“I want you to be more than sorry!” The words lashed out. “I want you to care! I mean, you’re sitting here alone in this cave for months, when you’re the only one who could help us. And all you can think about is Catarina and how pissed off and, like, superior you are, but you don’t care about the rest of us at all. Everyone keeps acting crazier all the time, Luce. Like, as long as there were ships we could sink, it kind of took the pressure off, but now that the ships have completely stopped coming this way . . . I keep thinking we might wind up fighting each other, or maybe some of the girls will go like Miriam!”

Luce winced at the mention of that name. Miriam’s suicide had left a crater of pain in her heart; it wasn’t right for Dana to use that pain to make Luce do what she wanted. Not that Luce was clear on exactly what Dana was after.

“What do you want from me, Dana?” Luce snapped. Dana looked surprised, then assessing.

“You’ve changed a lot, too. God. You used to be such a marshmallow.” Luce tensed with annoyance, but she didn’t say anything. “But maybe that’s a good thing. I mean, you’ll have to be pretty tough to go up against her!”

So that was it. “You think I’m going to get rid of Anais for you?” Luce asked.

A quick, contorted smile bent Dana’s mouth. “You’re right that she wants to kill you, you know. I’m not going to tell anyone where you are—at least, not anyone but Violet, she’s dying to see you—but if somebody on Anais’s side finds out they’ll come after you for sure. ”

Luce halfway smiled. Did Dana think, if she couldn’t manipulate Luce with heartache, then she could control her with fear instead?

“Tell Anais not to bother. It’s a waste of her time.”

“Luce, you don’t get it! Anais knows you’re the rightful queen. And she knows we all know it, too! No one really talks about it, not straight out, but we all saw what you did . . . using your voice to move the sea . . .”

“I knew what you meant, Dana. You can tell Anais not to worry. Tell her I don’t even want to look at anyone in our tribe who hurt Catarina, and I definitely don’t want to be their queen. Tell Anais I think she’s the queen they all deserve!”