are you?”
She circles me, the diamond baubles on her ears dangling in her scarlet hair. “Surely you’ve already guessed what I am. As to who I am, Comit has already introduced us. Then there’s what I do, which is collect, as Comit collects his creatures.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Follow me. I will show you.”
She turns gracefully on the polished dark wood floors and walks down the hall to massive double doors carved intricately, patiently until every detail was perfect. Even the brass handles are twisted and etched just so. I wonder how much people pay to be down here. It’s not just dripping with golden frames, lavish drapes, and tapestries that would put the Metropolitan Museum of Art to shame. It’s the secrecy that comes with being somewhere like this.
“Here we are.” Madame Mercury presses her hand on the door. From inside, the locks turn, undoing themselves. She gives the door a little push but doesn’t go in. “Shout…if you need me.”
Surely, I hope there will be no shouting.
I’m the first one in. Nothing has prepared me for this. Not the creatures of Toliss, not the oracles I’ve already found. The tiles are wet. I notice too late and fall on my ass.
A little chuckle echoes against the high ceiling.
Like the rest of this place, the mosaic is artfully done. I follow the patterns down along the walls to the center of the room where she rests in a great pool. It’s her. Copper hair, milky white skin, and eyes like warm green water. Her mouth is a dream, moist and red. There’s nothing girlish about her. Not the arc of her eyebrow when she looks at me, or the pleased smirk when she finds Kurt, who is walking toward her. He takes baby steps. After we hauled ass to get here.
One. Two.
He sighs. Reaches out.
Three.
She swims to the edge of her pool. I wonder how she can float like that. Her tails are magnificent, green like pine.
Four. Five. Six.
He falls to his knees, all the while staring at her face. For a moment, she looks sad, holding his face with her slender wet hands. The breath between them makes the room shudder until it’s too much to bear.
They kiss.
I try to look at the opulent black tile of the room, the plush bench set off to the side, surely for decoration only. I don’t see the two-tailed mermaid having tea on it. I feel pervy standing around staring at them. He stands, bringing her up with him, pressing her against his body, until the water reaches her hips at the start of her scales. One of her hands disappears and I think I’ve had enough.
“Should I—wait outside?”
Kurt lets go first.
“Stay, Prince Tristan.” She lets go of Kurt’s hand and traces the red flush of her mouth. “Come, let me look at you.”
Just when I was getting tired of these people twirling me around like I’m Cinderella in a new dress. Does she want me to tap dance while I’m at it?
“You’re stronger than I’d thought you’d be,” she says.
“Thanks?” Something about her sets my entire body on edge. “You’re less creepy than I thought you’d be.”
“Tristan.”
“No, let him. This is what I like about him. He says what he means. Even if I should clip his tongue with his own dagger.”
My hand goes to my sheath. My dagger is gone. It hovers in the air above us.
“Lucine, don’t.”
“Don’t be cross with me, my love. Everything I’ve done has been for you. No one knows you like I do. No one ever will.”
I grab Kurt’s arm. “What is she doing?”
“Lucine, you know why we’re here. Do you have the fork of the trident? If you don’t have it, then there is still one out there. The sea witch, Nieve, is getting stronger. They killed one of your sisters. Tristan needs—”
“Tristan needs to learn his place in the world.” Lucine laughs. It’s a terrible sound that crawls over my skin. “Though he has done admirably, especially for a half breed.” She grips the golden edge of her pool and a fury comes over her features. “How dare the king defy me even after I showed him what would happen? How long have I lived alone in these shallow pools with people taking and taking. That’s all they do—take, take, take from the future but never learn.”
She waves her hand. Makes a mirror appear on the wall, like iridescent oil on water.
“Do you know what happens to a person who stares right at