Chapter Thirty-Seven
For the first time in many tides, there is no Assembly in the Great Hall. Only King Merrick, Nerin, Serena, and the king's council are invited to the closed session.
A table sits in the center of the mid-platform. Motioning from his seat at the center of the table, the king beckons for Kai and Serena to sit. They do, nodding to each of the other occupants. One chair remains empty.
An awkward silence follows, as everyone stares at their hands. King Merrick glances at Serena under his bushy eyebrows. Serena folds her hands in front of her, trying to pull off the look of a Werewolf Liaison. Whatever that is.
Moments pass, and she wiggles in her seat. It feels weird to sit in the same type of chair as the king. She looks again to make sure she saw correctly that his doesn't have any extra adornments, and that the chair isn't taller than the rest—even by an inch. It isn’t.
Still, the king towers over everyone else at the table. His shoulders are so wide, they extend past either edge of the chair. Beside him, Nerin is the complete opposite. She sits rigid, her back straight, but she still only comes up to the Kings shoulders. Serena wonders if he really isn't that tall. Maybe the chair has special lifts.
Serena leans back in her chair slowly and tries to appear casual as she glances under the table.
How did he get from the throne to the chair, without the high tide?
Serena's thoughts are interrupted by footsteps entering the Great Hall. Zayla strolls in, chin high, eyes locked on the empty chair. Serena straightens, glancing at the king. He appears not to have noticed her looking under the table at him. Nerin, of course, is frowning at Serena.
Zayla walks the long way around the table. Serena catches the scent of seasoned seaweed as she passes by. No sooner than she sits down does the king speak. "Let's begin. First, we'll need to know how many Undine will be going ashore."
"All that can fight, I imagine," says Evandre.
"No. I won't risk every last Undine to this threat," the king says.
"You don't have to risk anyone, save one," Serena mumbles.
The king slams his fist down. The entire table jolts and everyone flinches away from it like a school of herring scattering to avoid a shark. Only Nerin remains unfazed, her back so rigid she is as far as she can get from the table.
"I've made my decision," the king glowers as Serena, "and you will respect that. There will be no more talk of it."
Serena meets the king's eyes, her heart pumping like she's been racing up and down the beach all day. "As you say," she says, steady and even. The more the king refuses to take the right course of action, the more Serena wants to.
"The King's Guard will be the first wave ashore," Murphy begins slowly, breaking the silence and bringing everyone back to the task at hand. "We've accepted volunteer maidens to stand by as a second wave, though hopefully we won't need them. The third echelon will remain past the breakers, ready with their arrows. I have some of my guards conducting training right now."
The king nods. "Good. Many of the maidens have some experience, though maybe not the youngest generations."
"No Temporal Caste were accepted on the rosters, as you requested," Murphy says.
"Except me of course," Serena interrupts, glancing at the Head of the Guard.
Murphy pauses, looking at Serena then at the king. The rest of the table goes silent.
From the other end of the table, Zayla pushes back her chair and stands. "Your majesty, if you please, I'd like to announce my ruling on Serena's third and final punishment."
Now? Serena's eyes go wide. She wouldn't…
King Merrick nods his consent.
"I sentence Serena to prison. The amount of time to be determined by myself, or the king, when we have deemed she has learned her lesson."
"Prison," Serena repeats, blinking twice. "Prison!" She stares at Zayla, then turns to the king. "But I know our beaches. I know what can protect us in The Dry, and I know the capabilities of the wolves."
"Excellent. You can brief Murphy before you go below," says the king.
"And I thank you for your contribution," Murphy nods to Serena, as if that is the end of it.
Chair squeaking back as she stands, Serena raises her voice. "I am the Werewolf Liaison. You need me out there!"
"Serena…" Kai begins, leaning toward her. Serena turns, squaring her shoulders with Kai and fixing him with the fiercest glower she can muster.
He quiets, holding his hands up and leans back as far as his seat will allow.
Finally, the king turns to Serena. "You will not be going ashore. You will instead be carrying out your third and final punishment."
Serena glances at Murphy then the king, bringing her hand to the side of her breastplate, touching the special arrow Ronan gave her. "I am ready for this," she says, beseeching them to understand.
The king leans forward, clasping his hands together. "Regardless, Zayla's punishment stands. Besides, I will not risk the very maiden we go ashore to protect." He looks at Serena, eyes soft. "I will not risk my daughter."
The entire council goes still. A chill, colder than any werewolf can give Serena, runs up her spine. Next to the king, Nerin slouches in her seat. It is not disappointment. Rather, relief from the release of a burden carried too long.
"Daughter…" Evandre gives a nervous laugh next to the king. "What—?" She stops when the king turns toward her. Evandre glances at Nerin, then back at the king, and her smile drops from her face. "Daughter?" she says louder, staring at Serena.
Serena's mind races, trying to connect the dots. But there are no dots to connect. Her parents were killed by werewolves, and she has been alone ever since.
King Murphy picks up his trident and turns one side of it toward Serena. Right where the three prongs are melded together at their base by a crescent moon, rests a jewel. Midnight blue, with dark gray and black swirls throughout. Serena's fingertips move to the charm at her breastplate. The amulets match perfectly.
"Do you know how many times I've had to turn my trident to keep the jewel from prying eyes? I dare say most of Society isn't even aware a jewel was there to begin with," the king spins the entire trident slowly in circles, rolling it between his fingers. Evandre stares up at it, mouth open.
Serena snaps her own mouth shut, anger heating her face.
"You carry the family stone," he says. "You are heir to the throne, Serena. Worthy of the same shaded scales as the very first Undine, passed down through our lineage. Of course," the kings stops spinning his trident, glancing at Serena, "I've had all proof of that relegated to the King's Library."
"But…why?" Kai asks. "Why was the king's daughter raised as an orphan?"
Serena sinks into her chair, glad someone can speak for her. Hard lumps rise up from her stomach to her throat, making it hard to breath, much less speak. Zayla won't look at Serena.
She knew, possibly all along.
"My wife and son departed the night of the Maiden's Massacre, that much is true," says the king, voice hallow as he talks. "Those wolves tore through Undine bodies so badly, we could barely distinguish what parts belonged to each maiden and child. Had we not known how many went ashore, we'd have no idea how many casualties there were. Only one remained whole amidst the bloodshed by the time I got there." The king glances up. "Serena." He swallows, hard. "My wife was with twins. We kept it a secret throughout the pregnancy, though she was so large it was hard to hide it. We didn't announce it because, well—we just didn't want to jinx anything." The king lets out a strangled laugh that threatens to turn into a sob.
Nerin lays her hand on the king's arm.
He takes a deep breath, composing himself, and continues. "The wolves had an advantage— they could have torn into you just as easily. But they agreed to let me take you home, on one condition." The king looks at Serena. "That I return you to them on your eighteenth birthday."
Kai is the only one moving at the table. He keeps glancing in between Serena and the king, his fists clenching and unc
lenching.
"Why play such games?" demands Kai. "If they wanted her, why didn't they just keep her?"
"Alaric," the king sneers. He takes another deep breath. "Alaric is very cruel. He never forgave us for his abandonment, and he wanted something that would hurt me deeper. To give up a child after watching her grow…" he looks at Serena again. "Watch her graduate from her first caste, watch her swimming with her caste mates, watch her enter The Choosing and even watch her endure The Selection, with her chin held high..." The king shakes his head.
"He knew the distraction would drive me desperate. And I did desperate things in those first days. I sent wave after wave of Undine ashore to stop the threat, to protect my daughter. They were all slaughtered. Alaric was coaxing us out—and we lost more than half our species, almost all of our remaining males because of it."
Serena's hands lay flat on the table, shaking. Nerin places her own hands over them. "Serena—the idea to put you in the orphanage was my own."
Refusing to meet any eyes at the table, Serena keeps her gaze down in her lap.
"We didn't know how events were to play out, but I thought if the king ever did have to give you up, that it might be better to keep the two of you disconnected," says Nerin, squeezing Serena's hand.
The king nods his head. "While I was looking out for your best interests, Nerin was looking out for Society's best interests."
Tears spill over Serena's cheeks. Kai moves toward her, but Serena holds up a hand, warding him away. He sits back down, hesitantly.
"I became attached to you anyway, from a distance. Especially as I watched you grow into a young maiden," the king tries to smile, but it ends up looking like a lopsided frown. "I thought maybe if I named you Werewolf Liaison—you would conjure a miracle, since the whole matter has long since been out of my hands. I thought you would grow to love them, find a place there."
At this, Serena can see Kai tense out of the corner of her eye.
"I thought—what a relief this would be, if Serena might find happiness out of it, some way." He buries his head in his hands. "At the same time, I beat myself up over the decision. I also wanted to keep you here, and make you my heir. But I knew I had some making up to do, which is why I kept putting you in the spotlight. I thought if only the rest of Society could see how wonderful you are. How hard you work to protect our way of life, how smart and brave you are, and the magic your voice holds when you sing—like your mother. Then maybe they would embrace you as their queen."
"Enough," Serena says, voice cracking. She pulls her hands away from Nerin and wipes her cheeks dry. "I don't want to hear anymore."
The king, Nerin, and the rest of the table look at Serena, waiting. She squares her shoulders with the king and swallows hard. "I think that you've made some really poor decisions, and not just for me, but for the entire kingdom."
The king doesn't deny it, but nor does he nod. He stares at his hands, the shadows of the cavern creeping into the deep lines that etch his face.
"And I think," continues Serena, "that you are about to make another poor decision." She squeezes her hands into fists. "Instead of sentencing me to prison, give me to the wolves. Make peace with them. We are helpless to stop the decline of our ecosystem—we might be forced to the beaches soon enough. And if we haven't resolved our differences with the wolves, there will be none of us left, anyway."
"No—I won't do it," says the king.
"It's one for the whole of Society," says Serena, on the verge of shouting. "Why can't you see reason?"
He looks up at her. "I haven't seen reason since the day you were born, Serenita."
She sits back in her chair, tears threatening to spill over again at the diminutive Rayne so often called her, though now it comes from the king himself.
Serena shrugs. "I can't—I can't sit back watching the entire kingdom risk their lives for me." It doesn't seem right, no matter how much of an outcast they all made her feel she was.
The king smiles and blinks slowly.
"I figured as much." He raises his head, shouting out to the guards at the entrance of the Great Hall. "Take her to the pit."
Two guards come alongside her, thick hands closing around her arms. They lift her from her chair, turning her away.
"Be careful, please," says the king. "She is my daughter."
Pain spears up to her heart. Serena hunches over, grasping at her chest with her hands. It is difficult to breathe.
The king turns away, refusing to look at her.
Collapsing in on herself, Serena's feet drag. She is pulled the length of the Great Hall purely by the strength of the guards that hold her.
As they leave the room, the king resumes speaking to his council, his voice laced with steel. "We go to The Dry at dawn tomorrow. There are many preparations yet to attend to, and we will need every Undine’s assistance. We will go ashore strong and proud, and we will fight for our right to extend the Undine legacy into the next generation."
His words fade as Serena and the guards move down the corridor.
Only silence emanates from the maidens they pass. Most are too busy to even notice. They are busy with preparations—determined chins raised high, set jawlines, and jittery fingers—anxious to finally wield the weapons that Ronan is working round the clock to construct. The colors of the Painted Maidens shine bright under the glittering minerals of the cavern hallways. They are bold colors—deep reds and blues, and brilliant greens and purples. There are hues of gold and yellow, and of course one bright spot of orange.
Turning a corner, the floor spirals as it drops into a sharp decline.
Serena doesn't talk. Her tongue is numb, her brain is numb, and her heart is numb.
The light dripping from above winks out, and Serena and her guards plummet into darkness. Beside her, strands of bioluminescence in the guards' hair flickers to life, providing enough light to navigate the uneven ground.
After what seems like an eternity walking down into the Earth, Serena lifts her chin just in time to see a spacious cavern open up above them, painted with colorful images of ancient sea deities. Poseidon is in the center, standing erect with one arm raised. His beard hangs past his chiseled chest, and a tunic hangs loose around his waist, obscuring an answer to the age-old debate—if Poseidon himself has scales and fins.
Serena is so engrossed in the paintings, she doesn't see the small, circular hole in the middle of the floor. Her foot hits nothing but air and she lurches forward. The guards' grip around her arms tighten and pull her back.
Almost thanking them, Serena snaps her mouth shut, remembering what they are about to do to her. She peers into the hole, it is pitch black. Realizing what exactly an Undine prison looks like, her heart starts racing all over again. She glances at one of the guards, but can't remember his name.
The other takes away her trident, and undoes the ties holding her breastplate on.
"Don't—just…I'll do it," Serena steps back, out of his reach. Shrugging out of her armor, she places it upright against the wall, right next to her trident. "It stays here," she says, staring them both in the eye.
They glance at each other, then nod. Serena walks back to the hole. "How far of a drop is it?" she asks.
One of them looks at her out of the corner of his eye. "If you really are the heir to the throne, I'm sorry about this. Please remember we are just following the king's orders."
"What—?"
Serena cuts off at her own gasp when they push her forward, right over the hole. She falls, her breath hitching in her throat and her stomach rising into her chest. She tucks her legs, expecting to hit hard ground any second. Instead, she hits water and it feels just as solid as the tree branches she so often crashed into in The Dry.
Plunging under, she automatically closes her mouth and her gills open. She waits until the stinging sensation on her legs subsides, then she opens her eyes. Pitch black. The water tastes stale.
She forms fins, then flutters her tail until she rises to the s
urface. The hole above is outlined by the receding glow of the guards' hair.
"Wait!" Serena calls. "How long are you keeping me here?"
The glow continues to withdraw. "What if I escape?" Serena says to herself, voice at a whisper.
"You won't," another voice answers her.
Serena turns sharply, peering into the darkness. "Who is that?"
The voice laughs. "Just…wait one more moment, and you will see."
"What?" Serena still turns, treading water.
Above, the glow has disappeared entirely. Serena keeps her eyes up, desperate for some sort of light source other than her own hair. It doesn't help illuminate anything past her fingertips.
The ceiling of the cavern above the hole begins to blink. Minerals glimmer like a spray of moonlight scattered across the surface of the sea. Poseidon himself lights up, his face and body illuminated with radiant specks of stone.
Ripples in the water softly bump into Serena and she tears her eyes away from the sea god. The crest on each ripple is highlighted with color. Serena follows them to their origin, where a dark shape is moving slowly toward her. The maiden brings her own hair to light, and the features of her face are illuminated. High cheekbones and pointed nose create a gaunt, almost haunting, appearance.
"Arista," says the maiden, introducing herself.
Serena nods and lights some of her own strands so the maiden can look upon her face, but she doesn't have to state her name.
"Serena Moon-Shadow," the maiden states for her.
Leaning back slightly, Serena narrows her eyes. "How do you know?"
"The King's Library," Arista says. "Your lineage is the first in the ancestral book. You are the heir to the throne."
Serena remembers having her hand on the book, about to open it until the other room appeared, catching her attention. If only she'd taken the time to read the ancestral book, certain secrets would have been revealed sooner and she would have a chance to sacrifice herself before she ended up in prison. "You had permission to enter The King's Library?" asks Serena.
"No," Arista emits a high-pitched laugh. "Which is why I'm here." Arista circles Serena, slowly. "Well, that and absconding." She makes a full circle around Serena, then stops in front of her.
Serena sighs. "So I've been told. Look, I have to go. Is there any way at all I can get out of here?"
"Sure," Arista shrugs. "If you can manage to smooth-talk one of the guards. Though obviously that hasn't done me any good—and I've had a lot of practice."
Serena forces a polite smile. "How often do they come?"
"So far, they've been here 7,310 times." Arista gestures to one side of the cave. Serena squints, but still can't see anything.
Arista sighs, and swims toward the wall, allowing more of her hair to light up. Just above the surface of the water are tick marks. The highest are within arm's reach. Serena swims closer to study them. The tick marks have different slants to them, and they are various heights. One is a squiggly line, appearing over and over again, almost in pattern.
"The tide doesn't come into the mountain this far," Arista explains. "And there is no moonlight. The only medium I have to judge the passing of time is the guard visits. They follow a pretty frequent pattern," Arista traces the etchings with her fingertips as she talks. "Each type of line represents a different guard."
"Who is that one?" Serena points to the squiggly line.
"Serena?" a distant voice shouts out, moving down the spiral corridors.
Swimming out to just under the hole in the ceiling, Serena waits. Arista floats alongside Serena on her back, her arms stretched out to the side like a lazy stingray. "Here he comes now…"
Serena doesn't look at Arista. Instead, she keeps her gaze on the constellation of Poseidon, staring down at Serena with judgmental eyes.
The reflection of Undine hair against the wall starts small in a corner, growing as the voice gets louder.
"Serena!" Kai's call rings down.
"Kai!" Serena yells back. "Get me out of here!"
Poseidon disappears completely, replaced by Kai's sea-green eyes. "Are you okay?" he yells, fingers curling over the edges of the opening.
Serena allows her own hair to illuminate so Kai can see her. "Yes, I'm fine. Please, just get me out of here."
"I'm sorry," he shakes his head. "I can't do that."
Serena grits her teeth, squeezing her hands into fists. Arista swims by on the other side, propelling herself with her fins. "Told you…" she sings to Serena.
"Why?" asks Serena, trying to ignore Arista.
"Because you'll go straight for The Dry, you'll sacrifice yourself—you've said as much."
"Kai—I need to be there. Please trust me on this."
"Well this is more entertainment than I've had in a long time," says Arista.
Kai looks down with a wry smile. "Hi, Arista."
Arista responds by diving under, then out again with a showy double summersault. She doesn't reach the ceiling by even one quarter of the distance. Serena could never make that jump, not even with a triple pike.
Serena turns away from the splash, then looks up at Kai, her shoulders sagging. "Is this how you imagine me waiting for you? In a prison?"
"I'll come for you, Serena. But we need to finish this first. I'm sorry…" his face disappears from view.
"Kai?" Serena shouts. "Kai, don't walk away!"
But the glow recedes, quicker than it did with the other guards, and the image of Poseidon returns. Serena hangs her head, then swims to a small ledge just under the surface of the water. Pulling herself onto it, she keeps her fins but curls her tail into her chest, wrapping her arms around herself.
There is no tide here, no moon, and no sun. Only the sea god himself to keep watch over the prisoners. Serena thinks of the sun, slowly disappearing on the other side of the globe. The next time it makes its appearance, the Undine will be at war.