The Sea Witch (The Era of Villains Book 1) (8 page)

“
Why
not be proactive?” said Moira.

“
What
does that mean?” said Serena, her brow creasing.

“
Nothing,
darling,” said Moira. “It’s just…I don’t
want to see you get your heart crushed again, especially not by
Amphitrite. She’s the one not fit to lick the ground
you
swim over. She’s jealous of your power. She’s
jealous of the both of us.”

Only a month ago,
Serena would have cast aside the idea as Moira’s own prideful
fantasy, but now she wasn’t so sure. Casius had said the same
thing, and he was right about almost everything. He had been right
about Arcanus giving her a new start, a new confidence. He was right
about Bria being an exception; there were so many good-hearted
people there, so many who had been cruelly cast out by Amphitrite
and Poseidon.

“
I
mean, just think of what she’s done to our family business,
all because of her own petty insecurities,” said Moira. “The
potion I was working on when you came home is the only one that’s
been commissioned all week. If business goes on like this much
longer, I don’t know what we’ll do.”

Serena had to hold
back a scoff. Slow business was not going to hurt Moira. The cave
was fully paid for, and Moira had enough wealth stowed away to last
a lifetime. Not to mention there was a whole forest of food just
outside. True, it belonged to the king and queen, but no one would
notice the few missing stalks needed to feed a family of three.
Moira was right about one thing, though. Amphitrite had tried to
destroy their family out of vanity and selfishness and insecurity.
She had maliciously set out to harm Moira’s way of life
because her own husband was buying anti-aging potions and not
sharing them with her. More and more, the thought of Amphitrite
brought on a cloying sensation of outrage that Serena had to try
harder and harder to shove aside.

“
I
know how awful she is, Mother,” said Serena. “I’ve
learned a lot since I’ve been away.”

“
Yes,
it seems you have,” said Moira, eyeing Serena with a look that
was almost greedy. “It still makes me furious just thinking
about all those horrible things she said to you.” Her tattoos
vibrated once to show she meant it. “She drove you away from
me. I was so worried when you didn’t come home, darling.”

“
Frankly,
Mother, I didn’t think you cared,” said Serena, unable
to hide the sour note in her voice. “In fact, the last time we
spoke you told me to leave and not show my face until I had decided
to learn magic like you’ve always wanted me to, pushed me to.”

“
Oh,
Serena,” said Moira, her fingertips tracing Serena’s jaw
in a gentle caress, “is it so wrong for a mother to want her
daughter to follow in her fin strokes? Especially when I know you
have the talent to be great?”

Serena blinked,
surprised, as though Moira had suddenly transformed into a
jellyfish. The bitter taste in her mouth vanished. She had never
thought of Moira’s insistent pushing in that way. She had
always seen it as just another way Moira was trying to control her.
The idea that Moira had just wanted her daughter to carry on the
family business and unlock her potential had never crossed her mind.
Moira’s cruel sneer and furious shrieks when she didn’t
get her way had made it all seem like a petty need for dominance,
but now, in the wake of Moira’s warm hug and gentle caress,
Serena was not so sure.

“
I
know I pushed too hard sometimes and said things I shouldn’t
have,” said Moira, her perfect lips pulled down in grief. “You
and I are very much the same, you know. Both strong-willed and
passionate. I’ve always fought for the things I wanted, and
now you are finally doing the same. I’ve always known you had
greatness in your veins, Serena. The thing I’ve wanted most of
all is for you to realize it, and in my desperation to get what I
wanted, I failed you many times. I’m so sorry, darling. Can
you ever forgive me?”

Moira pulled Serena
into another hug, and this time Serena could not hold back the
tears. She didn’t want it to end, and the fear that it was all
an act made the tears flow faster.

Hazel’s
nails drove into her palms hard enough to draw blood. She wanted to
scream in fury, but she was struck dumb by the pain of watching
Serena get everything
she
had
worked so hard for.

“
Yes,
I forgive you, Mother,” said Serena, wondering if she actually
meant it.

A small
but insistent prick of guilt stung Serena’s heart at her own
doubt. Perhaps she
had
been
acting like a selfish teenager all these years, pushing against her
mother just as a simple act of adolescent defiance. Moira was right,
she was strong-willed and hard-headed. Perhaps it had blinded her to
the truth. In the warm embrace of the hug, it seemed not only
plausible, but probable.

“
Will
you forgive me for swimming away?” she said, clutching at her
mother’s back, desperate to hear the words, to be shown the
mercy of love rather than feel the cold slap of cruel words.

“
There’s
nothing to forgive,” said Moira. “Your time away has
brought you back to me.”

Moira released Serena
and wiped a finger underneath her eye as if wiping away a tear that
was invisible in the water. Serena returned Moira’s smile for
the first time.

“
Now,”
said Moira, her voice as smooth as a dolphin’s side, “we
need to discuss payment.”

“
P-payment?”
said Serena, the smile slipping off her face.

Hazel perked up. Her
fists unclenched and a smile tugged at her mouth.

“
Yes,
darling, payment. The royals don’t give out magic for free.
Why should I?”

“
Because
I’m your daughter!” said Serena, her head roiling with
the sudden shift of emotions—the recent joy of the embrace and
the guilt of her own self-doubt mixing with the anger slowing rising
in her throat and the painful stab of betrayal. “Because you
just said the only thing you wanted all this time was for me to
learn magic and unlock my potential!”

“
Oh,
but that’s why the payment I’m asking for is beneficial
to both of us,” said Moira. “I wouldn’t propose
such a thing to just anybody. My bargains are usually…one
sided. You know that.”

“
So,
I’m supposed to see this payment as a favor?” said
Serena, her brows pulling together in anger and incredulity.

“
It
is a favor.”

“
Really?
And just what is it you want?”

“
I
want you to poison Amphitrite,” said Moira as casually as if
she had asked for a pukka shell.

Serena’s creased
brows shot up and her mouth fell open.

“
It
shouldn’t be hard to get your job at the palace back. They
always need maids, and you won’t have to go through
Amphitrite; just ask Marissa. We can make an undetectable poison,
and with your palace access, you can slip it in her food. Simple as
that.”

“
Simple
as that? Are you insane?”

“
I’ll
do it, Mother,” said Hazel, swimming forward like an
over-eager seal pup.

“
I
want to kill her, Hazel,” said Moira, “not give her a
rash or make her sprout a dorsal fin.”

Hazel glared at Serena
as if she had been the one to insult her magical ability instead of
Moira.

“
Think
about it, darling,” said Moira, turning her attention back to
Serena. “She deserves it. Think about what she did to you? She
thinks those ditzy, talentless little sluts that are always hanging
around her son are better than you. She said so right in front of
him.”

Despite her shock and
outrage at Moira’s proposal of murder, Serena’s blood
heated to boil at the truth in the words. The feeling had become
more and more familiar to her when thinking about Amphitrite.

“
She’s
teaching him to believe that he would be better off with one of them
than with someone like you,” said Moira. “She’s
leading him astray, Serena. If you love him, you can’t allow
that. She’ll teach him to be just like her. She’ll teach
him that it’s okay to ruin someone’s livelihood just
because he didn’t get his way, just because he can. Do you
want that for him?”

“
No,
of course not,” said Serena, “but…”

Her head felt like the
ocean in the middle of a tempest. Moira was right. She couldn’t
let Amphitrite corrupt Triton—her Triton. He should be hers.
He needed her by his side to encourage his caring nature. The only
way that was going to happen was with a love potion, and Moira was
only one who could teach her how to make it. But murder? Even the
murder of a tyrannical queen wasn’t something she could ever
consider doing. Was it?

“
If
she’s gone and you become Triton’s princess, you can
reverse Amphitrite’s decree. You can save my business,
Serena,” said Moira. “Don’t you want to help your
mother? Especially now that you know all of your anger was
misdirected and that I was always just trying to help you? It’s
really not much of a payment when you think about it. It would solve
both of our problems. You could learn magic, get your merman, and
become the queen Amphitrite will never be. All because of my help. I
think that deserves a little favor, don’t you?”

“
Well,
yes,” said Serena, pricked again by that little needle of
guilt, questioning if she had in fact been a needlessly rebellious
daughter, if Moira really had always had her best interests at
heart. “But murder isn’t a small favor.”

“
It
is if no one will ever know it was murder, never know you did it. It
is if it will also help you. Really, it’s a compromise, not a
favor. And you do want your love potion, do you not?”

“
Yes,
but I…” said Serena, wringing her hands, the waves of
conflicting emotions still crashing in her head, “I need to
think about it.”

Moira’s jaw
clenched. Hazel’s eyes darted back and forth between her
mother and sister, waiting for the eminent explosion.

“
Alright,”
said Moira. “Take your time, darling. Just remember, every day
you wait is another day that handsome prince is under his mother’s
influence.”

“
Thank
you, Mother,” said Serena with a sigh of relief.

Hazel scowled and swam
to her room, her chest rising and falling with the start of fresh
sobs.

“
Mother,”
said Serena, “I have a friend I would like you to meet. He was
the one who brought me to Arcanus. I think you’ll like him. He
encouraged me to start using my magic. He’s waiting outside in
the kelp.”

“
Well,
by all means bring him in, darling,” said Moira. “I owe
him a thank you.”

As Serena
swam out of the cave to fetch Casius, Moira smiled. Serena was
already on the hook; she just didn’t know it yet. Moira’s
chuckle was a silky purr deep in her throat.
I’ll
be in the palace in no time
, she thought.

— — —

Serena’s
old boss, Marissa, was a stocky mermaid with fawn-colored ringlets
and a flushed face. She was stern and lacked a sense of humor, but
she was kindhearted and fair. Serena went in search of her the next
morning, resolved that she would not accept her mother’s deal.
She couldn’t. She would get her job as a maid back as a
temporary source of income (and as a way to be close to Triton
again) while she tried to apply to nursing jobs in Adamar. It would
be harder for merpeople to turn her down now that she could prove
she had knowledge of the field. Perhaps if she could make something
of herself, Triton would take notice, and a love potion wouldn’t
be necessary.
It won’t be enough
,
said a little voice inside her that kept growing stronger as she
approached the palace and swam through the open atrium doors.
You
need something to make him see past his engrained prejudices, his
mother’s opinion, and his preference for reed-thin redheads.
And even if you somehow manage to do all of that without magic,
Amphitrite will do everything she can to make your life hell.

But what
else could she do?
Take the deal,
the little voice whispered as she searched the palace
hallways for Marissa, praying she wouldn’t swim into
Amphitrite.
You deserve to be happy.
Amphitrite is unfit. She deserves to be dethroned. Triton needs you.

“
Serena!”
said Marissa, appearing around the corner. “My goodness, when
did you get back?”

“
Just
yesterday,” said Serena, her smile sheepish.

“
I
heard about what happened,” said Marissa, her voice low, her
face morose. “That was just awful of her.” She looked
around nervously, afraid someone might overhear her speaking badly
of the queen. “You didn’t deserve that sort of
treatment. Yes, maybe you lost your head there for a moment, but
there was no need for her to be so…” her head swiveled
around again, searching, “so cruel.”

“
Thank
you, Marissa, but I’ve put it behind me. I’m sorry I
swam off without giving you any notice. It was childish of me. I
hope you can forgive me.”

“
You
put me in quite a fix,” said Marissa, her face settling into
her usual stern expression, “swimming off right before a big
party like that.” Serena hung her head. “But I forgive
you. I was your age once. I understand.”