“I’ll call for help if I need it.” He drops a quick kiss on my nose. “I won’t need it. You go rally the environmental troops.”

I nod and then turn to walk with my guard into the waves. As we sink under the surface, I find the rest of the school waiting just beyond the pier.

“Lily!”

Peri swims out from behind the guards.

“Peri?” I ask, confused. “What are you doing here?”

As she floats up to me, she says, “I applied to be your emissary. King Whelk interviewed me and gave me the position—mostly because he thought it’s what you would want.”

“Of course it is!” I squeal, giving her a quick hug.

Peri grins. “He sent me to accompany you on your royal visits this weekend.” She holds up a thick folder of kelpaper. “I’ve been doing my research all week.”

“That’s great!” I’m instantly relieved to know that Peri will be at my side. I’m glad to know I won’t be traveling alone. My guards are nice enough, but they’re not exactly chatty.

Tellin is meeting me in Trigonum to help. Knowing I’ll have both him and Peri with me is reassuring.

“Hold on a second,” I tell her. “I have to take care of something before we leave.”

She nods, and I swim over to my guards.

Quince may have a bunch of manly confidence in his ability to swim all the way to Thalassinia, and I believe in him about a lot of things—but he is a novice swimmer. That’s like a person who just ran his first mile deciding to compete in a marathon. Only with sharks and deadly jellyfish in the way, to make things more interesting. Well, I don’t care what the rules say. I’m not letting him set out on his own.

“Which two of you are the best swimmers?” I ask as I approach.

They look startled, but eventually two of them raise their hands. One has bright blond hair, almost the color of mine, and the other squid-ink black. They are both young and strong and look like they could swim around the world if they had to. They’ll do.

“What are your names?” I ask.

“Phyllos, Princess,” the blond one answers.

The other says, “Triakis.”

“In a short while, a human boy with aqua respire—”

“You mean Master Quince, Princess?” Phyllos asks.

What was I thinking? Of course they know who he is.

“Yes,” I continue. “In a short time, Master Quince is going to enter the sea and begin making his way to Thalassinia.”

“Is this the first test?” Triakis asks. “The Trial of Truth?”

I nod. Apparently the whole kingdom knows about the Trial of Truth, too. I shouldn’t be surprised. Well, then there will be all the more people to celebrate when Quince succeeds.

“When he does, I want you to follow him.” I take a deep breath and hope that this isn’t breaking the rules, knowing that I would still do it if it was. “Don’t get too close, don’t interfere unless he is in danger, but make sure he is safe.”

The two swimmers glance at each other and then back at me.

“We will, Princess,” Phyllos says.

Triakis adds, “We will protect him with our lives.”

I hope it doesn’t come to that, but I am relieved to know he will be protected. He won’t like it if he finds out I put bodyguards on his tail, but if everything goes smoothly, he will never know.

“Thank you.”

The pair swims over to the last pylon of the pier and take up a position. They’ll be able to see Quince enter the water and then follow after him. He will be kept safe. I can keep my promise to him and get on with my royal business.

“Now,” I say, turning to Peri and the remaining six guards, “let’s get moving. I want to be in Trigonum before sunset.”

The guards surround me as they did last time, only with Peri in the center with me, and we head out toward Thalassinia’s northern neighbor. Hopefully, both Quince’s first test and my first royal visit will be equally successful.

Chapter 10

The royal kingdom of Trigonum is Thalassinia’s nearest neighbor to the north, covering an area of the Atlantic bounded by the coast of the United States in the west, from Georgia to New York, and to Bermuda in the east. Along the North American coast, the kingdom is colorful and full of underwater life. In the waters far from the shore, the seas are dark, barren, and prone to storms and whirlpools. The eastern edge of Trigonum is rumored to be cursed, with a reputation for objects—human and mer alike—disappearing into what the human world knows as the Bermuda Triangle.

In the mer world we call it the Trigonum Vortex.

Thankfully, the palace is in the western part of the kingdom, off the coast of North Carolina. As we swim north, the waters get chillier. My mer powers kick in and automatically warm the water around me, but I can still feel the cold. I can’t imagine what the trip to Glacialis will feel like.

“I scoured the palace records all week,” Peri says. “I made a list of important facts about King Bostrych and Trigonum so I can give you an official briefing.” Peri doesn’t look up from her stack of kelpapers. I smile, glad to see her so excited about this job. There isn’t a merperson in all the seven seas I’d rather have at my side.

“Good idea,” I reply. “The more I know, the better.”

She nods absently, flipping through her papers. “I’ll stick to the facts most relevant to our visit.”