Her hand, frail but insistent, reached out, barely managing to point to the pendant now resting against my skin, radiating a soft, warm glow. “What’s this?”
My fingers instinctively went to the pendant, its smooth surface a comfort against my trembling skin. “What saved you,” I whispered, my voice choked with emotion.
“You need to let her rest,” Elder Nahla said, her voice a gentle reprimand, but her eyes held a warning as she slipped back into the room. I hadn’t noticed her leave.
I squeezed Inaiá’s hand, my heart heavy. “I also need to report to the queen.” The words felt like lead in my mouth.
A faint smile touched Inaiá’s lips. “I’ll be fine here,” she murmured, her voice gaining strength. “And when you get back, I want you to tell me all abouthim.”
The word hung in the air, charged with meaning.Him.My breath caught in my throat.
I glanced at Elder Nahla, her knowing gaze confirming my fear.
There was no hiding the truth.
I had fallen for a human.
CHAPTER 31
Luzia
My tail swished nervously, stirring the shimmering water around me as I navigated the coral-lined corridors of the queen’s palace. Each flick of my enchanted tail echoed the pounding of my heart, a drumbeat of dread that resonated through my very being. I had returned to my Encantado form for the audience with Queen Nerina, a form that was both powerful and vulnerable. Elder Nahla’s betrayal hung heavily in the water around me, her whispered words to the queen a current of unease.
The Throne Room, a vast cavern illuminated by the ethereal glow of phosphorescent flora, seemed to press in on me. Queen Nerina, regal and imposing upon her throne of woven kelp and pearl, radiated a power that made the water itself seem to vibrate. Her normally serene face was a mask of thunder, her eyes blazing with a fury that chilled me to my core.
I bowed before her, my long, iridescent tail curling around me in a gesture of submission, yet also a subtle display of the power I now possessed.
“Luzia,” the queen’s voice resonated through the chamber, each syllable sharp as a broken shell. “Elder Nahla informs me that you have bonded with a human.”
The accusation hung in the water, heavy and suffocating.
I lifted my head, meeting the queen’s gaze directly. “My queen,” I began, my voice trembling slightly. “I do not deny my… interaction… with the human, Caio. But I want you to understand the circumstances.”
My tail twitched again, betraying my anxiety. The queen’s eyes narrowed, and a flicker of disappointment flashed across her features.
“I have been wanting to ensure those artifacts were kept safe after the last queen’s power hungriness caused them to… go missing. Now you have brought them back to me,” she murmured, her voice low and dangerous. “Your namesake swore an oath to protect the secrets of our kind, but she gave them to the humans.” She slammed her trident to the ground, and vibrations rattled through the water over me. I suddenly realized that by doing so, my great-aunt had kept the power away from the queen.
“But that does not excuse your actions,” she added.
I took a deep breath, steeling myself against her anger. I told her everything. How Caio had found me, lost and vulnerable, in the human world. How he had guided me through the treacherous forest, risking his own safety to protect me from the jaguar, how he had ultimately led me to theFlor da Lua, the very flower that had restored my sister to life. I spoke of theSeolaisandSussuron, how I had discovered it in Caio’s possession, a piece of my heritage I had never known.
I carefully placed theSussuronat the foot of the throne, its intricate carvings catching the light. Each piece hummed with the echoes of our ancestors, a heritage I now understood with a clarity that both humbled and strengthened me.
“This belonged to our people,” I said, my voice gaining strength. “Caio did not understand their significance. He did not steal them. He… inherited them. He helped me reclaim the power lost to us.”
A flicker of triumph, cold and sharp, ignited in Queen Nerina’s eyes. “The power belongs to the throne, child,” she declared, her voice regaining its commanding tone. “You have served your purpose. Now, step aside.”
She descended from her dais, her movements imperious, her hand outstretched to claim what was rightfully hers. The moment her fingers brushed the carved wood, the light died. The gentle hum ceased, leaving a dead, profound silence. In her grasp, theSussuronwas nothing more than waterlogged wood. A flicker of confusion crossed her face, then anger. She snatched it up, trying to command it, to force her will upon it. But it remained inert, a dead thing in the hands of its queen.
A pull, deep and undeniable, resonated from theSussuronto the very core of my being. It was calling to me. Instinctively, I reached out, my hand trembling as I swam closer.
As my fingertips made contact, theSussuronerupted. A wave of golden light and raw energy surged outward, washing over the Throne Room. It was not a gentle pulse but the roar of a waking leviathan. The power did not just surround me, it poured into me, a torrent of ancient knowledge and river song that settled in my bones. It recognized and claimed me.
The surge of magic threw Queen Nerina back a step, her face a mask of shock and disbelief. The power that flowed from the artifacts was a current she could not command, a song she did not know the words to. It was the undeniable proof of her failure. Her entire reign had been dedicated to preserving their ways through isolation, yet that isolation had only led to loss. This girl, this transgressor, had brought back their legacy by breakingtheir most sacred law. The foundation of the queen’s philosophy had not just been challenged—it had been shattered.
She slumped back on her throne, the trident slipping from her grasp to clatter softly on the cavern floor. The sound was one of finality. “You have proven me wrong, Luzia,” the queen said, her voice no longer a thunderous command but a weary, hollow whisper. “My way… our way… has failed. We guarded our secrets so closely we nearly let them die.”
She looked at me, her eyes filled not with anger, but with a profound confusion and fear. “I cannot rule a kingdom that embraces the human world. I do not know how. And your people… they are not ready.” She gestured weakly toward the artifacts, now pulsing with a steady, gentle light. “It belongs to you now. It answered your call, not mine. Take theSussuron… and stay with the world you have chosen. Find your path between the water and the land. There is no place for it here.”
