A knife flew past my face.
Close enough that I felt the water split beside my cheek.
It didn't hit me.
"HOW DARE YOU," someone shouted, voice cracked and wild, "KILL OUR RULER!"
For half a second, I didn't understand what was happening. The chamber was still echoing from the king's fall, the sea unsettled, restless—like it hadn't decided whether to protect me or punish me.
"Elowen's spell isn't gone yet!" someone yelled. "She said it would take time!"
Another blade sliced through the water.
I turned—
And my stomach dropped.
"Xylan."
The knife was buried in his calf.
Not deep enough to kill him. Deep enough to matter.
He didn't scream. Of course he didn't. He just staggered back, jaw locked, one hand bracing against the stone as blood clouded faintly into the water.
"No," I said, and my voice didn't sound like mine anymore.
The sea reacted before I did. The current snapped tight around us, forcing space between me and the shouting crowd. Some of the king's men were still advancing, eyes glazed—not thinking, not listening. Leftover magic. Loyalty twisted into obedience.
"I'm fine," Xylan said through clenched teeth, because he's an idiot like that. "Hope—don't—"
I didn't wait.
"Room," I snapped. "Now."
Someone—one of the common merfolk, older, shaking—pulled open a side passage. "This way. It's empty. No guards."
Nova was already moving. Isadora had Xylan's other side. I stayed behind them, back turned to the corridor, hand raised without thinking.
The water surged.
Not violently. Firmly.
Enough to keep anyone from following.
We rushed into the room—bare stone, old markings, no banners, no throne symbols. Just a forgotten chamber that smelled like salt and history. The door slammed shut behind us.
Only then did I breathe.
Xylan slid down the wall, finally hissing as the pain caught up. I dropped in front of him, hands hovering, unsure where to touch.
"I didn't see it," I said. "I didn't—"
"Hey," he said, forcing a crooked smile. "Not your fault. Kinda adds drama, though."
I shot him a look that could've cracked coral.
Nova knelt immediately, breaking the knife free with practiced precision. Xylan sucked in a sharp breath but didn't make a sound.
Isadora looked at me—really looked at me.
"They came for you because they still can't think freely," she said quietly. "Elowen's control hasn't fully lifted."
I swallowed.
"So they would've kept attacking," I said. "Even after he fell."
"Yes."
My hands curled into fists.
Outside the room, the sea rumbled—angry now. Conflicted.
I looked at Xylan again, at the blood, at the knife lying useless on the floor.
They didn't miss me.
They missed him.
And for the first time since this all started, the weight of it hit me fully.
Being chosen didn't mean being untouched.
It meant people around me would bleed first.
I lifted my head.
"That ends," I said. "Now or later—but it ends."
And the sea, unsettled as it was, didn't argue.