Chapter 2

At dawn the next morning, the dragon envoy’s flying ship came to rest on the sea.

“Ten thousand pearls of the finest quality. If there’s even one pearl missing, I’ll tear your palace down!”

The dragon envoy smashed his wineglass on the floor.

An uproar erupted in the great hall.

The High Elder jabbed a finger in my face and began shouting abuse.

“This is all your fault, you cursed girl! Her Majesty exhausted her power giving birth to you and fell into a coma. Our treasury is empty, yet you can’t produce a single tear!

“Hand her over! Strip off her royal scales and cut out her sinews. Give them to the dragons as payment. They can put them to use!”

The crowd closed in on me.

Standing in the center of the hall, I let them rant and spit at me.

My poison coursed through my blood and spread throughout my body.

The more they cursed me, the better.

The hotter my anger burned, the faster the quicksilver fused within me.

Zyphira pushed through the crowd and stepped forward.

“Please, honored envoy, calm yourself! Elders, wait!”

She drew a dagger and slit her wrist without hesitation.

Blood gushed from the wound.

She began chanting a forbidden spell of the sea serpents.

Her blood mingled with the tears she shed for show, then hardened in midair into thousands of strangely colored blood pearls.

There were exactly ten thousand.

Satisfied, the dragon envoy accepted the pearls and left.

Zyphira’s knees buckled. She fell straight into Althirion’s arms.

He caught her and shouted in anguish.

“Summon the royal physician! Now!”

Zyphira struggled to catch her breath.

“Althirion, don’t blame Mirelle. For her sake, and for our people, I’d gladly give every last drop of my blood.”

Ceruleth lunged at me and seized me by the collar.

“You cold-blooded monster! You just stood there while Zyphira cut herself and bled for you! She’s sacrificing herself to keep you alive, and you don’t even care. Have you no conscience?”

He hurled me to the floor.

Haelthar walked over and kicked me hard in the stomach.

I let the force of the blow send me rolling several yards across the floor.

Shattered shells littered the floor of the great hall beneath me.

Their sharp edges dug into my back and palms.

Warm blood spread across the cold floor.

“Even a worm is more useful than you!” Haelthar bellowed in fury. “If you fail to deliver the tribute again, I’ll make you wish you were dead!”

I lay face down, fighting the pain as the shell fragments ground into my flesh.

Resting in Althirion’s arms, Zyphira gave me a taunting smile.

I lowered my head and made my voice tremble.

“Zyphira, take me to that enchanted spring on land. I want to do my part for our people, too.”

Zyphira gave a feeble nod.

“Of course. I’ll take you tomorrow.”

That night, I swam alone to a reef in the deepest reaches of the ocean.

The wound on my palm had yet to heal.

I pressed my hand against the rock and released the faintest trace of my power.

It carried the scent of poisonous quicksilver.

Several leviathans lurking within thirty miles of the reef let out terrified cries and fled the waters in a frenzy.

At dawn, we set out for land.

The underwater currents were vicious.

Althirion brought out the Warding Dome, our people’s only enchanted relic that could protect against both water and fire.

He lowered it over Zyphira’s head.

“Making those blood pearls took too much out of you. This will keep you safe.”

I had just used a shapeshifting spell to turn my tail into legs.

My scales had peeled off during the transformation, leaving raw, open wounds that burned unbearably.

I stood where I was.

Althirion did not even glance at me.

“Keep up. If you fall behind, no one’s coming back for you.”

They surrounded Zyphira to keep her safely in their midst.

I stumbled along at the rear.

Saltwater seeped into my open wounds. Every step I took hurt.

We were halfway to shore when a swarm of low-tier swordfish ambushed us from the reef.

“Keep them away from Zyphira!”

Althirion drew his sword.

My brothers formed a tight ring around her, guarding each other’s backs.

An enormous swordfish broke through the line and came straight for me.