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A straea sped through the water with two hundred warriors and General Venu at her back. She’d called the Watcher to her chambers after the carving of Grystark and Ryton appeared at her door, and the Seer’s words gnawed at Astraea’s mind.

“The one with the shadowed heart gathers allies. I see the darkness falling in on her love. Another listened, understood. He too is gone,” the Watcher had said that night, the scars across the place where her eyes had once been twitching as she bent over her scrying bowl.

Darkness falling. That had sounded exactly like a rock fall, like the disaster inside the tunnel where she had killed Grystark. The shadowed heart had to be his wife, Lilia, and the one who’d listened to Lilia’s complaints had to be Ryton.

Lilia had left that carving for Astraea.

What kind of allies could she possibly gather? None of the sea folk would rise against their queen, especially for a weakened and scarred one such as Lilia.

The water went cold as they dove past a blood-red forest of coral with branches as thin and twisted as the Watcher’s arms. Venu caught up to Astraea; his nostrils and gills flared and his eyes flashed with righteous anger.

The general said little, but he was obviously appalled at the outcome of events.

He was one of the very few Astraea had seen fit to fully inform.

“The one with the shadowed heart plots near the cursed place,” the Watcher had said.

Astraea knew of two places where Lilia might be hiding out, and they were on their way to the second possibility.

The first guess had eaten up three days of searching, two days Astraea should have been going after Ryton and that Earth Queen.

But if there were rebels here under the sea, they had to be annihilated first. There could be no discord in the ranks when they attacked the land again.

Following the cold, northern current, they swam toward a tower of blackened rock.

The tower had once spouted Blackwater, giving power to the first of the sea kynd.

The well had gone dormant, and an eerie silence reigned now, filled with phantoms of those lost during the dark time between this Blackwater dying away and the next being discovered near Tidehame. Sea folk did not come here.

Unless they were planning dark deeds.

At the mouth of a great sea cave, Astraea held up a hand to instruct one half of the force to circle around to a back entrance that scouts had detailed in their report.

Astraea swam to the seabed and walked beside General Venu to the mouth of the cave, where voices trickled from the darkness.

Lifting her spear, Astraea strode into the cave to see a crowd of her own folk clustered around Lilia. The sparkling glow of gold and black seaweed waved across their upturned faces, and the sight choked Astraea.

“What a tragedy,” she said.

Those gathered gasped, and Lilia whirled, the scars from her punishment moon-white on her face and her hair floating around her head like rays of a dark sun. Such a shame for a beauty like her to be ruined. But that’s what happened when one wed a traitor.

Astraea studied every face, memorizing who was here. Rage sizzled in her veins and behind her eyes. Her knuckles cracked as she gripped her spear.

“We have a war on our hands,” she hissed. “Our end churns like a whirlpool at our feet, the Earth Queen has risen, and here you are, plotting against your savior.”

Lilia straightened and raised her chin. “You are not our savior. You killed innocent sea folk with your mad plans. You don’t care about us! You only care for your pride and power.”

Fury tumbling through her vision like a red cloud, Astraea spoke a spell over her spear’s shimmering tip, and a current rocked the cave, driving the rebels into the walls. Heads cracked and blood flowed as a full fight erupted.

Venu’s unit swam like eels, quick and clever, under the crowd, surprising them with spells and physical strikes.

Some of the rebels fled through the back of the cave where the second half of Astraea’s force waited. Shrieks tore the sea.

Had Lilia gone down?

Astraea looked left and right, unable to tell in the bloodied water and the chaos. She slipped out the front, pushed past two males locked in combat, and swam over the cave toward the back, only to see a flash of movement in the distance.

Lilia had fled along with a small group of followers.

Astraea began to cast a spell, to drive them high, then smash them against the land, but she held herself back. She wanted to send assassins for them. To be rid of them quietly. None had to know they lived still and that there was any sort of rebellion afoot.

To think Lilia believed she could thwart Astraea. It was laughable. So entertaining, in fact, that Astraea smiled the entire swim back to the castle.

Soon, the entire world would see Astraea’s full power.

Actually, today seemed as good a day as any to get started.

“Venu,” she called as the general joined her and the warriors escorting her home. “Today, we will set out for the Lapis territory. Tomorrow, we attack. Make ready.”

“Yes, of course. As you wish, my queen.” Venu veered right and went to work, calling out orders for those who could best multiply the salt water and command the tides.

“It would’ve been better with you here, Ryton,” Astraea whispered to herself. “It’s sad indeed that once I find you, I will have to kill you. Such a waste.”