Anais had started killing larvae? It was so sick that Luce had trouble believing it, even after what she’d just witnessed. She drifted under the waves with a strange, hopeless pain in her heart. What had her old friends become if they allowed something like that to happen? Did they know what was going on?

If things were really so bad, it seemed obvious that she had a responsibility to challenge Anais. She should take over as queen and put a stop to the horror. But then, it wasn’t clear that Dana would support her anymore, not now that she’d learned Luce’s secret. Maybe no one would. Luce knew that Anais would never give up power without a battle. Luce would need the help of as many mermaids as possible, and who would even want her to be queen? Especially, who would want her enough to fight for her?

And even if Dana kept quiet, even if no one ever discovered that Luce had broken the timahk, Luce would never be able to erase the shame of what she’d done from her own heart. She’d know she had disgraced herself and that she was unworthy to rule. Knowing the truth, how could she possibly find the strength to confront Anais and her followers?

Luce found herself at a complete loss. The problem seemed insoluble. She swam back and forth through water banded with pale autumn sunlight; she stopped at random beaches, drifted on again. She kept swimming, sad and distracted, even as the day began to fail and the water dimmed. Strokes of reddish sunset filtered through the waves and curved around her arms. Sometimes she sang quietly to herself, caressing the sea’s profound voice with her own.

Caressing another voice: a voice that was coarse and desperate-sounding, coming from somewhere above the surface. Luce stopped where she was even as a huge school of small sinuous fish sleeked around her so thickly that all she could see was the weaving silver of their bodies. Dorian. How dare he think he could trick her again? He wasn’t singing Luce’s song this time, but something else: a human pop song, probably.

She wasn’t going to have anything to do with him, Luce told herself. Then she swam a bit closer to the shore. He sounded so upset, she thought, so unhappy. She barely felt the water sliding open around her head.