“HE’S ASKED ABOUT YOU.” MARIANA SHUT THE DOOR BEHIND
her with a swish of her fluke and set a tray of food on Angel’s bedside table.
Angel rolled over on the mattress and looked at her. “He has? Who’d he ask?”
“Ginger.”
Angel groaned. “Great. That bird doesn’t like me.” “True.” Mariana dipped a piece of shrimp in the mango
puree. Ginger didn’t like Angel—which was why the bird had been more than happy to share that little bit of gossip with her. The bird knew the news would make its way back to Angel. But rubbing saltwater in the wound only hurt on land. In the sea, things were different.
And about to get a whole lot more different if Mariana could pull it off.
“So? What did Rod do when he heard Logan was asking about me?” Angel took the shrimp and popped it into her mouth.
“Rod doesn’t exactly know.”
Angel sat up and flicked her tail over the edge of the mattress. “Why not?”
Because Mariana didn’t want to get her sister’s hopes up or jeopardize her plans. “You said yourself that Ginger doesn’t like you. She came to me to gloat.”
Angel flopped back and punched a starfish pillow— who squealed.
“Oh, sorry, Jenny.” Angel plumped the starfish back up, then stuck her on the wall. Jenny suctioned herself there. “So, what did Logan say?”
Mariana nudged Angel’s tail out of the way and took a spot on the bed. “When Ginger told him you were alive, he wanted to come to the trial. To testify.”
Angel sucked in a boatload of water. “He can’t.
They’ll kill him.” “Or you.”
“No, Mariana. No. I won’t have him risking his life for me. What about Michael? Who’ll take care of him? You know The Council. They won’t let a Human out alive.”
Exactly what Mariana had thought.
But still… if he was volunteering… and wasn’t that what Ginger giving him directions to Atlantis had been all about? The flamingo thought she’d hurt Angel, but Mariana hoped it’d be the way to set her sister free.
“But Angel—”
“No.” Angel pushed off the bed, swam to her closet, and started rummaging inside, tossing clothing all over the place. “Look, I knew what I was getting into when I started this. And I certainly didn’t risk my life for him to lose his. It was pure luck that I escaped the implosion and collapsing roof at Ceto’s palace. Otherwise any talk of Logan coming here would be moot.”
Mariana swam over and started picking up Angel’s mess. “But see? Your survival could be divine interven-tion. The gods staged that oil spill so Rod wouldn’t be able to convene The Council until today. They wanted you to live.”
Angel snorted. “If the gods had wanted me to survive so badly, they would have allowed emergency Travel
Chamber usage to go anywhere I wanted instead of only one direction—home. I’d be in Florida with him, instead of facing a death sentence, and, again, this would all be moot.” She held up one of the Human shirts. “What do you think of this one?”
“I think you’re nuts.”
With him. Angel’s choice of words spoke volumes… though not the kind The Council would want to hear. The Tritone family had lost enough of its members to Humans—which was Rod’s argument against Angel going in the first place.
But Rod had fallen in love and no one gave him grief about it. Hades, he’d even earned his High Councilman position because of it. Why couldn’t Angel have the same chance—both at life and love?
Much as it pained Mariana to imagine her sister out there, with a Human, it was better than the alternative.
Angel picked an oyster off the serving tray. “Why am I nuts? It’s a pretty top.”
“It’s from Humans. Rubbing The Council’s face in your transgression isn’t such a good idea when facing them for your life, Ang. You’re going to set them on their tails before your lawyer even opens his mouth.”
Angel popped the oyster in her mouth, then spit the pearl from it across the room into the Ming vase Mariana had found for her graduation. The pearl made a nice tin-kling sound as it circled down to the bottom.
Mariana made a not-so-nice gurgling sound. “You don’t have a lawyer, do you?”
Angel shrugged. “Why bother? I’ve already been tried and convicted anyway. Figured I might as well save this family and the citizens the added expense. It’s
not as if I have a prayer of getting out of this. I mean, I
did talk to Michael. I did turn Logan.”
“Zeus, Ang. Do you have a death wish or what?” And what did it say about Mariana that she was going to at-tempt to save Angel’s life with a move that could very well put her in the same boat? But, Hades, she wasn’t going to let her sister go down without a fight.
“Of course I don’t. But I’m not going in there to apologize, Mariana. I did what I’m accused of, but with good reasons. First and foremost, let us not forget Harry was all over my tail. Was I really supposed to just tread water and let him get me?”
Mariana could argue that if Angel hadn’t gone in the first place, none of this would be happening, but she wouldn’t. She’d thought Angel’s lawyer would come up with a compelling argument, but obviously her sister was going to ride her seahorse into the sunset on this one.
Mariana couldn’t accept that.
“I did the best I could. I even got some useful infor-mation out of the experience.” Angel pulled the top over her head.
Mariana piled the clothing Angel had tossed onto an odd piece Angel had collected. A spinning wheel. It looked more like an instrument of torture to Mariana. She’d heard the stories about what that needle could do. “Is that information enough to save your life? Because I can’t watch it, Ang. I can’t watch them do that to you.” “It might be if I had it with me. Unfortunately, I left the journal back at Logan’s, so who knows?” Angel’s breath hitched and her voice lowered. “But I’m certainly
going to try.”
Finally, the emotion Mariana knew was beneath all the bravado. Angel was as scared as the rest of the family—which was why Mariana couldn’t just lie down and rest on the bottom.
She didn’t hold out much hope for Angel’s argument, but if The Council heard the words straight from the Human’s mouth, perhaps then they’d listen.
And allow Angel to live.