The ocean didn't welcome me back.
Not tonight.
The water was colder than it should've been, churning with whispers and warning. As I slipped past the veil between surf and silence, I felt it again—the rot. The dying.
Our kingdom was unraveling.
I swam faster, weaving through broken kelp forests and sunken caverns. The reef that once shimmered like spun moonlight now bled sickly gray. Coral cracked like old bone. Fish—once radiant—floated limp in the current. Even the sea anemones no longer glowed.
The ocean heart was failing. And all because of him.
Voss.
I hated that name more than the taste of blood in saltwater.
The currents turned jagged as I passed into the deeper trench, where the water turned thick with shadows and the song of the ocean grew fainter.
I shouldn't have left the surface so long. Every second counted now.
I reached the obsidian pillars of the city—Virellan, our hidden home. Once a realm of wonder. Now, a dying cradle.
Guards flanked the entrance, tridents drawn, eyes wary.
"Prince Isaac," one of them said. "The Queen demands your presence."
Of course she did.
I nodded once and swept past them, the water parting around me as I passed through the arches carved with scales and pearls, into the heart of the palace.
My mother sat on her throne of driftwood and ancient shell, cloaked in kelp silk. Her eyes—stormy and unforgiving—met mine the moment I entered.
"You went to the surface again," she said.
I didn't bother denying it. "I found her."
Silence.
"You said she died," I added. "But she didn't. Her daughter lives."
Her expression cracked, just slightly. "You saw the half-blood."
"She's not a threat," I said. "She doesn't even know what she is. But she might be our only chance."
The Queen rose, her hair like floating sea grass in the dim glow of bio-lamps. "She is cursed. Tainted by air-breathers. She should never have existed."
"She didn't choose her birth."
"She was the reason your father died!"
My chest burned at the mention. That name. That loss.
"You promised me answers," I said, voice low. "Instead, you buried truths beneath sand and stone."
"She must not return here."
"She will," I said. "She has the right."
The Queen's eyes narrowed. "Do not defy me, Isaac. You are bound by blood and crown. Do not let your father's ghost lead you to ruin."
I turned away, fists clenched.
"I'm not doing this for him," I muttered. "I'm doing it for all of us."
Behind me, the Queen's voice broke through one last time. "If you bring her here… she'll die. Just like he did."
I didn't look back.
---
The Hall of Tides was nearly empty.
Once, it held the Coral Heart, the living artifact at the center of our realm. Now, there was only a pedestal—cracked and flickering—surrounded by withering plants and ash-colored sand.
The relic had been alive. It pulsed with the heartbeat of the sea, controlling the current's balance, protecting our barrier, healing our wounded. Without it, the water turned foul. Our magic drained.
And the air-breather had taken it.
Dr. Cassian Voss.
He came years ago, cloaked in curiosity and false friendship. My father believed in his vision—a bridge between land and sea. He gave Voss limited access to our relics, to study, to understand. But curiosity became greed.
Voss betrayed him. Stole the Heart.
And my father died trying to stop him.
Now he lived freely on land, wielding stolen power and funding his science with ocean blood.
And somehow… somehow, he raised her.
Lila.
The girl who looked like her mother but moved like neither of us. Her presence stirred old songs in my veins. Her scent was of coral and stormlight. Her eyes…
I shouldn't have looked in her eyes.
Because now I saw hope, and hope was dangerous.
I left the chamber and drifted upward, to the old cave my father used to visit when he wanted to escape court politics. A secret place above the city, hidden by rocks and kelp. I used to come here as a child, watching whales pass overhead.
Tonight, I wasn't alone.
A figure stood in the shadows—cloaked in obsidian armor, his breath gilled and ragged. His name was Kael.
My cousin.
"What did the Queen say?" he asked.
"What she always says. No."
Kael nodded once. "Then we must take the relic by force. No more talking. No more waiting."
"She's not ready."
Kael stepped forward, voice sharp. "She's human, Isaac. You don't owe her anything."
"She's not just human. She's one of us. Whether you accept it or not."
He sneered. "You sound like your father."
Good, I wanted to say. But I didn't.
Instead, I looked out at the open sea.
"She'll come back," I said quietly. "And when she does, we have to protect her. Because if Voss finds out what she is…"
Kael's eyes darkened. "He'll do worse than steal the Heart."
We both knew what that meant.
He'd take her blood. Her memories. Maybe her soul.
"I won't let him," I said.
Kael stared for a long moment, then finally nodded. "Then we have work to do."
The ocean groaned beneath us—an old, wounded creature in need of healing.
And far above, I could still feel her heartbeat.
Lila.
---
End of Chapter 6