Webs’s green scales paled nearly to gray as Riptide was tossed onto the floor between him and Queen Coral.

“No!” he cried. “He had nothing to do with this! He’s never had any contact with me.”

Moray tossed another clamshell of water over Riptide, and he groaned, shielding his eyes.

“It’s true,” Tsunami said desperately. “Riptide wasn’t here with Webs. He’s — he’s been helping me. Um, with my Aquatic.” It was true, but it sounded like a lie, even to her own ears.

“Whirlpool is supposed to teach you that, not this miserable creature,” Queen Coral said with narrowed eyes.

“Whirlpool is a horrible teacher,” Tsunami flared. “I’d be better off taking lessons from a barnacle.”

Riptide pushed himself slowly up to sitting. He glanced around at all the faces staring at him. His gaze stopped on Webs, and the two dragons looked at each other for a long moment.

“Admit your treachery,” said the queen. “Betrayal runs in your family, after all.” She swiped at Riptide’s snout, but he stepped out of reach. Piranha hissed and poked him in the side with a narwhal spear.

“Don’t hurt him,” Tsunami said. “Please. He’s not working for the Talons of Peace, I promise.” She was surprised to see Riptide wince. He looked down at his claws, avoiding her eyes.

Was there something he hadn’t told her?

“Throw them both in the new prison,” Coral said with deep disgust. “We’ll find out what we need to know about the Talons later, when I’m feeling a little more violent.”

“Don’t you have one more question for them?” Blister interjected. She’d been quiet for so long, it made Tsunami jump to hear her voice.

Coral swung her head to look at the SandWing.

“Why they killed all of your heirs,” Blister purred. “I mean, obviously it was them, right?”

“Obviously!” Coral burst out. She glared at Webs and Riptide.

“Working together,” Blister murmured. “It’s the perfect climax to the story.”

“It is,” Coral agreed.

“No!” Tsunami said. “That makes no sense!”

“Just like one of your brilliant mysteries,” Blister went on, ignoring Tsunami. “The Claws of Murder, for instance. Or A Tail of Blood. That one was genius.”

“It was,” Coral agreed even more fervently. “They’re the perfect murderers! It all fits!”

“No, it doesn’t!” Tsunami shouted. “Why would they do that? There’s no motive!”

“Of course there is,” Coral snarled. “Blister, explain it to her.”

“So that Tsunami could return as the only living heir, of course,” Blister said smoothly. “If they killed off all the other possible heirs, she would become more and more valuable. A bargaining chip if they ever needed it. A powerful tool when they wanted to use her.”

“Nobody uses me,” Tsunami spat.

“Wait, Webs can’t be the murderer,” Clay said. His large brown head tilted to the side. “He hates kill ing other dragons. That’s why he ran away from you in the first place.”

“Nonsense,” Queen Coral said, waving a talon. “He ran away to protect his own scales.”

“Even so, I’m not sure that theory works,” Starflight said, gazing vaguely into the air as if he was trying to solve a math equation. “The princess murders started two years before they stole Tsunami’s egg, so the Talons, and especially Webs, wouldn’t have known they were going to steal a royal egg at that point — Webs didn’t even know he was going to be a Talon at that point. And Webs has been underground with us for the last six years. He couldn’t have flown here and back every time he wanted to murder a dragonet.”

Starflight shook his head. “No, I’m afraid it doesn’t —” His eyes met Blister’s, and he abruptly slammed his mouth shut.

“What he said,” Tsunami said desperately. “Exactly.”

“So his allies in the Talons of Peace did his dirty work,” Blister said, unperturbed. “You know it makes sense, Coral. The Talons have been your enemies for so long. Of course it would turn out that they’re the ones behind the murders. It’s the ending that wraps every thing together.”

Coral nodded. Her talons twitched toward the nearest scroll, as if she couldn’t wait to write all this down.

“Why are you doing this?” Tsunami demanded, stepping closer to Blister. “Why pin the murders on Webs and Riptide, unless you’re covering your own tracks?”

Blister gave a hoot of laughter. “It doesn’t matter to me what happens to SeaWing princesses,” she said. “Except that I feel my poor ally’s pain, of course. I’m merely pointing out the obvious to her. These two should be executed for their crimes as soon as possible.”

You want Webs dead, Tsunami thought. And you killed Kestrel, I’m sure of it. But why?

“Brilliant, just brilliant,” Coral said, clapping her talons together. “Take them away, and we’ll plan their execution later.” Piranha and her guards closed around Webs and Riptide. Tsunami didn’t have a chance to say anything more to them before they were dragged off, and Riptide still wouldn’t meet her eyes. She clenched her talons in frustration.

“You know what this means?” Coral went on, delighted. “We can return the egg to the Royal Hatchery. It’s safe now.”

“It isn’t!” Sunny cried. She wrapped her talons around the egg.

“It certainly is,” said the queen. “With Webs locked up, the egg can hatch in the Royal Hatchery, just like it’s supposed to.”

“You’re wrong,” Tsunami said. “I’m not risking a dragonet’s life because you’ve fallen for this crazy story Blister has invented.”

Blister’s obsidian-black eyes glittered malevolently at Tsunami.

“It will be perfectly safe,” Coral said, waving her claws. “Besides, every queen in SeaWing history has hatched in the Royal Hatchery.”

Silence prickled between them. Tsunami was thinking, I didn’t, and surely Coral was, too. You’ll eat those words when I’m queen, Tsunami thought, but she wasn’t sure she meant it anymore. Did she even want to be queen here? Especially if it meant allying herself with Blister — or breaking away from her and then dealing with the consequences?

Only one dragon could change Coral’s mind about the egg. Tsunami glanced at Blister and realized at least one thing was true: Blister couldn’t care less what happened to the SeaWing heirs. She was studying her claws, looking slightly bored.

“Fine,” Tsunami said, squaring her shoulders. “But I’m staying with it until it hatches.”

Queen Coral tilted her head. “In the Royal Hatchery?” she said. “All night?”

“I’ll make sure she hatches safely,” Tsunami said. She glanced at the egg, glowing blue and green below the white shell. The dragonet was close to hatching, pressed against the thinning walls. Every once in a while the egg rocked in Sunny’s arms.

“But when I catch the real murderer,” Tsunami went on, “I want you to promise that you’ll let Riptide and Webs go free.”

“Ha,” Coral snorted. “Webs will never be free again.”

“Even if I save your last heir?” Tsunami demanded.

Coral scraped her claws across the rock. “You won’t have to,” she said. “We have the assassins now.”

“So it should be an easy bargain to make,” Tsunami said. Blister stared at her coldly.

“All right,” Coral said, waving one talon. “I’ll promise you Riptide. But Webs has too much to answer for.” Tsunami noticed Blister settling back. So it was definitely Webs she wanted dead, not Riptide.

That was the best she could do for now. She’d have to think of another way to save Webs.

“But Tsunami, we said we should stay together,” Clay protested. “We can’t protect you down there.”

“And whoever’s coming after the eggs will be just as happy to kill you, too,” Glory pointed out.

Tsunami shook her head and flexed her claws. “Not if I catch him first.”