A sense of foreboding crawled down Tessa's spine, chilling her. "So it's true we were at war?"

Queen Magaera laughed bitterly. "Of course. There was a time when Mer owned the waters of the land-walkers. The price was heavy to cross our waters, but they needed the bounty of the seas to sustain themselves. Soon they turned against us, began to hunt and slaughter our kind. To make peace would have been unacceptable. As our G.o.ddess Atargatis intended, the Mer have always been the dominant race."

Deeply unsettled by the unfolding narrative, Tessa tried to keep her voice steady when she dared to speak again. "But wouldn't peace have benefited both worlds?"

The ruling monarch stared for a moment, and then snapped, "Why should our people bend when Atargatis gave us the power to rule both land and sea?" She slammed her hand down. "If only the council had acted sooner to a.s.sa.s.sinate her, the Mer would still be a force to be reckoned with outside Ishaldi."

Shock coursed through Tessa. Nyala's own council planned their queen's death. "That's barbaric, the act of traitors!" she protested.

Magaera smirked, a strange stretch of her lips. "A Mer queen rules until her last breath. If she is strong, if she rules with an iron hand, she has a long life. If she is weak . . ." She didn't have to say any more. What she left unsaid was perfectly clear.

Tessa's mind whizzed back to the hieroglyphs she'd seen in the chamber outside the sea-gate. They seemed to make sense now. The figure depicted must have been Atargatis granting her people her power. The choker, the orb, and the scepter. All of them would grant a Mer queen the power of a living G.o.ddess.

Nyala had all in her keep. But instead of using them against humans, she'd turned on her own people.

"Nyala sealed the threshold between the two worlds," she finished in a half- numbed voice. "And she never intended for this place to be found."

At last the pieces had all been put into their rightful places. Tessa finally understood the great secret her mother's people had concealed for so long. Instead of trying to preserve their heritage, they'd been trying to hide it.

Eyes narrowing, Queen Magaera raised her chin. "I can sense by your inner vibrations that you knew nothing of this." She gave a short laugh. "So the Mer are not the only ones Nyala deceived. Fitting, is it not?"

Tessa shivered as a chill rushed down her spine. I shouldn't have meddled.

Queen Nyala had loved a human. And had done something about it. It must have taken a lot of courage to leave her homeland, knowing she would never again be able to return. The act would brand her as a traitor.

Forever.

Tessa's shoulders drooped. She felt sick to her stomach. "I don't think I need to hear any more."

Magaera's smile dropped from icy to subzero arctic. "Given the service you have performed, it is a shame I can't allow any survivors of the Tesch bloodline to continue. But your blood is muddied by inferior breeding." She sniffed. "Your mother clearly had a taste for the common, just like Nyala."

Tessa's hackles rose. "I'm not inferior." The b.i.t.c.h was starting to p.i.s.s her off, and in a mighty big way.

Queen Magaera cut her short. "Of course you are." She laughed. "And the circle of betrayal is now complete. As Nyala turned against her own people, it is only fitting I punish those daughters who survived her."

Kenneth didn't like the look on Tessa's face. Grim didn't suit her at all. Though he couldn't understand what was being said, the gist of the conversation definitely wasn't pleasant.

This is bulls.h.i.t. I'd like to know what the h.e.l.l is going on. Clearly the visitor-who, judging from the look of her, could only be Queen Magaera-had Tessa rattled. And that, in his opinion, was a problem.

Breaking away from Jake, who seemed happy enough stuffing his face with fresh fruit, Kenneth tried to join Tessa. He'd taken no more than two steps before a couple of the Mer guards stepped in front of him, blocking his way with the spears they carried.

"I'd get the h.e.l.l back, man," Jake warned. "You definitely don't want one of those sticking out of your gut."

Kenneth shot his partner a nasty look. "I'm tired of being told to keep my G.o.dd.a.m.n place."

Speaking in a sharp tone, one of the Mer gave him a hard jab in the chest. The tip went right through his shirt, breaking the skin beneath. Blood oozed from the cut.

Kenneth winced, pressing a hand against his breastbone. He could imagine the serrated edge of that obsidian point sliding between his ribs and puncturing his heart. "Ouch, be careful with that thing, d.a.m.n it." Though the weapons appeared primitive to the modern eye, they were still perfectly good when used for killing.

No reason to test that theory.

He raised his hands. "I just want to join my mistress," he said, speaking clearly and slowly.

Tessa glanced his way. "Now isn't a good time. You're probably going to want to stay as far away from me as possible."

Finished with his meal, Jake perked up. "What's going on?"

Tessa pressed her lips together. "They say my great-something-grandmother betrayed her people when she stole the crown jewels of Atargatis and sealed the sea-gate. And that I have to be punished for her crimes against the Mer."

Kenneth fought to collect his thoughts. "That can't be right."

Tessa's shoulders drooped. "I'm afraid it is. The sea-gate looked like it was sealed from the outside. That's true enough. We all saw that with our own eyes."

The strange woman in the diaphanous gown made a motion with her hand. "At least you can accept your Nyala's betrayal," she said in perfectly understandable English. "A small credit in your favor."

Tessa, Jake, and Kenneth looked boggled.

Jake was the first to break the silence. "You understand us?"

Touching the crystal at the base of her neck, the woman nodded. "Your simple language is very easy to understand."

"Then why haven't you been speaking it all along?" Kenneth demanded.

An icy stare pinned him down. "It is beneath a queen to speak to inferiors."

Kenneth returned her stare with one of his own. "I'm not an inferior. And in the twenty-first century we don't keep slaves, human or otherwise."

The queen tilted her head, studying Jake and Kenneth closely. "It is my understanding the world outside the threshold has changed in ways we Mer do not yet comprehend." She spread her hands in a magnanimous gesture. The guards holding him at bay lowered their weapons. "Therefore, it is my intention to personally welcome you to Ishaldi as amba.s.sadors of your people."

Jake perked up. "Amba.s.sadors? Now that's a whole different ball game." He held out his wrists. "Do you think the shackles and collars can come off? They clash with my outfit."

Kenneth rolled his eyes. Oh, brother.

The queen snapped her fingers. The guards stepped up, quickly removing the accoutrements of bondage. "I hope you find that more to your liking."

Kenneth rubbed his wrists and grunted. "It'll do for now."

The woman steepled her hands in that particular manner of the Mer. "I am Queen Magaera, and my attention is yours. I regret if you have suffered any indignities, and will do all I can to remedy the matter to your satisfaction."

Jake looked around their luxurious quarters. "I think we can forgive the misunderstanding."

Kenneth ignored his partner, pointedly walking over to join Tessa. Surrounded by the queen's guards, she stood stark and alone. He didn't care if it earned him a prod. He wasn't going to let Tessa stand alone like a leper.

Tessa gave him a weak smile. "I'm sorry for dragging you into this."

Recognizing her need for comfort, Kenneth slipped his arms around her slender body. "It's okay." He kissed the top of her head. "We'll figure this out." It helped that he and Jake had been granted some recognition and status. If he could use it to help Tessa, he would.

She pressed against him, snuggling into his arms. "Hope so. I just want to go home."

Kenneth tightened his hold on her. No matter what, he'd make sure they stayed together. "Why would you punish Tessa for something she didn't do?" he asked, addressing the queen. "Shouldn't she be hailed for opening the sea-gate and freeing her people?"

A small line formed between Queen Magaera's brows. "Hailed?" She laughed. "What a ridiculous notion. When Nyala sealed the threshold, she handed the Mer a death sentence."

Jake's brows lifted in surprise. "I think you'd better let me do the talking here." To Queen Magaera, he asked, "How did Nyala doom your world?"

Magaera curled her lips. "She cursed us with the sickening."

Kenneth glanced at Tessa. "What's the sickening?"

Tessa shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know," she said. "But it doesn't sound good."

Jake clearly didn't think so either. Face paling a little, he took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Explain the sickening."

Magaera sighed as if impatient with the questioning. "To see is to know."

Beckoning them to follow, she led the visitors to the wide stone balcony overlooking acres of lush, pristine, heavily forested land. The last of the day's light glinted off the greenery. "How does it look?" she asked, lifting a hand to indicate the vast beauty of her kingdom.

Tessa frowned in confusion. "It's beautiful, but I still don't get any feeling from it."

The queen glanced at her, disdain etched into her features. "Once, it was breathtaking. Now it is ruins."

Tessa looked at her. So did everyone else.

"I see nothing out of place," Kenneth remarked, taking a second long glance over the thick expanse of trees.

A hint of sadness replaced the anger in Queen Magaera's face. "Most of it is an illusion."

Kenneth didn't understand. "I don't get it."

Magaera laid a cool hand on his arm. "What you see, human, is all facade. All you see now is energy particles strung together to create a more pleasing picture than reality."

"Molecular energy," Jake filled in. "She's saying their world is strung together by an energy net."

Magaera nodded. "At night the sky-crystals must rest to recharge themselves. As the darkness comes, the nets begin to unravel, revealing the true face of Ishaldi." She pointed. "Behold, our degradation."

Everyone looked again.

As though fire burned away the image of a magnificent painting, so did the fading rays bring a change to the landscape around the elaborate palace. It was like the hand of death reaching out, withering all that fell under its devastating touch.

Kenneth gasped. The land was sterile. Where life had once thrived, only stark remnants stood. The trees shrank back, leaves falling away, branches growing skeletal and thin. Other greenery was spa.r.s.e, fighting to grow in the haggard conditions. What wildlife remained was in danger of extinction, as it had become constant prey for a desperate and starving human population.

The devastation stretched as far as the eye could see. The outlying lands offered no respite from the terrible drought gripping the land. An endless expanse of steppes stretched below a gathering of colossal mountains. Majestic in height and breadth, the limestone peaks ruled absolute over the wreckage of a dying world.

Kenneth swallowed tightly. It was eerie and unsettling to look at.

Jake stirred beside him. "My G.o.d. It's almost dead."

Tessa's mouth dropped with shock. "This happened because the sea-gate was closed?"

Magaera nodded. "Although I was not yet born at the time, the scrolls kept by my grandmother, Queen Anthusa, confirm our world as prosperous in the beginning. Although Ishaldi had lost contact with the other side of the threshold, it was believed we had enough renewable resources to sustain ourselves indefinitely."

"Sounds familiar," Jake muttered.

"But resources had to be controlled. Because humans bred so much sooner in life than Mers, the first thing we had to do was contain their reckless breeding. We couldn't let the population outgrow what we could reasonably support."

Jake c.o.c.ked a knowing brow. "So you began to cull them, choosing the superior and disregarding the inferior."

Magaera nodded. "Yes, selective breeding. To keep Mer bloodlines strong, we wanted only the strongest. The rest became inferiors, of no real value except to work."

"So you turned them into dray animals," Tessa accused.

The queen narrowed her eyes. "Their breeding has to be controlled."

"You still haven't explained what the sickening is," Kenneth broke in. He wasn't quite ready to buy into all Magaera said. Though no psychic, he sensed that a current of deception ran under her cold calculation.

He had no real proof. Just a gut feeling.

Magaera fiddled with one of her elaborate crystal bracelets, twisting it around her slender wrist. "No one knows why it came," she admitted after a moment's silence. "It's like a virus, a corrosive rot poisoning everything it touches. It spares nothing, not animal, insect, or plant. It has even begun to poison our water. With each pa.s.sing day, more of our land grows uninhabitable. Even magic will not hold the disease at bay."

Clearly horrified by the narrative, Tessa pressed a hand to her mouth. "By the G.o.ddess. How have you survived?"

"Through careful isolation, we have managed to preserve some of the needed species," Magaera said. "But still our efforts mean little. We have only enough food to sustain the lessers, and that will not last. Given another century of such relentless onslaught, the remainder will surely perish, and then we Mer shall have nothing but ourselves and the stones that sustain us."

"That's why the Mer no longer eat," Tessa informed them. "They've discovered their symbiotes can convert the energy they pull from crystals into a food source to sustain the physical." She shook her head in amazement. "I'd never have imagined it was possible, though it makes sense."

Queen Magaera smiled ironically. "Strangely, as our world dies around us the Mer found a way to triple the span of our lives. You may have noticed we have no lack of stones."

Jake gave the queen a once-over. "How old are you anyway?"

Magaera paused in thought. "I have seen the worst of the sickening, watching my world shrivel up through seven hundred long years."

Tessa couldn't conceal her gasp of surprise. "I knew we could live a couple of hundred years, but I've never heard of Mers living that long."

Queen Magaera gave the younger Mer a sardonic look. "It is an age you will never achieve, Tessa of the Tesch Dynasty. Come the morrow, you will pay for the crime of extinction Queen Nyala perpetrated against her people."

Face going pale with shock, Tessa's hands dropped, dangling uselessly at her sides. "I'd hoped you'd forgotten about that."

"Not at all," Queen Magaera said as the Mer guards moved in from all sides. "It was my intention the moment Doma Chiara informed me of your arrival. No one but a descendant of Nyala's would have tried to return to Ishaldi."

Kenneth stepped in front of Tessa, braving the points of at least a half dozen spears. He eyed the vicious Mers. Eyes glinting, they glared back. The looks on their faces hinted at their delight in carrying out their monarch's orders.

"You're not taking her anywhere." What the h.e.l.l could he possibly do? They were outnumbered and he didn't have a single weapon at hand. Somehow he doubted the few karate moves he knew would handle the job. Chuck Norris, he wasn't.

Queen Magaera flicked a careless hand. "Stand aside or both of you shall share her fate."

Jake stepped up a little more reluctantly. "Now, hold on one minute," he said, trying to ease the tension. "When we first arrived, Tessa was hailed as a G.o.ddess."

Queen Magaera's gaze held an edge of intent. "We are grateful for our freedom and the chance to begin restoring what we have lost. But even if the girl were not a Tesch, she would never be accepted anyway. Among the Mer she is an impure. Again, that makes her an outcast." She flicked a careless hand. "By our law, she has no right to live."