Mervidia (42 page)

Thaddeus’ shoulders slumped.
“I cannot,” he said quietly, looking wearily at his older brother. He took a deep inhalation of water before speaking again, this time more vociferously. “Despite Ambrose leaving House Tenebris and all that he has done to bring shame to it, I cannot condemn by brother to death for his crimes.”

Ambrose snorted derisively.
Shame to House Tenebris? I simply pointed out the truth that none of you want to see. The houses have only brought Mervidia misfortune and ruin with all the political infighting and backstabbing.

“A tie.
The verdict then falls to you, Sire,” Penn said, his gaze travelling slowly around the room before finally falling on Zane. “Despite our reduced numbers, there are still enough members present to form a quorum and, therefore, a binding decision. The Coral Assembly is divided in this matter. It is up to you as king to cast the deciding vote.”

Ambrose and every other merwin in the room looked at the young
neondra, who would decide the renegade kalku’s fate. Ambrose expected another long silence as Zane deliberated, but it did not come.

“Guilty,” Zane said swiftly, looking directly into the accused
octolaide’s eyes. “I find Ambrose guilty of the charge of murder.”

“Zane?!” Thaddeus blurted out, rising from his seat.
“You can’t!”

“You forget yourself,” Penn admonished the
octolaide, shooting him a contemptuous look.

“Kiss my
tentacles, you puffed up little…,” Thaddeus replied, turning on the Domo of House Yellowtail.

“Enough!” Zane commanded, causing the room to fall silent, though Thaddeus and Penn continued to glare murderously at one another.
The king turned a sympathetic eye on the octolaide representative. “I understand your anger, Thaddeus. If Ambrose had slain Uchenna during their fight, I would have voted as you did.” The octolaide began to interrupt, but Zane silenced him with an upraised hand. Zane continued, “That is not what happened though. Your brother killed Uchenna as he hung helpless in his grasp, after the battle had been decided. It was murder, cold and calculated.”

Zane looked at the houseless
octolaide. “Ambrose, the Coral Assembly has ruled and found you guilty of the murder of Uchenna of House Chimaera.”

The kalku was unsurprised.
This was a sham from the beginning
, he thought to himself.

“However,” Zane continued.
The expressions of agreement and anger around the long stone table all turned to curiosity. “I do not wish to begin my reign soaked in the blood of a merwin who was saving his daughter’s life, regardless of his ill-considered actions after the fact.” The neondra looked briefly at the young octolaide female floating to Ambrose’s right.

What was that look, young Zane?
Ambrose wondered. The kalku regarded his daughter, a word that still sounded strange to him, and saw a similarly peculiar look pass from her to the new sovereign.
It seems, dear, that you have caught the eye of the King of Mervidia. Following in your mother’s wake, I see.
Ambrose chucked quietly to himself.

“As such,” Zane said, looking around the room.
“For his crime, I am sentencing Ambrose to imprisonment for life.”

It was Penn’s turn to interrupt.
“Sire, you can’t.”

“Now who’s forgetting themselves?” Thaddeus said, looking smugly at the Domo of House Yellowtail.
Penn opened his mouth to reply but was silenced by Zane’s next words.

“I can and I will,” the King decreed, staring hard at Penn.
“The Coral Assembly has failed to come to a decision on the matter, which shows its own struggle with such a judgment. I have crafted a solution that I believe is a compromise that both sides can live with.” Zane’s tone softened as he looked at the rest of the merwin around the table. “I refuse to have one of my first decisions as the King of Mervidia tainted by the death of one of its people.”

Ambrose looked at Penn.
The neondra was fuming, his bare chest expanding and contracting with quick breaths, as he fixed the octolaide with a spiteful glare.
You want to point out that I left Mervidia behind, and don’t deserve its protection, don’t you Penn? But, you can’t bring yourself to contradict your new king again, can you?
The kalku thought, smiling.
Well, I’m certainly not going to bring it up.

“It’s decided then,” Zane said resolutely, his tone indicating that he expected no further disagreement with his decision.
“Ambrose will be kept in custody until such time as Captain Raygo recovers. Then, Ambrose will be conveyed to the Royal Dungeon, where he will live out the rest of his days.”

“It is starting to get crowded down there,” Kiva whispered.
Ambrose could barely make out the faera’s words from where he floated. He doubted her voice had reached the far end of the table where Zane presided, but given the scowl on Thaddeus’s face, he guessed that the octolaide seated to Kiva’s left had heard the tiny assassin’s quip. Hasad, who sat on the other side of the faera representative, placed a wide webbed hand over his mouth to hide his grin.

“You are quite generous,” Ambrose said, eliciting irritated looks from those around the table.

“Perhaps you should simply accept such generosity in silence, brother,” Thaddeus said, through gritted teeth. The octolaide’s previous look of relief at Zane’s decision had been hastily replaced by one of anger.

Don’t fret little brother,
Ambrose thought.
I’m not going to get myself killed, but I refuse to sit in a nice little cage, the well-heeled pet of lesser merwin. I still have a few stones left to play and until I do, I refuse to concede this game.

“I simply wish to repay the kindness that has been show to me,” Ambrose said, his grin widening.
“I couldn’t help but notice that your little meeting here seems to be short a few merwin.”

“There have been some,” Zane paused, “
unfortunate
losses of late.” The king looked hard at Ambrose. “I fail to see how they might concern you though.”

“Oh, it doesn’t concern me in the least,” the kalku replied, a mocking tone in his voice.
“But, it seems to me that for your place under the Fangs to be more, how shall we say…?” Ambrose absently stroked his chin, “
secure
, it needs to be shared with a member of the Divine Family. Unless, you have some of their blood running through your veins?” His hairless brow arched over a milky white eye. “I mean, it wouldn’t be unheard of for a member of House Lumen to spread his seed around.” Ambrose looked pointedly at Odette.

The female
octolaide snorted through her flat nose and raised her head in an attempt to ignore her former lover.

“No,” Zane replied evenly, disregarding Ambrose’s barb at Odette’s expense.
“I do not have House Lumen heritage. However, I have the backing of the Coral Assembly and the support of the people.”

“Plus, there is the prophecy as well, Sire,” Nayan interjected in a soft voice.

“Which was foretold by a member of the Divine Family,” Ambrose replied. “Am I correct in that assumption or has the gift of premonition blossomed in another bloodline that I am unaware of?” The kalku’s brow rose questioningly.

“Yes, it was Ghita of House Lumen who foretold my rise to the throne,” Zane answered, eyeing Ambrose suspiciously.
“Again, what concern is it of yours?”

Ambrose noted that Zane had not answered his second question.
It appears you may be more clever than these fools give you credit for, young neondra.
Ambrose gave Zane an appraising look before answering. “My guess is that it would make quite a few members of the Coral Assembly as well as the domos of the High Houses happy if you married into House Lumen.” The octolaide shrugged his shoulders in mock helplessness. “Breeding stock of divine blood seems to be in short supply these days.” Ambrose looked around the room. “Unless, you have a daughter of the Divine Family hidden around here somewhere?”

“Get to your point,” Penn said impatiently.
“So that we can throw you in the dungeon and never have to hear your prattling tongue again.” The Yellowtail looked murderously at the kalku.

Ambrose ignored the
neondra warrior, purposely not looking in his direction. “Is there a female member of the Divine Family that I am somehow missing?” he asked condescendingly. “Beryl is dead, and I don’t see Damaris, though of course she would be a poor candidate, given her
problems
producing an heir.” His voice oozed contempt.

“As Domo Penn said,” Zane interjected, anger beginning to redden his face, “get to the point.”

“The point,” Ambrose said as though explaining something very simply to a slow-witted student, “is that for your rule to have
true
legitimacy you need to have your bloodline mingled with that of House Lumen. Beryl is dead. Ghita and Damaris are well beyond their childbearing age and the only fertile female you had left you exiled to the Deeps.”

“How did you…?” Vaschel asked, his face and tone showing his surprise.

“Please,” Ambrose interjected. “Just because I
choose
to live beyond Mervidia doesn’t mean I am clueless as to what transpires here. You banished Cassondra because you lacked the spine to kill her after she had Flinn murdered.” Gasps of surprise and furtive looks passed between various members of the Coral Assembly. Ambrose smiled again.

“What do you want, Ambrose?” Thaddeus asked, sighing.
“My brother is bargaining, in his own peculiar way, Sire,” the Domo of House Tenebris said, supplying his own insight into the matter for Zane.

Zane nodded thankfully to the
octolaide representative and then addressed Ambrose directly. “We tire of your swimming in circles, kalku,” Zane said sternly. “Speak your desires so that we may get on to other business.”

Ambrose adopted a posture of false timidity.
“My apologies,
Sire
,” the octolaide used Zane’s title with clear condescension. “I simply wish the same magnanimousness that the Assembly showed Cassondra of House Lumen.”

“Banishment?” Hasad asked incredulously.

“Why would we do that?” Vaschel asked, his voice full of contempt. “Cassondra was a member of the Divine Family. You are houseless trash who turned his back on Mervidia. Plus, you banished yourself long ago.”

Ambrose’s smile vanished
. The kalku stared murder at the Domo of House Paua. “Mind your tongue….”

“That’s enough, Ambrose,” Zane interjected forcefully.
“Despite Vaschel’s poor choice of words, he does raise a valid point. Banishment would be no punishment at all for you. You have already demonstrated that you wish to have no part of life in Mervidia.”

“You are correct,” Ambrose said, pausing to consider the matter.
“My daughter will accompany me into banishment, as well.”

The room erupted in protest.

“What?!” Marin exclaimed, her white eyes going wide.

“Never!” Odette shouted, her tentacles writhing beneath her and reaching for Ambrose.

“Not a chance!” Zane yelled, fully losing his temper for the first time since Ambrose was brought into the room.

Ah, it seems that my daughter has indeed caught your notice
, the kalku thought to himself. Ambrose’s smile returned.

Zane slammed his fist down on the stone table, silencing the room.
Through gritted teeth he addressed the captive octolaide. “What, in all the Deeps, makes you think that I would agree to such a thing?”

Ambrose noticed the
neondra’s use of
I
instead of
we
. More proof that Zane had a more personal stake in the matter of his daughter’s disposition. “Because,” the kalku said smugly, “I have something you want. I will return it to you, so that you will return Marin to me.”

“What could you possibly have that could make us even consider giving her over to you?” Zane asked, incredulous.

Ambrose’s smile widened, and he looked around the room so that he could see the looks on the other merwin’s faces. “It’s quite simple, actually. I will trade you a daughter for a daughter.”

“What?” Thaddeus asked, his interrogative echoed by most of the merwin around the table.

“You let me leave, with Marin,
my
daughter,” Ambrose said, “and I will return to you Cassondra, daughter of House Lumen.”

Silence fell heavy onto the room.
The implications stilling the tongue of every merwin present.

Good,
Ambrose thought.
Let that sink in for a moment. I hold the future of Mervidia in my tentacles.
After a long pause, he spoke again. “I think once you consider the matter you will realize that I am offering quite a generous bargain. I will leave, never to trouble Mervidia again. I will take my daughter, whose lineage is now tainted by its descent from my blood and would, therefore, never be accepted by any house. In return, I will give you the last surviving female of the Divine Family still of birthing age, so that you can legitimize your rule and the reign of all your descendants.” Ambrose interlaced his fingers in front of him, as he looked around the room. “I feel confident that you will recognize that this arrangement is best for everyone involved.”