The Mermaids Madness

case, Armand turned out to be a good man. Lirea wasn’t as fortunate.”
    Danielle shook her head. Even if Armand betrayed her, she couldn’t imagine killing him. Not even if her life depended on it, as Lirea’s had. “Armand wouldn’t have treated me like that.”
    “Why, because he danced so well? Because of his charming words and kind smile?” Talia began another series of kicks. “Armand asked you to marry him a lot quicker than Lirea proposed to Gustan.”
    “If Prince Gustan was so horrible, why would Lirea keep going back to him?” Danielle asked.
    “Probably because Gustan knew how to be every bit as charming as your own husband, if not more so. Because Lirea was young and inexperienced, and a man like Gustan knows exactly how to con a girl into his bed. And because growing up, Lirea wasn’t as lucky as you were.”
    A sputtered, “Lucky?” wasn’t the most dignified or royal response, but it was the one that emerged from Danielle’s lips.
    Talia sat down on the opposite cot. “You weren’t born into royalty. You were raised in the real world, and you learned very quickly how cruel that world can be. But you also had a mother who cared so much that she stuck around long after her death, just to look after you. You learned to take the blows fate strikes, and you learned what love really means. I assume that’s how you’ve managed to cling to that idealism of yours for so long.
    “Lirea was raised a princess, surrounded by guards and shielded from all of life’s hurts. As Jakob grows up, you’ll see how different his upbringing is. When you’re royal you learn that most people will obey your every wish. You start to believe you’re better than everyone around you. It’s not arrogance, it . . . well, it is. But when you’re young and you’ve never known anything else, that’s simply the way the world works.”
    Talia dug through her small trunk at the foot of the bed, pulling out a small wooden pipe and tobacco pouch. She filled the ivory bowl while she talked. “Your parents teach you about politics and manipulation, but you always believe you’re protected. That nothing truly bad can happen to someone like you, because you’re royalty. You’re special. When life finally shatters that illusion, you don’t know how to cope.”
    Danielle watched Talia closely, but her expression never changed. “So I’m lucky because the way I suffered at the hands of my stepmother and stepsisters prepared me for the world’s abuse?”
    “The first time somebody strikes you, you’re shocked. You lack the reflexes to block or dodge the blows or to roll with the ones you can’t. The earlier you can learn those skills, the easier it is to deal with the next fight.”
    Talia crossed the cabin and lit a small taper from the flame in the lamp. “People learn to cope in different ways. You clean things when you’re upset.” She pointed, and Danielle realized she had been polishing her bracelet with the corner of her bedsheet. “Lirea slaughters people.”
    Danielle deliberately set the sheet down and folded her hands. “So how does Snow cope?”
    “She sleeps with men and tampers with the nature of reality.” Talia puffed on her pipe, then blew a ring of smoke toward the door. “One way or another, it’s all about control.”

    Snow had spent much of the night transforming flowerworms into butterflies. When the butterflies flew away, she used magic to call them back. All except the one that fell victim to a bedraggled three-legged cat.
    “Good,” said Morveren as Snow completed another transformation. They sat together at the foremast, having left Lannadae to sleep in the cutter. “Your songs are already more precise. You’re a natural spellcaster, child.”
    Snow grinned and modified her spell. The butterfly fluttered over to land on the tip of Morveren’s nose.
    The mermaid laughed. “I don’t read your language very well, but are those your initials on its wings?”
    Snow started to answer, but her attention was drawn to Captain Hephyra striding toward them.
    “Undine?” Snow asked, once Hephyra had climbed onto the foredeck.
    “I felt three of them passing beneath the hull, brushing my roots. It tickles.” She patted the mast, her fingers sinking ever so slightly into the wood. “Two remain below. They’ve already poked us with their spears.”
    “Testing your strength,” said Morveren. “If this were one of Lirea’s raiding parties, there would be more warriors.