“He murdered my parents, Mahdi. Get out of my way.”
“No. I won’t let him make you a murderer, too. Back away, Des. I mean it.”
Desiderio whirled away from Mahdi and slammed his tail into a wall. Over and over again. Drops of blood flew from his fins.
Neela swam to him. “Stop it, Des,” she said gently. “Stop.” She offered him her hands. He squeezed them hard, trying to get himself under control.
Meanwhile, Mahdi ripped his belt off, yanked Vallerio’s hands behind his back, and bound his wrists. The end of the spear quivered in Vallerio’s flesh. He grimaced in pain.
Sera had swum out from behind the pillar, too. She floated in front of her uncle now, her crossbow lowered. His eyes met hers. She knew them so well. They were darkly blue, like her mother’s.
“Your own sister,” she said to him. “She was good and kind, and she loved you. So did my father. You killed them both. You made me an orphan. How could you do it?”
Vallerio’s eyes widened. He feigned surprise. “Sera, is that you? What are you doing with this sea scum? Did they kidnap you?”
Sera shook her head in disgust. “You coward. You don’t even have the guts to own up to what you did.”
For a few horrible seconds, rage and grief boiled up inside her, just as it had in Desiderio. The urge grew stronger, overwhelming her. Her finger tightened on the trigger of her weapon, but as it did, she thought she heard laughter, low and gurgling. Abbadon’s laughter. And she knew that if she did this, she would be no better than a monster.
She lowered her crossbow. “Too many have suffered for too long because of lawlessness and violence. Vallerio di Merrovingia, I arrest you for murder and treason. Your case will be tried in a court of law and heard by a jury of your peers. Take him to the dungeons and put him in a cell,” she said, motioning two fighters to him. “You’ll find plenty of empty ones.”
“Murder? Treason?” Vallerio echoed, still playacting. “Sera, what are you saying? I saved Miromara from the Ondalinian invaders! I made sure the realm had a ruler! We all thought you were dead!”
“You’re a good actor, Uncle. You fooled my mother. But you don’t fool me,” Sera said bitterly.
“You don’t believe I knew that you were alive? I’m your uncle, for gods’ sake. You can’t believe that.”
“I heard you, Vallerio,” Sera said, her voice shaking with fury. “I was in the regina’s private chamber after Lucia’s coronation, thanks to a transparensea pearl. I heard you and Portia congratulating each other on killing my mother, getting rid of me, and putting your own daughter on the throne. I know about the deal you made with Orfeo. Soon, the rest of the waters will, too.”
Vallerio renewed his protests, but Sera turned away from him and addressed her fighters.
“R?k, Mulmig, find the other commanders. Tell them the battle for the palace is over and they should give our enemies a chance to surrender. Regelbrott, Styg,” she continued, “take the dead to the stateroom. The bodies of Black Fins and loyal Miromarans will be buried with full honors and heroes’ dirges. The body of Portia Volnero, and of every other traitor, will be buried in a common grave in the Grayrock Barrens.”
“No! You can’t do that! She was a duchessa!” Vallerio shouted, struggling against his bonds.
Sera spun around. Eyes blazing, she said, “She was a murderer, Vallerio. She sold her regina’s life, and her merfolk’s lives, for wealth and power. Summon Horok to her, and to the rest of the death rider sea scum—”
“No!” Vallerio bellowed.
“—with a gallows dirge.”
A gallows dirge was the final rite used to return the soul of a condemned criminal to the sea. It was the deepest dishonor, and in Miromara’s long history only a handful of noblemer had received it—most of them from the Volnero family.
Sera bent down to her uncle, so they were face-to-face. “My fighters will sing a gallows dirge for Lucia, too,” she said. “Unless you tell me where she is.”
Vallerio shook his head.
“If I find her, I’ll arrest her. She’ll be charged and tried, just like you will be. If one of my fighters finds her, though, she might well be killed. The Black Fins have suffered heavy casualties today. They won’t be in any mood to spare her life. Is that what you want? For your daughter to die on the floor like your wife just did?”
Vallerio lowered his head. “She’s…on her way to Portia’s rooms,” he said in a broken voice. “There’s a…secret door—next to the mantel. It leads to the tunnels. Please, Sera…please don’t kill her, I beg you.”
Sera addressed her fighters again. “We have one more traitor to flush out—the most dangerous of all. Keep your weapons raised and your wits about you.”
Sera, her fighters at her side, raced off toward the royal apartments.
As she disappeared down the hall, Vallerio raised his eyes. And smiled.