The wedding guests rose and looked toward the back of the temple. Lucia’s cousins, Laktara, Vola, and Falla swam in, enchanting everyone with their beauty. They took their places at the right of the altar. Traho joined them there. A moment later, Lucia swam down the aisle. Mer brides swam to their grooms alone to symbolize that they entered into marriage of their own free will.
All eyes turned to Lucia as she moved toward the altar. Hushed expressions of awe and admiration rose.
She was stunning in her dress made from sliver-thin slices of emerald stitched onto a sheath of dark green sea silk. The jewels caught the moonlight and held it. Lucia’s every movement made the entire gown shimmer. She wore her midnight-black hair long and flowing, and flashed a triumphant smile.
Mahdi arranged his face into an expression of happiness and beamed at his bride. Lucia drew nearer. She was halfway down the aisle now. To Mahdi, she seemed like a specter gliding toward him, a harbinger of his death.
She arrived at the altar and swam to Mahdi’s side.
The priestess directed the bride and bridegroom to face each other. “Deeply beloved,” she began, “we are gathered here today…”
Mahdi barely heard her. He was going through the motions. Waiting for his chance. It would be over soon. All he wanted was to rid the world of the evil in this room.
When Lucia raised her right hand, he raised his. The priestess bound them together by winding a cord of kelp around their wrists.
The songcasters began to chant. Their voices rose, loud and strong, reverberating through the stones of the ancient temple, sounding throughout the palace.
The priestess smiled. “And now for the vows of matrimony,” she said.
“ALíTHEIA, PLEASE listen to me,” a terrified Sera begged, eyeing the spider’s fearsome fangs.
“Why ssshould I lisssten?”
“No reason. None at all,” Sera admitted. “You’ve defended Miromara, but Miromara hasn’t defended you. That stops. Right now. With me.”
The spider considered her words.
“Alítheia, you’re just like those souls,” Sera said. “The ones Orfeo snatched and bound to create his monster.”
The spider narrowed all eight of her eyes. “Alítheia is Alítheia,” she said sullenly. “Ssshe isss like nothing elssse.”
“You’re angry, just like they are. And scared. And trapped. And you want your freedom, just like those souls do,” Sera said. “Set us free, Alítheia, and I swear by Neria that I’ll set you free.”
The spider said nothing. She continued to advance on Sera, her eyes glittering hungrily. She raised a curved bronze claw and extended it toward Sera. One swipe of that fearsome hook, and Sera was dead.
Fossegrim called to the spider, begging her to stop, to not hurt Sera, but Alítheia seemed to not even hear him.
She’s going to kill me. Please make it quick, Sera prayed.
But instead of thrusting the lethal claw into her, Alítheia pressed it to the side of Sera’s face. Sera bit back a cry of pain as the cold, sharp metal bit into her skin. An instant later, her blood swirled through the water like crimson smoke.
The spider nosed at the blood, then tasted it. “You ssspeak the truth, mermaid. The blood of Merrow runsss through your veinsss.”
“Help me get out of here, Alítheia,” Sera said, encouraged. “Help me fight for the realm you’ve faithfully protected. If I win my battle, that realm will finally protect you. Merrow kept you in the dark. She kept all of us in the dark. She shouldn’t have. Help me, and I’ll get you out of this den and give you a place in the light, right by my side.”
The spider drew herself up. She raised her claw once more, then sliced it down through the water. Sera had no idea, in that instant, if she would live or die.
The claw caught the filaments of the cocoon that held Sera and ripped through them. They fell away and sank to the bottom of the cave.
“Thank you, Alítheia,” she said, weak with relief. There was a smooth spot on the spider’s face, right above her fangs. Sera swam to her and kissed her there. The anarachna touched a claw to the spot wonderingly, and blinked her many eyes.
“Pardon me, but if you wouldn’t mind…”
That was Fossegrim. Alítheia cut him loose, too. The two mer were free, but they still had iron collars around their necks that prevented them from songcasting. Alítheia quickly solved that problem. She spat a bit of venom onto the cave’s floor, dripped a claw in it, then touched it to the hasp of the lock on Sera’s collar. It ate into the iron. The hasp broke apart, and the lock fell away. Sera pulled the collar off, grateful to be rid of it.