One of the fathers walked over to retrieve his sons from the crowd around Dilys. “Food’s ready, my sons. Come eat.”
The boys pouted. “But,Dede,we haven’t had our turn yet.”
A hint of sternness stole some of the indulgence from Dilys’s expression. One of the lessons Calbernan sons learned early was obedience to authority. As they grew older, their lives might depend on responding with alacrity to another’s command. “Do as yourdedesays, boys. I’ll fly you later, after you eat.”
“Tey,Dilys,” the boys agreed glumly. They trudged off after their father with slouched shoulders, but Dilys was pleased to see that they both perked up and pasted happy smiles on their faces before joining their mother, a soft-spokenoulaniwoman with creamy skin and pale green eyes. They snuggled next to her, telling her something that made her laugh and kiss them both. Good. Until he was wed, a Calbernan son’s first duty was to honor his mother and to bring her joy in all things.
“Dilys.” Ari nudged him with an elbow.
“What?” Dilys followed Ari’s gaze towards a familiar Calbernan approaching from the city. One of theMyerial’s personal assistants, was walking briskly towards the beach.
“Sorry, little fry. Looks like I’m done for the day.” Dilys freed himself of the crowd of children and quickly closed the distance between himself and his mother’s assistant.
“Moa Myerielua.” My prince. The queen’s assistant thumped his right fist over his heart in a Calbernan salute. “Please, forgive the interruption. TheMyerialrequests your presence.”
“What’s wrong?” Dilys’s mother wasn’t the sort to recall Dilys from a wedding without a very good reason.
“Forgive me,moa Myerielua,but I cannot say. I was commanded only to locate you and escort you to the palace.”
“Of course. Just give me a few minutes to take my leave of the bride and groom.”
“What’s up, cuz?” Ari asked as Dilys tracked down the newlyweds to congratulate them on their union and apologize for his need to leave.
“Where are we headed?” Ryll added.
The instant, unquestioning way they followed him made emotion squeeze hard. They always had his back. The three of them had become more like brothers than cousins since that horrible day when Dilys’s childhood betrothed, Nyamialine, had died in the same terrible accident that had claimed the lives of Calberna’s queen,MyerialSiavaluana II and her sole heir and daughter, the princess Sianna. That one terrible day had forged Ari, Ryll and Dilys’s brotherhood in bonds of shared grief. Nyamialine lost to her brother Ari and her betrothed Dilys. Sianna lost to Ryll’s elder brother Ruluin, and Ruluin lost to Ryll when Ru committedkepuwith so many others because of that terrible day.
“It’s all right, you two,” he told them. “TheMyerialsent for me, that’s all. Stay here. Enjoy the day, and dance thecalipuafor the bride.”
“Are you sure, Dilys?” Ari asked.
He wasn’t. Something was definitely up, but he smiled with reassuring confidence. “I’m sure.”
Cali Va’Lua, Royal Palace of Calberna
Half an hour later, Dilys strode into Calberna’s soaring throne room. Sunlight filtered through the clear blue waters that surrounded the submerged glass chamber, illuminating the schools of fish, dolphins and other sea creatures that swam in the depths of Cali Va’Lua’s central lagoon. At the far end of the room, on a golden throne that rose from a bed of scarlet coral, sat Calberna’s revered and belovedMyerial,Alysaldria I, Treasure of Treasures, Queen of the Calbernan Isles.
Dilys’s mother.
As always, she looked beautiful and regal, draped in cool, seafoam-green silk. The long swaths of her obsidian hair were piled high and decorated with brilliant pink, fuchsia, and scarlet anemones, while a single wrist-thick cascade of hair, gathered every foot with gleaming pearl bands, spilled over her left shoulder. She also looked tired. Dilys tucked his concern carefully out of sight before approaching the throne. He stopped at the base of the coral steps and dropped to one knee, bowing his head in greeting and submission.
“Moa Myerial.” My queen. Had they been alone he would have called herNima,Mother, but this was no informal meeting, not with the Lord Chancellor of Calberna, the matriarchs of five royal Houses, the High Priest of Numahao, and half a dozen high-ranking officials all gathered in the room as well. “You sent for me?”
His mother did not smile in greeting as she usually did. Whatever this was, it was bad. But of course, he’d already surmised as much, both from the manner of the summons and the throne room’s high-ranking assemblage.
“The Shark attacked the convoy we were escorting to Ere,” a brusque masculine voice replied at his back. Dilys turned to face his mother’s twin brother, Calivan Merimydion, Lord Chancellor of Calberna. “Your cousin Fyerin’s ship, theSpindrift,was sunk. There were no survivors.”
“What?” For one long, frozen moment, Dilys couldn’t believe he’d heard right.
For the last year, pirates led by a mysterious figure known only as the Shark had been harrying ships sailing through the Olemas Ocean northwest of Calberna. The attacks had become so frequent and increasingly brazen that Calberna had begun offering armed military escort to ships sailing anywhere in or near the Olemas. But while the pirates could—and had—attacked even ships sailing under the Calbernan flag of protection, the idea that they would confront a Calbernan-crewed ship of any sort was beyond comprehension. Calbernans ruled the seas! There were no better shipbuilders. No better naval tacticians. And thanks to Calbernan seagifts, the oceans themselves obeyed Calbernan command. To confront a Calbernan on the sea was suicide. Or so it had been for millennia.
One time—and one time only—a massive armada comprised of the naval fleets of a dozen nations had assembled against the might of Calberna. Had attacked them not just on the seas but in their own waters. Outnumbered more than one hundred to one, not even the greatest magic Calberna had ever possessed had been enough to rout the invaders. At least not before Calberna had been dealt a blow from which they were still struggling to recover, twenty-five hundred years later. The Slaughter of the Sirens, that invasion was called. Or to native Islanders, simply, the Slaughter. A bloody, vengeful act that had nearly caused the extinction of the Calbernan race.
But this? A single pirate had not only attacked but sunk a heavily armed Calbernan military vessel? Such a thing had never happened. Ever.
“There must be some mistake. That’s simply not possible.”
“Word of the attack came from Prince Nemuan, who found and searched the wreckage himself. The convoy was looted and sunk as well.” Calivan’s expression was grim. Nemuan was the son of the formerMyerial.Though he and Dilys were far from the best of friends, as a prince of Calberna, his word was beyond dispute. “There were no survivors.”
