Lucia swam forward and began to songcast. Serafina expected her to stumble, to make mistakes. The casting was torturously difficult. She herself had spent the better part of a year practicing it. But Lucia didn’t stumble. Not once. Her mastery of magic was excellent. Her singing was flawless. Her beautiful voice was beguiling.
How can that be? Serafina wondered. How can she sing Merrow’s songspell so perfectly when she’s never even practiced it? With a chill, she realized the answer: Lucia had practiced. She’d prepared for this moment for a very long time.
When Lucia finished the songspell, the amphitheater erupted. The cheers were deafening; the applause was long. As before, the most enthusiastic responses came from the Kobold and the death riders.
“Thank you! Thank you, good people!” Vallerio shouted, as the noise subsided. “To ensure the stability of the realm and the continuity of Merrow’s line, Lucia will now undertake her betrothal, during which she will recite vows with her intended and promise to give this realm a daughter.”
Vallerio turned to the royal enclosure and looked at Mahdi. “Your Grace, if you would join us…”
MAHDI ROSE FROM HIS THRONE.
“You can’t do this,” Serafina whispered. She rose from her seat too.
“Sera, don’t!” Coco said, pulling her back down.
“Coco, I have to. I—”
…don’t move…please…in danger…
That was Mahdi. He was inside her head again.
Mahdi, you can’t do this…she said to him.
SERA, YOU SIT DOWN RIGHT NOW!
The voice was so loud, Serafina thought it would shatter her eardrums.
Neela? she said weakly, when the pain subsided.
You heard me? Oh, thank gods! I didn’t know if my convoca would work.
Heard you? You nearly blew my head apart! Where are you?
Here in the Kolisseo. Stay where you are, Sera. Do. Not. Move.
But I have to tell my uncle—
Nothing. You tell him nothing. You do nothing.
But it’s all a huge mistake! My uncle’s doing this for the sake of the realm. He brokered a truce with the death riders. He only put Lucia on the throne because he thinks I’m dead. Now he’s going to betroth her to Mahdi. If I just go to him, if I tell him—
If you move out of your seat, you die.
That was a new voice, but Serafina recognized it.
Yazeed? she said. What are you talking about? Why do I have to—
Stay put until this is over. Then meet us outside the Kolisseo.
I can’t watch this, Yaz. I can’t.
You dont have a choice. Portia…back from…death riders…and then…
Yazeed was breaking up.
Please, Sera…do not move.
That was Neela. Then the convoca faded and she heard no more.
Serafina did as they asked, though it nearly killed her. She sat in her seat, stared straight ahead, and watched the merman she loved declare his love for another.
Mahdi took Lucia’s hand. He looked into her eyes. He smiled at her. Said his vows. And tore out Serafina’s heart.
But even as she was blinking back tears, Serafina noticed something odd—Mahdi was wearing a yellow anemone on his black jacket. As she stared at it, straining to see it clearly over the distance between them, she realized it was the one he’d worn at their betrothal. It was vivid; its tiny tentacles were moving. He’d obviously tended it and kept it alive. She saw something else, too. He kept tugging at his ear. At a gold hoop that dangled from his lobe.
That’s strange, she thought. He wasn’t wearing an earring at Carlo and Elena’s. He gave his earring to that mother in the Lagoon so she could sell it to buy food for her children. Back when he was Blu.
As the ceremony finished, and Mahdi kissed Lucia’s cheek, another cheer went up, started—yet again—by the soldiers.
Do you recognize it? Mahdi suddenly said. Inside Sera’s head. It’s the ring you gave me at our Promising. It was Carlo’s. I’ve had to take it off my hand, but I found a way to keep wearing it.
Oh, Mahdi…
Don’t be upset, Sera. Please. Not over this. It means nothing to me.
Then why are you doing it?
To stay close to them. To stop them. Traho, the Volneros…
My uncle, too?
I don’t know. I don’t know if he really thinks you’re dead or not. Be careful of him, Sera.
You belong to her now, to Lucia.
No, I don’t. You know that.
A memory came to her of their betrothal. They had signed the parchment. She’d started toward Elena’s kitchen and Mahdi had lagged behind to talk to the justice of the seas.
That’s why you questioned Rafael about the ceremony, isn’t it? Why you asked him if the betrothal was binding even if one of us was to marry another.
Yes. I was worried Portia and Lucia were plotting something like this. That’s why you’re in such danger, Sera. Portia knows the laws too. If she finds out about us—about you and me—she’ll do anything she can to break our vow. Anything. Do you understand?
Sera did.
You mean she’ll kill me.
Yes. That’s why you have to get out of here. Leave Cerulea. Get as far away from the Volneros as you can and don’t come back.
I can’t do that, Mahdi. This is my home. These are my people.
The convoca began to fade.
…have to go…please be care—…love you….
Will I ever see you again?
She listened for his answer.
But it never came.