Whispers went up from the courtiers. “When will the fight start?” “Someone bring the mermaid another sword!” “Somebody throw something at them!”
“Principessa, you must allow me and my soldiers to take you home,” Mahdi said. “Your uncle, your cousin…they’ll be overjoyed to see you back in Cerulea.” As he spoke, he casually slid one hand into his jacket pocket.
“Yes, they will,” Sera retorted. “Because it’ll make it so much easier for them to kill me.” She moved slightly to her right as she spoke, trying to position herself so that she could receive the convoca better. It worked.
Sera, go! Get out of here! Mahdi said. My soldiers have orders to kill you on sight. They won’t do it here. Too many witnesses. But they’ll follow you.
Sera traded glances with her brother. A quick nod from him told her that he’d heard Mahdi, too.
Still playing his part, Mahdi swam up to her. “Principessa,” he said, sweeping a bow. He took her hand in both of his. “I hope you’ll reconsider and allow me to escort you back to Cerulea.”
As he spoke, Sera felt him press something into her palm. She curled her fingers around it, then pretended to snatch her hand away.
“Your Grace,” she said, turning to Guldemar, “I’ll take my leave now. Should you wish to help me instead of my enemies, you’ll have my gratitude. Should you choose to do the opposite, you’ll have my sympathy.”
With that, she swam out of Guldemar’s stateroom, followed by Yazeed and Desiderio. As the doors closed behind them, Sera opened her hand and looked down at what was in it.
A tiny sea-silk sack. As she opened it, she saw that it contained transparensea pearls. Three of them.
She handed one to Yazeed and one to Desiderio.
“As soon as we’re out of the palace, we cast them—” she stared to stay.
“And haul tail back to the Karg,” Yaz finished.
Sera shook her head. “No. We stay here. And find Mahdi.”
“What? Sera, we can’t. You heard him. We’ve got to go. We’ve got trouble,” Desiderio said, glancing around nervously.
“I know, Des,” Sera said. “But Mahdi’s got more.”
SERA WATCHED as the death riders thundered out of Guldemar’s stables far below her. Each one was mounted on a powerful black hippokamp.
“They’re hunting us,” she said. “Mahdi sent them.”
“He had to,” said Yazeed. “If he didn’t, he’d have to explain why to Vallerio.”
Sera knew he was right, but it didn’t make the sight any less unnerving.
“They’re taking the direct route to the Kargjord,” she said, her eyes following the soldiers as they rode north out of Scaghaufen.
“We’ll have to take the long current back,” Des said. “At least the camp is on high alert now, after Vallerio’s last attack.”
Sera, Yazeed, and Desiderio were swimming up the wall of the west wing of Guldemar’s palace, searching for Mahdi’s room. Sera was certain he’d be there. When she, Yazeed, and some of her Black Fins had spent a night in the palace before their first audience with Guldemar, they’d stayed in the west wing.
“Two more minutes, Sera,” Yazeed said. “Then we’re gone. We’ve got to be out of Scaghaufen when the pearls wear off.”
Sera shot off, frantically swimming from window to window, peering in every one to see if she could spot Mahdi.
“I need to see him,” she’d said as they’d left Guldemar’s stateroom.
“That’s a very bad idea,” Desiderio had replied.
“Something’s wrong,” she said. “We have to find out what it is.”
The goblin guards who’d escorted them out of Guldemar’s stateroom had seen them out of the main doors to the palace’s front gates. The three mer had swum through them, then ducked into one of Scaghaufen’s winding streets. There they’d cast their transparensea pearls, and then they’d headed straight back to the palace.
Sera continued to search for Mahdi as time ran out. She saw goblins and death riders but couldn’t find Mahdi.
“That’s it, Sera,” Yaz said. “We’ve got to go.”
Sera shot up, desperately looking in one last window. “There he is!” she exclaimed. “Yaz, Des, where are you?”
“Right here,” the mermen answered in unison, swimming up behind her.
Mahdi was sitting at a desk, speaking into a conch. Sera’s heart swelled at the sight of him, but the love she felt was once again pushed aside by worry. He looked gray and exhausted.
She was just about to rap on the window when a death rider swam in with a sheaf of kelp parchments. Mahdi, still speaking into the conch, signaled for him to put the documents on the desk. The merman did so, then left the room. As soon as he’d closed the door, Sera knocked.
Mahdi’s head snapped up. An instant later, he was at the window, undoing the latch.
“Tell me it’s not you,” he said as he opened it. “Tell me you didn’t do this.”
“It is. And we did,” Yazeed said.