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EPILOGUE

T he water’s lovely today, a complete juxtaposition to my ugly mood. I swim closer and closer to the surface, farther than I ever have before, determined to get away from my family and the responsibilities that hound me.

After my argument with the Queen , I need a good long swim to clear my head. Of course, I made the mistake of calling her mother today and was quickly reprimanded for it. Queen. Always, Queen. A reminder that I’m nothing but another pawn in her domain.

Once again, I protested the archaic tradition of arranged marriages purely for status. And once again, she ignored everything I said. I even tried to appeal to her as my mother, which only earned me a reprimand for not showing her the respect of her title. She didn’t listen to a word. She just slammed her trident on the stone floor of the receiving chamber, declaring, “ That’s enough. ”

Not many can resist an alpha bark, and no one can resist the alpha bark of the literal Queen. The tide picks up, pulling me toward the only bit of land within our territory, and I let it draw me closer, relishing the familiar tug.

I’m headed toward one of my grottos, a hidden sea cave where I’ve set up a little hideaway for when I need to be alone. It’s filled with soft beds of seaweed, lightly glowing anemones along the walls, and whatever trinkets I don’t want my siblings to get their hands on. The entrance is just ahead, around that outcropping of coral.

Something breaks the surface of the water, its shiny veneer glinting as the sunlight reflects off it. What the hell is that?

Sweeping my powerful tail, I glide toward the disturbance, my eyes never straying from my prize. Whatever it is, it lands on the seafloor, hooking itself around a branch of pink staghorn coral.

It’s a necklace, or a choker, or something. Some kind of jewelry that’s certainly out of place in the wild like this. Slipping my hand under it, I grab it firmly and lift, but it releases easily. Looking closer, I see there’s a pendant in the middle, and I gasp. It’s the ancient symbol of omegas, though this one has five ruby stones inlaid on its surface, four small ones and one larger one in the center. How did this get here?

Nothing lives above the surface, it’s too dangerous. Except…

I turn the beautiful necklace over in my hand. It’s clear to me it’s powerful, something ancient. Still warm from the sun. I should take it to the Queen, but my gaze flicks to the surface of the water, sunlight dancing like an invitation.

It’s against the law to go above, but right now, I’m not feeling particularly gracious toward the laws that want to bind and break me. Or the woman who made them.

Determined, I flick my tail urgently, powering upward through the water, the necklace in tow. As my head breaks the surface, I hear a short scream that causes my heart to clench. That was not an animal.

Turning toward the sound, I’m rendered speechless. There, on a platform above the water, are…beings. Similar to me on top, but instead of a tail, they have long split limbs on the bottom. They’re talking to each other, though I can’t hear them.

We’ve always been told there’s nothing above the water except for plants and the occasional animal left over from prehistoric times, but as I look at these beings staring back at me with the same shock I feel, it’s clear…

They lied.