The sea wouldn't settle.
It didn't rage—didn't scream or crash—but it leaned in, close and heavy, like it was listening for something it had waited too long to hear.
Isadora stood still at the water's edge, eyes narrowed, fingers pressed together like she was holding the tide back with will alone.
"This isn't just unrest anymore," she said quietly. "It's recognition."
I swallowed.
"The sea knows who sits on the throne," she continued. "And it knows he no longer belongs there."
Silence shifted his weight. Nova stayed perfectly still. Xylan's gaze was fixed on the horizon, jaw tight—not anxious, just focused.
"He's corrupt," Isadora said. "And that corruption has started to leak into the bindings that protect Lumigrove. If it continues, the damage won't stop with him."
I exhaled slowly. "So… we're late."
"Yes," she said. "But not too late."
She turned—this time toward Xylan and Nova.
"There's something you were never formally told," Isadora said. "Something your family has carried quietly for generations."
Nova nodded once. "We are chosen."
Xylan's eyes flicked to her.
"Chosen to stand near the crown," Nova continued, voice steady, proud even. "Not servants. Not guards. Protectors of balance."
Xylan tilted his head slightly, listening.
"It isn't a choice," Nova added. "Not really. You're born into it. Trained into it. You grow up knowing where you stand."
"But," Isadora said, "if the crown turns against the realm—if the ruler becomes the threat—then the oath bends."
Xylan nodded slowly. No shock. No anger.
"So we protect them," he said, "until they stop being worth protecting."
Nova met his eyes. "Exactly."
The sea surged, sharper now.
Isadora turned back to me.
"When the king is removed," she said, "I will take the throne first. Lumigrove will need stability while the deeper bindings are repaired."
She didn't soften her voice.
"You will become a princess."
Not if.
Not when you're ready.
Just will.
"And later," she continued, "you will become queen."
The weight of it didn't crush me.
It settled.
I crossed my arms. "Wow. My father's whole curse-and-threat strategy? Absolute noob behavior."
Xylan snorted before he could stop himself.
Nova shot him a look.
"What?" Xylan muttered. "She's not wrong."
The sea pulsed—harder now, like it agreed.
"We will take action tonight," Isadora said, turning serious. "Hope you will go to the sea. To the throne room."
Alone.
"I believe you have been there before?" She asked.
I nodded.
"I'll activate my tail," I said. "No hiding. No sneaking."
"Good," Isadora replied. "Let him feel it."
That night, the sea opened for me like it had been waiting.
Gold spilled down my legs, the turquoise fading through it like light through shallow water. The moment my tail formed, the sea recognized me—pulled closer, warmer, alive.
The palace rose from the depths, unchanged.
I swam straight for the throne room.
No guards stopped me.
They bowed.
He sat there, exactly as I remembered—wrapped in stillness, pretending the world moved because he allowed it.
"I know now," I said.
His eyes lifted slowly.
"You've been keeping it from me," I continued. "The kingdom. The bindings. The truth."
He studied me with a cold, assessing gaze.
"And what do you think that knowledge gives you?"
I met his eyes.
"Time," I said. "Which you're running out of."
The water stirred.
"You forget your place," he said.
"No," I replied. "I finally see it."
His expression hardened.
"The throne is not yours."
"Not today," I said calmly. "But it will be."
The sea shifted—uneasy, tense.
"Leave," he commanded.
"I came to tell you," I said, heart steady despite the pressure building in the water, "that you can step down—or be removed."
For a moment, everything froze.
Then his voice cut through the chamber like ice.
"By my authority," he said, "you are banished from Lumigrove."
The sea recoiled violently.
Pain lanced through me—not enough to break me, but enough to warn.
I let the water throw me back.
When I surfaced, they were already there.
"He banned me," I said simply.
Isadora's face went pale.
"That means Elowen activated the kingdom's binding spell," she said. "If you enter again—"
"I'll be severely hurt," I finished. "Or worse."
The sea surged behind us, furious now.
Isadora's jaw tightened. "Then this is no longer a matter of patience."
I looked back at the dark water.
"He thinks banishing me ends this," I said quietly.
It doesn't.
It's just the beginning.