Page 34 of Secrets Among the Tides
“Are you in pain?” the medic asked.
I turned to look at him. He was an old merman with kind eyes and gentle, firm fingers. I nodded. “My body hurts,” I confessed.
He nodded. “That’s normal. The poison is flushing from your system. Sea wasp poison is quite deadly, indeed.”
Which meant that the culprit had meant to kill. Not maim. I shuddered at the idea. When I’d agreed to being the Princess, I hadn’t known the dangers it would entail. After all, why would anyone want to kill someone so daft and selfish? Unless…unless she hadn’t been as daft as she seemed.
“Where is she?”
I looked up with a startled expression to the entrance of the room. Prince Kai was pushing past the captain’s trusted soldiers to get through. My heart fell to the pit of my stomach.
“Let him through,” the captain ordered tightly, though his eyes never once left the Prince as his mermen moved aside and let him into the room.
Prince Kai didn’t seem to notice the distrust circulating through the room. He swam right over to the bed, nearly pushing the medic away as he perched himself on the edge and reached for my hands. I felt my face flush as he lowered his head and pressed kisses to the backs of my knuckles.
When he looked up, his dark eyes were distraught. “Princess,” he breathed. “Thank the Great Dragon…” He lowered his lids as if praying before searching my face, looking for any sign of the sickness.
I was suddenly self conscious, all too aware of the heavy leaden texture of my tongue, the parched lips and my more than likely pale parlor. I was still in the dress from the dinner, for tides’ sakes. I probably smelled.
He didn’t seem to care as he pulled me gently into his arms, pressing his hand against the back of my head to hold me in place briefly before leaning me back against the bed. “Prince Kai…” My head spun quickly, my breath came out in small pants.
His hand came to rest against my cheek, pushing away a stray lock of hair with the pad of his thumb. “They refused me entry for days. They refused to give me any news of you.”
“Her Majesty’s condition was critical,” Captain Saber said tightly from his position at the end of the bed. He was glaring at the Prince, his posture ever so rigid, distrustful. “She was not well enough to receive visitors.”
Prince Kai slashed the captain with a glare that startled me. His otherwise gentle demeanor was gone. “I am her betrothed,” he ground out tightly.
The captain’s lip twitched. “Yes. Though I have to wonder, and forgive me,Prince,but were you actually worried for the Princess’s well being or for your own position, should she die?”
Prince Kai’s face went red at the declaration and I couldn’t help the pain that squeezed at my heart. I wasn’t the Princess. I knew that if and when she was found, I would leave and never see the Prince again. But the cold cruelty in the Captain’s voice, the flushing of the Prince’s face was all the confirmation I needed.
I wasn’t the Princess. But his words hurt me deeply enough, that for a moment I believed I was.
What a cold, emotionless relationship the two would have.
I clasped my hands in my lap and before the Prince could open his mouth to argue, I spoke, “Please leave.” My voice was as cold as the captain’s words and as quiet as a whisper. When I looked up, Prince Kai’s face was shocked, hurt, even.
“You cannot think that’s true…” He reached for me and when I cringed back, he froze. The stiff posture was back in an instant. Gone was the caring and in its place, a mask of indifference that he had seemed to perfect so well. “As you wish, your Highness.” He gave me a stiff bow and exited the room slowly.
“If you could all please leave. Everyone but Captain Saber.”
The medics gathered their supplies, bowed awkwardly and left, closing the doors behind them. Even with them gone, his posture, his expression didn’t change. I looked up at him through my purple lashes. Everything in me ached. Somehow, the emotional hurt worse than the physical.
“Did you find the culprit?” I asked.
The captain stiffened and then slowly shook his head. “We are actively looking.”
I nodded once. “I want my blade back.”
“No.”
I glared. “Captain, someone is trying to murder me—the Princess, you know what I mean—and I do not want to go around without protection.” The blade would offer some sort of comfort, even if I didn’t know how to wield it. But he didn’t need to know that last bit.
“You have protection,” he said tightly.
I snorted. “Sorry, but how well has that worked out? I don’t want to be rude but you and your soldiers couldn’t keep the real Princess safe, and you certainly couldn’t stop me from getting poisoned. I needmore.”
“Then we will double the soldiers—”
