SERA STARED AT THE DOOR to Portia Volnero’s rooms. They had once been Isabella’s. Sera had swum through this door often as a little merl, eager to see her mother, to spend a precious few minutes with her, just the two of them. She remembered turning the knob and giggling as she pushed the door open, knowing that her mother would fondly scold her, saying, “Sera, can’t you ever learn to knock?” before gathering her into her arms.
Those days were gone. Her mother was gone. That little merl was gone.
Sera wasn’t going to knock. Not now. Not ever again.
“Do it, Yaz,” she said.
He backed up, then spun around and slammed his tail into the door. It flew open. Sera and the others rushed inside, weapons drawn.
Lucia was floating by the lavaplace’s mantel, her back toward them. She wore a heavy walrus-fur wrap around her shoulders and held a sea-silk pouch in her hand. A mica-covered panel to the left of the mantel had swung open.
“Stop right there, Lucia!” Sera shouted. “I have a crossbow. Don’t make me use it.”
Lucia did as she was told.
“Put your hands in the air!”
As Lucia raised her arms, Desiderio and Mahdi swam to her. Desiderio took the pouch from Lucia. He opened it.
“Currensea,” he said, then yanked Lucia’s hands behind her back. Mahdi grabbed a tie from one the sea-silk draperies and tossed it to him.
Throughout it all, Lucia was strangely quiet.
Desiderio bound her hands. Serafina put her crossbow down, then swam to her. “Lucia Volnero, I charge you with treason. You’re under arrest.”
“I have nothing to say.” Lucia’s voice sounded hollow. Her beautiful face was composed. She stared straight ahead of herself, seemingly resigned to her fate, her eyes empty and dead.
“Your father survived the fighting; your mother didn’t,” Sera informed her, feeling pity for her enemy, though she didn’t want to.
“I have nothing to say,” Lucia repeated.
“Take her to the dungeons,” Sera ordered. Two Black Fins swam up to Lucia. Each took an arm and led her away.
“That’s weird. I expected a fight to the death,” Mahdi said, as Lucia disappeared through the doorway. “The secret door was open. She didn’t even make a swim for it.”
“Maybe she saw the Black Fins kill her mother. Maybe she didn’t know how to make her way through the tunnels. Maybe it was all too much,” Sera said.
“Sera, I’m going to rendezvous with the goblin commanders,” Desiderio said. “I want to regroup, then put down any enemy holdouts.”
“Ling, go with him. Take everyone else, too,” Sera said. “I’ll be right behind you. We meet back in the stateroom in an hour.”
The group started off, but Mahdi stayed behind. “You okay?”
Sera nodded, but then alarm filled her eyes as she saw Mahdi’s jacket. “You’re not, though.”
Mahdi followed her gaze to his side and grimaced. His jacket was soaked with blood.
“Are you going to die, too?” she asked in a choked voice. Her face crumpled. She covered it with her hands and wept.
Mahdi was at her side in an instant. “Hey, hey…it’s okay, Sera. It’s not as bad as it looks. A couple of stitches and I’ll be fine.”
He pulled her close and held her tightly. Sera grabbed fistfuls of his jacket and buried her head in his chest. “So many gone because of them, Mahdi…so many.”
“Shh, Sera. We won. It’s over. There won’t be any more killing. Not after today,” Mahdi said, still holding her.
After a few minutes, she pulled herself together and said, “I’m keeping you here, and I shouldn’t. You need to see a doctor.”
“In a bit,” Mahdi said. “I’m going to check out the hallway first, make sure it’s totally clear. What about you?”
Sera shook her head. “I—I can’t…I need a moment. Alone. I need to get ahold of myself,” she said, her voice still quavering.
“It’s your mother, isn’t it? Being here, in this room, reminds you of her.”
Sera looked down at the floor. “She wouldn’t be very happy if she could see me right now,” she said. “She would tell me that those who would govern others must first govern themselves.”
Mahdi laughed. “That sounds just like her.” He lifted Sera’s face. “Take the time you need, Sera. I’ll come back for you in a minute. Your mer are scared. They’ve just come through a battle. They need to see you, but they need to see you strong.”
Sera nodded. Mahdi left, and she made her way over to the sofa in front of the lavaplace. She sat down and closed her eyes. Never had she felt so weary. She’d survived the maligno and Alítheia. She’d fought a battle and won it. Portia Volnero was dead. Vallerio and Lucia were captured.
It’s over, Mahdi had said. But Sera felt like Traho’s words were the truer ones: it’s only beginning. Now she had to pick up the pieces. To bury the dead. To reassure her frightened mer. Now, for the first time, she had to rule.