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The staging-room door crashes into the wall.

Valerie jerks in my arms. I turn toward the sound and lower her to her feet. Bastian rushes through the doorway, catching the frame with one hand when his momentum carries him too far.

I’ve never seen him arrive anywhere without perfect composure. His panic clears my head immediately. “Bastian, what’s happened?”

“My lord, Lotan has entered the Great Hall.” His gaze flicks once toward Valerie before returning to me. “Representatives from the merfolk clans arrived with him.”

Valerie still has one hand twisted in my shirt. I feel her fingers tighten at the name she learned only minutes ago. I want nothing more than to protect her from this. But I know things have escalated beyond my ability to control them.

Lotan and the merfolk barely tolerate one another. They wouldn’t come here together without a serious reason. They certainly wouldn’t arrive unannounced in the middle of stalled negotiations.

Whatever changed while Valerie and I were outside has already reached the fortress.

The leviathan I have just told her is threatening her home is here, and we have no choice but to face him.

16

The Beast Unleashed

Sigurd

By the time Valerie and I reach the central wing, the fortress has gone unusually quiet. Servants have cleared the passages around the Great Hall, and household guards stand at every intersection leading toward it. Bastian didn't give us further information before hurrying ahead, so I still have no idea what brought Lotan and the merfolk together.

Valerie walks beside me without speaking. There was no time to finish what began in the staging room. I nearly suggest she wait outside the hall anyway, then stop myself before the words leave my mouth. Lotan’s dispute concerns Saltweather. After everything I kept from her, I have no business deciding that she should hear the next part secondhand.

The guards open the doors when we approach. Conversation inside fades as people notice us, leaving behind the scrape of armor and the faint movement of bodies making room along the central floor.

Merfolk representatives occupy both sides of the hall, their guards standing behind them in formal armor. My mother waits on the dais at the far end with one hand resting over her obsidian cane. Lotan stands below her in his humanoid form, broad beneath dark armor. Several senior merfolk have gathered close enough to hear everything said at the center of the room.

Valerie slows when she sees him. Less than an hour ago, Lotan was only a name attached to the threat against Saltweather. Now the creature who believes her town was promised to him is standing in front of her.

I stay beside her as we cross the hall. Lotan watches us approach without moving, his attention passing over me before settling briefly on Valerie.

“You brought half the merfolk court into my mother’s home,” I say when we stop several paces away. “Considering how little affection exists between you, I assume there is a reason they agreed to come.”

“There is a reason, and it has nothing to do with affection.” Lotan turns slightly toward the gathered representatives rather than keeping the answer between us. “Solveig promised me a coastline, and you have spent considerable effort trying to replace that agreement. I decided the next proposal should be heard by people who have no reason to favor either side.”

A few of the merfolk shift at that, but no one contradicts him. The explanation is obvious now. Lotan has not brought allies but people capable of remembering exactly what my family says next.

My mother’s expression hardens. “You have your witnesses, Lotan. Stop circling the matter and tell us why you came.”

Lotan gives her a shallow nod. “I will accept the basin Rakan is preparing as full satisfaction of the territorial agreement. Once it is suitable for my brood, Saltweather will be released from the promise permanently.”

Valerie’s shoulders straighten beside me. For one moment, I think that is all he came to say.

Then Lotan looks at her. “In exchange, Ms. Valerie Priest accepts my claim.”

Cold pours from my skin before I can contain it. The nearest merfolk guards shift their footing, and Valerie goes rigid beside me.

“What did you say?” I hiss.

Lotan keeps his attention on Valerie. “Your bond with her is incomplete. You marked her at the surface and never finished the claim in deep water. You have not completed the mating since Mount Qaf either, which means another creature with the necessary strength can still break what you started.”

Several of the merfolk representatives avert their eyes. Valerie’s face tightens as the meaning becomes unmistakable. Lotan continues before either of us can interrupt him.

“I can break Sigurd’s claim and remove the effects of the venom keeping you from the surface. I require no bed, no children, and no life with you. You will be free. It will cost you nothing.”

Nothing? The price is that another male will place his claim on my mate. He knows it, and he’s doing it to spite me.