I greet Queen Otaria of Marbella Nova, whose arrival is followed by Queen Cypraea of Antillenes, Queen Palmara of Costa Solara, and King Zostero. He gives me the darkest look of all.
Daddy arrives next with King Gadus, with Tellin at his side.
I’m relieved that so far everyone seems to have agreed to my request to come alone.
The other reason I want this meeting to be limited to only the ten kings and queens and me and Tellin is because I want as few witnesses to what I’m about to do as possible. Gossip—especially royal gossip—travels fast underwater.
If things go well, no one outside this room will ever know what I’ve done.
King Bostrych arrives, his rotund body looking out of place on spindly legs. He heads straight for the sashimi spread on the side table at the far end of the couch.
That leaves just one attendee missing. I’m so not surprised.
I weave through the crowd to Daddy’s side.
“She’s late,” I whisper.
“She’ll be here,” he says. “She has no choice.”
I give him a meaningful look. “We didn’t exactly part on great terms.”
“Let me rephrase,” he says. “If she wants to keep other kingdoms on her side, she knows she must be present.”
As if on cue, the front door flies open and Dumontia steps inside. Her long silver hair floats around her like she’s walking into a fan. Two guards flank her, following her inside.
“Queen Dumontia,” I say, forcing my biggest smile yet. “Thank you for coming.”
Her smile is equally fake. “How could I refuse?”
She didn’t refuse, but she did ignore my request that she come alone.
“Perhaps you missed the part of the invitation where I asked everyone to leave their attendants and advisers behind.” I nod my head at her two guards. “Please send your escorts back to the beach.”
“A silly request,” she says.
When she starts to move into the room, I step into her path.
“It may be a silly request,” I say, repeating the words Doe told me to use, “but it is a condition of the meeting. If you’d rather abdicate your vote . . .”
Dumontia scowls, angry that I’ve used council protocol against her, I’m sure. But she doesn’t argue. Instead, she snaps her fingers, and the two guards retreat back the way they came.
“Let’s get this ridiculous meeting over with,” she says, sweeping past me. “I have important matters of state to attend.”
“I don’t see any reason to delay.” I move to the center of the living room, in front of the TV, which is the only flat surface not covered with drinks and eats. “If everyone would please take a seat.”
Between the couch and recliner and the chairs Doe, Aunt Rachel, and I dragged in from the kitchen and down from upstairs, there are enough seats for everyone. The kings and queens grumble a bit, but they all find places to sit, and suddenly all of their attention is on me.
I clasp my hands behind my back, squeezing tight to steady myself.
“Last time I called a council,” I begin, “I was asking for pledges of aid for an ailing kingdom. Instead of receiving the support I expected from my fellow merfolk, I learned that Acropora is not the only kingdom suffering in the wake of ocean warming and other environmental changes.”
There are several murmurs of agreement, but no one interrupts.
“I was shocked and intimidated by the sheer size of the situation, but with the help of some friends, I realized that if I broke the problem up into smaller pieces, and if our kingdoms worked together rather than fending for ourselves, we could avert catastrophe with a swell of momentum that is greater than the sum of our parts.”
I take a breath. This is the point where I stopped when I told Daddy my plan. As far as he knows, I’m just trying to raise support for the interkingdom commission on environmental change.
That will come after this next part, assuming this next part goes right.
“Then I learned something unfathomable. Some of our kin had decided that taking revenge on humans through acts of sabotage would be the best way to protect our future.”
I keep my gaze steady on Tellin so I don’t accidentally single out any rulers. I don’t want to put anyone on the defensive.
“Maybe it is,” King Zostero argues anyway.
I give him a look. “I won’t go into why I think this is not the answer right now—although I think that reason should be obvious—because I know something else that most of you don’t. Queen Dumontia, the leader of this sabotage movement, has ulterior motives.”
Some of the kings and queens shrug. Others, Daddy and Gadus included, turn to look at Dumontia.
“Her goal is not to get humans out of our oceans,” I explain, “but to bring them in. She wants to taunt humans into investigating the source of the sabotage. Into ultimately discovering our existence.”
Several gasps echo in the room.
“She wants to reveal our secret to the world,” I finish, “by circumventing our oversight procedures.”
“Why, Dumontia?” Daddy asks, his face wrinkled in confusion.
A couple of other rulers quietly echo Daddy’s question.
Dumontia stands, taking center stage. “Why?” she repeats. “Because it is the only way. To reveal ourselves to humans is the only way to make them see the harm they do to the oceans. Learning that magical creatures such as ourselves live in the seas might finally make them understand that they cannot carelessly pollute and destroy our environment.”