Sophia had been with the Black Fins since their earliest days. Sera had chosen her to go on the raid of the Miromaran treasury vaults, and she was alive only because of Sophia. A death rider had shot her with a speargun as the Black Fins were escaping. Sophia had cut the line, killed the death rider, and gotten Sera to safety.
Afterward, they’d hidden in the ruins of Merrow’s reggia, and Sera had confided in her there. She’d told her about the Iele, the talismans, Abbadon—everything. Sophia had even defended the N?kki’s arms shipment from the death riders’ ambush. Sera had trusted her with her life, and the lives of their fellow Black Fins.
“Sophia…why?” she asked now, stunned.
“A merman, his name was Baco Goga, approached me one night, when I was on patrol outside of our old headquarters in the Blue Hills,” Sophia explained haltingly. “He told me he wanted me to spy on the resistance for him. I told him where he could go. He handed me something—two wedding rings. They belonged to my parents. My mother and father had been taken away when Cerulea was invaded. Baco said his next gift to me would be their fingers. Then their hands. He said he’d kill them piece by piece if I refused to cooperate.”
A searing mixture of grief and anger had filled Sera upon learning of Sophia’s betrayal, but another emotion pushed those aside now: fear.
She cast her mind back to the night the death riders attacked the camp, when Sera had decided to tell her fighters that they’d be heading to Cerulea, while she was really planning to go to the Southern Sea. Sophia hadn’t been there, thank the gods, when she’d announced that ploy to her inner circle. But had she somehow found out the real plan?
“What does my uncle know?” Sera asked her now. “What did you tell Baco?”
“As little as I could. I tried my best to protect you, Sera. I—”
Sera bent down to Sophia. She grabbed her chin roughly. “What did you tell him?” she shouted.
“The size of your army, the timing of the weapons shipments, the fact that you didn’t have a lava seam, the number of refugees that came to the Kargjord and…and Ava’s whereabouts.”
Sera swore. “Did you tell him about Cerulea?”
Sophia nodded miserably.
Thank the gods, Sera thought. Vallerio would think they were headed for the city; he’d have no clue about their actual strategy. But there was one more question—and it filled Sera with such terror, she could hardly bear to ask it.
“Did you tell Baco about Mahdi?”
Sophia shook her head. “No. I didn’t, Sera. I swear to the gods.”
Sera’s entire body sagged with relief. She let go of Sophia’s chin. As she rose, Sophia grabbed her hand.
“I’m sorry, Sera. So sorry,” she sobbed. “Please forgive me. I had no choice. You understand, don’t you? What could I do? Baco has my parents!”
Sera looked down at Sophia’s hand, clutching her own so tightly. And then, her heart breaking, she shook her off.
“Sera?” Sophia said in a choked voice. “Sera, no…please.”
“Death riders killed my parents,” Sera said. “Right in front of me. They’ve killed thousands of Miromaran parents. Yet none of us orphaned by them have betrayed our sisters and brothers.”
She turned to the two goblin soldiers guarding the doorway. “Take her to the prison,” she said. “She’s to be court-martialed, and if found guilty—”
“No!” Sophia screamed.
Sera swallowed hard, almost choking on the words she had to say. “If found guilty, she’s to be executed. And so it will be for anyone who betrays the resistance.”
“Sera, please! I’m sorry! Don’t do this…please!” Sophia shrieked.
Sera forced herself to watch as the guards dragged her friend away. She forced herself to look at the tears in Coco’s eyes. Only cowards turned away from the hard things.
It was quiet in the cave afterward. Sera was the first to break the silence.
“Leave me,” she said.
One by one, her friends filed out. Coco, wide-eyed and trembling, was the first to go. Ling was the last. She swam up to Sera on her way and handed her the puzzle ball.
“Put it away with the others,” Ling said quietly. “Keep it safe. We may need it again.”
Sera held the talisman up and peered through the holes—now perfectly aligned—and into the sphere’s center. There was no arrow, no words. Just a tiny, beautiful carving of a phoenix.
Sera lowered the talisman and looked at Ling, full of admiration for her cleverness. “You made it all up,” she said.
Ling nodded. “Sophia was in a lot of pain, and that pain needed to speak.”
“When did you realize it was her?”
“I didn’t. I thought it might be Becca, as you know. After you made sure it wasn’t, I knew I had to take a gamble. In two weeks, our troops will learn that we’re going to the Southern Sea, not Cerulea. I needed to catch the spy before that happened. If I didn’t, I knew he—or she, as it turned out—would tell Vallerio about your bluff.”
“So you claimed that you’d solved the puzzle,” said Sera.