The vision cleared and Ava was left leaning on the alley wall, her heart pounding. What if there were more death riders lurking in the current outside her house? Hiding on the roof? Or the neighbor’s balcony? She had to get out of there. Fast.
Ava was numb with weariness. She had little food and even less money. She yearned for her parents. She needed their comfort, advice, and protection. But they needed protection themselves.
There was nothing to do but leave. Eventually, the death riders would realize she wasn’t coming home, give up, and leave her parents alone.
Bitter tears welled in her eyes. “Mami, Papi…I love you,” she whispered.
There was only one place for her to go now…to the swamps of the Mississippi, where the Okwa Naholo were holding Nyx’s talisman. She couldn’t go home again. Not for a long time. Not until this was over.
Ava pulled the scarf that was wrapped around her neck up over her head. Then she turned and quickly swam away, just another mermaid on Macapá’s bustling current.
SWIMMING WITH HER head down through the Hall of Elders, Astrid almost didn’t see Rylka and Tauno until it was too late. They had just rounded a bend in the corridor and were coming toward her. Their heads were lowered, too; they were deep in conversation.
Astrid panicked. Tauno was the very last mer she wanted to see right now, and Rylka was a close second. Desperate to avoid them, she ducked behind one of the statues in the hall and hunched down. Her hair plumed out around her. She twisted it together and stuffed it down the back of her vest. As they drew nearer, she made herself as small as she could, hoping they would quickly pass by.
But they didn’t. Rylka stopped Tauno right in front of the statue Astrid was hiding behind. Astrid could see them both. Rylka was wearing her black commodora’s jacket, with its crossed polar bear claws at the collar. She wore her dark blond hair cropped close to her head, as most Ondalinian soldiers did. Her amber eyes were piercing. Tauno’s coloring was the same as his mother’s. Three vertical orca teeth at his collar indicated his major’s rank. He was tall and broad-shouldered. His face was broad and handsome—or it would have been, if not for his habitual sneer.
Astrid had grown up with him. He’d been the sort of mer-boy who liked to hide an elderly merman’s glasses. Tie shells to the tail of a dogfish. Make fun of a mermaid who stuttered. He was not the sort of merboy she was going to marry.
Rylka straightened her son’s collar now. She brushed at his jacket. “You smell like a hippokamp. There’s silt all over you,” she said disapprovingly.
“What do you expect, Rylka? I just got back from maneuvers,” Tauno said sullenly.
“The admiral himself has summoned you. At least fasten your jacket,” Rylka scolded, working a rounded piece of whalebone through a buttonhole.
“Why did he summon me? The messenger wouldn’t tell me.”
Rylka glanced up and down the hall, making sure they were alone, then she said, “Because he wants you to marry his daughter.”
Tauno laughed in disbelief. “Astrid?”
“Does Kolfinn have another daughter I’m not aware of?”
“Holy, silt…you’re serious.” Tauno held up his hands and took a stroke backward. “Forget it, Rylka. I’m not marrying her. She’s a freaky freakin’ freak!”
You’re quite the wordsmith, Tauno. In addition to your many other wonderful qualities, Astrid said to herself.
“You will marry her,” Rylka insisted.
“I won’t. I’m out of here,” Tauno said, turning to swim back down the corridor.
Looks like my father was wrong, Astrid thought bitterly. No one wants me. Not even Tauno.
“Move a fin, and I’ll have your sorry tail thrown into the brig.” Rylka’s voice was quiet and low, and all the more menacing for it.
Tauno faced her. “You would, wouldn’t you? You’d lock up your own son.”
“I’d court-martial any soldier who disobeyed an order,” Rylka said.
“Is that what this is? I’m being ordered to marry Astrid? By Kolfinn?”
“Kolfinn will ask you. I’m the one ordering you.”
Tauno swore. He shook his head angrily.
“Stop arguing with me for five seconds and listen, Tauno. Things are about to change. For Ondalina. For all of us,” said Rylka.
Tauno’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“Portia Volnero is traveling to the Citadel. Kolfinn will be dead by the time she arrives. She’s going to offer Ragnar a deal.”
“How do you know what Portia’s going to do?” Tauno asked.
“Because I’ve been in contact with her. She approached me months ago. I know the terms of her deal. She’s going to tell Ragnar that Ondalina’s attack on Miromara was an act of war and that he must surrender. Either he accepts Lucia Volnero as the new ruler of Ondalina or Miromara obliterates our entire realm. I will advise Ragnar to accept her terms.”
Astrid stifled a gasp. Kolfinn believed Rylka was loyal to him, but she’d been secretly allying herself with Portia Volnero!
Tauno snorted. “That doesn’t sound like much of a deal.”
“For Ragnar, no,” Rylka allowed. “For you, it could be a very good deal.”