Princess Araxa's Arc

Chapter 12 of 14

The stranger keeps his spear low, but his eyes don't leave her face. Araxa holds the glowing shell with her portrait and waits for an answer she doesn't trust yet. He could be leading her into a trap. He could want the reward her father is offering. But he came alone, and he warned her instead of calling for the guards. He tilts the spear until the blade catches the light from Tide's glow, then nods toward the bone blade at her belt. His voice comes out careful, shaped like a question. "Where did you get that?" Araxa's hand moves to the hilt without thinking. The indigo marks along the bone pulse faintly in response to her touch. She meets his eyes and doesn't answer. He shifts his weight and points the spear at a cluster of dark stones ahead, their surfaces covered in lavender coral that glows in patterns she recognizes from the blade. "Only the deep gives those. The creature that offered it marked you as a friend." His spear lowers completely. "That's why I'll help you. The guards hunt you, but the deep chose you first." Araxa stares at him, then at the coral growing over the stones. The patterns match exactly — the same indigo lines, the same rhythm of light. She didn't know what the blade meant when the creature gave it to her. She just took it because it felt like a gift, not a warning. Now this stranger sees it and changes everything about how he looks at her. His shoulders drop and his voice softens when he speaks again. "There's a passage the guards don't know. It goes deeper than your father's people have ever searched." He gestures toward a formation of dark indigo stone ahead, shaped like an archway that sparkles with inner light. "I can take you through it. You'll be past their search zone before the reinforcements arrive tomorrow." Araxa touches the blade again and feels its pulse against her palm. She doesn't know this merman or why the deep would mark her for anything. But the coral doesn't lie, and neither does the way he went rigid when he saw what she carried. She looks at Tide, who flickers once — not a warning, just acknowledgment. Then she looks back at the stranger and nods toward the sparkling archway. "Show me." He turns without hesitation and swims toward the entrance, his lavender scales catching the light from the coral as he passes. Araxa follows, the bone blade warm at her side, and realizes she just trusted someone because the deep told her to. That frightens her more than the guards ever did.