

He’d destroyed himself using it. Manipulating the dreams of wealthy humans had been his obsession. When his body had started to fail him, it had only caused him to drift further into the realm of dreams.

My gifts had always been stronger than his. He might have had to take in the trident to control it, but I would do everything I could to master somnial drifting on my own.

I wouldn’t let the trident destroy me.

Because my father’s fate—and now Leander’s—hadn’t been a pleasant one.

But I wouldn’t worry about that now. Now that I had what I needed from the casino, there was no point in staying.

I had to hide the trident before?—

With barely more than a thought, the trident vanished from sight.

“Mmh.” Although its weight still lingered in my hand, my grip tightened around it. Illusions had their uses, after all.

I struck the side of the desk with a forceful kick, and it scraped across the floor, sliding away from the entrance. Leaving would be easy, but I needed to hurry.

Now that I had the trident, there was nothing that would prevent me from reaching Claira.

If I couldn’t physically follow her into the depths of the Undersea, I’d find my way to her the only way I still could—her dreams.