Chapter 293
The throne hall is carved from a single mass of dark stone, its ceiling lost in shadow, the walls veined with glowing blue crystal like frozen lightning. It doesn’t feel like a room. It feels like the heart of something massive and alive.
Wake and Axel lead me in, their shoulders squared, posture precise. I follow because I have to, because this is what I signed up for—being his mate, being the Heir of Electra. But it’s times like these that I remember that, even though the choice to engage may have been mine, the decisions that brought me here were made for me long before I was ever before.
And then I see them.
Wake’s parents.
His mother, Loona, stands tall and composed, dressed in robes that shimmer like they’re made from woven starlight and seafoam. Her hair flows behind her like it’s caught in a current all its own, silver threaded with deep green. Her face is striking, her features sharp but warm, a presence that feels like both a gale-force wind and the calm after it.
His father—the Commander—is an entirely different presence. He’s all hard angles and silence, dressed in dark armor that looks ceremonial but bears the scars of actual battles. His eyes are as cold and unreadable as a locked vault. He doesn’t smile when he sees his sons. He doesn’t move.
Loona steps forward first. Her eyes sweep over Wake, her expression tightening with some combination of relief and restrained emotion. Then she looks at me.
And beams.
“So this is the girl.”
“Woman,” I correct before I can stop myself.
Her grin widens. “Even better.”
She steps close, studies me with the intensity of a biologist examining a newly discovered species—if that biologist also wanted to immediately become best friends with the specimen. She takes my hands in hers. They’re cool and strong.
“My name is Loona,” she says. “I am Queen of the Abyssinian Deep. I have been waiting a long time to meet you.”
“Phoebe,” I say, trying to remember how to breathe. “It’s lovely to meet you.”
Loona pulls me into a hug before I can say another word. She smells like seawater and something citrusy and sharp.
“I’ve heard so much about you.”
I blink. “From Wake?”
“No,” she says cheerfully. “From intercepted surface reports and a few of Axel’s more colorful missives. My eldest son doesn’t tell me anything useful.”
“Mother,” Wake sighs.
“Shush. I’m bonding with my daughter-in-law.”
Wake exhales a long, suffering breath. Axel chuckles and clasps his hands behind his back, looking way too pleased.
The Commander finally speaks.
“Let’s sit.”
His voice is flat and commanding, no warmer than the stone beneath our feet.
We’re led to a dining hall made entirely of polished black coral, lit with more of the glowing algae lanterns that line the city. The table is long and ringed with chairs carved to resemble sea creatures—crabs, eels, something that looks vaguely like a plesiosaur.
The food is… something else.
Plates of glowing mollusks, sliced strips of raw meat marinated in electric vinegar, spiral-shell crustaceans drizzled with some kind of bioluminescent sauce. I think one of the dishes might actually be twitching.
“Dig in,” Loona says with a smile. “I assume you’re not picky.”
I glance at Wake. He nods once, already spearing something translucent and curling with a fork made of polished bone.
I take a breath and mimic him.
The food is intense—salty, sweet, bitter, and spicy all at once. My tongue goes a little numb, but not in a bad way. It’s like eating ozone.
Loona beams at my expression. “You like it!”
“I think it likes me,” I say, and she laughs loud enough to make the table tremble.
Across from me, the Commander watches. Not like a parent, not even like a host—like a strategist.
“You are Electra’s Heir,” he says.
It’s not a question.
“Yes,” I answer anyway.
“You’ve never been to Estellis.”
Also not a question.
“No.”
“Why?”
My back stiffens. I open my mouth, then close it. No wonder they keep their secrets behind unbreakable oaths. With people this honest, this blunt, it would be too easy to pull truths from their mouths otherwise.
Loona shoots her husband a sharp look. “Can we let her digest her meal before interrogating her like a captured spy?”
“She is a political figure,” the Commander says flatly. “We must know what kind of influence she wields.”
“She saved my life,” Wake says, his voice like flint scraping steel. “That’s influence enough.”
The Commander turns to him. “You trust easily now?”
Wake’s eyes harden. “I trust her.”
Silence.
Axel shifts in his seat, glancing between his brother and father. “Well. This is cozy.”
Wake ignores him.
“We don’t have the time for you to dissect her entire bloodline. There are more pressing matters.”
The Commander arches a brow. “Such as?”
Wake leans forward, his hands on the table, the calm in his voice colder than any storm.
“Shoal has gone rogue.”
Every sound in the room stops.
Even the twitching meat on my plate goes still.
Wake continues. “He’s no longer operating under the authority of the council. He’s building an army of his own, cast in with human benefactors, and is–as we speak–planning something that could cause another Great War.”
Loona’s face drains of color. The Commander narrows his eyes. “Explain yourself.”
“Shoal plans to wake the Dark One. Leviathan.”
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