I glowered at her.
Schwint spoke up before I had the chance to retort. “Actually, yeah. We think so. Unfortunately. It wasn’t too hard. We had it figured out a few nights ago. I guess we won’t know for sure we’ve made the water safe for the mers until we try it out, but I’m willing to bet we have. I think it’s probably only a matter of days before we have to admit to Gwala we’ve figured it out before he gets dangerously impatient. Besides that, I doubt we should have the mers wait in that stagnant water much longer.”
Newton’s voice was a growl. “It would be a better death than the fate the Royals have in store for them.”
No one spoke for a moment, unable to disagree with him or offer any solution.
The fairy took on a more defensive posture. “If you had any sense of justice, that is exactly what you’d let happen. Let the water end their suffering. Let them die and be released from their torture.”
“And sacrifice Cynthia because of it?” Caitlin’s tone matched Newton’s ferocity. Surpassed it, actually.
“She is only one. The mers are many.”
My tone was softer. “You wouldn’t say such a thing if you knew her. There’s no one sweeter or more loving than Cynthia.”
“Even more reason. How do you think she would feel knowing that, to pay for her life, not even her guarantee of freedom, but simply for her life, others had to be sacrificed, endure some twisted form of forced copulation, and their offspring suffer the same fate?”
Caitlin looked like she was going to spring across the bed and rip into him. As it was, both of the paintings were rattling on the walls in response to her fury. “If you’re not really here to save Cynthia, then fucking leave. You shouldn’t have come along to begin with. In fact, if you don’t leave right now, I’m gonna—”
I stood, cutting her off by placing my hand over her outstretched fingers, which reached toward Newton. “Leave him alone. I’ve thought the same thing.”
She wheeled on me, the surge of her power forcing me back to the bed. “You’vewhat?”
I nearly shoved back with power of my own, then thought better of it. The last thing we needed was to destroy the hotel with one of our sibling matches. I did push myself back into a standing position. “Well, he’s right. Cynthia would be the first to say that one life wasn’t worth what is happening to the mers. What’s been happening to them for centuries.”
Her anger gave way to a look of utter shock, like she couldn’t believe it was me she was seeing. “So, you’re what? Going to sacrifice our sister for a bunch of creatures we’ve never even met?”
I shook my head, unable to look either her or Newton in the eye. “No. I can’t. But not because I think it’s the right thing, but because I can’t bear to lose her. I’m too weak to do what I should do.”
“Then you’re no better than the warlock that was there before. And you’ll suffer the same fate as him.” Newton’s tone held no hate. His words were only a statement, though one filled with disgust. My stomach churned as Omar’s expression before Sonia began to feed floated in my memory.
Schwint stood and slipped his arm around me. “Shut up, Newton. Caitlin’s right. You knew why we came here when you joined. When you asked to join, if you recall. If you’re not here to help save Cynthia, then leave.”
“I didn’t know there was an enslaved species in the mix. And you’re fine with that sacrifice for one life? Just because it’s one you care about? You’re no better than the fairy royalty that keeps both of our families suppressed because they don’t measure up.”
Without seeing him, I knew the barb hit its mark, but Schwint didn’t waver. “Finn and I have talked a lot about this. I agree that it is easy to look at it the way you are, and you’re not completely wrong. There is another manner in which to see it as well. There might be a way to save both Cynthia and the mers, at least in time.”
“And how many more atrocities are they to endure in the meantime, on the off chance we’re successful?”
“I’m not in charge of the world, Newton. And neither are you, even though you fancy yourself to be. I can only do what I can do, and right now I can try to figure out a way to help Finn and Caitlin’s sister, and if there comes a way to help the mers, I’ll do that too.”
“The way is here now. You’re just too weak to take it.”
Schwint lost the calm he’d been holding on to. “Again, Pewlet. You’re free to leave. You’ve made your voice clear, and you are outvoted. Do not bring it up again.”
I glanced across to the other bed. Newton was glaring daggers at Schwint while Caitlin was looking at him like she’d finally really started to like him. I couldn’t decide why I was more ashamed of myself—that I could see Newton’s point of view and could consider it an option to sacrifice Cynthia, or that I was too selfish to act on it. Part of me had fantasized that when the time came to force the mers to mate at Gwala’s bidding, I wouldn’t be able to, that I’d stand up to the vampire king and suffer the consequences. As horrible as it was, I knew it was just that—a fantasy. While I couldn’t picture myself causing such horrors to others, I knew that I would. For Cynthia, I would.
Thirty-Two
FINN DE MORISCO
The waterwas pleasantly warm. If I slipped into it, it probably would feel differently. Maybe it just seemed that way because of the coolness of the spherical cave that enclosed it. Removing my fingers from the water, I shook them off, the droplets landing on the pink marble and glistening in the light from the torches.
As with everything else in the Vampire Cathedral, the beauty was off-putting. Down here on my own, without Gwala or Sonia to mar the experience, I had to admit it was the most beautiful place I’d ever been. The dining chamber, with its jutting cliff walls opening to the sky, might be lovelier, but after the banquet, I couldn’t think of a more horrid place in the world.
But even in the quiet, simple splendor, this chamber was all just a cover for more atrocities. Worse than anything Omar had experienced while impaled on that metallic table. At least his torture had been short-lived. This species had been in misery for centuries, for generations.
Scooting away, I rested my back against the curved wall, drawing my knees up to my chest. I stared at the shimmering surface of the pool, then let my focus drop to the mirror-imaged bottom below. So simple in design. So simplistic and effortless. Yet somewhere, a passage led to a cell full of mermaids and mermen. Waiting for me to make their water safe, or at least keep it that way. Waiting for me to force them to do things they didn’t want to do. Waiting for me to bring the same atrocities to their children.
