Page 44 of Sea of Evil and Desire (The Deep Saga #1)

42

Morgana

T here was a presence on the stairwell. Two of the gem-tailed guards had arrived, both holding long spears. Their fine silver cloaks billowed softly behind them, juxtaposed against their stiff shoulders and stern expressions. I recognized their faces as they glided into the lamplight: Alga and Korul.

Alga slid forward and unlocked the heavy gate. The echoing clang was a welcome contrast to the silence. Edward and I crawled forward at their command, our knees skidding on the mucky floor. Korul produced ropes of thick, slippery seaweed and bound both our wrists, and then we were steered back up the dark steps.

I felt faint when we finally reached the polished floors of the entrance hall. The stairs had exhausted me. I needed to surface, and I needed to surface soon.

The glow from the twinkling chandelier was overpowering after spending so long in the dark, but the guards didn’t give us time to rest; they pushed us toward one of the two stairwells.

“Why do Mer even have stairs?” I grumbled.

“Perhaps they built them when they had alliances with the Drowned,” Edward whispered.

This earned me a shove from the blunt end of Korul’s spear, sending me to all fours.

Once we’d ascended, we met another polished stone floor hemmed by railings fashioned from sand—they would have been white if not for the green algae covering them. The polished stones stretched all the way around to the opposite side of the large space, but we were stopped at two double doors at the front of the pair of stairs.

The wooden doors glistened, their crevices dark with blackened slime. Carved into the surface was the same insignia I’d seen on my grandmother’s box—a wave encircled by runes flanked by five figures. Now, I recognized them: a Mer, Selkie, sea beast, a Drowned skull, and a Siren.

I glanced sideways at Edward. “I’ll do the talking. I got us into this; the least I can do is try to get us out,” I hissed through gritted teeth.

This earned me another shove from my captor.

Edward nodded. His face was pale, and his red hair was a mess. He had lost his porter’s hat on the hilltop.

A buzzing sound met our ears as the doors slid open, and the guards pushed us inside. We had been escorted into a vast hall with an arching ceiling. Marble pillars met carved beams that stretched across its roof, flanking a polished marble walkway. Hundreds of Mer of all shapes and colors crowded the space, and they were all whispering.

They had all come to see us sentenced.

My breath caught in my throat when I saw the dais and the thrones. There were six of them, but only three were occupied. The largest ones were in the middle; they must have been for the king and queen of the Neptūnus Kingdom. One was vacant. Abalone .

I felt like I had been paralyzed when my gaze found the sea king—King Neptūnus V. He looked a million years old, yet somehow young and strong. His hair was long and fell over his shoulders down to his chest. Like his eyes, it was black but sprinkled with gray. His face was handsome, but every one of his beautiful attributes was pulled into a fierce stare. His torso was tinged green, aged yet still muscular, and his tale glittered pale gold, curling up around the side of his large throne, which was carved from sand and set with hundreds of shells and stones.

A shove from the spear at my back reminded me I was supposed to be walking. Despite the Mer whispering on either side of me, I only had eyes for the king. He continued glaring at us as we approached the dais. The Symbol of the Ocean was drawn in the center of his forehead, runes were tattooed across his eyebrows, and thick ink bands circled his arms.

Dragging my eyes from him, I recognized the Mer at his sides. The muscular merman who’d spat at me sat two seats to his right, and the pale blonde Princess Glacies, who’d called us “scum,” was on his left. Her long black tail glittered as it slithered around the side of her throne and slowly fanned her from behind.

Alga and Korul retreated when we reached the foot of the dais, leaving Edward and me standing in front of the imposing Mer. Edward trembled beside me as he looked up at them.

A grizzled merman floated out from a door behind the dais. His skin was a tanned brown, his tail faded lilac, and his gray hair floated around his shoulders as he drew out a parchment to read from.

“You have been brought before the court, convicted of torturing and murdering our people. We do not believe that Drowned vermin like yourselves would have the brains to be behind this.” The Mer in the room snickered, and the herald paused before continuing. “If you can provide us with suitable information, your fate will be decided quickly and painlessly. If we are unhappy with what you have given, you will wish you had helped us before the end.” He shuffled his papers and peered over the top at us. “You are standing before the great King Merrik Neptūnus V. To his right sits his nephew Pisceon Neptūnus, and to his left sits Princess Glacies Niveus of the Niveus Ice Kingdom. You will bow before royalty, Drowned !” A scornful spit in our direction emphasized the last word as the old man retreated to the sidelines.

I watched him go, a nagging sense of familiarity tugging at me. Before I could dwell on it, Edward hastily dipped into a clumsy bow beside me. I followed suit.

“You may rise.” King Neptūnus had spoken. His voice was as cold as the ocean’s depths.

Edward and I lifted our heads, our bound hands clasped before us.

“Twenty-four dead Mer and two who are recovering in the Sanitatem.” The king’s eyes narrowed as he peered at us.

Twenty-four dead? Gods, no wonder they were angry. But wait, only two recovering—that meant one of the three we rescued had died.

My stomach hollowed out.

“Now tell me . . .” The king’s mouth curved into an awful smile. “Tell me where my brother is—for I know that the sniveling, powerless Drowned couldn’t be responsible for all these deaths.”

Did he just say his brother? He already knows about Taranis.

“Please, Your Majesty, we didn’t kill your people,” I pleaded. My throat was burning. I cursed my tears. I would choke on them before I let them fall.

The king’s eyes bored into mine. I tried to sense his feelings, but there was nothing. I remembered my grandmother’s diary saying that the Mer’s magic prevented her from sensing their emotions.

“My guards only saw you, and you were covered in our people’s blood.” The king arched a dark brow, and the runes tattooed above it rose.

“One Drowned escaped, and the bodies of the others disappeared. One we believe found peace in saving Edward’s life.” I waved a hand at my friend, and he nodded in confirmation. “The other looked like he ended up in a worse place, Your Majesty.”

He must believe me. He has to.

“Ah, yes. That is convenient.” The king threw back his head and laughed, his dark hair shaking against his shoulders. He stopped abruptly, his eyes snapping to mine with a sharp gleam as if he’d forgotten why he was laughing in the first place.

My whole body was trembling, and my chest was being squeezed. I recognized the feeling—I needed to surface for air, now .

“So you refuse to tell me of my brother’s whereabouts?” The king tilted his head, laughter still dancing around his eyes.

“I told you. It wasn’t us! We do not know where Taranis is.” I didn’t have time for this. From the corner of my eye, I saw Edward shaking his head furiously at me.

I spun around and scanned the angry crowd, searching for any faces showing sympathy—perhaps the merman who’d rescued me was among them—but they all remained fierce.

“And yet you know my brother’s name when I have not spoken it?” Venom seeped into the king’s smile as his lip curled back from his teeth.

“We were on our way to speak to you.” My voice became high-pitched—talking was taking all my precious air. “My gr—” I paused. Perhaps it was better not to enlighten the court of Mer that I was not Drowned, but a Selkie. My grandmother had feared for her life in this very court. “We have information that concerns your wife, Queen Abalone. We believe that Taranis killed her, and we believe that he is, in fact, Manannán.”

A hush fell over the courtroom. I took a moment to double over and suck in what oxygen I could from my watery surroundings.

Edward looked at me sideways, concern knitting his brows.

The king’s eyes flashed, and the shadow of a globe-eyed beast flickered on his face. “We already know that my half-brother is harnessing the powers of the Drowned God—he was always a pitiful thing. Without Manannán, he would be nothing .” The rumbling words filled the hall, and King Neptūnus’s eyes glittered in black amusement.

Fuck. He’s mental.

“Guards! Hand them over to my son and see that they are tortured before they’re executed!”

“No, wait—” There was a ringing in my ears, and the room was fading in and out of focus. I grasped at any last fragments of oxygen.

“Your Majesty, is it wise to give the prisoners to Aigéan? You know how easily he loses control during interrogation, he might kill them before they get a chance to talk.” Pisceon, the muscular, dark-skinned merman to the king’s right, had spoken.

“Who cares! Let him have them. It’s no less than they deserve,” hissed Princess Glacies.

The king didn’t answer. He just continued laughing, an icy sound, and the rest of the congregation joined in.

“The young merman who died from blood loss was my valet, and he had dreams of being a guard.” A cold, clear voice rang out from the back of the room, and another whisper rippled through the crowd.

Edward admitted a frightened exhale at my side. “It’s Prince Aigéan.”

The ringing in my ears intensified, and I could no longer see the congregation before me. The granite floor was coming closer, closer . . . Now it was at eye level.

I knew I must have fallen.

My long red hair splayed softly over my face, spilling in all directions. A second later, a hand pulled my head back. One of the guards had drawn me from the floor using my hair as a rope.

How was I going to answer questions when I couldn’t talk? My chest was too tight, and the room was fading in and out. In and out.

The guard, most likely Korul, continued to hold my head back, presenting me to someone—to the prince. A swish told me a sword had been unsheathed. Cold steel was at my throat.

“Morgana?” The question sounded gentle, but firm hands still held my hair.

I knew that voice and how it made my body feel. Finn.

I must be hallucinating, but what a pleasant hallucination it is.

“Let her go,” said Finn’s voice, and it seemed like the guard released me.

If I’m dying and this vision of Finn leads my path to the afterlife, I will go willingly.

Metal flashed, and the shackles that bound my hands were released. Through my contracting vision, I could see the prince before me, his green tail shimmering in the light of the glass bulbs above.

“Bring the boy back to me,” he demanded. I tried to squint up at him. He had dark hair, eyes, and tattoos on his right arm. He had Finn’s strong torso as well, but he had the tail of a merman. The white lights began to dance in front of my eyes again. I was losing consciousness. This was it.

“What’s wrong with her?” I heard him say.

“She needs oxygen,” Edward’s voice answered. It was urgent and fearful.

“I see. Korul, make sure this young man is treated well in my absence.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Aigéan, what is the meaning of this?” the king’s voice boomed. He was no longer laughing.

“Do not harm him, Father. This is the girl . I will explain everything.”

“She’s a shifter. When were you going to fill us in on that piece of information, Aigéan?”

That was the last thing I heard as I felt strong arms tighten around me. I fell into them, thinking of Finn’s voice and seeing his torso on the prince’s tail. Water was rushing on all sides of my body, and I was traveling faster than I’d ever swum before, but I was barely conscious. The ringing in my ears was overwhelming, and I gasped for breath. I didn’t want to give up, but the harder I tried, the less oxygen I seemed to receive. The ringing became deafening, and darkness consumed me.