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Thalen moved quietly through the dical pavilion, the salt-heavy water dense with the sting of disinfectant spells and muted moans. The light from the glowing coral was dim, flickering under the weight of fatigue that blanketed the camp. He carried another crate of healing salves across the sand-covered floor, careful not to disturb the fragile silence. The healers barely noticed him—and that suited him fine. He wasn't here to be seen. He was here to be useful.
Anything to prove Kurai wrong.
"Thalen!"
He turned at the voice—high, bright, and cheerful like a sunbeam that didn't belong in a place like this.
Ariel swam toward him, her long red hair flowing in thick tendrils behind her. She wore a loose wrap of sea-silk over her shoulders and a coral bracelet that shimred faintly with enchantnts ant to soothe. Her smile was impossibly wide, eyes sparkling with joy. She didn't look like soone who had been kidnapped, nearly consud by darkness.
She looked... untouched which was good.
"There you are!" she chirped. "You disappeared again. Everyone's helping, so I decided I should too."
Thalen blinked slowly, caught off-guard by her energy. "That's... good."
Without asking, she grabbed his wrist and tugged. "Co on! Mama's here—I want to say hi!"
"Wait—"
But she was already pulling him along through the crowded currents, past injured civilians and guards rebuilding barricades. Her grip was too firm for a girl her size. Her swimming too fluid, too perfect.
He felt it again—wrongness. Like a tune just slightly off-key, unnoticeable until it pierced your ears.
They reached the coral pronade just outside the palace, where Queen Athena was giving orders to her advisors. When she saw them, her entire deanor shifted—command beca motherhood, and strength turned to relief.
"Ariel!" Athena exclaid, her voice cracking. "Oh, my little pearl—you're here!"
Ariel launched herself into her mother's arms, burying her face against her chest. "I missed you, Mommy!"
Athena held her tightly, too tightly, overco. "I missed you too, my sweet girl."
Thalen watched them quietly, lips slightly parted, trying to place the sour taste in his mouth. Sothing was coming. He felt it in the current.
Then everything changed.
The sea stilled, unnaturally, like a held breath.
A ripple of magic burst outward from Ariel's spine—too fast to react to. It struck Thalen like a thunderclap and hurled him backward into a coral outpost. His vision swam as he hit the stone, air knocked from his lungs.
When he looked up, his stomach turned to ice.
A blade had grown from Ariel's hand—not conjured, but summoned, as if waiting for this mont. Made of blackened coral and pulsing with red veins, it curved upward like a horn of malice, and it was buried deep in Athena's side.
Gasps rang through the pronade. Guards reached for their weapons. Healers scread. Soone dropped a water bowl that shattered on the reef stone.
Athena didn't cry out. She clutched Ariel tighter, not pushing her away. She staggered slowly, pulling her daughter down with her.
"Mommy?" Ariel whispered, confused. "Why are you hugging so tight?"
Athena's lips trembled. Her voice ca out in a fragile breath. "Shh... It's okay, sweetheart. Just... keep your eyes closed."
Thalen rose up, staggering. He wanted to run forward, and do sothing anything—but he was paralyzed by what he saw. There was a painful ringing in his head as he saw a flash of his own hand covered in blood.
Ariel nuzzled into her mother's shoulder. "Did I do sothing bad?"
"No," Athena gasped, one hand still around the hilt of the blade. "No, you didn't. I... I have a surprise for you."
"A surprise?" Ariel said, her voice innocent, hopeful.
"Mm-hmm," Athena breathed, blood curling into spirals around them. "But you have to keep your eyes closed... just a little longer."
Thalen moved now, finally, swimming toward them—but slowly, like his limbs were underwater in a way they had never been before.
Ariel squeezed her mother tighter. "I missed you so much, Mommy."
"I missed you too." Athena's voice cracked again, weaker than before. "You were very brave."
"I tried..."
Athena shifted as she sank further, turning just enough to keep Ariel's eyes from seeing the horror—the shock, the blood, the panicked expressions of those circling them.
A healer reached for Athena. A guard held his spear but didn't dare move.
Thalen had been too late to do anything.
Athena's arms dropped, still cradling Ariel softly. The blade in her side had dissolved like smoke, absorbed back into the girl's skin without a trace.
Ariel stirred.
"Mommy?" she whispered again.
Athena did not respond.
Ariel pulled back slightly, her face puzzled, sensing the shift without understanding. Her eyes fluttered open. She looked around at the frozen expressions, the blood, the silence.
"Mommy...?"
Thalen caught her before she could turn back toward the queen's face. His hands were gentle but firm as he guided her away.
"Don't look," he said softly.
"But—what's happening? Why are you crying?"
Thalen didn't answer because he himself didn't understand why.
Behind them, two dics descended, trying desperately to revive the queen. But everyone present knew the truth.
Athena was gone.
Far below, in the trench where light had never reached, Ursula lounged in a throne of dark coral and black pearls. Her eyes were half-lidded, a smile curled at the corner of her mouth.
She watched it all unfold in a pool of mirrored ink—saw Ariel cry out, saw the blood stain her hands, saw Triton arrive monts too late.
The parasite behind her pulsed once, content.
"What does it feel like?" Ursula whispered. "To be betrayed... by your own daughter?"
She raised one hand and stroked the edge of the pool, distorting the image like a stone tossed into silence.
"That was just a taste," she said, her voice low and rich. "A whisper of what's to co."
The walls around her trembled as power surged through the trident at her side.
"And the best part is..." she chuckled, "none of them will see it coming."
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