Page 61 of Seaborn and the Seven Seas

We were never meant for cages, we will not compromise.

The pearls that they took were the tears that we shed,

For the sisters we lost and the mothers long dead.

But the tide always turns and the sea always calls,

A star in the darkness will unite us all.

I didn’t know Minha could sing. I didn’t know she had a beautiful voice.

A tear slipped from the corner of my eye. The song spoke of happier times, of sea creatures and people living in harmony, of a world that had once been whole. And then of what happened when greed decided it wanted more.

Was Nam trying to tell us about our people through that song? All those nights by the fire, we had never once asked what the words meant. We hadn’t known to ask, at least I hadn’t.

I’d never paid attention to the words. But Minha had. She had memorized every word, every verse, carried it with her through the fisherman’s ship and the arena and this dungeon floor. And now the song had meaning.

“You’re awake.” Minha looked down at me, my head still on her lap.

I lifted my arm, expecting the burn, the throb, and the fabric torn. Nothing.

The wound was gone. The battle suit, the same dark material. No torn sleeve. No bloodstain. Nira must have changed me.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

I tried to rise. Minha steadied me with both hands. The arena came back to me. Then the infirmary. It hadn’t been a dream. None of it.

“Where are Jina and Ranis?” I asked.

“One of the guards told me they’re on this level at the far end. They didn’t put Jina in the arena after what happened with us and the boarox.”

Relief flooded through me. Jina was alive. Ranis was alive. They were close. That was good. At least I knew they were safe for now.

“What will become of us?”

Minha was quiet for a moment. “I’ve been here longer than you.” She met my eyes. “The queen doesn’t throw away things she finds useful.”

“So we stay useful. If she doesn’t already know, we tell her we can give her more pearls.”

Two sets of footsteps. A faint smell of jasmine reached me, out of place against the stench of the dungeon. One guard escorted the queen, her gown trailing behind her, gemstones at her neck, fingers, and crown.

The guard opened the cell door but the queen remained in the frame. Her golden eyes moved from Minha to me as we rose.

“Good.” Her lips curved. “You’re awake. I need answers. What did you do to the boarox?”

“I didn’t do anything,” I said.

Minha stepped in front of me. “She’s still recovering. Unless you want us to fight your next creature, you should let her heal.”

“You don’t order me.” The queen’s voice dropped cold as she flicked her wrist. “Don’t ever speak to me in that tone.”

Minha flew backward. She hit the wall hard and crumpled to the floor.

The queen had powers. I recalled Nam’s stories, gods who could command thunder, the wind, but I hadn’t understood what that meant until now.

“Minha—” I moved toward her.

The queen flicked her wrist again. I slammed into the wall behind me, pinned, my feet leaving the ground. The magic that held me pressed against my chest like an invisible hand made of chains.