He drew on his store of patience and asked, “Do you still have power?”

“If I did, would I be in this pit?”

“The Beast rises,” Aramus told him.

“No, he has risen. He has visited the surface, but returned to his lair. Though he will come to stay. And soon.”

At that, Aramus felt his chest seize.

“The dragons will be an interesting addition to that battle,” the voice mumbled.

Indeed, even in this pit, the seer knew all.

“Do we prevail?” Aramus demanded.

“Is this what you wish to know, Sea King?”

“Yes, but most of all, I wish to know my wife will be safe.”

“The mermaid queen.”

Aramus stood stock still.

When he did, a sinister cackle rent the air before, “Oo, that surprise. So delicious, that one was free.”

“Mermaid queen?”

“Ah, lovers,” the voice said like a shake of the head. “So foolish. Ages pass, and they remain fools.”

“My wife is a mermaid?”

“Secrets, secrets.”

“Tell me, is my wife a mermaid?”

“You know, of all I have witnessed on this earth, the cruelties vastly outweighing the kindnesses, that is something I never did understand. How things so extraordinary could be treated so abominably. And it is everywhere. Do you know, on the parallel world, they kill baby seals simply so women can wear their fur?”

“Sir—”

“And they contain creatures in cages so that humans can gawk at them?”

“It would mean much to me—”

“Magnificent beasts who by rights have the breadth of the seas to call their own, they imprison in small pools and force them to perform as entertainment?”

Aramus shut his mouth.

“We do that too,” the voice whispered. “We did that to the Mer.”

“I know,” Aramus whispered back.

“Cut them in half, hallowed out their fins, so they could be worn by humans of means on parade.”

He didn’t know that.

And knowing it, Aramus’s stomach turned.

“Mermales slaughtered by the hundreds so mermaids could be captured, forced to reside in tanks and perform such acts on human males.” The voice dipped. “Such debauched acts.”

Aramus clenched his teeth.

“Triton and Medusa created them together. An act of love, was the Mer. A gift to this earth, their beauty, their brand of magic. And that was how they were treated.”

Aramus had no words for there were none.

“This is why she hides.”

Aramus closed his eyes and dropped his head.

She was a mermaid.

His wife was a mermaid and she had not told him.

“You are not being overprotective. You are the Sea King. You are sensing her specialness. And you are moving to shield it.”

Aramus opened his eyes and looked into the dark.

“In sharing that, will you take something from me?” he asked.

“I am glad we are here for I prefer that to be a surprise.”

Aramus had a feeling he would not like that kind of surprise, but for the sake of time, he didn’t fall into discussing it.