Page 79 of Brine and Bone
It demanded blood.
Generations of careful maneuvering.
Or…
… a common enemy.
Thalos eyed the shape of the beach where he’d won his chance with Kore.
And failed.
Considering all that Nyxarion had told him, that Kore had gained an enemy in Nyxaroth. An ancient king who’d been sovereign before the Accord and after. Ruled Threnakar for so long, lost so much, that the despair had turned him hard and cruel.
But there was blood in the water, now.
Lips pulled taut over a smile, Thalos knew the ancient king would never forgive such an act—and from a Siren, no less.Never mind that the girl carried his grandchild. That she wielded power thought extinct from his own bloodline, or what that might mean for the babe growing inside her.
No, pride like his was a thing that only knew how to fester and never relent.
It demanded reparation. Swift action. The Deep Court was probably already gathering its forces to flood the Black Sea in search of justice and uphold the very Accord Thalos himself had already broken just by continuing to let Kore live.
That Nyx despised his father was no secret, of course.
And the Hollow Court was addicted to power just as surely as they feared anything that might threaten the order they'd built upon Siren bones.
Lips thin and curved around a sinister little smirk, Thalos twisted through the current.
It was a recipe. One he already possessed every possible ingredient to engineer success. He just had to find the right order, before he gave the elements a gentle… stir.
Before he pushed them all to boil over.
After all, the seas were already flooded with whispers, for it was only a matter of time before the scholars spoke of what they'd witnessed at the bottom of the Black Sea.
What might it take to leak the report of Kore’s forbidden power, exactly as Syrathis had seen it? To inspire Pelagius’ irate ranting as he flapped his ancient gills about the implications of Vorynthar being permitted to keep such a creature for themselves. What was it, really, to allow Vorthane to confirm for the court that Nyxarion’s bride had claimed unprecedented traits during her transformation?
Reporting to the council was their duty.
Already, the scholars were pushing him to claim the child for Caelith Mare. To use the law against Nyxarion, and pluck the babe from Kore’s arms the instant it was born. Pushing himto prevent the Deep from possessing a Siren born in abyssal darkness, capable of channeling Queen's lightning. One who breathed anoxic water, and whose blood was tied to the heretical reef more surely than even its creator.
To make absolutely no mention of her ties to the Asterion bloodline. That she possessed his own chromatic camouflage.
No, that would remain a secret. His.
Rolling, staring at the shine of indifferent stars, Thalos flicked his tail. Disturbing the surface.
It was an elegant logic.
A simple thing to let the whispers of her power spread. Growing louder with every passing tide.
For if the Deep could breed Sirens capable of carnage, it wouldn’t be long before the whispers became shouted demands for something to be done.
And Thalos was a good king.
Just.
He would let the councils convene, let the scholars wail about the threat rising in the Deep.
AndwhenThrenakar moved against the Black Sea, threatening another bloody war neither court wanted, it would unite all against a common enemy.
