I frowned. “The coven burned down. There’s no attic left.”
Mom opened her mouth. A hint of frustration flickered in her eyes. Then she reached out and punched me in the chest.
I gaped at her, and she did it again. “Goodbye, Danica.”
“Wait. Mom.”
“I love you.” She punched me again.
I jolted back, attempting to get out of her range.
“Ow, what the fuck.”
An amused laugh. “I believe she is alive,” a male voice said.
I opened my eyes. Everything hurt. Mom was gone. And I was lying flat on my back, staring up at a merman. A merman who’d calmly watched as I drowned.
It all came flooding back. I hauled back and swung at him. He jerked his head to the side and my fist merely grazed his cheek. I was as weak as a kitten.
My chest felt like Scylla had been sitting on it.
I could feel Samael, closer than I’d felt him in days. As if he was staring out of my eyes. And yet he didn’t speak. I had a sinking feeling that he’d poured his energy into me, and now hecouldn’tspeak.
“You better not have done something that stupid,”I thought at him.
The silence was deafening. Anxiety took up a steady residence in my gut.
“Sit her up,” an amused feminine voice said, and someone stepped up behind me, pushing me until I was staring at the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
Long, lavender hair curled wildly around her face and over one shoulder, reaching down to her waist. Her eyes were almost the same color, glowing like amethyst stones in the sun. Her skin was the gold of sunrise, and she wore a long, gauzy gown, decorated in seashells.
She sat on a throne made of coral. She wore no crown. She didn’t need one.
Her lush lips curved at my silence. “Greetings, Underqueen.”
“I’m not the Underqueen,” I said automatically. She merely leaned back on her throne and regarded me out of shrewd eyes.
I scrutinized my surroundings. I sat a few feet from the throne. I could feel more of the queen’s people at my back. I turned my head, memorizing their faces. They’d allowed me to keep my weapons, and I was back on solid ground. Sure, I was heavily outnumbered, but things were looking up.
The queen was silent, giving me a moment to come to terms with my new situation. I scanned the room, my gaze lingering on the walls despite myself. They were tiled from floor to ceiling, in various shades of glimmering blue and green. They’d been designed to look like fish scales, each bordered by gold.
We were in some kind of palace.
But how was I breathing? And why did the merman who’d watched me drown suddenly have two legs? And where the fuck was the pelt?
“My apologies for the way you were brought to me,” the queen of the merfolk broke the silence. “Those who caused you such pain will be punished.”
I raised one eyebrow. “I died, didn’t I?”
“You stopped breathing. Your heart temporarily ceased beating.”
I gave the queen a look, informing her that yes, I considered that to be dying.
Her mouth curved. “But we brought you back.”
“I was told I wouldn’t come to harm if I visited this place.”
Not strictly true, but I watched her reaction. Her jaw tightened just a touch as she glanced behind me. “Yes, well, one of my guards was bringing you to me when some of the others believed you were a threat.”
