Chapter 53
Fifty-Three
Kaden
Kaden scanned the room, his stomach tightening, struggling to keep hold on the throne with the shaking muscles in his tail. This was it. Celia, Saeryn, Calora, and Cassia.
As he laid eyes on his aunt, now a prisoner of war with her daughter, being held captive by his sentinels and surrounded by three human leaders, his stomach sank to the seafloor.
The usually vibrant Mer-Queen appeared impassive.
Still, anger flared in her jeweled eyes, a flush draping from her neck down to her shoulders.
Calora’s gaze was wild and frightened, but she didn’t say a word.
And Angie. His love, her gaze unwavering and reassuring.
Then there was the younger woman beside Angie.
A deep despair overtook him, knowing he would have to order her execution, entwined with burning anger that she was the one who ended his mother’s life.
To his surprise, she snuck glances at Saeryn, her jaw clenched, but the disgraced king refused to meet her eyes.
“We will begin with determining the accused’s fates, one by one.
First, our captives, the human woman, and Saeryn.
” Kaden darted a gaze to the mer council, who gave him an encouraging nod.
“Lastly we will have the human leader, Governor Kevin Vester, determine the punishment for Queen Cassia.” His voice grew thick, but he pushed through.
“Then, we will determine how to move forward with stopping the hostility between us.”
The sentinels beside the young woman hooked her arms and swam her up to face Kaden and the council.
“This young woman, currently nameless to us, is accused of murdering the queen and inciting war,” Alasdair began. “What is your punishment for her crime, King Kaden?”
He caught a quiver in the woman’s lower lip, and before he answered Alasdair, the question he had been wanting to ask to burst forth.
“How did you do it? How were you able to get into the palace that tidesday?”
She squirmed in the sentinels’ grasp and shot a heated glare in Saeryn’s direction.
“That merman helped me get to the back of the palace, into the queen’s bedchambers. We found her vulnerable and alone there, an easy target. And I never saw him again,” the young woman ground out.
Saeryn. The rotten-kelp-for-brains. His betrayal stung even more than the human attacks. That he would purposely help humans break their truce and murder his mother. His own sister.
“He manipulated her,” Angie, who had swum to the front of the group, added. “Used her to get the throne for himself.”
An audible scoff from Saeryn, who had his arms crossed and shook his head. “Kaden was not fit to take his mother’s place,” he sneered. “I did the right thing, and I do not regret it.” Though he spoke with conviction, an air of defeat lingered in the undercurrent of his bold statement.
“We’ll deal with you next, uncle.” Kaden balled his fists at his sides.
Did Aiereka know of her father’s plans, and didn’t—or couldn’t—speak up?
He returned his attention to the young woman before him, his next words tugging at his heartstrings.
He didn’t wish this, did not wish to order death even with the worst of his enemies, but if he didn’t, the mer would never rest. And someone needed to pay for taking his mother’s life.
“If the council is in agreement, she will be executed for her crimes,” he choked out.
“By your will.” Darya carved into her stone slate.
Kaden bowed his head. “What is your name? Why did you do it?”
“For my mother,” she said quietly. “I’m Celia. My mother, Eva, was killed by the mer. I didn’t intend to start another war.”
For a moment there was only silence, and a small school of what Angie called Pacific herring sailed over her head, exiting through an opening somewhere above her. Angie was focused on Celia, her lower lip jutted out, and then she hung her head.
Kaden lifted his gaze to meet Celia’s, and then to Cassia and the sentinels. “Let it be done.”
Celia shut her eyes. Angie looked away, and Kaden lowered his gaze.
A sentinel held her spear at chest level, and with a slight bow of her head to Kaden, the council, and then to Celia, drove her spear through the young woman’s chest.
She held on to a small shred of her life, her hands flew around the spear’s shaft, and she paled. Angie swam for her. Celia drifted into her arms, and Angie held her close as life drained from her. She glanced up at Kaden, her expression downtrodden.
“I’m sorry,” Kaden mouthed. Celia had committed an awful crime, yes, and it was her spear that took his mother from her family, her queendom.
Yet at the same time, she was grieving, and he knew full well how Saeryn’s charming words were an earworm, a parasite in the brain that refused to leave, whispering its deadly toxins in the back of your mind.
“I understand,” she mouthed back, before turning back to Celia.
“Hi, Mom,” Celia said weakly, an oddly content smile crossing her lips as she looked to the distance, above Angie’s head.
She collapsed, her head falling onto Angie’s bosom.
Despite himself, Kaden couldn’t stop a stream of tears pooling in his eyes and escaping into the sea.
Angie bowed her head and brushed floating locks of Celia’s hair away from her face.
From his corner, Saeryn watched as Celia’s life drifted away, his expression emotionless.
Oryma’s voice broke the silence. “What of Saeryn? He has committed attempted murder and corroborated with a landwalker to murder Queen Serapha. What is your order for his punishment?” Oryma carved something into her slate with a thick conical piece of rock.
Saeryn watched him like a shayu targeting their prey, staying mum.
Kaden sneered at his uncle. “It was you who betrayed us, led the humans to my mother. How dare you.”
Saeryn only gave him a serene smile. “I will not repeat myself again. I did what was right for this queendom.” He leaned in. “You will never be half the king I was, fry.”
A pang of hurt struck, and he clenched his jaw.
“Celia may have incited the war and broken the treaty. But Uncle, if it wasn’t for you, we would not have lost so many.
We could have simply sought out her killers.
But now, we’ve lost hundreds of ours here, more in the Central Queendom.
The palace is in shambles. Not to mention you used mer to kill me, to blame humans.
” His stomach performed a nauseating flip at the memory of nearly being killed.
Saeryn turned his head away, showing no outright reaction, and Kaden was sure his words fell on deaf ears.
“Your order, Your Majesty?” Allie piped up, rock pen poised over her slate.
“Execute him. He’s done too much harm to this queendom to be allowed to live.” Kaden shook his head sadly; gaze pointed at his uncle.
A wicked smile appeared on Saeryn’s lips.
“Goddess bless, nephew. I will see you in the afterlife.” His words took on a hard edge as he was taken up to the sentinel who had slain Celia, and he didn’t deign to acknowledge Kaden again as he too, met Celia’s fate, falling limp.
Sentinels gathered him into their arms before he drifted away with the sea’s ebb and flow.
Kaden stayed far from his uncle, his chest clenching.
He never imagined he would be in a position to order death upon his own family, and yet only the smallest twinge of regret struck him, overtaken by deep relief.
For all the pain Saeryn had caused his queendom, caused him, he was no more.
“We move to Queen Cassia.” Allie finished writing, putting her slate and pen by her side. “We will stand by and accept your punishment for her, Governor Vester and the Admiral. Please come to the front.”
Kaden’s heart skipped a beat, and he exchanged another glance with Angie, who was still holding onto Celia. Their gazes followed the middle-aged man and woman as two sentinels traveled with him to Kaden’s side, and he faced Cassia.
The last of Cassia’s fight appeared to have left her. She didn’t make a move as she studied Vester’s movements.
“Queen Cassia, you’ve injured over a hundred of my citizens.
Confirmed to have killed tens more. And destroyed buildings, schools in that tsunami’s wake,” Governor Vester’s voice held a sharp edge, a broken piece of coral slicing at Kaden’s skin.
Cassia held her head high as he flung the accusations at her.
His gaze was unflinching for a brief moment and softened a moment later.
“If you wish this, we will accept your surrender. You do not attack the surface again for as long as your reign lasts. You will allow MDRT soldiers, with mer magic, to patrol your queendom when they deem it necessary, until they deem you are no longer a threat to us. And you will pay reparations for the damage you’ve done. ”
“And if I do not accept?” Cassia growled.
“Then we will have you and the princess imprisoned for life in prison of the MDRT and Governor Vester’s choosing,” Admiral Zhang added, her eyebrows knitting together. “And you can think about the harm you’ve caused for the rest of your days.”
Her pride, or her freedom. Headstrong like her sister, neither choice would come easy for Cassia.
“Aunt Cassia,” Kaden said, timbre even and low. “Please surrender. It is the right thing to do.”
Cassia’s tail flicked back and forth, back and forth. “Where is King Varin? If you bring him to me, I will surrender.”
In the rapid blink of an eye, it felt as if the weight of the ocean rested on Kaden’s shoulders.
“He is with the Goddess. He died defending us from the human attacks.” He choked on the emotion that rose like a seawater funnel from his stomach to his throat.
“I tried to contact you to tell you. But I couldn’t reach you.
A-and now I know why.” He motioned with his head to Admiral Zhang and Governor Vester. “They were transporting you here.”
The queen’s shoulders jerked to meet her earlobes. Her mouth formed a word Kaden couldn’t decipher, but the clenching of her fists and trembling of her jaw was unmistakable.
“You landwalkers have slain my sister. And now you take my lifemate too?” Her jaw clenched, and she jerked at them.
“Aunt Cassia—” Kaden turned to her, his tone wavering between warning and fear.
“What more can you take from me? From us?” Cassia’s earsplitting cry rang through the currents, and Kaden winced. She looked like a volcano on the brink of erupting, and he braced himself, with what measly energy he had left to counter her if she launched an attack.
“Try anything and we will kill you where you are,” Admiral Zhang snapped. “We have forces at the ready to siege your queendom again at my command.”
The tides shifted, swaying all in her fierce clutches.
Cassia’s expression shifted to one of desolation. “If I surrender, what reparations do you require of me?”
“We request you have human monuments built in your queendom to pay tribute to those who have lost their lives because of you. And you will have your people give us breath whenever they wish to come pay tribute to their loved ones, so they may heal their wounds.” Governor Vester’s request rang authoritative and firm.
“You will acknowledge the wrongs you committed against our people, as well as a public declaration of your surrender. And you will provide us financial compensation in the form of rare seaglass and medicinal remedies your healers use for your own.”
Cassia’s arms and tail tensed with each condition.
“Might I remind you of what will happen if you do not comply?” Admiral Zhang’s featured hardened.
After a torturous moment of silence, Cassia relented, her posture wilting. “I surrender, and I accept your terms.”
“Acknowledged,” Admiral Zhang said, and turned to Governor Vester, who nodded his agreement.
“And how do we wish to resolve the conflict between our people?” Darya asked.
Angie and Governor Taylor leaned in to murmur amongst each other and turned to Kaden. “We wish for a truce. Only with an alliance between our races can we benefit from both the land and sea,” Governor Taylor said, clear and confident.
“Concur,” Governor Vester and Admiral Zhang added.
When Kaden spoke again, his voice cracked and quivered. “Then you will return all the mer you’re keeping captive to us. In whatever state they are in. You will no longer take us for study or research. If you wish for knowledge, you may ask the mer yourselves.”
“And I want my lifemate back, so I can bury him in our cemeteries,” Cassia spoke up.
“Absolutely,” Kaden replied.
“Done,” Governor Vester said. “And we’ll spread the word to our other leaders down the coast.”
“I will alert the President of our decisions here today, and request he withdraw our troops from the coastlines.” Admiral Zhang added.
Kaden’s heartbeat settled. Their battles were over.
Done. Still, guilt ate at him for what he had ordered for Saeryn and Celia, even if his mind insisted this was the right decision, the only way to bring peace back to the queendom.
“It’s settled then. Angie, if you will stay with me?
I will have sentinels escort the rest of you to the surface.
And Aunt Cassia, Calora, how will you get back? ”
“We’ll take them back and release them to the seas, after the queen makes her public declarations,” Admiral Zhang replied.
Cassia didn’t dispute them. Kaden motioned to Celia, still in Angie’s arms. “Would you like us to bury her?”
Angie shook her head. “I’m going to have them take her back. I’ll ask her friends and family how they want to remember her.”
“I’ll take her to the hospital and will have her family contacted,” Governor Taylor replied.
Angie swam up to Kaden, and they watched as the mer, and humans dispersed from the throne room.
Once the two of them were alone, Angie let her head fall against Kaden’s chest. His stomach was a boulder, but he wrapped his arms around her and dropped a kiss to her forehead.
Neither of them needed to say a word, but he was content for this moment of quietude so he could hold her close, after much too long.