“He was beloved, my father. By me. His people. He was generous and he was caring. He valued family above all else. My mother died on her third attempt to bring forth another child for him. In his last breaths on this earth, he apologized to me again, something he had done repeatedly since her loss, that he gave in to her desire to have more children and thus I lost my mother. This before he shared his love for me and called to her to tell her he could not wait to see her again.”

My husband turned his head to look at me.

“Both of their fathers were kings, and both of their fathers are lost,” I whispered.

“And now we know the foundation of what makes the King and Queen of Firenze,” he whispered back.

He then returned his attention to Jorie.

“Do you know of the prophecy?” he asked the King of the Mer.

“We know much. Lena, your witch in the Great Coven, keeps us apprised of the follies of those on land.”

I could tell by the tightening of Aramus’s jaw he did not like the word “follies.”

Fortunately, he did not dwell on this.

“Silence, as well as Ha-Lah, and myself, are part of this prophecy,” Aramus shared.

“I know this too.”

“The Beast rises.”

“We feel the quakes here as well and know what causes them.”

Aramus again looked at me.

“Make your request, Sea King,” Jorie demanded.

Aramus turned again to Jorie.

“I have outlawed whaling,” he shared.

“We know this,” Jorie replied.

“I have abolished the binding,” Aramus went on.

“We know this as well,” Jorie said.

“And I have decided that any harm done to a Mer will mean the perpetrator’s death, hanging from the yardarm, blood drained from the neck.”

Jorie sat still and stared at my husband.

He did not know that.

“The law has been written,” Aramus continued. “But it has not yet been enacted, for we will wait until such time as we can call to the Mer on land, and now at sea, to share they are safe. Now is not that time. No one is safe in this time. But when those prophesied make Triton safe, I will assure the Mer are the same. And I will garner oaths from every kingdom of Triton for their protection of the Mer. However, proclaimed or no, enacted or no, if word comes to me that a Mer has been harmed, the perpetrator will hang from a sirens-damned yardarm and be drained of their blood.”

Jorie did not speak, but I did not fail to note he was watching my husband very closely.

Aramus stood and looked down the table at his fellow king.