“Pipe down, merl, before every soldier in Cerulea hears you. That’s no traitor, that’s Mahdi,” Aldo said. He hooked a meaty arm around Serafina’s waist and pulled her off him.
“Don’t touch me!” Sera shouted. She broke free of Aldo and backed away.
Mahdi pulled the dagger out of his sleeve. “Hi,” he said to Serafina. “Nice to see you, too.”
“Are you going to turn me in?” Sera hissed. “Hand me over to your master? You may have Aldo fooled, but I saw you. In the Ostrokon with your soldiers.”
Anger darkened Mahdi’s features. “You’re kidding, right? If I’d wanted to turn you in, I would have done it then. I saw you too, you know.”
“You saw me?” Serafina said uncertainly.
“You were hiding behind a pillar. Thank gods the idiots I was with didn’t see you. I didn’t recognize you at first. That’s quite an outfit you’re wearing,” he said, nodding at her Lagoona getup.
Sera bristled. “How about your outfit, Mahdi? Decided to join the invaders, I see. The same ones who destroyed Cerulea and murdered its citizens. Ladies love a merman in uniform. Lucia must be beside herself.”
Aldo, who was picking up Sera’s bowl, looked at Mahdi and blinked.
“Lucia? Lucia Volnero? Really?”
“Aldo…” Mahdi said through gritted teeth.
Aldo looked from Mahdi to Serafina, sensing the anger between them. He quickly invented a reason to get back to the kitchen.
“Serafina,” Mahdi said as soon as he left, “haven’t you figured it out yet?” He was about to say more, but a child’s wail, coming from within the house, cut him off. He ran a hand through his hair. “This place is overflowing tonight. And there’s probably not enough food. There’s never enough food. Are you here by yourself? Where’s Neela?”
“None of your business,” Serafina snapped.
“You still don’t trust me.”
Serafina snorted. “Haven’t you figured that out yet?”
Mahdi swam close to her. “Do you have so little faith in me? What kind of merman do you think I am?” he asked, furious now. He grabbed the front of his jacket and ripped it open. His chest was bare underneath it.
“That move might work on Lucia, but it doesn’t do a lot for me,” Serafina said.
He held her dagger out. “Take it,” he said. “Go ahead, Serafina—take it!”
When she didn’t, he took her hand, put the knife in it, and pressed the tip to his heart. It pierced his skin. A thin rivulet of blood floated from his chest.
“What are you doing? Stop it, Mahdi!” she said. She tried to pull her hand away, but he held it fast.
“Go ahead. Use it,” he said. “Take me out. You can kill the enemy. If that’s who you really think I am.”
“Let go of me. Let go!” Serafina said.
Mahdi released her. She threw the dagger down.
“I don’t know who you are!” she cried angrily. “Not anymore! All I know is that I saw you with death riders. Rounding up merpeople. My merpeople. So tell me, Mahdi, who are you?”
“Serafina, you didn’t—” he started to say.
“Are you actually going to deny it? I saw you!”
“No, Serafina, you didn’t. You didn’t see me. What you saw was a lie. Like this uniform. Like my earring. Like the Lagoon and Lucia.”
He took Serafina’s hand again, gently this time. He reached into his pocket, pulled something out of it, and slipped it onto her finger. It was the little shell ring. The one he’d made for her two years ago.
“You’re still my choice. Always,” he said. “Even if I’m not yours anymore.”
Serafina stared at the ring, incredulous. “How did you get this?” she asked.
“I picked it up after you threw it away.”
“But you couldn’t have. You weren’t there. I threw it away when I was with the Praedatori. I don’t…I don’t understand.”
Then suddenly she did.
She grabbed the lapels of his jacket and pushed it off his shoulders. Under his right shoulder, just below the outer edge of his collarbone, was a bandage. It covered the place where the death rider’s spear had gone through him.
When he was in the duca’s palazzo.
When he was fighting for her life.
When he was Blu.
MAHDI CUPPED Sera’s face.
“Don’t touch me, Mahdi. I’m mad. No, I’m furious! After what happened at the duca’s, I thought you were dead!” Sera said, slapping his hand away. “You let me believe you were.”
“Maybe it was wishful thinking,” Mahdi said.
Sera ignored that. “How long have you been with the Praedatori? What’s the death rider uniform all about?”
Mahdi was silent.
“You need to tell me. My life’s in danger, Mahdi. I have to know what’s going on.”
“I’ve been a member of the Praedatori for a year. I’ve been pretending to be a death rider for the last few weeks.”
“Why didn’t you say something at the duca’s?” Serafina asked. “Why didn’t you tell me it was you?”
Her head was spinning. Until a minute ago, she’d thought that her betrothed had abandoned her. And that an outlaw had sacrificed himself for her. Now they were both the same merman, and right here before her.