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The other consiliarius’ phone rang. She pulled it out of her vest and her eyes widened. “She’s calling, Your Majesty.”
Undina let out another hearty laugh, shaking her head. “What the fuck did you do to finally get her to call me?”
I allowed my lips to curve in a secretive smile. “I just took a ride on the beach.”
45
SHARA
“You’ve accomplished more in an hour than I have in a week,” Undina grumbled.
We walked side by side down a pale pink pathway of crushed shells around the interior of her nest, with Blood—both mine and hers—walking before and behind us. Well, most of her Blood swam in the inner cove, their heads popping up to glare as we passed. Carys, Gina, and Kevin walked ahead of us with Aleka, the Ketea consiliarius.
Evidently, the other Skolos queen, Nuri Kijin, also called before the first phone call ended. Both queens were on their way to Undina’s island, on the move after sitting in their Galveston houses for days.
“I noticed that you were gathered but it didn’t seem as though anything was happening.”
Undina’s head snapped around. “How?”
“I saw three queens nearby, though I wasn’t sure who it was. I came to investigate, and only realized you were nearby thanks to Okeanos.” A small fib—Gina had figured out who was here before we’d swum out to the island, but I hadn’t seen Skolos specifically on the tapestry. I didn’t want her to know about our spy network or my dream of the Mother. “Guillaume told me a full Triune hasn’t gathered since the fall of Triskeles.”
“Indeed. He would know.” Undina’s breath hissed out softly. “Skolos is only here because I compelled them. Though I couldn’t force them to actually come to the Mother’s table. Have you learned what a full Triune involves?”
I didn’t know Undina well enough to read her cues, but her skin seemed greener than before and she clicked her teeth together. “Somewhat. Though with two empty seats at Triskeles, I haven’t experienced a full table yet.”
“Even before Triskeles fell, Skolos hadn’t met in decades. It’s not an easy thing to endure. So many queens set their eyes on the Triune but have no idea what it costs to take the seat. Your mother knew. I thought she was mad for planning to seat you at the table before you were even born.”
“How well did you know her?”
“As well as anyone, which is not at all. She was secretive even before…” Her words fell off into silence, as if she’d lost her train of thought. Esetta Isador had that effect on the living.
“How did it come about for you to sell Okeanos to the queen of Rome?”
“Sell? Is that what she told you?” Undina barked out a harsh laugh, sharp as razor blades. “She pushed out a Triune edict that all kings were to be executed before they came to maturity, though she was the only queen who signed it. The Dauphine had fucked off to goddess only knew where, Desideria had mysteriously died, and Triskeles was of course long gone. I couldn’t keep Okeanos from shifting. He was too powerful. Even as a child, he completely leveled the nest. But I certainly didn’t want him executed. So we hid him.”
“You imprisoned him in a cage,” I said flatly. “Alone. For years.”
“You’re young yet so I won’t take offense at your words. When you’ve lived a thousand years as I have, the days and years bleed together far too quickly. For me, it seemed that he was caged for a mere few days, even in Rome.”
Rage choked me and I clenched my hands into fists, fighting to keep my face smooth and my mouth shut. She forgot. Her own fucking son. In a cage.
A child. Left alone to starve until he figured out how to feed himself from the ocean without having the freedom to even swim and hunt.
“He was safe, I told myself. It was the best I could do until…”
She stopped and turned to face me. Reluctantly, I turned toward her, not wanting her to see the sheer fury boiling in my veins.
“Was your childhood so much better, Shara? Raised as a human outside of a nest without any access to your power. No one to protect you while the most powerful queens in the world tried to find you so they could eliminate you before you could rise and challenge them. No one to teach you our ways. How long were you lost and alone before your Blood found you?”
My jaw ached from holding back my words. “I wasn’t caged.”
“Ah, but you were. You were denied all the power in your ancient bloodline. Worse, you were left with humans. I could argue that was a far worse cage. I regret the years of solitude and misery my son endured, but I don’t regret hiding him. Saving him. For you.”
For me in particular? Or any queen who could finally control the king kraken?
She must have seen the question in my eyes. “Your mother saw a future where kings were free as your Blood. On the off chance she was right, I kept my kraken son hidden. The queen of Rome unfortunately found him before you were born, yet I still hoped your mother had been right. So much, in fact, that I agreed to act as a witness to your birth. The queen of Rome thought she had the upper hand by holding Okeanos hostage, but she didn’t know I saw you sworn to all three Triunes. It was a small hope, a fantasy you would even survive long enough, but here you are.”
“I’m sick to death of all these schemes and plots that started over a hundred years ago.”
