Page 52 of From the Myths of Kings

Tezrus pondered her question a moment, his wax-pale lips drooping into a contemplative frown. “They could be doing any number of things. When I became an Elder and was finally privy to their scheming, there wasn’t much discussion about what would happen after she was released, aside from the Titans being resurrected. Despite our fervor and devotion to the cause, I don’t think any of us truly imagined we’d be successful. I’m sure they fleshed out their plans after I escaped, but I don’t have any solid theories.”

“They successfully summoned Selussa a century ago. Do you think they might be trying to summon something else?” Saoirse’s mind raced with the possibilities. There was still so much she didn’t know. Were there others like Selussa? Were there more god-like creatures from the Myths of Old that had yet to reveal themselves? What was Selussa?

“It’s possible,” Tezrus mused. “There are a few things trapped in the Underworld that the Order may be attempting to free.”

Saoirse’s skin prickled at the mere mention of the Underworld. She was still struggling to comprehend the supernatural plane of myth was even real in the first place. She knew next to nothing about the fabled abyss. She pulled out the vial of Selussa’s blood. The obsidian flask thrummed against her palm.

“Tezrus, what do you make of this?” She offered the small vial to him through the bars.

The old man’s eyes widened as he took the dark flask. “What is it filled with?”

“Selussa’s blood. When I made the bargain with her, we exchanged vials of each other’s blood as a symbol of our agreement.”

Tezrus almost dropped the vial. “Selussa’s blood?” He sucked in a thin breath and carefully inspected the flask, touching it as little as possible. “How curious,” he breathed. “It almost feels alive.”

“I’m not sure why I kept it all this time,” Saoirse said, leaning against the iron bars. “I should’ve thrown it in the sea, but I just can’t shake the feeling that there might be a greater purpose for it. Maybe we could somehow use it against her?”

Tezrus was silent for a long time. He held up the vial to his ear and listened. “Very strange indeed,” he mumbled, almost to himself. Saoirse could practically see his scholar’s mind turning behind his eyes, mind thumbing through a hidden catalog of ancient texts he’d memorized long ago, searching for an elusive answer.

“Blood magic is a powerful thing,” he said, tilting the vial in the light. The slick obsidian caught the wavering torchlight, an oily sheen eerily similar to the blood inside it. “Selussa used your blood to shapeshift into your likeness. She did the same with Yrsa a hundred years ago, when she took the Auran princess’s place and killed King Lorsan.”

“She also used my blood to free herself from the Fretum too,” Saoirse added. “My great grandfather Isandros created an impenetrable binding enchantment with his own blood. Only his heirs would be able to unlock the Fretum and free anything inside.”

“Hmm,” Tezrus mused. He tugged on the thin strands of his beard thoughtfully, eyes bright with curiosity. She imagined a thousand theories whirring through his mind. “Throughout history, blood magic has been known to create gateways and unlock doors that should remain closed. One drop of blood from a divine being is no small thing. A vial of it has got to mean something. I’ll have to think more about its uses.”

“Has Selussa always relied on bargains to get her way?”

“Oh yes. Her most enduring quality has been her disposition for trickery. But for her, the true prize has always been the exchange of blood. I’m sure she was desperate for Rook’s dagger, but she was hungrier for your blood than anything else. She would’ve stolen the blade from the Auran prince one way or another, but your blood was the key to her master plan. She wasn’t after the dagger so much as she was after your very essence.”

Saoirse shivered at the thought. She’d been so foolish to make that bargain with Selussa. She’d known nothing of blood magic or shapeshifting at the time. The Myths of Old had been the farthest thing from her mind that day in the Fretum. Perhaps if she hadn’t been so desperate for the Crown, to make Aurandel pay for their crimes, she would’ve seen how crafty the Sea Witch was and never made that foolhardy bargain.

“Would you keep it safe for me during the trials?” She asked. “If?if something were to happen to me, I don’t want to lose it.”

Tezrus’s eyes softened. “Nothing will happen to you, child. You’re a warrior. I know you’ll survive this. But yes, I can keep it safe for you. I’ll continue pondering its properties in the meantime. If only I had my entire library at my disposal…” His voice turned wistful as he thought of the ancient tomes he’d left in the Oasis.

A sudden question occurred to her. “Is Selussa from the Underworld? What exactly… is she?”

She remembered when she’d asked Selussa the very same question in her tent the morning of the final trial. The Sea Witch’s unnerving, toothy grin was burned into her memory forever as she said: I took on Yrsa’s flesh and married Lorsan in her stead. But I am not Auran by nature. You’ll have to determine what I am on your own, Princess.

“No. She is not from the Underworld, I’m afraid.”

Saoirse inclined her head. “But why would she be summoned from the Underworld if she is not originally from there?”

“Because she was banished to that primordial abyss long ago, sealed in a state of purgatory since the first war between the Four Kinsmen and the Titans. She was released from her Helish banishment a hundred years ago, only to land herself right back in prison after failing to collect the Relics the first time.”

“Where does Selussa hail from then? Who trapped her there?”

Tezrus gave her a long, heavy look. “She hails from the Maeral Sea, or as it was known in her time, the Maeryle Sea.”

Saoirse blinked in disbelief. She felt her mouth go dry. Selussa was originally Mer? Or at least, some divine version of Mer?

Tezrus read the shock on her face and explained, “There were once two oceanic kingdoms in the ancient days: Elor-Wyn and Anthemoessa. Elor-Wyn became the Mer kingdom of Elorshin, your kingdom. Anthemoessa was all but destroyed during the first war. Selussa was the Queen of Anthemoessa. She was granted a people and a kingdom by her Titanic sibling, Charybdis.”

Saoirse struggled not to let her jaw hang open. A second kingdom in the Maeral Sea? She couldn’t say why, but her mind immediately leaped to her limited knowledge of the mythical creatures that supposedly lived at the dawn of time: sirens. All at once, her previous conversations with Selussa snapped into place like a string pulled taut. Memories of their discussion in Selussa’s cave surfaced in her mind. The Sea Witch had called Saoirse a ‘siren’ when she agreed to Selussa’s terms of the bargain.

Forgive me for doubting your word, but I have always struggled to believe promises from the mouths of sirens.

At the time, Saoirse didn’t understand why the Sea Witch had used such obsolete language. She’d thought Selussa’s words to be the ramblings of a mad woman who’d lost her mind after a century of imprisonment in the cursed waters of the Fretum. Could Selussa’s people have been the sirens? Even as pieces of understanding slipped into place, more questions were stirred up in her mind like silt off the ocean floor. What had caused Anthemoessa’s collapse? Why didn’t Selussa trust her own people? Were the sea monsters that she released from the Fretum the former subjects of Selussa’s oceanic kingdom?

---