1. Pearl
"You are the queen of the SeaWings."
Who said that? Who said that to me? Maybe it was the sad council dragon, or the guard at the door, or the cousin who shakes and covers his face when he greets me. Maybe it was all of them.
Oh, all the murmuring. Everything behind my back. They are like me; they are wondering the same: Who?
Who will perform the funeral rites?
Who will crown the new queen?
Who will teach her?
Who will teach him?
He is here somewhere, in this castle. Maybe he is sleeping or maybe he is wondering too. Fathom, who watched me put on jewels, who chased me across sun-colored beaches. Fathom, who laughed. Fathom: the animus.
Oh no, I thought when I saw the blood, where is he? And I worried for him and I loved him. My brother.
Now I worry about the kingdom. Yes, the SeaWings: they all depend on you, Pearl. That's what the murmuring dragons tell me. The SeaWings are looking to you, Pearl.
My brother's wings hold magic spells. My brother is a danger. My brother is the crashing tide. He will smash us all into the rocks and break us with his words. Fathom. Who can stop him?
Every night I dream a scene: an animus killing his queen. The knife that slid across across her throat, that dripped dark red, who holds it? Albatross or Fathom? And who is the gasping queen? I see them both a hundred times, but the faces are twisted and blurry.
My brother does not laugh anymore. He is not allowed to be alone with me. I do not look at his face.
Queen Lagoon's mirror is in my talons. Her decorations shine on my scales. The safe ones, the ones that were not enchanted. The ones untouched by Albatross.
He was her brother, too.
Fathom, are you like him?
I look into the polished glass. Silver, lined with dancing shapes of dolphins and fish and birds. The dragon who looks back is sad. Sad, small, scared. Queen Pearl. Say it. Say the name. It is yours now. It is you, and you must accept that.
You must flash hopeful colors. Bright green lies. You must swim around the castle. Nothing is wrong. Everything will be fine. You must deliver the speech that you did not write.
And you must wear the crown. Look. See? It is on your head. You wanted it. You wanted to wear it. Who put it there? Well, it is there now. It glitters in the mirror that the dolphins and fish and birds dance on. And mother? She is dead. And Lagoon? She is dead. And Fathom? He is bad.
Now the dragon in the mirror.
Queen Pearl. Who is she?
Oh, you know. Say it.
"I am the queen of the SeaWings."