The darkness of the ocean gave way to light.

  As the brothers followed Sapphire deeper, the gloom peeled back to reveal an entire world beneath the waves. Coral towers rose like spires, their tips glowing faintly in hues of sapphire, emerald, and gold. Bridges of seashell and living reef arched between them, pulsing with veins of bioluminescent light that shimmered as though alive.

  Schools of radiant fish darted through the streets, trailing colors like banners. Great manta-like beasts glided overhead, carrying riders armed in coral-forged armor. Every surface seemed to sing with life—walls adorned with swaying kelp, gates carved from ancient whale bone, gardens of pearl and crystal shimmering in the current.

  Marco felt his breath catch—not from lack of air, but from wonder. A hidden kingdom… not conquered, not diminished, but alive.

  Atlas let out a low whistle. “If we had cities like this on land, I’d never leave the palace.”

  Jax smirked faintly, though his eyes were sharp. “Don’t get too comfortable. Beauty’s just another kind of blade. And this one looks sharp enough to cut.”

  Colby said nothing, but his eyes swept every tower, every soldier watching them from the shadows. He did not trust the awe to last.

  Sapphire swam ahead, her glow blending with the city’s radiance. “This is Coralyth. My home. Every pearl, every reef, every life here has been shaped by the sea’s embrace. Remember this when you stand before my father—this kingdom has endured in silence while yours grew fat on its loss.”

  They approached the city’s grand gate, a massive archway of living coral that shifted and pulsed, opening like the mouth of some slumbering leviathan. As they crossed the threshold, the current thickened, a pressure pushing down on them as though demanding respect.

  That was when the first shadows appeared.

  Two figures drifted from the coral, tall, broad-shouldered, their very presence pressing like the weight of the ocean itself. Armor woven from kelp and pearl clung to their muscular frames, and their weapons—sleek tridents of black coral—gleamed menacingly in the shifting light.

  Their faces were hard, their movements confident, and their eyes locked on Sapphire with stern intensity before shifting to the brothers with open disdain.

  Sapphire’s voice dropped, tinged with unease. “My brothers…”

  The twins loomed before the group, identical in strength and bearing, though one’s hair shimmered dark as midnight while the other’s caught the light in streaks of silver.

  “Calder and Caspian,” Sapphire said softly. “Seventeen. Heirs beside me.”

  The twins’ expressions said everything their words had not: bad attitude, cold suspicion, and strength radiating from their very posture.

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  The water grew colder as Calder and Caspian drifted closer. They said nothing, but their eyes burned with suspicion as sharp as their tridents. Marco held their gaze, trying not to flinch. Atlas’s grin flickered in challenge, while Jax smirked like he always did when danger pressed close. Colby, however, lifted his chin, calm and unshaken—refusing to yield an inch.

  Sapphire swam between them quickly, her glow softening the tension. “They are here under my word, Calder. Caspian. The sea itself has guided this.”

  Calder’s voice was deep and cutting. “You bring enemies into our gates, sister, and expect us to bow to their presence?”

  Caspian’s silver-streaked hair shimmered as he leaned forward, his glare sharp. “They should be in chains, not swimming beside our princess.”

  Colby spoke then, firm but controlled. “We came in peace. If we meant harm, you would have seen it already.”

  Atlas muttered under his breath, “Chains wouldn’t hold me anyway.”

  Jax grinned faintly, enjoying the heat beneath the silence. “Careful, brother. They look like they’d enjoy trying.”

  Sapphire snapped her head toward her older siblings. “Enough. They are my guests. Father will decide.”

  For a long, heavy moment, Calder and Caspian lingered, their disdain thick as the sea around them. Then, with curt gestures, they turned, motioning for the surface princes to follow. The brothers exchanged tense glances, then moved, flanked tightly on either side by Sapphire’s older siblings.

  They swam deeper into the heart of Coralyth, the light of the city pulsing brighter with each passing street. Crowds of citizens gathered along coral balconies, whispering, their voices muffled but tense, as they watched the four strangers escorted through their hidden kingdom.

  At last, the towers parted to reveal the grand palace—a massive structure of fused coral and pearl, its spires twisting upward like the horns of some colossal sea-beast. Gates of ivory whale bone opened slowly, currents shifting to pull them inside.

  The throne room stretched vast and luminous, lit by glowing veins of crystal reef embedded into its walls. At its center, carved from black coral and set upon a dais of living stone, was the throne of Coralyth.

  Upon it sat King Nerios.

  He was tall even seated, broad of shoulder, his skin marked with the faint glow of the sea’s power. His hair, long and dark with streaks of white, drifted around him like a mantle. His eyes were cold, steady, as deep and crushing as the ocean’s floor. His presence radiated strength—not the brash energy of youth, but the unyielding power of age, seasoned and unbroken.

  The chamber grew still as his gaze fell upon the four princes.

  The current stilled as the four brothers entered, Sapphire moving to their side, her glow the only softness in a hall heavy with tension. Calder and Caspian flanked them, their expressions still hard, their tridents clutched like they ached for use.

  From the throne, King Nerios leaned forward, his voice a low rumble that carried through the coral chamber like the growl of the deep.

  “So…” His eyes narrowed, piercing each of the brothers in turn. “The sons of Gerald. The firebrand who set my seas ablaze. The thief who plundered my kingdom’s strength to fatten his own. He takes, he hides, and now—now his spawn dares swim into my hall as though the tide itself belongs to them.”

  Atlas’s jaw clenched, fists itching at his sides. Jax’s smirk faltered into something sharper, though he held his tongue. Colby stayed steady, chin raised, eyes never breaking from the king’s.

  Nerios’s lip curled. “Do you come to gloat? To finish what your father began? Or do you think my years have softened me, that I will forgive the flame that scarred my people?”

  The weight of his words pressed heavy on the chamber, on the citizens gathered in silent witness along the coral balconies. Sapphire’s hands tightened at her sides, her glow dimming as she braced for her father’s wrath to fall harder.

  For a moment, no one spoke.

  Then Marco rose from his seat. Calm. Focused. His voice cut through the tide of tension with sharp clarity.

  “We did not come to gloat. And we did not come to beg.” His eyes locked with Nerios’s, unwavering. “We came to face the truth—and to find if there is a way to end it without drowning both our kingdoms in war.”