Chapter 22
“Ican’t believe you went to see her.”
Soulara’s shoulders tensed sharply, and she stopped mid-swim. She’d been trying to get as far away as possible from Autumn’s little part of the land before Honour found her. It hadn’t been far enough.
“She was going to kill you!”
“She wasn’t!” Soulara’s body pulsed with anger. The fact that Honour kept trying to make Autumn the enemy was getting on her nerves. “I had to make sure she was okay.”
Honour snagged Soulara’s arm and held her firmly. She got up in Soulara’s face, shaking her head slowly. “Since when do you care about the women you fuck?”
Soulara parted her lips, ready to give a rebuttal, but she had no words to say. When had she started caring? At least to this extent. Nothing before had ever made her worry like this.
“What’s your report of the deep soundings, General?” Soulara faced Honour down, putting the impervious mask in place that she knew would work.
Honour hesitated for a brief moment, but she acquiesced and slipped away. “Kaelin is taking care of their general.”
“Their general?” Soulara raised an eyebrow. “They returned with you?”
“Yes.”
“Does that mean you’ve convinced them?”
Honour grimaced. “No.”
Soulara canted her hand to the side, giving Honour the full brunt of her authority. “There’s more to that, since you brought the general back with you.”
“Yes.” Honour shifted, and they started swimming back toward Reine. “You really need to stop leaving without protection, Princess. We’re at war now. Everything is different than it was before.”
Soulara pinched her face. She couldn’t very well have people follow her on her visits with Autumn. Honour and Zendalia were the only two who knew. Honour didn’t have time, and Zendalia was still on leave from her injuries.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Soulara pushed her fluke to pick up speed. “If they didn’t come to fight with us, why did they come?”
Honour pursed her lips. “To continue negotiations.”
“Wonderful.”
Soulara was so sick of talking to people. Having Autumn’s fingers inside of her, having Autumn pressed against her, it kept her more grounded than anything else ever had in her life. Soulara slipped deeper into the water and toward home.
They swam in silence. The ocean was almost deafening, which was so strange. The waters were still, as if waiting in anticipation of something happening soon.
“Did she say when they were going to dive again?” Honour asked.
“No,” Soulara answered. She really should have gotten more information before she’d left, but Soulara hadn’t been there for a political reason. She’d been there because the woman she was completely enamored with had nearly died.
“I imagine it’ll be soon.”
Soulara shrugged, not answering Honour verbally. She had no idea what to say, in all honesty. They both knew what she’d been doing there, and they both knew that she and Autumn hadn’t made any plans to take down the humans.
“If Autumn could get us more information—”
“She’s being ousted, Honour.” Soulara bit her tongue. “The more she brings to us, the less they’ll trust her. She’s not trained to be in covert operations.”
Honour paused in her swim, looking Soulara over. “I understand she’s torn between two worlds, Princess. But she’s made her decision.”
“I don’t think she has.” Soulara’s heart ached at that thought. Autumn had helped them because she was attracted to Soulara, not because she was ready to abandon her entire people. “And I’m not going to push her to leave her entire world for one of loneliness.”
“Loneliness?” Honour parroted back.
Soulara sighed and continued their swim. It was a bit more leisurely paced this time. “If she commits treason and abandons her people, where will she go? She can’t swim beneath the water with me. And I’m the crown princess.” Soulara’s heart ached with pain. “I can’t ask her to live a life of solitude, whether self-imposed or not, for us to win a war.”
“You’ve got it bad, Princess.”
“Yeah. And look, it doesn’t make one fucking difference.”
They swam the rest of the way to the palace in silence. As soon as they entered the walls, Soulara pulled her hard steely cover back in place and went straight to her father’s throne room. Kaelin was there, along with another mer who looked very similar—dark skin, dark scales, dark hair, nearly black—but their eyes were a bright fiery red.
Except they were squinting.
Soulara eyed the other mer over and glanced to Honour. This was clearly the general from the deep soundings, but they were not some great general to huddle in the corner. Kaelin swam up next to Soulara, their chin tilted down.
“Do you have another pair of glasses?” Kaelin pointed to the ones she still wore every day. “The breathing she can get used to, but the light isn’t something I’ve adjusted to in all the time I’ve been here.”
“Oh.” Soulara glanced to Honour. “Yes, I was making you a second pair in case these were ruined. They’re in my lab if you want to retrieve them.”
Kaelin bowed and left the room. Soulara moved to the general. “It’s good to meet you. I’m Soulara, Princess of Reine.”
The general nodded slowly and uncurled herself from her position.
“I wish we could give you more time to acclimate to the upper soundings.” Soulara wasn’t going to touch the general, though that was her instinct. Kaelin seemed so opposed to touch, she wasn’t sure if it was a Kaelin thing or a deep sounding tribe thing.
“I’m Kyree. I bring greetings from my home and my tribe.” Even her voice sounded weak. Soulara wanted to command her to sit back down, but she had a feeling Kyree wouldn’t allow that. “The elders have sanctioned my being here in order to discuss this more deeply with you.”
Soulara bowed her head, giving as much honor to this moment as possible.
“We wanted to speak with you, Princess Soulara.”
“Soulara,” she corrected. She still wasn’t used to the title, and she didn’t want it to become a block in their negotiations.
Kyree grimaced. “My people would like to know more about this war you’re planning.”
“It affects every creature in the waters.” Soulara glanced at Honour, hoping she was going about this conversation the right way. There wasn’t much known about the deep sounding mermaids. They were reclusive and rarely let anyone in. It was only by happenstance that Kaelin had come to live in Reine, and Honour had been sent down to speak with them once before.
“We’ve noticed.” Kyree’s mouth moved oddly, as if the words were uncomfortable on her tongue. Her accent was thick, much thicker than Kaelin’s. “We’ve given thanks to the waters, but it’s harder to find food for our children.”
Soulara frowned. They hadn’t seen a food shortage in the upper soundings. But they were seeing issues with plant life growing because of the thinning of the water above them. “There’s an alien race called the humans that are on the surface. They’re stealing the water to bring it back to their home world.”
“Stealing?”
Soulara nodded firmly. “They send machines, krakens, into the water. They don’t care what’s in their way.”
Kaelin returned, handing over the goggles and helping Kyree to put them on. “That’s what killed the mer I was with prior to my exile.”
Kyree flicked her gaze to Kaelin, but she said nothing. The tension between them was palpable. This must be so hard for Kaelin. First being excommunicated, and then when she returned with proof she hadn’t murdered another mer, being sent away because they still didn’t believe her. She’d flourished in Reine and with Zendalia’s special touch.
But now she was back to the cowering, scolded mer she had been. Soulara hated it. Kaelin had one of the most beautiful, caring, and forgiving souls a mer could have. Swimming closer to Kaelin, Soulara stayed next to her in solidarity.
“They’ve killed many mer. We’ve allied ourselves with Kwight and Talon to fight this war. And it is a war. Norah is still considering joining us. The humans don’t care if we live or die. They’ll continue taking the water until we force them to abandon their posts.” Soulara swallowed the lump. Autumn at least cared if they lived or died. But one human versus many wouldn’t hold up in a battle.
Kaelin sent Soulara a glance, as if she could tell exactly what Soulara was thinking. Shaking her head in the slightest movement, Soulara told Kaelin not to mention it.
“Earlier today we battled with three of the krakens. We defeated all three of them.” It was mostly the truth. Autumn’s had returned, but it had stopped its water collecting to leave. Talon would see it as a failure. But Soulara didn’t. “Two were destroyed completely, and we took what we could to study them.”
“And the third?”
“Escaped to the surface. Inside each kraken were three humans. They’re machines.”
Kyree’s eyes widened. Technology wasn’t the deep sounding mermaids’ specialty. In fact, they were nomads who abhorred technology. Based on that, they should want to join the war to keep it from the waters.
“Will you join us?”
Kyree pressed her lips together hard, but she already seemed more focused than she was before. Was she acclimating that quickly to the thinness of the water? “We don’t believe in harming others.”
“I understand,” Soulara said. They had some very interesting beliefs and practices, including excommunication. Which was something that Soulara deeply disagreed with. Kaelin had been torn from her home, and she wouldn’t ever be allowed to return, even when her time of exile was complete. “But this isn’t just a change in the water stream. These humans will do everything in their power to destroy our home.”
Kyree nodded sharply. “Which is why I’m here.”
Kyree moved her hands to the sides, palms up and open. She had the same webbing in her fingers that Kaelin did, and the same colored scales ran along her sides. Were they related?
“We will support you in what ways we can, but we will not fight.”
Kaelin flicked her gaze sharply to Soulara’s, shock evident. “You’ll join us?”
Kyree cut Kaelin a sharp look and again said nothing in response.
Soulara wanted to address that, but it was more important right now that she figure out how the deep sounding mermaids would support their war effort. “What do you mean by that?”
“Food, supplies, healing. We will assist.” Kyree blinked her eyes slowly. “I will remain with you to ensure that happens.”
“Will more of your people join us?”
Kyree looked Soulara directly in the eye. “No. For now, it’ll be me.”
Soulara’s heart sank. What kind of compromise was this? One mermaid, and it seemed Kyree was there more as a supervisor or a spy. Soulara kept her composure. Now wasn’t the time to flip out or push too many buttons. “And for later?”
“That has yet to be decided.” Kyree bowed her head slightly to Soulara. “I do have an offering from my people.”
A gift? The deep sounding mers worked differently. They gave instead of took? Soulara held her breath, waiting to see what exactly Kyree would bring. Kyree took in a deep breath and relaxed as a small gray-colored ray slipped from behind her hair and swam, stopping right in front of Kyree but facing Soulara.
It couldn’t be much bigger than Soulara’s palm, light lines of blue ran along from its nose to its tail, and Soulara imagined in the deep soundings those would light up to show the way. Soulara’s stomach twisted hard, as a sense of warm knowing and shyness came over her.
“This is Nylah,” Kyree said, her voice firm. “They’ve indicated to me that you have their soul.”
Soulara instinctively reached up, her fingers clasping the necklace her mother had given her. One glance to Honour told her that Honour was shocked. Soulara had only ever indicated that she had one soul stone, which was true. At least until she’d visited Milan again.
Did her mother know where the rest were?
“They would like to reside with you.” Kyree seemed pained, as if this was the hardest thing for her to say.
Confused, Soulara shook her head. “If they’re yours, I can’t ask for that.”
“Nylah is their own, and they go where they please.”
“But I know from Kaelin that you’ve raised them. They’re like your child.”
Kyree took in a sharp breath, deep hurt crossing her features before she slowly nodded. “Yes.”
“I won’t rip them from their family, from you. I won’t make you do that.” Soulara glanced down at Nylah, that warm and appreciative feeling increasing. It was the first time that she’d felt truly connected to the ray.
Kyree swam closer. Honour moved in swiftly as if protecting Soulara, but Soulara waved her off. Kyree held out her hand, the ray settling on her palm. “You need them. I do not.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Soulara whispered.
Kyree continued to hold out her hand. “Say you’ll accept Nylah.”
Soulara hesitated one second longer before holding out her hand in the same way Kyree did. Nylah swam from Kyree to Soulara, settling on her palm. Comfort. That was the exact feeling that Soulara received. This was exactly where Nylah wanted to be.
Kyree bowed their head and backed away. “If you’ll forgive me, Princess, I need to rest.”
Kaelin slid in next to Kyree and held her arm to give her extra support. They swam away slowly. Soulara looked to Honour and waited until she was sure they were out of earshot. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“I don’t.” Honour leaned around the corner, following Kyree and Kaelin’s path.
Soulara eyed Honour closely, recognizing that look. Well, two could play at this game. “Because you’re shacking up with the deep sounding mermaid?”
“What?” Honour’s eyes went wide.
“It’ll skew your opinion on what’s happening.”
“That’s not… No way is that happening.” Honour stared at Soulara. “And don’t talk to me about skewing my point of view.”
“I’ll have to kill her, you know. I’ll be the one making the decision to end her life if she gets in another one of those machines. And I can’t always guarantee I’ll be there to save her. Autumn understands that. Duty over love. Isn’t that how it always is for those in power?” Soulara sneered, her heart racing. That burst of anger had come out of nowhere, but she’d known it had been pent up inside her for a while now. “At least Kyree is on our side.”
Honour frowned but said nothing.
Soulara scoffed and moved closer to the desk. “Without Autumn feeding us information, we need to form a plan to keep track of when and where the attacks will happen.”
“We can utilize Kwight for that. They have a communication system that’s well-honed.” Honour leaned over the map. “We can place people here, here, and here to help strengthen that within our own borders. Talon can do the same for theirs.”
“And the deep sounding mer?”
“Don’t ask,” Honour hissed. “I tried my best, Soulara. But they don’t like outsiders. I’m surprised they even let Kyree come with.”
“Are she and Kaelin related? They have the same colorings.” Soulara thought back in her mind, remembering the way the two of them looked so similar.
“I don’t know. She refused to talk about Kaelin. All of them did. And I won’t allow Kaelin to face them again if I have any say in it. It’s pure torture for her.”
Soulara paused. “I understand.” She should do the same, keeping Kaelin out of their grasp for as long as possible. “Keep training the new recruits. We’re going to need them. I’ll work on the tech we retrieved and see if there’s an easier way to take down a kraken.”
“Yes, Princess.” Honour bowed and swam out of the room.
Alone, Soulara sighed.
Duty and love?
Since when had this become about love?