She accepted them with a rueful smile. Servants weren’t paid or fed particularly well. We bartered for everything. Mostly, we traded skills and salvaged goods, but anything was up for negotiation. My specialty was finding food. I was always hungry and had grown up here, so I was a natural at foraging.
And since Lila couldn’t swim all that fast, she wasn’t inclined to go roaming. In fact, she was the sort who would get caught by a predator or a fisherman’s net.
That’s why I begged her to stay put and brought her treats whenever I could. I worried about her constantly. I waved to her pufferfish, Cori, who inflated herself in greeting. They were well suited. Even Cori preferred to stay close to home.
I heard a commotion as servants changed shifts below.
“Oops, I’d better go.”
“I wanted to see you in this!”
I nodded. I knew from just looking that it would fit me perfectly. And the blues and greens were so lovely, I knew it would flatter me as well. Not that I was a great beauty, but I knew I couldn’t ask for better.
“It will have to wait.”
“If only I could make you a helmet. I wish we knew a metalsmith!”
I shook my head. It was impossible. She couldn’t sew a helmet. It had to be forged or salvaged or taken from the two-leggers. Apparently, they wore headgear for a variety of sports. Mers only wore them for survival.
“You’ve done so much for me. More than anyone.”
I gave her another quick hug and retreated to my room, where I threw on my drab uniform. I was a maid, like Lila, though her talent with a needle set her apart. Her abilities were natural (nimble little fingers) as well as magical (her embroidery designs sometimes moved and glowed.) As a result, she didn’t do much other than make and repair clothing and other woven goods for the household. She could have worked for any Mer in the Queendom. I suspected she stayed because of me.
Meanwhile, I was the one who was desperate to leave. I was always assigned the least appealing jobs in the house. Any task that involved crawling or had an unpleasant stench was given to me.
So technically, I was special too.
In my case, what set me apart was how much the two mistresses of the house hated me. Not simply disliked. Not disapproved of. They seemed to genuinely loathe me, giving me the impression they wished I didn’t even exist.
I was never able to understand why. I was just a little girl when we had met. I was nothing but nice to them, even after I’d been banished to the servants’ quarters.
Well, mostly nice anyway.
It just didn’t make sense to me. I wasn’t wealthy, beautiful, or talented in some other way. I wasn’t magical. I certainly wasn’t a threat to their glory. All I had were my wits and my fins. And Beazil, of course.
I sighed, mentally preparing myself to get through the night. I might just have my fins, but it would be enough.
It was enough to survive the Trials. It had to be.
Thankfully, I knew I would make Messenger, if nothing else, so my days as a housemaid were coming to an end. I had to leave, even if it meant leaving Lila until I was established. Then I’d come back for her. We’d already sworn to each other that we would start over together somewhere else. She would have a shop, and we’d share a house nearby. My family house, if I could manage to restore it.
I rushed out of my room, and Lila waved goodbye, still clutching her oysters.
“Don’t work too hard!”
I snorted. She knew as well as I did that they never let me stop working for a second when it was my shift. They took a perverse satisfaction in making sure they got as much labor out of me as possible.
Which was ironic, since as a ‘family member’, I wasn’t even paid. Room, board, and one dress a year. That was it.
“That’s a laugh.”
She gave me a sorrowful look.
“I think they plan to keep you up all night working. I heard them talking about it.”
“That figures. After tomorrow, though, they can’t make me work again until after the Trials. And if I do well . . .”
She squeezed my hand. She was just past the age of required participation. She was better off though. Lila would never have been able to finish the race or hurt another Mer, let alone survive the more brutal contests.
I knew it wouldn’t be easy for me either, but I was determined to at least try. I figured if someone tried to stab me, I’d be motivated enough to fight back.
“They won’t ever be able to make you lift a finger again.”
“Right. Hopefully. If I do well.”
She grabbed my hand and pressed a kiss to my cheek.
“You will, Tri. I know you will.”
I swam off, trying to make myself believe that Lila’s words were true.
Chapter 4
“Katriana! Come here immediately! These pearls have not been untangled!”
I winced at the shrill sound of Lissentia’s voice. My stepmother was calling me again. She’d been on me like algae on rocks since before dinner the night before.
Lila had been right—they’d kept me up much of the night last night and working the rest of the next day into the wee hours of dawn. I’d managed a handful of hours tucked under a chair in a hallway each night, and that was it.
But I wasn’t tired. I was invigorated. This was it. I’d never be anyone’s servant again.
Except as a Spark who served the Royals and protected the sea.
My fingers were stiff from polishing Thalia’s armor, and I’d barely slept for the second night in a row. I moved quickly but refused to run. I had my dignity.
Waiting on your own sister and stepmother hand and fin was unpalatable, to say the least. Serving food on the table you once ate at with your father was even worse.
And of course, she flaunted him in front of me whenever she could. She loved telling Thalia how proud he would be of her, loudly, and usually when I was in earshot. She told her how much she resembled him, how impressed he would be with her lessons. Lessons I’d never gotten because I’d been serving them.
Not that I minded hard work. There was no shame in a job well done. And it served as a distraction from . . . well, everything else.
But today, it was over. Today, I was free.
In a couple of hours, anyway.
I swam into Lissentia’s chambers, only to find Thalia sitting at her dressing table, admiring herself. Oh, yes, she spent hours doing that.
You could never say that she didn’t have a heart. She did. And she loved herself wholeheartedly with it.
She truly adored herself, I had to give her that. It was too bad she didn’t seem to care about anyone else.
“I need you to do my hair for the procession. I have to be there soon.”
“It doesn’t start for hours.”
Thalia pulled a face in the mirror.
“Really, must you always be so unpleasant? It is so hard to find good help these days.”
I smiled sweetly. Too sweetly, but Thalia was too self-preoccupied to notice.
“I’ll do your hair.”
I took up a comb and ran it roughly through her hair.
“Ow!”
She leapt up, swishing her tail peevishly. We faced off, me with a comb and her with her wickedly long fingernails.
I knew she wanted to scratch me. If my nails had been much longer, I would have done the same.
“Girls! Enough!”
Her mother exhaled.
“You must be there early if you are to meet the Prince. His mother the Queen has forbidden him to enter, but he will be there to observe.”
“Yes, Mother.”
Thalia sounded so meek I nearly laughed. I put the comb down and turned to them.
“I have to get ready. I will see you there, dear sister.”
My smile was not meant to be friendly. We would be in battle against each other soon. And I was done taking orders from either of them.
It was true that many Mers spent their whole lives in service. And for someone as skilled as Lila, it was not a bad life. But for me . . . I wanted to swim. To seek. To walk on land. To prove myself and help Merkind.
To do all of that, I only had to do one thing. I had to win.