“When I was sixteen,” said Queen Medusa carefully, “I met a human from Finland. I visited him every day. We grew serious in a short time, and he swore we would find a way to be married. Against everyone’s warnings, and against his wishes, I chose not to change him into a merman. I loved him the way I met him—from his blue eyes to his feet. I did not wish to take him from his natural state.”
Guilt squeezed my chest at these words. That had been how I felt about changing Meela. I hoped Meela would never forget that. I tried to catch her eye but she was busy staring at Medusa.
“I was seventeen,” said the queen, “when I became pregnant.”
Meela said, “You mean Adaro’s father is—?”
“A human, yes. When I told him, that was the last time I saw him. He did not meet me the following night, or the night after, although I continued to visit our beach until the day I gave birth.”
I scoffed. “What a cod.”
“I do not hold it against him, but at the time, I was hurt. Even more, I was terrified. I did not know if my baby would be born a human. I was afraid to ask for advice. My dear friend agreed to pretend he was the father to avoid scandal—but I gave birth alone, and on land, just in case.”
“Wow,” I breathed, feeling like she deserved some kind of single mother award.
She stared at us for a long moment. I couldn’t tell if she was waiting for us to say something, or deciding whether to continue.
Finally, she said, “I wish for you to understand why my son is this way. He spent his childhood trying to find his father, despite my attempts to stop him venturing near the coast. He went through too many guardians to count. At fourteen, Adaro was captured by sailors. They put him in a cage meant for livestock, intending to bring him to land. Of course, you know humans have tried to capture merpeople many times, and it always ends the same. My son escaped, and none of the sailors lived to tell about their prize catch.”
A killer at fourteen. That didn’t surprise me. Plus, I imagined the experience had soured Adaro’s opinion of humans even more.
“My son grew angry with me. He did not understand how I had fallen in love with a human, and worse, how I could be so cruel as to bring a child into the world as a half-breed. He argued with my position on human-merpeople relations, believing humans had no right to be in the seas.
“Adaro was always charismatic. He found a group of friends who felt the same about humans—I suspect after he’d convinced them so.
“At fifteen, they attempted to take over my throne. I admit, the plan was clever—albeit gruesome. He and his allies murdered a mermaid and adorned her in my jewels, then used her decapitated head to convince my council that I had been killed.
“He was on my throne when the plan disintegrated. I was on my way to a meeting and learned of the news. The pieces came together: the meeting was a setup. I avoided what surely would have been my assassination.”
“Your own son tried to kill you?” I said, barely audible.
Medusa gave the tiniest of nods. “Upon my return, I had his allies executed for treason. But Adaro was still the prince, so I imprisoned him. I assumed he was going through a nasty rebellious phase—and rightfully so, growing up without a father and suffering humiliation in his efforts to repair that relationship.”
“That’s no reason to try and murder your mother!” said Meela.
Medusa offered a wan smile before continuing.
“During his time in prison, his allies grew in numbers. A campaign of anti-human messages had amassed a following of hundreds. I did not know the extent of it. I released my son from prison after a year, believing his words of remorse.
“When Adaro was seventeen, an oil spill happened off the coast of America. It took the lives of an entire community in the Nares. Adaro used this to spread a message about humans. He promised to lead merpeople to victory against them. With this tragedy as leverage, Adaro gained a following of thousands. They grew large enough to be, for the first time in hundreds of years, a political party in opposition to the crown.
“Then the Ice Channel melted and a passage opened that summer. He left me without goodbye. He and his followers crossed to the Pacific to begin a new kingdom. My understanding is that he made a temporary pact with America while he focused on doing what he needed to secure the Pacific.”
“Yeah,” said Meela. “He needed the serpent—the Host—from Eriana Kwai.”
“I don’t doubt he had a careful plan. My son is clever. I do not approve of his war against humans, but it takes noble blood to be able to do what he has done.”
Meela opened her mouth, anger pulsing from her.
I said quickly, “And noble blood is the only thing that can stop him, Your Majesty. Please.”
A tinge of red seeped into the queen’s eyes. “I have told you what you need to know about Adaro’s condition. Now you can end the tyranny destroying the Pacific.”
Condition?She hadn’t mentioned any—
It dawned on me. My heart skipped a beat. But how did this help us? What was I missing?
Meela looked at me sharply. “What?”
