Page 49 of A Magic Deep & Drowning

But she couldn’t bring herself to, and the moment drew out as she grew colder and colder.

Neese was watching her with sharp interest. “Come with me,” she said suddenly. “You needn’t decide quite yet.”

Clara found herself allowing Neese to swim her into the deep. Moonlight filtered down in shafts, sometimes so faint that she could hardly see more than her hand in front of her face. They passed ruins of castles and buildings, so encrusted with barnacles and coral that it was hard to tell what they had been save for the jagged silhouette of a parapet or crumbling tower.

“This all used to be part of the capital city. I expect Thade has told you a great deal of our history. For whatever his methods, his anger is justified. What happened...” Neese bit her lip, let the rest of her words slip away in the current.

Thade’s speech had been edged in poison, bitter and designed to make her sick. The things he had spoken about had seemed as far away, as impossible as a tale told in childhood.But it was another matter to see with such startling clarity the evidence laid in front of her.

A young mermaid with jet-black hair swam past them, gave Clara a guarded look before continuing on.

“Folk come here to remember,” Neese explained when the last shimmering scale was out of sight. “But there is no reason for us to linger here any longer. The docks are just there, and you are free now to return to them. If I were you, I would not spend a moment longer here lest Thade realize you have slipped through his net.”

The sorrow of the place wrapped around Clara. She had thought the Water Kingdom a dreary place, dark and cold by nature, sparsely populated. But what she was seeing was the result of her people’s doing. It must have once been beautiful, and she wondered if Maurits remembered those days, or if the damage had been done by the time he had come of age. He might have grown up among these ruins, the destructive actions of humans imprinted on him as a child. And yet, he had not grown up hating humans. He sought to know them better, to understand them and bridge the divide between the two worlds. It spoke, at the very least, of a good heart.

“Shall we?” Neese asked gently.

Clara tore her gaze away from where the young mermaid had disappeared into the distance and shook her head. She would not return to land and pretend that she was still ignorant of the pain and destruction that her world above had caused the world below. All the fine silk gowns and sparkling gold that she had once worn could not entice her to return to a life of quiet violence. It had been beautiful, yes, but also empty.

A glimmer of admiration shone in the Neese’s flame eyes. “You have no voice,” she said. “If you are made to stand trial, you will not be able to defend yourself.”

Something told Clara that even if she could speak in her own defense, it would make little difference. Perhaps it wouldbe a real trial, and there would be some consideration for the fact that she had come back of her own accord to face consequences. But more likely than not, it seemed that it was to be symbolic, and that her blood was as good as the blood of those who had broken the bargain.

“Unless...” Neese cocked her head. Then she immediately shook it, as if thinking better of whatever she had just been considering. “No, even your stones are not powerful enough to counter Thade’s theft of your voice by magic. The clumsy manacles were one thing, but Thade guards the voices he takes like a jealous magpie.”

Neese put to rest what Clara had been wondering herself as soon as she’d seen the stones melt away her bonds. But she would not give up so easily. She mimed a crown, or what she thought a crown for a water queen might look like. It took Neese only a moment to understand.

“Even if I thought she would help you, I cannot take you to the queen. I could not do that to—” Neese broke off, threw a narrow glance at Clara. “I would not do that to your Maurits. You must know that what he did, he did it only out of regard for you. He would as soon as kill me as see me deliver you to his mother.”

Clara turned her head away, the current caressing her cheek.HerMaurits. He wasn’t hers. Good heart or not, he had taken everything from her, even her memories of Pim. If some of it had been his mother’s doing, he certainly had not absolved himself with the lies piled upon lies in service of it.

But that was not what was driving her now. She put her hands on her hips and faced Neese, a challenge in her eyes.

Neese held her gaze. “Very well,” she said at last, her slender shoulders falling in a defeated shrug. “I will take you as far as the old castle, but after that you must go the rest of the way alone.”

She bid Clara hold on to her arm, and they left behind the old kelp fields. They had not gone more than the lengthof a city square when a shadow fell over them and the water turned frigid. Neese went still, and Clara looked up to see a dark shape that eclipsed what little light filtered down from the surface.

Neese’s grip relaxed. “Only a whale. Not a dire—” She shot Clara a look before pressing her lips and starting again. “We have no need to fear it. It is simply passing on its way.”

But the great creature did not continue on. With breathtaking grace, it slowly spiraled downward, until its giant eye was level with Neese and Clara. The whale on the beach had been a novelty, incredible to behold, even, but nothing could have prepared Clara for the sheer size and dignity of the creature that hung suspended like a pearl from an earring beside her. When it opened its jaws, a mournful cry echoed out, reverberating through Clara’s bones.

Neese bowed her head, listening. She looked up sharply, her red lips parted in surprise. “It will escort us to the queen,” she said, her voice tinged with awe. “I... I don’t know why. The whales seldom involve themselves in affairs of the water folk.”

The whale slowly extended a flipper the size of a grown man, and Clara tentatively accepted. It was smooth, like the leaf of a tulip. Then the whale was gliding through the water, towing them along.

It was a cold, dark journey that might have lasted hours or only a few moments. Nothing was certain in this place save for the coldness. They passed through the water like a great knife slicing through the darkness. If Thade’s spies or guards were about, they dared not hinder them while they were under the protection of the whale.

As they passed through a narrow crevice, they slowed even further until they emerged into a dark valley. A dead forest of seaweed carpeted the floor, the only living creatures an occasional opalescent jellyfish lazily propelling itself by. Neese took Clara’s arm, and Clara reluctantly let go of the whale.During their voyage, she had felt so calm, so at peace. The creature let out another mournful call that sent tingles down Clara’s neck. She felt terribly small as the giant whale finned slowly away into the dark water. Neese watched it leave, her expression inscrutable.

When at last Clara could no longer see the spackled tail, she allowed Neese to take her hand and help her navigate down further into the valley. Like the ruins they had passed before, this place stood empty and forgotten but for the fish that lurked in the rocks and weeds. Clara could see no guards outside the dark and overgrown castle, but could feel a prickling sense of being watched all the same.

“There is a magic protection placed around the walls,” Neese explained. “You will have to get past it if you want to see the queen.”

Neese stopped when they got to the old stone slab that sat outside the door. “It is not safe for me to continue to visit Maurits, lest I arouse suspicion. But if I am able to see him again, I will tell him that you have chosen to remain, and that you are every bit as worthy of his love as he claimed you were.” She paused, her long black hair swirling softly about her face. “He will be furious at me for allowing you stay.”

Even if she had been in possession of her voice, Clara would have told Neese not to bother with Maurits. What she did now, she did for the people on land, for the debt that demanded to be paid. Not for the man who had deceived her and broken her heart. Not even for the memory of the little dog who had once made her dreary life that much brighter.

Chapter Thirty

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