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NERYS

It was the final piece.

Before I could lead, I had to surround myself with those who valued the same future for Thalassaria as I did. Amid the chaos of the guard’s announcement, one I had known was coming after being briefed on the Pearl’s disappearance and recovery, I sought the three men who would help me move Thalassaria toward the shared goals of a united Elydor.

Or rather, those men sought me.

Both Caelum and Marek watched Rowan. He was an essential piece of the puzzle that had been unraveled just before Marek left for Aetheria. He studied the crowd carefully, watching. Listening. Then finally, just as the council looked to me for guidance, he spoke.

“All but one.” He nodded to the youngest member of the council, a woman who I knew least of them all.

“The guards?” I asked.

Rowan shook his head.

“I’ll admit, I’m surprised,” Caelum said. “I thought more would have rejected the queen’s treachery.”

“That the true nature of man is corrupted and untrustworthy?” Marek made a sound of disgust. “Expect little of people and you won’t be disappointed.”

Marek’s bleak views would have to wait. “Thank you,” I said to Rowan, wishing I could say more. We’d been exchanging looks since the competition, but he’d kept his distance. I understood the reason, but he was also the one person I wanted most by my side right now.

That would have to wait as well.

“The Echo Stone, please?” I asked Marek, who was already striding toward Veylin to procure it.

Caelum and Rowan cleared out the path between me and the crowd as I positioned toward them. As the water’s edge splashed against my ankles and receded, Marek handed me the Echo Stone.

“People of Thalassaria,” I began, the stone carrying my voice all the way up to those at the railings above. I was amazed none had fallen off the cliff yet; the throng of people, some perched atop the railings, pressed forward. “Today, you witnessed my challenge to Queen Lirael.”

I was forced to stop as shouts and cheers met my words. If the queen’s campaign to sully my name had reached beyond the palace walls, it clearly had not taken root.

“What you did not witness were the lengths Queen Lirael went to prevent it.”

The crowd quieted as my confidence in my decision grew. I’d considered preserving Lirael’s legacy but would not begin my own rule by shielding a truth as enormous as this one. If not for Rowan’s spying before he left the palace, along with Marek’s daring and finely tuned smuggling abilities, this would have been a very different speech.

“She attempted to malign me, my name, and my ancestors once she learned that I planned to challenge her. Lirael nearly successfully bribed a member of the current council to present false documents that would have invalidated my challenge.”

I didn’t look at Veylin, but did not need to. He would be furious.

“She had a young woman attacked, either believing her to be me, or worse, knowing she merely resembled me, hoping the attack would intimidate me into reconsidering. She also used a shard of the abyss during our challenge, one I was forced to use the Sacred Waters to mitigate.”

The crowd’s chatter increased, but so did my voice since this last part was the most important.

“Worse, she stole the Tidal Pearl.”

I was forced to stop at that, not needing Rowan’s abilities to feel the outrage from those all around me. Raising my arm did not get their attention again, but a flick of my fingers and a new sea serpent did. It rose from the sea behind me, but I added a fun bit of magic I’d tested once but never executed. As the crowd watched, the serpent’s tongue lashed out, a forked band of water stretching way up to the railings above. Just before it touched the onlookers, I snapped my fingers and the serpent disappeared, the water it was made from splashing to the sand below.

Clapping followed, but I’d not done it for the crowd’s pleasure alone.

“As you know,” I continued, now having everyone’s attention once again. “The Tidal Pearl will validate my reign, and use of it will help protect the people of Thalassaria. Thankfully, those loyal to me discovered it had gone missing and took immediate action to recover it. Captain Marek, Navarch of the Tidebreaker fleet, led a daring mission to intercept Queen Lirael’s trusted emissary, who was smuggling it aboard a ship bound for Gyoria. His command of the Tidechaser ensured the Tidal Pearl was retrieved before it left Thalassarian waters. Those who knew of her plan will no longer serve at my court. This is not only a day of celebration but one of reckoning. Thalassaria deserves leaders who place its people above personal ambition, and I swear to you that is the ruler I will be.”

The crowd erupted in applause, their cheers echoing across the beach. Rowan caught my gaze, his expression steady but proud, and a flicker of warmth settled in my chest. This wasn’t just a victory; it was a promise of what was to come.

“To those close to me,” I said, “I already know which among you were aware of the queen’s plot to steal the Tidal Pearl.” Thanks to Rowan and his ability to sense, when the guard first announced the Pearl missing, who was surprised and, more importantly, who was not. “Do not report back to the palace except to recover your belongings this eve. If you do, I will see you arrested.”

I looked each and every one of the guilty parties directly in the eyes, landing finally on Veylin. Satisfied at least most would not test the truth of my words, I held my right hand out, palm facing upward, and waited.

Marek reached into a pouch hanging at his side and pulled out the recovered artifact. Though it was no bigger than the size of a regular large pearl, its iridescent color was unmistakable, as would be its power. He handed it to me, winked, and took the Echo Stone as he stepped aside.

Turning toward the sea, I looked out at the horizon, once again silently thanking the ancient pelagor, thanking Thalassa for watching over me, and then dipping my gaze to the ocean’s depths where my parents laid for their final rest, thanked them for giving me the strength I needed on this day.

Then, raising my hand to the sky, the Tidal Pearl clutched tight in my grip, I brought it down in one swift motion.

The ocean responded. A thunderous roar erupted as waves surged upward, forming towering walls of water that seemed to defy gravity. The sea shimmered with an ethereal glow as the power of the Tidal Pearl coursed through me. It was an ancient and unstoppable force, binding me to the very heart of Thalassaria.

The crowd gasped as the water began to form the shape of an immense, glowing figure, a sentinel of the sea. I turned to face my people, taking the Echo Stone back from Marek.

“This is Thalassaria’s strength. Together, we rise, and together, we endure.”

The sentinel bowed its head in acknowledgment before dissolving back into the ocean, the waves cascading gently to the shore. In that moment, the sea was still, but I knew it now carried my promise, to protect and lead my people with all the strength and wisdom of those who came before me.