The Sea Witch (The Era of Villains Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

him to do something, to say something. But
of course, she was just a maid. The fair maidens whom princes fought
for and protected weren’t maids. Triton cleared his throat a
few times but never spoke a word. His downcast eyes darted from the
mermaids around him and back to Serena. One clenched fist knocked
nervously against his tail.

    From high
up in the third level balcony, Queen Amphitrite watched the whole
thing. Unlike her son, she had recognized the passion in Serena’s
eyes, in the set of her mouth, in the way she leaned toward Triton
as if longing to be as close as possible. Amphitrite knew it was no
joke. She also knew who Serena was—the daughter of that
dreadful sea witch who’d tried to lure her husband away with
magic potions. It would have to be stopped before her son even had
the chance to get wise. She was sure he wouldn’t fall for the
girl even if he did realize her feelings…but it was best to
take precautions.
    Amphitrite
propelled herself over the balcony and began to swim down to the
atrium. Serena saw her when she reached the first balcony level. The
queen’s beautiful face was unreadable, but she was
breathtaking as usual. Her pink tail shimmered in the sunlight
coming through the windows from the surface. Small pink shells of
all shapes and sizes were woven together in her top to create the
shape of two large clam shells. Her long hair was a river of gold
full of pink ocean flowers, pearls, and even doubloons. The mermaids
continued to jeer as she approached from behind them.
    “ Silence!”
said the queen, startling Triton and his entourage. “That’s
quite enough from you silly little guppies.”
    The
mermaids pouted at being called guppies, but they held their
tongues. Serena’s tears eased, and she let out her first sound
since the jeering had started, a shaky sigh of relief. Triton had
not known how to handle the group of bloodthirsty females. And
really, what merman did? But the queen had come to her rescue.
Serena inclined her head in a bow.
    “ Finally,
you remember your place,” said Amphitrite. The way she snapped
out the words and the sneer Serena heard behind them shattered her
once more. Amphitrite was not there to help. She was there to jeer
in her own way. The betrayal was so sudden that Serena looked as
though she had been slapped, and the small sob came so suddenly she
couldn’t hold it back.
    The young
mermaids still surrounding Triton, who looked even more
uncomfortable now that another angry female had been added to the
mix, smiled nastily behind Amphitrite’s back at the sound of
Serena’s anguish.
    “ You
do in fact remember that you are a maid, do you not?” said
Amphitrite, her own lips pulling up in a cruel smirk as well.
    “ Yes,
your Majesty.” Serena despised the weak quiver in her voice—it
reminded her of Hazel cowering before Moira—but she couldn’t
control it.
    “ As
if that wasn’t reason enough to keep your mouth shut, you’re
also the daughter of the local sea witch.”
    Serena
snapped her head up from her bow, and the wide-eyed look of shock
and hurt on her face made Amphitrite’s cold sneer a little
bigger.
    “ Oh
yes, I know exactly who you are,” said Amphitrite. “Although,
I don’t know your name, of course. Why would I bother? Your
mother is a vile sorceress and seductress. If she’s still in
business, she’s now also a criminal under my new decree. You
are the daughter of a criminal. You are a faceless, nameless polyp
that scrubs our floors, fetches our things, and cleans up after our
parties.”
    Serena
looked to Triton. He was staring at his mother with something like
incredulity. Now he didn’t just look uncomfortable, he looked
upset. Serena tried to catch his eye, to beg him silently to
intervene, but he was fixated on his mother. She silently begged him
to tell the queen that he had thought her name was worth knowing. Tell her you know my name. But perhaps he didn’t know her name. Perhaps it had already
slipped his