Chapter 22: I Trust Your Judgment

Zale told Talori to wait there while he grabbed her some rations for the long swim and when he came back with them she stuffed them in her bag and held his hands tightly for a moment with a worried expression on her face. "Are you really going to be okay without me?"

No but she didn't need to know that. As long as she was safe, that was what truly mattered. He would simply have to speed up his efforts so she could come home as quickly as possible.

"Do not worry about me. All that matters is that you are safe."

Talori didn't seem to believe him but let it go. He gently stroked her face and got out a knife to cut off some of her hair. "I'll need evidence of your supposed death. It will grow back."

Noble merfolk all had long hair. It was the day laborers who kept it short for the sake of convenience. Hers went down to the top of her tail. Cutting it to just below her shoulders should be enough to convince them.

She had already undone the fancy pearl-strung hairdo from early and tied it back simply so it would be easier to cut. "Do it."

Zale was exceedingly careful that she wouldn't get cut and held the bundle of hair to his chest. It was just hair. He was doing this to keep his sister alive. Like he said, it would grow back.

"Be careful, Zale," was the last thing he heard his sister say before she swam away with the water fairy on her tail.

"I am always careful," he called after her but she was already gone.

Zale felt rather bereft as he floated there watching the place where she had disappeared. Who knows when he would see her again? Because it was when, not if. He had to believe that the water fairy would keep his word and that his plan would succeed.

He had already been plenty motivated before by the death of his mother but losing (even temporarily) the only other family he had left made him desperately want to get this done as quickly as possible. He was in a rush more than ever before. Talori was depending on him so she could come home.

He could tell he was going to have a worse time without her than she was without him. She would likely be so distracted by all of the new and shiny surface things that she wouldn't have much time to miss him.

Somehow that thought was both disgruntling and relieving. He didn't want her to be sad.

Zale was in for a very long separation. All he could hope at this point was that she would be able to return to his side as soon as possible.

He forced himself to push his feelings aside and get to work. He needed to meet with the rest of his mermen and make sure that they were able to fake Talori's death properly by morning. There was an awful lot to do.

They had to find a shark, for one. There had been a few cases of them attacking merfolk out in open water but only when blood was involved. They would also need blood to soak the hair and severed arm in.

Zale would volunteer to do it himself if not for how visible he would be as a royal in the wake of Talori's supposed death. The same went for Beck as his personal attendant.

In the end Nerio volunteered to cut his arm. He almost never left the coral palace so the chances of anyone connecting it to him were slim to none. If asked, he could pretend it had been a training accident.

When Beck arrived with the arm looking even more somber than usual Zale's breath caught in his throat. His mother and Talori had the exact same skin tone. If he didn't know any better, he would think it was his sister's. Which was the whole point of this but he still felt sick at the sight.

'Forgive me, Mother. I had to do this for Tali,' he thought wearily before looking away from it.

"Cyreus, you're the best tracker. Go find me a shark. We need to make this as realistic as possible so we should set up the accident scene barely outside our borders," Zale said crisply.

"Understood."

Some of them went off to set the trap while others waited around for news. He wished he could go to bed but he had to wait until everything was set up. He would have gone himself if Beck hadn't stopped him, rationalizing that he shouldn't have to see his mother's arm like that.

As the others went to bed the two of them were left alone in the courtyard. His companion looked at him with the slightest hint of a frown on his face.

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"You didn't tell me where you sent the princess. Did you figure it out? She should have left already."

Zale sighed heavily. "She did. The little sneak has been leaving the palace at night, likely to go collect items surface-dwellers lost. She ended up saving a shipwrecked water fairy and keeping him here, though I'm not sure for how long. She didn't mention that."

Beck's eyes widened fractionally. "A surface-dweller wouldn't survive down here."

"This one did by using some sort of water magic to breathe. Apparently, he is a marine biologist and is working with humans to fix the ocean's problems. I was able to ensure his cooperation by promising to help him with that once he brings Tali back safe and sound. I don't like it but I didn't have any other choice."

"You sent her to the surface?"

"What else was I supposed to do? I had nowhere else to send her!"

"But won't the humans know something is different about her? That does not seem safe."

Zale sighed again and rubbed his forehead. "The water fairy says he can get a witch friend of his to help. That did make me feel slightly better. Supposedly, there is magic that makes one appear human."

"Magic can truly do that?" Beck asked in a tone of slight disbelief.

"Magic can do all sorts of things. I'm sure we will find out the full extent of it once we work more closely with the witches after I become merking."

"I trust your judgment. If witches are involved, the princess should be safe."

Zale snorted. "She's going to have such a good time up there I don't know if she'll even want to come home. She loves the surface! Finding out how everything works up there should keep her plenty busy until our plan is complete."

Beck looked at him blankly. "You exaggerate. The princess loves surface items but she loves you more. I am certain of it. She will want to come home when she gets the chance."

He was probably right. He was just trying to make himself feel better about sending his sister off alone with unknown creatures who may or may not be trustworthy. At the very least Talori was comfortable with Brennan. She may be sheltered but she was a fairly good judge of character.

"If you say so."

The two of them floated in silence after that until Cyreus reported back that everything had gone according to plan and the evidence should be found by the morning border patrol. In the meantime they all needed to get to sleep, especially Zale because he had some major acting to do in the morning.

He forced himself to sleep despite his worries because he knew he would need it. He was awoken by a servant telling him the merking had summoned him to the main palace.

It seemed that his ruse was working already. He never got summoned two days in a row.

Zale went out with Beck by his side as usual, prepared to put on a show. When he arrived the mood was somber and the visitors from the deep sea were in the throne room. It was time to him to act as clueless as usual.

"I say, why is everyone here so early? The party last night absolutely wore me out. The dancing, the poetry reciting, the entertainment! I was prepared to sleep the day away before I got the summons," he said in his dramatic, affected tone that made people underestimate him.

King Ren, a severe-looking shark merman, looked even more severe than usual this morning. Zale-the-idiot acted as though he had absolutely no idea what was going on.

"Have you seen your sister this morning?" he asked harshly.

Zale blinked at him before lying. "Talori? No, I haven't seen her since the party when she was talking to Chief Indra the whole time. Come to think of it…where is she?"

King Ren had a royal guard bring the arm and bloodied clump of hair out. "These were found this morning near a group of circling sharks by the border.. It has been decades since a shark attacked so I have guards looking into this but it appears that Talori has been eaten."

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