“Well, yeah,” said Lysi, “but—”
“You kelpies telling me you got a problem with your own king? That’s treason. We can get in serious trouble for associating with you.”
I set my jaw, deciding Lysi was wrong. Eriana Kwai was my family, my culture. If that made merpeople hate me the moment they met me, so be it. I wouldn’t erase that part of me.
“I’m from Eriana Kwai,” I said.
Lysi looked at me sharply. The mermaid’s mouth opened a little.
“Eriana—wait.” The mermaid scanned Lysi from head to tail again. “You were at Eriana Kwai, too, blondie?”
Lysi hesitated before giving a short nod. “That’s where I met a group of you.”
The mermaid’s hard exterior melted away. She slapped her forehead. “You’re the one—you met Dione. Wow. Come with me, sugarkelp. I’m Galene.”
Galene did a graceful flip and swam towards the wreck. Lysi glanced to me. A thrill of victory coursed through my chest—and a bit of smug satisfaction.
“So what doespara la reinamean?” I said, as we followed Galene.
“Means we’re acting for the queen,” she said.
“Medusa?”
Galene looked over her shoulder and glared. “Evagore. The rightful queen of the Pacific. Disappeared when that scumball invaded the Moonless City.”
“What happened?”
“Adaro told everyone she fled. Some say she was killed. We think he’s holding her prisoner.”
“Is everyone at Kori Maru from the Moonless City?” said Lysi.
“Southern, yes. We’ve had a few from the north like you more recently.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Four tidecycles. Nearly since this whole thing started.”
While Galene studied Lysi, I tried to work out atidecycle. Lysi had said something about the tides and the moon. A month? The Reinas had been active for at least four months, then?
“Bet you’re hungry,” said Galene. “We got a stash of herring eggs you can dig into. I’ll show you after you’re settled.”
“Thanks,” said Lysi.
“Anything, sugarkelp.”
She gave Lysi a secretive kind of smile. I moved up so I was swimming between them.
“There’re a couple of empty grottos you can take,” said Galene. “You can have the one next to mine, Lysithea. The mermaid occupying it moved out a few days ago.”
“What happened to her?” I said, hoping there wasn’t a high death toll here.
“We broke up.” She looked pleased that I’d asked. “She moved a few grottos down. Real snapper. Little crazy, mind you. You could say I’ve got a thing for feisty blondes.”
Her eyes traced over Lysi’s hair, her perfectly defined face, and down to her waist.
I made a point of taking Lysi’s hand. “Lysi and I can share a grotto. Thanks.”
Galene glanced to our hands and kept swimming. “Group of guys went to monitor a nearby acoustic channel and should be back tonight with news. Dione can brief you.”
