ANGEL SWAM INTO THE COLISEUM TO THE MURMURINGS OF
the assembled members of Atlantian society. Octopi, eels, fish, crustaceans, Mers, Council members. They were all there, every stone seat in the circular building filled.
A public lynching.
The gold walls of the Atlantian cavern were bathed in the glow from the massive magma wells ringing the circu¬lar building. A gently waving, multihued carpet of every species of anemone known to Man and Merkind covered the marble floor, while thousands of sea beings stared at her with antennae, eyes, or some version thereof.
A convened Council used to intimidate her, having all the pomp and circumstance of an entity that dated back thousands, if not millions, of selinos. But now that The Council was convened for her, interestingly, she wasn’t intimidated.
Seriously, what more could they do to her? She’d almost cost Michael his life with his father, had almost cost Logan his life, period, and she’d broken the cardi-nal rule of the Mer World. This trial was a no-brainer. Everyone knew the punishment for letting Humans know about Mers. It was the same as turning a Human—which she’d also done.
Death.
Funny how she’d never thought the law would apply to her. After all, she was a member of the royal family.
Eligible for Immortality. A scientist preparing for the role she would play in Atlantian government to help bet-ter their world.
How clueless she’d been in her altruism.
Rod floated behind the coral table at the far side of The Coliseum with the rest of The Council, including his wife, Valerie. The rest of the Tritone family—Reel and his wife, Erica; Mom and Dad; her younger sister, Pearl—sat in the seats behind The Council. Everyone except Mariana. Her older sister was taking this harder than any of them.
It warmed Angel’s heart but also added more guilt to her shoulders.
From a purely scientific standpoint, however, it was interesting how she was thinking more about her family at this moment than about herself. But then, she had an almost disembodied detachment from the trial. As if she were outside her body, but… not. For some reason, she could muster no horror at these proceedings, no worry, no anxiety. It was as if she’d already consigned herself to death.
But then, hadn’t she when she’d gone on her field study in the first place?
No matter how the trial played out, she couldn’t regret saving Michael. And Logan—mustn’t forget Logan.
As if she could.
But The Council, Rod… they’d regret it. This. Whatever sentence they handed out, they’d regret because Rod was right. Human and Mer futures were destined to be linked, and the Coalition was that bridge. How did Rod hope to get the program up and swimming if Humans weren’t aware of them? Mers were going to have to clue Humans in at some point…
Rhetoric was what they’d call that argument, but it was the only one she had. She wasn’t going to die a martyr.
Hades, she didn’t deserve to die. She’d been trying to help their world. Besides, Rod had broken a rule, too: the one about the High Councilman not marrying someone who wasn’t a full-blooded Mer. His wife was a Hybrid, yet he hadn’t cared. He’d decided to marry her and had done so, rules be dammed. How was what she’d done any different?
Well, other than the fact that her transgression threat-ened the entire Mer world.
True.
But then, so would the Coalition if it wasn’t handled correctly. And if Rod didn’t appoint her director, it wouldn’t be handled correctly.
The current proposal, and The Council’s working model, was to approach Humans on diplomatic terms. Deal with their governments. Set up a United Races governing body. But it wouldn’t work. They had to start with the children. Make the changes from the ground up. Go to the Humans who were most likely to accept them—never mind believe in them—instead of those who would want to eradicate or study them.
The current model was doomed to fail if The Council wouldn’t listen.
And with Humans then knowing of their existence, what would happen to Merkind?