The Mermaids Madness

down and my kingdom dragged into conflict with an enemy we’ve never fought. If you truly serve this kingdom, you’ll—”
    Talia shook her head, fighting for calm. “We swore to serve your mother. Not your kingdom, nor you.”
    “And you don’t want to know what Beatrice puts up with to keep that loyalty,” Snow added.
    Talia scowled, but Snow only flashed that damnably innocent smile of hers.
    Armand drew a deep breath, and the anger slowly drained from his posture. “My mother trusts you.”
    “Yes.” Talia’s voice was flat. Beatrice had trusted her, and because of that trust, Beatrice had almost died.
    “As does Danielle.” Armand hesitated only slightly before adding, “I know you love them both. Thank you for trying to protect them.”
    Talia managed a small nod. Anger she could accept, but compassion cut through her defenses as easily as she had slipped past Lirea’s.
    She clenched her fists, trying not to think about that fight. There were so many ways she could have prevented this. A blow to the back of Lirea’s knees, dropping her to the deck. An overhand strike with the spear, stunning her. A simple kick to the throat. Any one of those moves would have stopped Lirea without pushing her toward the queen.
    “My surgeon will watch over her until we reach the palace,” Armand went on. “I would ask the two of you to stay close to Danielle. I’ve stationed men to watch the water, but we’ve seen how easily Lirea can board this ship. If she follows through on her threats against Lorindar, we won’t be safe until we’re back on land.”
    Talia blinked. “You’re asking us to protect her?”
    The prince managed a smile. “Somehow I suspect you’d do so with or without my request.”
    “If Lirea does return,” Snow said softly, “tell your men to try to get that knife.”
    Talia’s expression was feral. “If she returns, you can take it from her corpse.”
    The following morning, Danielle stood on the quarterdeck with Talia and Snow. At sunrise, the cliffs of Lorindar had been little more than a smudge of shadow rising from the water. Now she could distinguish the proud shape of Whiteshore Castle sitting atop the white cliffs. Clumps of green clung to the cliff face where grass and shrubs had managed to take root against the wind and rain.
    The palace was made of the same white stone. Glass windows sparkled in the towers, and Danielle could just make out the guardsmen patrolling the eastern wall.
    The Glass Slipper sailed past the wharf near Fisherman’s Canal, where the commercial and fishing ships were docked. Fisherman’s Canal was almost a town in itself, with its warehouses, roads, and boardwalks spreading along the rocky base of the cliffs and out into the water. The royal navy used the docks further north, past the road that switchbacked up into the city proper.
    The crew trimmed the sails as the helmsman guided the Glass Slipper past one of the man-made seawalls, long piles of rock that stretched out from the cliffs to absorb the sea’s rage in times of storm.
    Sailors swarmed over anchored naval ships, hauling supplies and crawling through the rigging as they prepared to set out.
    “What will they do?” Danielle asked. “The undine could be anywhere.”
    “Not anywhere,” said Snow. “In the coming weeks, they’ll have to settle someplace safe to birth their young. Their children are vulnerable to cold, so they’ll go to a place that’s shallow and warm.”
    Talia leaned over the railing and spat. “Shallow and warm? That leaves the entire coastline of Lyskar, Allesandria, and the Hiladi Empire. We should be able to search them all within about three years. Assuming their respective rulers don’t object to the Lorindar Royal Navy snooping about their lands.”
    “We’ll find them,” Danielle said. Talia scoffed, but didn’t bother to argue.
    The Glass Slipper slowed, momentum carrying her orward even after the last sail was furled. Behind her, she heard Armand formally relinquish command to one of the officers.
    “You and I will be first off,” he said as he joined her. “We’re not waiting for the tides. I want you back on land.” He turned back to Talia and Snow. “Would the two of you assist us in escorting my mother’s . . . body?”
    Talia hesitated. She looked at Danielle, as though she were checking to make sure she had heard correctly. “Of course, Your Highness.”
    Danielle took Armand’s hand and squeezed. She hoped he understood how