I looked to him. “There is nothing in all of this that means nothing. We’ve righted wrongs. We’ve brought peace. And in doing so, brought forth the demons. To keep what we earned, we must sacrifice. And everyone has sacrificed, except me.”

Ry looked deep into my eyes and stated, “You know this is untrue.”

“I—”

“You are not your true self, even now. You do not live your whole life in hiding without sacrifice,” he declared.

“She knows I’m Mer,” I told him, referring to Farah.

“Well they,” he threw his arm to the window, “do not. Not yet. You will find victory, my queen, all of you will. And you will be written in the tomes as the Protectors. You and your people. You have helped them to rise again from the depths. To be known and seen. And I do not believe you did this without sacrifice.” He patted the table with his hand and finished, “Think not of this any longer. You need your wits about you.”

He was so very right.

I nodded.

I then glanced at Farah.

She squeezed my arm.

“The plan is set,” Ry stated, his voice firm. “We must drive them to Triton.”

“We must drive them to Triton,” Farah agreed.

I looked to the window.

And wondered where my husband was.

King Cassius

The Abyss, Fifteen Miles Down the Coast from Nautilus

MAR-EL

“If I was a god, this is not where I’d be,” Cassius muttered, staring down into the dark maw.

“The gnomes have reported?” Aramus asked him.

He looked to his friend, surprised at this abrupt question.

“They have. They track them. And the creatures are here,” he confirmed. “We simply await everyone’s arrival before we enact the plan.”

“And we have all, so far, successfully made Mar-el without them knowing we have sailed the sea?” Aramus pressed.

“As far as I know,” Cassius said, glancing at Ellie, who was patrolling the wide edge of the abyss along the sea, gazing into the hole, before turning fully to him. “My brother—”

“He is not at his full strength. I do not know what power he has, if any, that can help,” Aramus said. “And I have broken a vow every king of this realm has kept sacred that you even know he exists.”

“I’ve known Triton exists since I had conscious thought,” Cassius told him reassuringly. “Granted, I didn’t know where he dwelt, but I knew he existed.”

“He’s lonely,” Aramus murmured.

“We’re working on that,” Cassius said.

“They could come for him before we have our plan in place,” Aramus stated.

Cassius felt Elena’s gaze and looked to her.

She lifted her chin then moved away from the abyss, seeing to their mission there, which was to check the lay of the land, tighten their approach, understand what they had to work with before they had to work with it.