“We have learned since then,” said the white-blonde mermaid.
“Learned what?”
“That he cannot be killed so easily.”
“We lost lives in another failed attempt after the mine,” said Dreadlocks. “Assassinating him will be even more difficult now that he has the serpent.”
I glowered at them. “If you aren’t going to use the information I give you to kill Adaro, then what do you need it for?”
Those around the table shifted. Dione raised an eyebrow.
“We can explain better if we know what your plan is,” said Lysi with a warning glance at me.
Dione inclined her head. “The full plan is in strict confidence. Not even everyone at Kori Maru knows it. It is a question of security.”
“You can at least tell us what the others know,” I said.
“You are asking me to entrust two strangers with our war plans that have been under development for several tidecycles.”
I crossed my arms. “I’m entrusting you with a legend that’s been a part of my people for millennia.”
Dione glanced between Lysi and me, brow furrowed. Everyone around the table became still.
For a long moment, Dione considered us. Then she said carefully, “We need to track the serpent and understand its power. Adaro needs to be at least a day away from Utopia before we act.”
“So you’re storming the city,” I said.
She swept a long-fingered hand down the coast of North America. “As Adaro focuses on destroying human settlements, he is leaving Utopia without its king. A government is in place, of course, led by Nemertes. But this can be breached. So, yes, we plan to destroy the government and find our queen.”
“I don’t understand why you’re going for the government,” I said. “This is Adaro you’re talking about, which means any government is just a symbol with no real power.”
“It is the link between the king and his civilians.”
“But if you’re going to spend effort and resources to overthrow something, you should focus on the top of the chain.”
“Mee—” said Lysi.
“The top of the chain is not a wise place to try and break,” said Dione. “Consider one that binds an anchor to a ship. If you decide to attack at the top, you must sink the entire ship. If you attack the bottom, you must destroy the anchor. But to attack the middle? You simply cut the chain.”
“That doesn’t even—what will cutting the chain accomplish when the ultimate goal is to sink the ship?”
“I think I understand,” said Lysi. “You’re disrupting Adaro’s rule over Utopia. By forcing yourself in the middle, you’re giving yourself power over both the king and the civilians.”
Dione nodded. “We are going to find Queen Evagore and place her on the throne in Utopia.”
I looked down at the table, to the gap between the Canadian coast and the groove marking Utopia. It gave me small comfort to know that storming the Utopian government would lure Adaro there. That, at least, would save me the effort of trying to find him myself.
“What’ll you do when he comes back with the serpent?” I said.
The window of time would be short. Adaro would return the second he found out, and with the serpent, he would move quickly.
“By then, we will have our queen and all of Utopia behind us. If, as you say, we cannot destroy the serpent—”
“We’ll fight!” said Creon, pumping a fist.
The others around the table murmured their agreement.
I restrained from rolling my eyes. “You can’tfightthe leviathan.”
