“Take them to Traho,” the officer said. “He’ll want to question them.”
He turned around and cast one more glance over the Ostrokon’s entrance. At last, Serafina could see his face.
Her hands clenched into fists as she recognized it. She bit back a wounded cry.
The officer was Mahdi.
SERAFINA DUCKED DOWN, terrified she’d been seen. She waited for the sound of fins coming through the water, for the light of a lava lantern to fall across her.
“All clear! Let’s go!” Mahdi shouted.
And then he and his soldiers were gone.
Sera couldn’t move. She had suffered so many shocks and so many losses already. But this…this defied all understanding. She remembered the duca’s warning—trust no one. But Mahdi? He’d betrayed her with Lucia, yes, but how could he betray her people? And his own? The invaders had probably killed his parents, and now he was on their side?
She tried to tell herself that she was wrong. That it was all just a trick of the light. But she’d seen him clearly. He was wearing the enemy’s uniform. She had to accept it—Mahdi was a traitor.
Aching inside, she swam out of the Ostrokon into the current, expecting to run into a patrol at every turn. Basalt Street, where the safe house was, was at the northern edge of the fabra. When she finally reached it, still dazed by Mahdi’s betrayal, she wondered if, in her shock, she’d made a mistake. The house itself—number 16—looked like a wreck. Its top floors were gone. What was left of the facade was cracked and sagging. She peered in through a broken window and saw an empty interior. Hesitantly, she knocked on the door. Nothing happened. She knocked again.
“Starfish,” she whispered.
The door was wrenched open. A hand grabbed her and yanked her inside.
“Who sent you?” growled a burly merman.
“The duca di Venezia,” Serafina said. “The late duca di Venezia.”
The merman nodded. He released her. “Find a spot wherever you can. We’re full tonight,” he said.
“How many others are here?” Serafina asked, following him down a narrow hallway.
“Forty-three.”
“Where are they? The house looks empty.”
“We slapped a big-time illusio on it to fool the patrols,” the merman said. “It’s working. So far.”
The hall led into what had once been a living room. Now it appeared more like a hospital ward. Sick and wounded merpeople lay on the floor. The able-bodied were doing all they could to take care of them. No one recognized Serafina. No one even glanced at her.
A tiny mermaid cried out in her sleep. Sera forgot all about her own heartache and instinctively bent down to her. She stroked the child’s head, murmuring soothing words, and the little merl settled back into sleep. Another child moaned that he was cold. Sera adjusted his blankets. Then she swam to the next room—once a dining room. It, too, was full of broken merpeople. So were the upper rooms. Only the kitchen had no beds in it, because it was being used as both mess hall and makeshift surgery.
I’m their principessa and I don’t have the first clue how to help them, she thought. “What do I do?” she said out loud.
“Do what you can. Like the rest of us,” came a gruff reply. Sera turned around. An older mermaid, harried and distracted, handed her a cup of tea. “My name’s Gia. I’m in charge here. Take this to Matteo. He’s in the living room near the front wall. Black hair. Blue eyes. Fever.”
Serafina took the cup. She found Matteo, sat him up, and helped him drink the tea. She held him when a fit of coughing overtook him, then eased him back down on his mattress. After that she went back into the kitchen, looking for more work.
“Take this to Aldo. He’s the guy on the door. He hasn’t eaten all night,” said a man dishing up stew.
Serafina dutifully carried the bowl through the house to the front door.
“Thank you,” Aldo said as she held it out to him. He was just about to take it when there was a knock.
“Starfish,” a voice on the other side of the door said.
“Hang on to that a minute, will you?” Aldo said. Sera nodded.
He looked through a small peephole, then opened the door. A merman in black, hunched over, swam inside. Aldo locked the door behind him. The merman straightened.
Serafina’s eyes widened at the sight of him. She dropped the bowl. “Sea scum!” she shouted. “Traitor!”
In a flash, her dagger was in her hand. A split second later, it was hurtling through the water.
Heading straight toward Mahdi.
“WOW, MAN. You really have a way with the ladies,” Aldo said.
“Not funny, Al,” Mahdi replied, holding Serafina off with one arm. His other arm was immobilized, because her dagger had pinned his sleeve to the door. “How about some help here?”
“He has death riders with him!” Serafina cried. “He’s a traitor! Aldo, help me!”