"One, Ariel."
"What?" Ariel momentarily went numb. "One what?"
"One year," Caliba said miserably. "The earthquake happened at midnight on the first new year since you were sent away. That"s why everyone is nervous about it. It could be a sign."
Ariel lost herself in the silver of her eyes, shaking in tears, mourning her beauty. She was a shadow, a wraith, after only a year? Her life would span millennia. A year was nothing, and she was... destroyed.
"They"re coming for you."
"I can"t go back! I can"t!" Ariel covered her ears, hearing the echoes. They"d given her freedom just to take it away. If she went back she would be utterly mad. She would rather go to the abyss where at least she knew the suffering would eventually end. Death was better. She could not go back.
The chamber door burst open and the humorless guards swept in. They dragged her sobbing to her audience with the queen, dumping her unceremoniously onto the floor.
Ariel scrambled on her hands and knees up the dais steps, and flung herself at her mother"s feet. "Mercy, please, mercy. I never meant to do it, I will do anything, don"t send me back, please."
Hands pulled her roughly away, but Ariel begged, with all her soul, even at the price of her soul. "I have nothing left, I can"t go back, mother, please, mercy-"
"Enough." Queen Villea drew back and Ariel realized it had been a mistake to remind her that they shared blood. Even a seventy-seventh daughter had to obey a higher standard, or at least be skilled in not getting caught if she decided to break a rule.
Ariel managed to stop her flow of words, but her whimpers of fear and distress were beyond her control. The echoes washed through her mind. Show what you want, they said, and it will be taken away. She focused completely on the queen"s austere expression.
A voice said coolly, "The sea mother delivered the prisoner and we risk destruction if we go against her."
Ariel found the speaker-Barwen, her eldest sister, who had centuries ago become an acolyte to the sea mother. Barwen"s deep blue eyes, the shade Ariel"s used to be, were filled with horror as she gazed at Ariel.
Behind Ariel another voice spoke. The hatred in it was so plain Ariel knew it was Laveena even before she turned to face her. "But her punishment is not complete."
"Look at her! She is example enough." Ariel could have cried for the strength-and the bitter truth-in Caliba"s voice. Caliba had ever been better than any sister.
"Not enough! She must pay for what she did!" Laveena"s eyes glowed like algae. "The lesbian will die because Ariel wanted human s.e.x and didn"t care how she got it. It"s depraved!"
Ariel turned from voice to voice and the memory of her first trial washed over her. Voices twisting her in circles, accusing, never listening. The echoes gave her freedom just to take it away.
"You... you saw the rose, Laveena. I know you did. I never meant to hurt anyone." Ariel didn"t have the anger to speak with conviction. She just said it, weak and afraid.
"She still does not recant her lie!" Laveena"s powerful aunt, Travesta, was speaking now and Ariel flinched from the orange and gold show of light, all poison and pride. "She defames my niece of my clan and defies the authority of her queen. The young ones run wild, your majesty, laughing at your compa.s.sionate laws to protect the humans. She must go back as an example."
"Enough." The queen rose and her feet, which were all that Ariel dared look at, glided smoothly across the floor toward her.
"Mercy, please," Ariel whispered. "I will accept any other judgment."
"Mother, we must heed the sea mother!" Barwen was bathed in green.
"I said enough." Her mother"s angry glance muted Barwen"s green to a shade that Ariel thought was like a pair of eyes she had once gazed into. But whose? It was hard to remember.
"Do not beg for mercy, daughter of my blood. We do not beg. Look at me when I speak."
Ariel finally found the courage and once their gazes locked found she could not look away. A low moan escaped her as she saw the queen"s lip curl in distaste.
"Silver Eye, you truly are."
"I never meant-"
The queen hissed in displeasure. "Shut up, you silly girl. If the sea mother hadn"t spat you out, I would leave you in darkness forever. We share blood, but that will not save you."
Ariel knew tears were running down her face but she was powerless to stop them. "I will break."
"Yes." The queen"s tone was pleased. "That is what you"re supposed to do. Break and never heal. You defied my edict."
"I did not mean to. It was an accident. Truly, I never meant to hurt anyone." There had been a rose, she told herself, she knew there had been. What if she"d been mad, though, mad with l.u.s.t? What if she"d only seen one because she wanted it to be there?
Travesta towered over her. "Hunting above sea to sate your sick appet.i.tes, someone was going to get hurt. But you didn"t care. You weren"t there for song, you were there to have your perverted s.e.x."
Ariel shook her head. "I don"t know-I was always careful."
Laveena appeared from behind her aunt. "She crawls to human women for s.e.x. She wanted lesbian song and human flesh and thought no one would care to tell the truth about her wickedness."
Ariel saw then that Kareel stood behind Laveena. So... Kareel hadn"t meant it after all. What had any of it been for?
Travesta silenced Laveena with a wave of her hand. "You begged for the human to touch you. You weren"t there for the song." She waved a hand and the room filled with the sound of Ariel"s moans: yes and please.
How did Travesta know that? Laveena hadn"t been in the corridor.
Ariel found Caliba in the crowd and saw, to her heartsick horror, that Caliba was crimson with shame. "I"m sorry, Ariel. I thought if they understood how much you needed it, that you weren"t sick, you just needed, and you gave as much as you took. I thought it would help."
Travesta gestured angrily. "We cannot give her mercy, my queen. Be glad you have other daughters, like Barwen, who know their duty."
Queen Villea gave Travesta a dangerous look, and Ariel hoped it meant Travesta"s greed for vengeance had had the opposite effect on the queen.
Barwen spoke again, in her cool, dispa.s.sionate voice. "The sea mother did free her from the grotto. Her punishment might not lie below sea at all."
So much for thinking Barwen might be an ally, Ariel thought. Like everyone else, she just wanted Ariel to pay. Was it so bad, what she"d done? It had been a mistake, after all.
"If she is what Travesta claims, it would be torture to be above sea and not feed."
The queen tipped her head to one side, considering.
"It"s too easy," Travesta said. "Far too easy."
"It would be novel." The queen began to smile, and Ariel felt even more afraid. "I"m tired of worrying about her fate. A seventy-seventh daughter should not be such a trouble. She needs to be an example, but I think the sea mother wants us to try another way."
Ariel felt as if she was shrinking into the floor from the heat of the queen"s gaze. A seventy-seventh daughter not only didn"t expect this much maternal attention, she usually tried to avoid it. All from Laveena"s spite, she thought. Laveena ought to suffer for infecting the lesbian. It was Laveena"s fault. The lesbian... then Ariel recalled the green eyes, so full of confidence and pa.s.sion. Erica... her name had been Erica.
"It"s justice that you suffer what you did, and so you shall suffer." The queen"s raised hands cupped a spinning ball of fire. The room was absolutely still. Ariel knew no one would intervene now. Villea could easily make another of whatever spell she was crafting.
Ariel screamed as the ball of fire enveloped her. The queen"s spell seared into her mind. She had one moment to study it, to grasp what was about to happen, then the magic unleashed and stabbed down her spine. Dignity had no point, and neither did pride. The echoes had left her nothing of either. Her body writhed across the floor.
"Suffer the lesbian"s fate! You are now as infected as she is."
The collective disbelieving gasp turned the walls to umber.
"But that is a death sentence!" Barwen actually sounded as if she cared.
The queen raised an imperious hand. "I am not done."
The fire around her was fading. As the pain left her, Ariel felt something else. Longing. Needing... needing a touch, the nearness of someone. Not anyone, but Erica. It was a different kind of fire, licking over her skin and then into it, sinking into her muscles, her blood. Desire began to pump steadily through her heart and into her mind. Erica. She needed Erica. She hurt without Erica.
"Because the sea mother sent you back, it is remotely possible she wants you saved for reasons of her own crafting. I will not risk her displeasure. I have also given you the cure. If you can resist the infection"s call until the end of this new year, the cure will work on you, and you will be free. If you peak in any way or cause another to . . . you will die, just as the lesbian shall."
"Still too easy." Travesta was displeased. "She can isolate herself for a year and be cured."
Queen Villea gave Travesta a look that would have had anyone else on their knees. "Do not suggest that I don"t know how to design torture."
Travesta paled. "I did not mean that, your majesty."
There was a tense silence. Ariel wished her mother would decide to practice torture games on Travesta. Travesta and Laveena, anybody but her.
Finally, the queen turned back to Ariel, but her words were for Travesta. "She will go to the lesbian. She really has no choice, poor thing." In spite of her words, her mother"s smile was edged with cruelty. "But there is one more thing."
Ariel let out a low moan. Her body was searing with need for the lesbian"s touch.
"Your song was used to lure the lesbian, to beg for her, used like the Sirens, luring an innocent to her death. If you sing or speak, use words in any way, you will lose the cure. You will not sing for her, or for anyone. You must hold your tongue-in both ways!"
There was mild, appreciative laughter at the queen"s cleverness.
Ariel"s entire body seared with arousal and fire. Erica, she needed Erica, now. She wanted to speak, at least to moan.
The queen cupped Ariel"s chin in hand and gazed one last time into Ariel"s eyes. "One sound, Silver Eye, one noise, one word, and you will lose the cure. You understand, don"t you?"
Ariel nearly said Yes. She nodded instead.
The queen"s grin was triumphant. "I see that you do."
Ariel trembled with wanting to moan. She needed Erica"s chemistry, her breath, her tears. Was this what Erica felt?
"Yes." The queen seemed to read Ariel"s mind. "This is how she feels, which is why we cannot let stupid girls like you infect those born to love women. I think that not only do you seek the sick pleasures of human s.e.x, you like to feed on the lesbian"s pain. And that cannot be allowed."
A protest died on Ariel"s lips before she spoke. She hadn"t liked Erica"s pain. She"d hardly thought about it.
The queen"s voice rose, addressing the gathering. "In those distant times when we chose to separate ourselves from the petty land-breathing barbarians, we made a choice. We took our knowledge and sank our island and found splendor in the depths. They still scratch on the surface of their world. Humans are self-destructive and limited, and we will not go their way. But because of the genetic bond that once existed between us, we hold back our power and leave them in peace. I am queen because I silenced the Sirens, ended their petty games with pitiful sailors. I will sacrifice one of my daughters to remind all of us what happens when we mingle too closely in human fate."
Ariel shook briefly with a fit of rage. None of this was fair. She hadn"t meant for any of this to happen.
Her mother rose and gestured at Laveena. "Any last words for the one who injured you?"
Ariel wanted to back away as Laveena towered over her. "You were beautiful and charming, but no longer. Good Ariel, so sweet and pure-no more." Laveena knelt so her words would whisper into Ariel"s ear. Ariel cringed at the force of Laveena"s pheromones enveloping her. "You may have your uses when you return, though."
Trembling, Ariel could only stare. Her body burned with desire for Erica, and Laveena"s chemistry was making it even worse. Maybe she deserved to be punished, but did she deserve this? To want to debase herself to someone who wanted her destroyed? To beg for what would surely break her in ways the echoes could have never reached? The effort it took not to arch herself up for Laveena"s taking brought tears to her eyes.
Queen Villea said, "I do not think you will last a week without feeding on her human l.u.s.ts. You will lose the cure, and we will not see you again. You want human life, so you shall be one and die in the shortness of their days. But I tire of this. I will swim now." The queen pointedly took Travesta"s hand and left without another glance for anyone.
The room began to empty, mer of all clans making sure to stare as they pa.s.sed Ariel, though none spoke. Ariel knelt, shaking, with tears standing on her cheeks. Barwen turned her back. Barwen-and all of her sisters-had all had their times above sea, but none of them, their rigid spines seems to say, had ever done anything perverted. Their crimes were now Ariel"s, and Ariel would pay for them all.
Laveena paused at a distance. "How does it feel, Ariel? What? Catfish got your tongue?" Caliba growled, but Laveena only laughed. "Still the trained shark? If you"re her friend tell her the only way out. Persuade her to do the smart thing. I might respect her if she took it."
Laveena swept out of the chamber, Kareel on her arm. Ariel looked enquiringly at Caliba.
Caliba had tears in her eyes. "You"d never think of it, you"re too innocent. Laveena I"ll bet thought of it right away. What does it say about me that I know what she was getting at?"
Thoroughly confused, Ariel spread her hands.
"You can"t bed her if she"s dead. She dies, the temptation dies."
Ariel gaped, shocked to her core at the idea. She was being punished for carelessly infecting a human, but it was acceptable to murder her instead?
Caliba was shaking her head vehemently. "Of course you won"t- it"s just the kind of warped thinking Laveena specializes in."
Another wave of craving Erica"s touch swept over Ariel, and she forgot Laveena even existed. Erica, I need you.
Fire seemed to lick at Ariel"s nipples, as intense as the nip of Erica"s teeth had been.
Caliba was the only one who did not leave her. Even Primia and Morova had scurried out. Of all those who had ever hunted with Ariel, enjoyed the pleasures and parties, only Caliba stood by her.
"Stay," Caliba urged her. "One year, here, and you"ll be well. I"ll take care of you. Take care of it. We"ll get through it together, the way we have through everything."
Ariel wanted to believe that she could stay, but her body"s burning fire was like nothing she had ever felt before. It was difficult to think of anything else. Caliba could not possibly understand. Being close at least she would know where Erica was. She had to be close to Erica now. Her arms ached to hold Erica, even though what was left of her rational mind told her it was just a physical drive. She knew nothing about Erica"s life, her dreams. What if they burned for and yet hated each other at the same time?
No, she thought. I may be thinking with my heart, but that night with Erica was like no other. She trembled at the memory. At least they could hold each other and breathe in their chemistry. Whatever she shared with Erica it could never be as sick as Laveena"s suggestions.
But are you strong enough, the echoes seemed to whisper, strong enough to hold her and not have her? Be held and not sing? Maybe Laveena is right. The only way you can live is if she dies. She"s dying anyway, isn"t she?
Never, Ariel thought. I never meant to hurt her and I won"t do worse. I will suffer through this rather than turn into Laveena!
Her mother had done well, Ariel thought bitterly. She was given freedom and a prison in one step. No matter how she tried, Ariel would never be capable of that kind of subtlety.
"Stay here and in a year you will be free." Caliba touched her arm.
Ariel jerked away as if she"d been stung. She shook her head violently.
Caliba drew back. "Stay..."
Ariel closed her eyes, shaking her head. Caliba tried once again to take her in her arms, but Ariel pushed her away.
"Go then. I will be here when you get back. Everything can be the way it was."
Ariel would have laughed at Caliba"s naivete, but even laughter had been taken away. Nothing would ever be the same. How could Caliba not know that? Even if Ariel survived, she was changed.
Finally, her eyes trying to say good-bye, Ariel turned to the door. She took nothing with her but the too-big finery Caliba had lent her.