Page 54 of A Magic Deep & Drowning

His jaw was so tight that his teeth hurt.When is the trial set?

“In seven days’ time.”

“At high tide.”

She truly turned herself back in, willingly?he asked in his mind.

“Would we lie?”

“We would, probably, but not of this.”

Maurits could only imagine that Thade would be merciless in his prosecution, giving Clara little chance to defend herself. Besides, what did she know of the world beneath the water? Their laws, customs, and history were all thousands of years old, completely foreign to her. She would be entirely lost.

Not that it mattered. It was all just for show, so that Thade could point a finger at someone and tell the water folk who was responsible for their suffering. The outcome would be the same.

You must grant me a favor.

He had not thought it possible, but the basilisks looked surprised.

“You wish another favor, from us? You have yet to discharge your first,” one said.

“We are not in the habit of granting endless favors, and your debt will be large.”

I will do anything you ask, only agree to help me in this one thing.

The creatures glanced at each other, some unheard discussions passing among them. Maurits waited with a tight chest for them to come to a decision.

“Very well,” the largest one said at last.

“You may ask of us a favor, but your debt will be of our choosing, and at a time decided by us.”

That was a problem for another time, when Clara wasn’t in immediate peril.Fetch Neese to me,he told them.

“That is all?”

“Hardly worth a debt.”

Will you do it, or not?

The basilisks shared one of their inscrutable looks before turning tail to leave. “Your Highness,” they chimed in unison. Slithering out through the cracks in the rock, they left a frigid chill in their wake.

No sooner had their tails disappeared than the stone door was pushed aside, and one of Thade’s guards entered. Maurits vaguely remembered the guard from his days in the palace, a short, hard-looking merman who was never without a scowl or a notch between his heavy brows. Working for Thade certainly had not improved his disposition.

The surly guard gave Maurits a long, hard look. “It’s cold here. Feels like magic.”

Maurits could only give him what he hoped was his most innocent look of mild surprise.

“The king says your powers are hobbled, but if there’s evena hint of magic I’ll see to it that King Thade takes another look at you. Here’s your supper,” he added, tossing a handful of shrimp at Maurits’s tail. With a final scowl, he left.

Maurits was not particularly hungry, but then he hadn’t been hungry for a long time now. All of his senses were beginning to dull, the days blending into one long tide that was forever lingering between coming in and going out. In his darker moments, he almost wished Thade had killed him. It was only once he received news of Clara’s return to the water that his soul had flared back to life in his chest. He would need to hold fast to that spark of life, for her sake.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Her welcome back to Thade’s palace had not been a gentle one.

As soon as the basilisks had escorted her and left her at the palace door, she’d been snatched up by guards and roughly brought back to the same small chamber in which she’d been sent before. This time there was no visit from Neese, no considerations such as dinner with the king. There was only darkness, cold, and waiting.

The time was, by far, the worst. It gave her mind too much space to wander, too many paths to fruitlessly run down. Had she made the right decision? Had she wasted her one life in a meaningless sacrifice? Perhaps there would be no trial. Perhaps she had lost that chance when she had absconded the first time. Perhaps she would simply sit in this chamber until she died of the darkness and the cold.

---