The Mermaids Madness

to kill herself before she would let Morveren touch her. Morveren used magic to lull Lirea to sleep, then took Lirea back to her home to try one last time to save her. Lirea threw off the spell. She attacked Morveren, then fled to our father, begging him to keep her safe.”
    Lannadae moaned again, but she stopped herself after a glare from Talia.
    “He sent Morveren away for her crimes,” Lannadae said. In a softer voice, she added, “I should have stayed with him.”
    “You were afraid,” Danielle said gently. “He wanted you safe.”
    Talia waded closer. “Do you know where Morveren went?”
    “It’s several days north of Lorindar, where the northern and southern currents come together and the taste of the water becomes bitter from the seaweed.”
    “Somehow I don’t think our charts track the taste of the ocean,” Snow said.
    “I can show you the way. I tried to go to her once, to ask for her help. The sea grew angry, and the waves battered me against the rocks.” Lannadae lowered her voice. “Lirea knows I’m here, doesn’t she? That’s why she attacked Beatrice. She’ll be hunting for me.”
    Had Lannadae been human, Danielle would have embraced her, but she wasn’t certain how the undine offered comfort. Lannadae was barely more than a child. Danielle knew the pain of losing a family, but to lose them like this . . . she could understand why Beatrice had taken pity on Lannadae. “We’ll keep you safe. I promise.”
    “How do you intend to do that?” Talia asked.
    “By finding Morveren,” Danielle said. “She might be able to help us stop Lirea.”
    “Assuming Lirea hasn’t tracked her down and killed her, too,” Talia muttered.
    Danielle glared at her. “We’ll leave tomorrow. I’ll ask Armand to prepare the Glass Slipper for—”
    “No,” said Snow. “Tell him we’re taking the Phillipa .”
    Danielle’s throat tightened. “Isn’t that the queen’s ship?”
    “It’s also the fastest thing in the harbor.” Snow smiled. “And I suspect Captain Hephyra will be a little more tolerant of an undine on her ship than most captains.”
    Talia was already wading toward the stairs. She paused. “Are you two coming, or do you expect me to pack for all of us?”

CHAPTER 4

    D ANIELLE HAD WORKED HARD over the past year to break the habits of her former life. For months after she moved into the palace, she had cringed at every stain or smear of mud, instinctively bracing herself against her stepmother’s wrath. Eventually, Armand had pulled her aside to explain that her anxiety was catching, and the palace staff were working throughout the night attempting to meet what they saw as their new princess’ demands for perfection.
    Danielle had learned to stifle her reactions after that day. Of course, there were parts of the palace no servant knew about. Danielle still cleaned the secret chambers beneath the palace from time to time. If she waited for Snow or Talia to do it, the job would require a shovel. She also dusted the passage that led from those chambers up to her room.
    Up to her privy, to be precise.
    Today, she barely noticed the occasional cobweb stretched across the dark shaft. When she reached the top rung, she pressed her ear gently against a wooden panel hidden in the wall. Danielle dreaded the day she scaled these bronze rungs, only to interrupt one of the chambermaids relieving herself.
    There were no sounds from the other side save the howl of the wind from outside the palace.
    “Sounds like a storm coming,” Snow commented from the darkness below.
    A quick tug of a metal lever opened the panel. Danielle stepped into the privy and listened again before exiting into her bedchamber.
    The window had blown open, and rainwater puddled the black and white tile floor. From the size of the puddles, the window couldn’t have been open for long. Danielle started toward the window to close the shutters, but Talia caught her arm from behind.
    “You know better.” Talia dropped to her knees, checking beneath the bed before moving to the window. She peeked outside, then reached out to pull the shutters closed. She latched the windowpanes back into place, muffling the sound of the wind. “Leaving the windows open is like sending out a royal invitation to any assassin who cares to eliminate the prince or princess of Lorindar.”
    “The last time someone tried to kill me, she used the door,” Danielle said. “Besides, I shut those windows myself. The wind must have