Page 52 of Bride of the Sea King

The man next to her leaned over and whispered something in her ear. A pair of people at the table next to them leaned over and joined their whisper conversation, too.

I looked away.

Two frazzled-looking merrae couples with three babies and four toddlers between them turned back to their kids.

A man and a woman who looked absolutely uninterested refocused on their meal.

My face heated.

Maybe I should’ve accepted Eloise’s offer after all.

The doors opened behind me. A tall, dark, and handsome hero came to my aid, stepping up beside me and draping an arm over my shoulder.

“Wennel told me he and Eloise found you in the hallway. Are you okay?”Triton asked me mentally.

Relief had me immediately relaxing against his side as he led me smoothly across the room.“Yeah, just hungry.”

“The kitchen’s this way. You put your order in, then wait for it to come out. Doesn’t take too long,”he said into my mind.

“Thanks,”I whispered back.

“You were supposed to wake me up when you needed something. How did you get out of the grotto?”

“I decided to be independent, and figured out how to use my magic. Only fell on my ass once.”I paused.“Okay, twice.”

He rumbled unhappily.“You’re hurt?”

“Only a little.”Unless you counted my soreness. Then, it was a definite yes. I ached everywhere.

“You should’ve asked for help, Sweetheart.”

“I can manage just fine on my own.”

“Of course you can. You’re the queen. But you’remyqueen. And that means I don’t want you hurting. Or struggling.”

We reached a set of menus, and I scanned the list slowly. The writing was elegant, and it may as well have been in a foreign language for all my skill at reading it.

I was too sore and exhausted to try to translate it.

“Can you pick something for me? Whatever’s the most similar to human food?”

“Of course. Unless you’d prefer I read you the menu.”

“I’ll take a rain check on that for next time.”

He ordered food for both of us. The man behind the counter was chatty, congratulating us on our mate bond and asking Triton a few questions. I gathered that they were about a farm of some sorts, though I didn’t push for details. It seemed safe to assumethat the merrae would grow food both underwater and on their island.

“How are you feeling? And I want the full truth, Aria,”Triton warned as he led me out of the kitchen.

“Exhausted,”I admitted.“And sore. All of the swimming yesterday did a number on me. How long did I sleep for?”

“Eighteen hours. The sun will be setting soon. Where are you sore?”

“A better question would be where am Inotsore. And the list is pretty short.”

He made a noise of dissatisfaction.“We’ll take the food back to our room when it’s ready.”

He started to lead me over to an empty table in the far corner of the room, but when he slowed, I noticed his gaze on the frazzled couples with the young kids that I’d seen earlier.

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