Prologue
Finn
I’d made a pact with the shadows and my father, and I didn’t know which was worse. The freshly healed heart of ink on my chest burned with the reminder of the promises I’d made.
I pressed my palms into the cold stone surface of the war room table, my tail flicking idly as memories of what had happened after Morgana stunned my father and left our castle swirled around me.
I’d done the right thing. No matter how many times I replayed it all in my mind, I always ended up here.
“Cousin.” Pisceon was in the doorway, a muscle tightening between his dark brows. “The castle’s warding has begun.”
I nodded as the beautiful, haunting song of our people filled the space, winding through the currents like a gentle breeze. All around the edges of the kingdom, Mer would be singing in the old tongue of the sea.
My bride-to-be, Glacies, appeared behind Pisceon, pale hair billowing in the current as she crossed her arms over the gleaming Neptunus breastplateshe wore.
I raised a brow in question.
“Pisceon and I will leave today,” she said, gesturing toward my cousin. “We’ll rally the other Mer and Siren kingdoms, then meet you at Thálassa. From there, we’ll travel together to Okeanós for the summit.”
“Good.” I exhaled, sending a stream of bubbles swirling around me.
Glacies dipped her chin, then she and Pisceon drifted from the room. A small smile tugged at my lips. I was glad to offer her this journey—freedom from our kingdom and the chance to spend time in places more... tolerant. Perhaps she and her lover could reunite on the trip.
No sooner had they disappeared into the gloom on the other side of the doorway than my guards Alga and Korul appeared.
“The charts and books that you wanted, sire.” Alga inclined his head, his pale tail glowing opalescent in the murky light.
I waved a hand at the table, and Alga dumped them there.
“Thank you. Now leave me,” I grunted, sweeping my fringe from my face as I pulled the first map toward me.
A sharp throb at my wrist halted me. I raised my arm, and my breath stuttered for a moment. Dread slithered down my throat and curdled in my gut.
A vein, black and thin as a whisper, snaked beneath my skin, winding like poisoned ivy.
The Shadow.
I curled my webbed fingers into a fist, banging them onto the table with a force that sent the little stone figurines we used for plotting battle strategy rattling.
Fuck.
The world seemed to be caving in on either side of me as my breathing became shallower. How long did I have until I was bedridden, like Glacies’s cousin Íss? A year, maybe.
I would end my life before I let them confine me to a bed in the Sanitatem.
Panic clawed through me, each breath growing more ragged until I forced my fists to unclench. I had things I needed to do and promises I needed to keep—for her.
Expelling a breath, I riffled through the papers Alga had left until I found the one I was looking for. I pulled the leather strings of the scroll open, hands still trembling. The moon chart was faded brown and hand-painted. Across the top, the wordLunawas scrawled. A merman with outstretched arms was depicted, surrounded by a ring of ovals.
The waning crescent glowed beneath my touch as I traced its curve with my finger. The full moon was positioned at the center of the design. When that moon shone silver, it would be time to meet Morgana at Archon Agorá.
Something stirred in my chest, tightening around my heart. The silver sickle on the map glowed brighter, reminding me of her. She was the moon, and my thoughts the tide, forever at the mercy of her pull. She looked at me and saw more than darkness, and somehow, that made me want to be... better. It reminded me of who I once was, a very long time ago.
The haunting song of the Mer warding the castle drifted into the room, echoing through the chambers in the ancient tongue of the sea.
“Alga. Korul,” I called, and the two guards, who had stationed themselves at the door, drifted back into the room.
“Go to the armory and ask them to make me silver bracers that match my breastplate.”
