Page 52 of Whispers Beneath the Deep

I scanned the shelf of Royal Births, picking up one labeled with Queen Odette’s name on it. I pressed the conch to my ear.

Two-leggers were said to be fascinated with ocean shells, that they could hear the crashing of waves inside. That was only because air and water weren’t compatible, and the vibrations of air on two-legger land could not relay messages or images in conches.

Conches weren’t just for recording images, but for recording voices as well. Documentation in the oldest form of technology.

A low voice spoke into my ear as I pressed it there. “On this Starsday, on the sixth Waning Moon of the Malabella Oriana reign, Queen Odette Malabella Sanitorum has given birth to a healthy mermaid, with all the respective Malabella features. Purple hair and tail, black eyes, refined features. Healthy, and baptized as Princess Odessa Malabella Oriana.” I pulled the conch away, confused. The sixth moon? How was that possible if Princess Odele had been born around the thirteenth New Moon after the start of the Malabella Oriana reign? If this was true, that would mean that she had an older sister named after her aunt.

I put the conch back and went over to the Royal Death shelf, and scanned the names. My eyes stopped on a conch with the name: Princess Odessa Malabella Oriana. My heart sank as I picked it up. Odele’s sister… The breath whooshed from my lungs. I placed the conch to my ear.

“At only three Waning Moon’s old, Princess Odessa Malabella Oriana, daughter to Queen Odette Malabella Sanitorum and King Xristo Oriana, has died of fever, on the ninth moon month of the Malabella Oriana reign.”

I placed the conch back onto the shelf with shaking fingers, and scanned the rest of the shelf, eyes catching attention on another shell, this one dating a few years before the death of Odele’s sister. Princess Odessa Malabella Sanitorum. Her aunt.

I picked it up and pressed it to my ear.

“On this day, Tidesday, Crescent Moon, of the forty-forth year of the Malabella Sanitorum reign, Princess Odessa Malabella Sanitorum, was found dead in her chambers. As the royal medical examiner to the Malabella family, I have studied the cadaver to determine what exactly could cause the death of a seemingly healthy mermaid.

“After examination, the results are conclusive. The princess shows signs of abnormal paleness with blue coloring along the gums and red eyes. The princess died of substance overdose. Likely sea wasp poison.”

I pulled the conch away from my ear, unable to listen to more. The princess, Odele’s aunt, had been poisoned. How? Why? My hands shook. Someone had tried givingmesea wasp poison in my wine. That could have very well beenme. Pale, blue gums, red eyes. A cadaver in a morgue.

But how did the kingdom not know how their princess had died? I’d been a baby at the time, so I wouldn’t have known, but surely if she was murdered, it’d still be talked about. The information was lost in time. Or maybe…

My gut clenched uncomfortably. The war with Kappur. Had it been because of this? Had Kappur started the war by poisoning a princess? It was unclear. There was still more to the conch, but I couldn’t listen to it. Not yet. First, I had to know.

I set the conch down on the table and swam out into the library, finding the old, glowing merman behind his desk.

“Find everything you need?”

I shook my head. “I had a question for you…” My breathing was harsh. I fought to steady it. “Do you happen to know how Princess Odessa Malabella Sanitorum, my aunty, I mean, died?”

His old face set into grim lines. “A sad, sad day that was. I’ve worked here for so long. Why, when your mother and aunt were children, I was here.” He stroked his chin, skin dimming to a dull glow. “Now that I think back, there wasn’t much information regarding her death. Heart troubles, they said. You never would have known, if you’d seen her and your mother swim about the palace. Wild little things…” He chuckled, then scratched his neck and looked at me curiously. “I’m confused, Your Majesty. You asked me this months ago. Don’t you remember?”

My heart almost stopped right then.You asked me this months ago…I hadn’t been here for that long. Which meant that the real Princess Odelehadbeen. That she’d discovered the exact same thing I had. She’d asked him the same questions. I was on the right track to the truth. I knew it.

I thanked him and went back into the royal records room, picking up the conch again. It had paused where I’d stopped listening, and continued to play when I pressed it to my ear.

“Upon further studious examination of the princess’ body, marks were found to be formed around the area of her stomach, appearing like stretched skin. Because of these indicators, I closely inspected her insides, and what I found was rather alarming. Please note, all of this information was taken to the queen and king on that forty-fourth year. There was a tracing of placenta stuck to her inner uterine walls.” I pulled it away, staring at it with confusion. Placenta? Wasn’t that… I pressed it back. “After further searching, I’ve concluded that Princess Odessa had given birth, just before she died, and her body hadn’t been properly examined or cleansed.”

Slowly, I placed the conch back in its place and sank to the floor. My brain swam laps, trying to process the information. The queen’s twin sister, Princess Odele’saunthad had a child before she died. But, the mermaid had never married. She’d died before her wedding with King Xristo could take place. Her sister, the queen, had married him instead, and then Thalassar and Kappur were plunged to war.

I took a deep breath.

If Princess Odessa had birthed a child out of wedlock, then where was it? And why had they killed her? Who had been the father? I’d come to find answers, and all I got were more questions and confusions.

Somewhere out there, Odele had a cousin, assuming the child had even lived. If they killed Princess Odessa for her indiscretions, wouldn’t it stand to reason that the baby had been killed as well? Or had the child lived, and had Odele discovered this truth and gone in search of her cousin?

I’d come here to pretend to be a princess. To stop a war. Now I found myself on a chase to find the real princess, and suddenly, another missing royal. A royal I knew nothing about. Had the baby been male? Female? Was it dead or alive? Who was the father?Wherewas Odele?

And more importantly, why was someone out to kill the Malabella family?

My life in the palace was just about to become a whole lot harder.

I dropped my head into my lap and murmured, “Well, silt.”