Page 29 of Sea of Evil and Desire (The Deep Saga #1)

27

Finn

G lacies let out a trembling cry as we arrived at the Sanitatem, the healing quarters deep within the kelp forest. She rushed ahead of us, pushing through the slimy strands, which created walls like shredded curtains moving gently with the currents. Dappled sunlight from somewhere high above filtered through the canopy, and the constant motion of the seaweed gave the space a living, breathing quality. The healers leveraged the ancient powers of the forest in the mending process.

To the untrained eye, this may have looked like a thick patch of kelp, but if you knew where to part its strands, leafy beds hung between the fronds, each cradling a sick Mer or other oceanic creature. Bioluminescent globes were woven among them, lighting the hospital and creating soft shadows that danced across the swell.

Glacies’s sobs drifted from the greenery, and I found her at her cousin íss’s bedside. Her long blonde hair heaved against her back as she held her cousin’s limp hand.

íss smiled bravely, but her eyes were sunken, surrounded by dark rings, and her lips were white. Once a beauty like Glacies, the girl’s light hair was limp, and the telltale black veins of the Shadow crept across her neck and down her arms. She didn’t have long.

I shut the curtain and stepped away, my fists balled. The disease was insidious. It crept inside us, eating away at our core while we remained unaware. Once the veins appeared, it was too late.

“Prince Aigéan.” A gentle touch on my tail caused me to spin around. A young merboy, no more than four or five, was floating behind me. The veins hadn’t yet spread over his body in the same way they’d consumed íss, but there was a tiny spidery web on the side of his neck.

“Hello, little one.” I grinned, but my heart was weighed by darkness as I took in the shadows under his eyes and his hopeful expression.

“Healer Airmed says one day the Mer will get their powers back, and there will no longer be any Shadow. Is this true?”

“Yes.” My heart clenched as I lied to him.

The Mer had been unable to break the curse for thousands of years. I doubted it would be broken in this boy’s lifetime, and the pollution in the water was only growing.

“Healer Airmed also says that my parents are playing a game of hide-and-seek, and soon I will find them again.”

The child’s words dragged me from my thoughts, and I leaned over to look him straight in the eye. “You are lucky to have parents who play games with you.” I ruffled his hair, and he let out a cough.

My brow furrowed as I parted the seaweed at the entrance to the healer’s quarter, where kelp trunks hemmed in a sandy glade. Coral shelves were woven into the strands, housing jars of remedies, balms, and shells filled with medicines for the sick. Tiny cleaner fish darted between the shelves, tending to algae growth or sanitizing the spaces like devoted assistants.

A pool of bubbling, mineral-rich water in one corner was used for restorative soaks. Its healing properties were drawn from nearby geothermal vents.

Healer Airmed was draped in flowing strands of iridescent seaweed and glided from patient to patient in the heated pool. Her hands glowed faintly with magic as she administered care.

Spotting me, she touched the man she was tending to gently on the brow and glided across the room with a flick of her tail. Like all Mer born with healing powers, she had long dark hair and pale eyes.

“Your Highness.” She made a little bow, and it reminded me of how much I loved being Finn in a world where no one bowed to me.

My thoughts drifted to Morgana—how she rolled her eyes and flicked her hair when I tested her patience in a way none of my kind would dare to. The tilt of her head, the curve of those petulant lips . . . a challenge, a lure, a storm I longed to chase. I rolled my shoulders, dispelling the thoughts.

“The boy thinks the Mer will get their powers back.” An angry breath shot out of me.

Airmed’s eyes were filled with sadness, and she shook her head. “Do not underestimate the potency of hope, Your Highness. It is a powerful thing.”

A powerful, dangerous thing , I thought as I made my way out of the Sanitatem.

Pisceon was waiting outside, arms folded across his chest and his jaw stiff. He refused to come in whenever we visited. I didn’t blame him. The Shadow wasn’t contagious; it was contracted by coming into contact with polluted waters or eating too many contaminated fish. But Pisceon had watched his parents be consumed by the same black spidery veins that were creeping across íss’s body and the young boy’s neck.

Glacies appeared behind us, drawing a shuddering sob, and I moved to comfort her.

“Don’t touch me!” She glared at me through tear-stained eyes as she pushed me away.

I threw up my hands in apology.

“I am going to the Kingdom of Okeanós. I will be back before the Blood Moon Ball,” she sniffed.

I nodded.

Pisceon put a hand on my shoulder. “Is it wise? If the king finds out you let her go, he will be livid at you both.”

I shrugged him off and smiled at Glacies. “Go,” I told her softly.

Who was I to deny her the comfort of a loved one in these times?

Perhaps it’s her —the girl who’s undone me. When I met that merboy’s purple-stained eyes, I thought only of Morgana, my tortuous obsession.

A rush of water pulsed to my left, and Pháos circled frantically. He squeaked and gestured with his flipper.

The girl. Morgana. She was in trouble.