“Maybe I shouldn’t come tonight,” Indigo said, flopping across Fathom’s sleeping couch. Blob expertly held on to her ear with one tentacle to stay in place and looked very pleased with himself.

“Oh no. No way,” Fathom said. “I don’t want to make boring conversation with all my ancient aunts and uncles either, but we’re in this together. That’s the deal. How am I supposed to survive without you?”

“They’re your family,” Indigo protested. “Why do I have to be tortured, too? Besides, the queen doesn’t even want me there.”

Fathom winced. She was probably right about that. Queen Lagoon’s comments had been getting meaner and more pointed lately. Now that she knew Fathom was her second animus, she unfortunately seemed to care a lot more about which dragons he spent time with. Albatross and Pearl: acceptable. Indigo and anyone visiting from other tribes: decidedly not.

Which reminded him. “Don’t you want to see the SkyWings up close?” he asked. “This could be your last chance, if we end up going to war with them over the new shore villages.” It was unlikely — Queen Lagoon was skilled at negotiating peace, especially with the threat of an animus in her back talons; they hadn’t heard a peep out of the RainWings or MudWings in years. And the three new SeaWing villages didn’t encroach very far into SkyWing territory, after all. No SeaWing would want to live any distance from the ocean.

“I saw them across the gardens when they arrived two days ago,” Indigo said. “They looked pretty displeased.”

“I thought SkyWings were supposed to be the friendly tribe,” Fathom mused.

“You’re distracting me,” Indigo said. “The point is, the queen would be much happier if I stayed here, especially when she has the SkyWings to impress. I’d be the only one at the gathering who wasn’t dripping with jewels.” She arched her eyebrows at the new gold armbands Fathom wore — carved with royal symbols, they matched his grandfather’s — and the emeralds that glittered in his ears.

“You’re perfectly impressive,” Fathom said, hauling her up onto her feet again. “You don’t need jewelry; you have the best smile in all the kingdoms.”

Their wings brushed, light as ripples on a pond, and Indigo pulled her talons away quickly.

“Smile in front of the queen?” she said with a feigned gasp of disapproval. “Surely that’s not allowed!”

“Here,” Fathom said. He bounded into the next room, where Pearl was pivoting slowly in front of a series of mirrors to examine herself on all sides. “You can wear those pink pearls Mother bought for Pearl.”

“I do hate those,” Pearl said in the new, exceedingly bored voice she’d been trying out lately. Even now, more than three years since the test, she still acted irrationally jealous whenever Fathom went off to train with Albatross. But most of the time she was back to normal, which involved a lot of sighing at how loud and immature Fathom and Indigo were.

“And they’ll look really cool on you, Indigo,” Fathom said. He crossed to the far wall, where all of Pearl’s jewels were displayed on a tall tree of dark brown mahogany with many branches, which he had carved for her for their birthday last year. (Without magic, since Indigo insisted.)

“Are you sure?” Indigo asked Pearl. “Won’t Manta be upset if she sees me wearing them instead of you?”

“She’ll be thrilled,” Pearl said. “Mother thinks you’re very entertaining.”

Indigo wilted a little and Fathom flashed Pearl a glare. “Mother loves you,” he said to Indigo. “She wants you at the party, and she won’t mind what you have to wear to fit in.” He unhooked the string of pearls and the bracelet. Each of the pearls was slightly irregular instead of perfectly round, and they were all different shades of pink from almost white to deep rose. He could see why Pearl didn’t like it — she preferred everything perfectly symmetrical — but he thought it was really cool.

He clasped the bracelet around one of Indigo’s wrists and then helped her drape the long cord of pearls around her neck and wings. They glowed against the deep purplish-blue of her scales. Fathom could feel her heart beating as he leaned over her back to adjust the length. His talon rested on her neck for a moment and she curved her head toward him.

Why does everything feel different lately?

It wasn’t weird that he wanted to spend time with her more than anyone else. That had always been true. It wasn’t weird that she was the first dragon he thought of whenever he had something to share. It wasn’t weird that she could make him laugh when no one else could.

It was a little weird that his own heart sped up when she stood this close to him.

“You two are HOPELESS,” Pearl barked, bundling Fathom aside, and for a moment he was startled into thinking she’d guessed his thoughts. “Have you never seen a dragon wear pearls before? They can’t hang this way or they’ll make it impossible to swim, and besides, everyone knows a double wind around the neck is most flattering. You have to tighten the slack here and drape it like this …”

She busied herself adjusting Indigo’s adornments while Indigo stood still, looking uncomfortable.

“There,” Pearl said at last, standing back with a nod of triumph.

“That looks exactly the same,” Fathom said.

“Thank you,” Indigo said to Pearl before she could snap at her brother. “I really appreciate it.”

Pearl waved her tail dismissively. “You can thank me by distracting Great-Uncle Humpback if he tries to corner me again with stories about the grand old days. ‘You know, when I was a young whippersnapper, we had scavenger sashimi every afternoon. But where have they all gone, can you tell me that, eh? They can’t have gotten smarter! Someone’s been interfering with my scavenger supply! Some toothy little blowfishes, I’ll show them.’” Her imitation of Humpback’s creaky old voice was pitch-perfect.

Indigo giggled. “Someone should eventually tell him that he probably ate them all.”

“It’s not going to be me!” Pearl said.

“Me neither,” Fathom chimed in with a laugh.

“You know you have to leave your weird little thing behind,” Pearl said, flicking her tail at Blob. Indigo wrinkled her snout with disappointment, but she lifted down the tiny octopus and tucked him onto his perch on her side of the room.

“Stay,” she told him sternly.

Blob blinked at her with an innocent face. It was very unclear whether he understood any of her instructions. Sometimes he was dutiful, obedient, and perfect, and sometimes he immediately did exactly the opposite of whatever she’d asked him to do. Fathom occasionally worried this might be because he’d forgotten to give the octopus ears.

Pearl studied herself in the mirror for another long moment. Fathom realized that Indigo hadn’t even gone over to check what she looked like.

With a sigh, Pearl said, “Well, this will have to do. Let’s go.”

As they swept out the door of the bungalow into the garden, Fathom turned to Indigo and whispered, “You look great.”

“I look like a squid pretending to be a sea horse,” she said with a laugh. She winked at him and hurried after Pearl through a shower of white jasmine petals.

Fathom smiled as he followed her. Another boring royal gathering, another yawn-inducing feast. Thank goodness he’d convinced Indigo to go with him.

He couldn’t imagine what he would ever do without her.

*  *  *

Fathom’s parents, Manta and Reef, were already on the terrace when he arrived, hovering by the buffet table and laughing. His cousins Scallop and Current were there, too, with their father, his uncle Eel. The murmur of their voices mingled with the ebb and flow of the waves and the music from a trio of SeaWings playing the queen’s favorite instruments.

Most of the family dinners were at night, without much lighting because SeaWings could see in the dark. But in honor of the SkyWing guests, this gathering was being held shortly before sunset, with the golden western horizon as their backdrop, and lanterns had been lit around the gardens (by the SkyWings themselves, since SeaWings had no fire and no need for it). Fathom liked the unusual warm glow this gave to the Island Palace, as though little suns had snuck in and hidden in some of the trees.

Giant aquariums around the terrace were full of luminous blue jellyfish, some of them trailing tangles of slender tentacles longer than a dragon. The scents of vanilla, ginger, and basil came from the long tables of food. Hibiscus flowers as brightly colored as gemstones dotted the bushes and were scattered across the conversation couches, ruby and topaz and pink against the dark green backdrops.

Manta came over to greet them, smiling and tipping her wings down to avoid the string of hanging lanterns.

“You look lovely, Indigo,” she said without batting an eyelash at the borrowed pearls. “And you, as always, are the picture of majestic splendor,” she added to Pearl.

There was always a weird vibe between Pearl and Manta, which Fathom couldn’t entirely figure out. Indigo said it was because the only way Pearl could become queen was if Manta first challenged Lagoon and won, and then Pearl would have to challenge her own mother. Fathom wasn’t quite sure that was right — because Lagoon had a daughter, Splash, who had no dragonets of her own. If she became queen, couldn’t Pearl challenge her? Indigo said no, because Pearl was technically Splash’s first cousin once removed, not her niece, and then Fathom had to yell “LA LA LA” and stick his claws in his ears because complicated family trees and succession laws were not only boring and impossible, but frankly irrelevant to his life anyway.

“Is there coconut rice tonight?” he asked his mother. “And tuna rolls? And that mango-lime drink from last time?”

“There’s everything,” she said with a laugh. “We should invite dragons from other tribes to our gatherings all the time — the chefs really went overboard.”

“I’m going to get one of those macadamia things before Current eats them all,” Pearl declared, gliding away.

Before Fathom could dare Indigo to race him to the tuna rolls, a conch shell fanfare sounded from the top of the palace wall. Queen Lagoon and her husband, Humpback, came parading down to the terrace with their daughter, Splash, and the two visiting SkyWings.

“Whoa,” Indigo whispered, sidling a step closer to Fathom.

It wasn’t that the SkyWings were bigger, exactly — well, their legs were longer, so they did seem taller than the queen. And their wings were definitely bigger than a SeaWing’s. And their horns were straighter and sharper, and their talons were not webbed … but most of what was startling about them was the color of their scales. They were such a shiny, polished red, like hibiscus petals or drops of blood or giant walking rubies.

As they all reached the terrace, Fathom saw the queen’s eyes dart around quickly, and a shiver ran down his spine. By now a few other distant cousins (twice removed? eighteenthish removed? Fathom had no idea) and some of the queen’s elderly aunts and uncles had arrived, so the terrace seemed full in an intimate way.

But Fathom knew who she was looking for, and he was not there.

“Where is Albatross?” his mother whispered to him, apparently noticing the same look on Lagoon’s face.

“I don’t know,” he whispered back. “I haven’t seen him since training this morning.”

I hope he’s not mad at me. Fathom was trying hard to convince Albatross that he was ready for more challenging animus work — like enchanting objects from afar without touching them, or casting spells without speaking, the way Albatross could. But Albatross was convinced that Fathom wasn’t ready for any of that yet.

“When you’re seven. That’s how old I was when I first cast a spell like that,” he had said. “Until then, don’t we have quite enough to do?”

Albatross had been letting Fathom design small corners of the Summer Palace, and now that it was essentially complete, the only thing left was the spectacular throne on the top level of the pavilion. Fathom had spent months drawing it, down to the smallest detail, and then his grandfather had changed so much about it that Fathom could barely recognize it as his own.

But today they had set the enchantment together, and by next week the throne should have grown into its final shape, and then they’d be able to present the whole thing to Queen Lagoon.

Fathom wasn’t sure why Albatross wasn’t more excited. His grandfather had been so quiet all morning, his eyes more hooded than usual.

And now he was missing the family gathering.

Where could he be?

Queen Lagoon was taking the SkyWings around, introducing them to each family member. Indigo saw her coming and stepped on Fathom’s tail trying to sidle away, but it was too late.

“My niece, Manta,” Lagoon said to the SkyWings. “And her son, Fathom.” She glanced at Indigo for the briefest moment, then tipped her snout upward and adjusted her crown. “I’m delighted to introduce the SkyWing envoys, Eagle and Princess Sunset.”

“Welcome to the Island Palace,” said Manta.

“Hmm,” said Eagle.

“It’s hotter than I expected,” said Sunset, fanning herself with her wings.

“This is my friend, Indigo,” Fathom interjected, tugging Indigo a step closer.

Eagle and Sunset looked supremely uninterested. Queen Lagoon managed to keep her frown small and refined.

“Have you tried the shrimp?” Manta said quickly.

Eagle sniffed. “Everything is so … raw,” he said.

“I guess we could set it on fire.” Sunset sighed. “Then perhaps it would be palatable.”

They moved toward the buffet table with Manta, but Queen Lagoon lingered for a moment, twitching her nose as if her own dinner had been unfortunately scorched.

“You,” she said to Indigo. “Go find me a drink. Something with pineapple in it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Indigo bobbed her head and whisked away.

Fathom tried not to look irritated. Lagoon always spoke to Indigo exactly the way she spoke to the servants. But she was the queen; she could order around anyone she liked. There was nothing he could do about it.

Something snapped in the garden beyond the terrace — someone stepping on a branch, perhaps, out in the growing shadows beyond the lanterns. Fathom twisted to look around, but couldn’t see anyone out there.

“Fathom,” said the queen. “I’m going to be blunt with you.”

That’ll be different how? he thought, steeling himself.

“I thought I had dropped enough hints, but they don’t seem to be registering. Perhaps subtlety is not the best approach in a case like this.” She spread her wings, cornering him. “You need to stop wasting your time with that … that low-born purple dragonet.”

Fathom actually had to think for a moment to figure out what she meant. “Stop being friends with Indigo?” he blurted. “Why would I do that?”

“I cannot allow your affection to grow any stronger,” she said, emphasizing affection as though it were a rotten oyster. “I don’t know why your mother hasn’t intervened. Obviously you cannot marry her, so it would be best to get rid of her before other prospects hear any rumors and get scared off. Of course, as an animus dragon you’ll be in high demand. It was such a chore to choose a match for Albatross back in his day. Such a shame she died and he was too stubborn to marry again.”

“Wait,” said Fathom, his head reeling. “I — who said anything about getting married? I’m only five!”

“Please,” the queen scoffed. “I see the way you look at her. I see how she brings you what you need before you ask for it. I see how you create treasures for her out of your claws.”

Another twig snapped behind them. Fathom still couldn’t see anything out there — the sun was going down, and the lanterns were messing with his night sight. But he suddenly had a crawling feeling down his spine, as if the jellyfish tentacles had slithered out of the aquariums to ensnare him.

Someone was out there, staring at them. Staring at him.

“What is this?” Eagle called to the queen. He was standing by the decorative pond in the center of the terrace.

“Get rid of her yourself,” Lagoon hissed to Fathom, “or I’ll find a place for her that suits her station, as far away from you as possible.” She turned with a swirl of blue wings and went over to the SkyWings, her poised public face back in place again.

She couldn’t be serious. Indigo wasn’t — she wasn’t a danger to Queen Lagoon’s plans.

Although I’m not exactly thrilled about being the subject of those plans, I have to say.

But Lagoon didn’t have to make threats and order him around. He wasn’t in love with Indigo or anything.

Am I?

Across the floor, he caught sight of Indigo at the drinks table, bobbing slightly to the rhythm of the music. She touched her head unconsciously for a moment, and he realized she was reaching to make sure Blob was safe before remembering the octopus wasn’t there.

Unless that’s what this happy feeling is, the one I get every time I see her.

Uh-oh.

“That is a statue of me, of course,” the queen said to Eagle, smiling. Inlaid with sapphires that matched her scales, the marble statue coiled over the fountain with her wings spread, water spraying from her mouth.

“How does it work?” Sunset asked, circling the fountain. “Where does the water come from?”

“Oh, it’s enchanted,” Lagoon said, with barely suppressed glee. “By one of my animus dragons.”

If she’d been hoping this news would hit the SkyWings like lightning, she couldn’t have been more successful. Eagle and Sunset both froze and stared at her as if she’d cut off her own head in front of them.

“Didn’t I mention I have those?” she said. “Well, I do. That’s probably an important point to remember during negotiations tomorrow.”

“You have animus dragons,” Sunset cried, “and you let them live?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Queen Lagoon asked. “Of course I do. They’re extremely valuable.”

The SkyWings glanced at one another. “We do not tolerate dangerous differences in the Sky Kingdom,” Eagle said firmly.

Sunset leaned toward Lagoon, her amber eyes fierce. “Doesn’t your tribe know the legends? How using their magic eats away at their soul?”

“Well, in order for that to work,” said a voice from behind her, “you’d probably have to have a soul of your own to begin with.”

Albatross stepped out of the shadows, or melted out of them, was how it seemed to Fathom. One of the lanterns cast a halo around his head, making his eyes seem even darker than usual, as he stepped across the terrace toward his sister and the SkyWings.

“There you are,” said the queen. “It’s about time.”

Indigo appeared beside Fathom again, holding two coconut bowls and looking nervous. She handed one of them to Fathom, and he realized it was full of the mango-lime drink he loved. She brings you what you need before you ask for it.

“I don’t want to interrupt the queen,” Indigo whispered to him, “but do you think she’ll be mad if I don’t bring her drink to her? Or more mad if I do?” She fidgeted with the other coconut shell, picking off shreds of brown fibers.

“I think she’s forgotten she asked for it,” Fathom said honestly. “She was just trying to get you out of the way so she could lecture me. Again.”

“Oh.” Indigo gave him a curious sideways glance, but didn’t say any more, because now most of the terrace had fallen silent. Only some of the more elderly cousins kept talking, a murmur over by the musicians. Albatross was still pacing slowly toward the queen.

“Here is our first animus,” Queen Lagoon said to the SkyWings, who seemed to have figured that out themselves, judging by the looks of terror on their faces. “My brother, Albatross. We were just talking this morning about what his next project should be. I’m thinking big this time. Something that makes me invulnerable, perhaps. Or something that kills any dragon who might be a threat to me.”

Beyond Albatross, over by the couches, Splash stiffened, and Fathom saw her crush one of the hibiscus blossoms between her claws. He glanced around and saw his father put a wing around Manta, who had gone pale.

“Yes,” Albatross said. “Although you might recall I wasn’t exactly enthused about any of those ideas.”

“Then it’s lucky you’re not my only animus dragon,” Queen Lagoon said coldly. Fathom felt a shiver all the way down to the tip of his tail. If she asked him to do a spell like that, would he? Would he obey his queen and put his own mother in danger? Or disobey her, and perhaps put everyone he cared about in even worse danger?

What would she do to Indigo if I ever said no to her?

Albatross stopped right in front of the queen, snout-to-snout with her. Fathom couldn’t read his face. He looked as though he’d been carved from stone, any emotions chipped away.

“Do you think you’re done?” Queen Lagoon said to him softly. “Do you think you’ll ever be done atoning for what you did to Sapphire? It’s not going to end, Albatross. You’ll always be mine.”

Something clinked in the background, and Fathom turned, thinking he’d seen a flash of silver in the air, and then a line of red sliced slowly, darkly, murderously across Queen Lagoon’s throat like the widest smile in the world.

She blinked at her brother in surprise and lifted one talon to her neck. Her last words were, “But I’m the queen,” and then her body fell in slow motion, legs crumpling, wings crashing down, head landing with a splash in the fountain. Clouds of blood spilled out, turning the water red and black.

The queen of the SeaWings was dead.

And her animus, Fathom’s grandfather, was holding the knife.