I nodded.
A shudder swept over her frail body. She gazed across the dark cavern towards the crowd. Surrounded and overpowered by the Utopian army, the Nereid guards’ defiance had faded. They were silent, their fear heavy in the water.
The dreadlocked merman from Kori Maru came forwards with a bag in his hands. He opened it and produced a pale blue crown. It was smooth and opaque, with a single prong at the front.
Dione took it delicately into her hands as if holding a newborn baby.
“The Pacific is yours once more, Your Majesty,” she murmured, and passed Queen Evagore the crown.
I studied the queen, understanding what Dione had meant when she said Evagore would be in no condition to make negotiations. I’d worked her up to be bigger in my mind, longer, with the aura of a deity. I’d half expected her to burst out of here with all the power and glamour of Medusa, ready to rebuild the kingdom.
But she was a normal mermaid. Beneath her withered appearance she was small, even young. Evidence of torture was burned across her stomach and back. Would she want to be queen after all she’d been through? Would she be able to sway the masses—or, more pressingly, negotiate with humans?
All I could think was that we needed to get her to Eriana Kwai, and fast. How much time did I have? Through the hole in the ceiling, I couldn’t see where the sun was.
With trembling hands, Queen Evagore took the crown from Dione. She didn’t put it on. She held it, staring down at the pale blue point. The emotions that surged from her caused a lump to rise in my throat.
There was a scuffle in the crowd. A few guards tried to break away from where our army had them corralled.
I heard a few thumps of a weapon against a body, and the scuffle died.
“Please don’t,” said Guenevere. “You can take Evagore if she’s who you came for, but don’t hurt my guards.”
She hovered away from the rest of us. No one tried to restrain her.
“We won’t,” I said, and then louder so everyone could hear. “We don’t want to hurt you. That’s not what we’re here for.”
Queen Evagore’s eyes flickered to me. They were soft, kind, and heavy with exhaustion. She said nothing, so I continued.
“Adaro is dead, and his government has fallen. It’s time to restore the Pacific Kingdom to what it once was. Under Queen Evagore—”
“The king is not dead!” shouted a merman from the crowd.
“If you don’t believe me,” I said over top of him, “I ask that you consider the word of this soldier, who has proof in his hands!” I beckoned to Spio in what I hoped was an impressive, sweeping gesture.
Spio blinked at me from where he floated. His hair was singed and blackened from the ship fire, the barrel-sized mace dangling at his side. He scratched his nose.
“Spio,” I whispered, “the crown.”
“Right.”
An unbearable silence fell as Spio struggled to pull the crown out of his bag. It caught several times on the straps before he managed to yank it free.
He held it high over his head. The single beam of light poured from the ceiling and illuminated its opaque black points. The severed locks of hair fluttered around it. The crowd broke out in whispers.
“The serpent is under the control of Queen Evagore’s allies,” I said.
“Control?” said Dione, temper flaring. “Meelacontrolsthe serpent? How?”
“She’s using it to approach the humans,” I said, evading the question. “We’re asking them to meet Queen Evagore at Eriana Kwai to make a peace treaty.”
I looked meaningfully at the queen, hoping she would agree to this without question.
She frowned. “When you refer to a serpent, are you talking about the Host of Eriana? He unearthed it?”
“Yes.”
Evagore dropped her gaze. I caught a quickening in her pulse.
