Page 41 of Secrets Among the Tides
“Oh, little fish…” I took a stroke closer, but she didn’t scuttle back. She straightened, looking up into my eyes. I bent down, feeling the challenge pulse and hum through my every nerve. Our lips were but a kiss length apart and I whispered near the edge of her mouth. “I always keep my promises.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Maisie
THE NEXT AFTERNOON, I DRESSEDwith great care in a light blue dress with a long train that gave into soft puffs of white. It looked like a blue wave crashing to shore. Though I imagined it to be what the two-legger sky to look like. The dress was comfortable and easy to move around in, as my limbs were still a bit sore from the poison.
I’d wanted to stay in bed, ignore the duties that awaited me—the Princess—beyond the palace, but Captain Saber had insisted I make an appearance. Besides, that morning, there had been a tentative knock on the bedroom doors. When I opened them, Prince Kai had been on the other side, his hands clasped tensely behind his back, the soldiers glaring at him mutinously.
I hadn’t invited him in. The pain of his last visit still stung. It shouldn’t have. We weren’t anything, despite what he thought. I wasn’t the real Princess, we would never marry and soon, I’d never see him again. But he had kind eyes and a gentle touch. Something about him drew me in like sea bugs to jellyfish stingers. No matter how badly I wanted to ignore it. I knew he was only in the engagement with the Princess because of his own benefit, to help his own kingdom. I tried to go easy on him. Wasn’t I parading around as her for the exact same reason? To better conditions, to help the mer?
“I was wondering if you’d like to have a turn about the gardens with me,” Prince Kai said, his voice rather stiff and somewhat forced.
I wondered what Princess Odele would have done in that situation. Would she have turned him away? Would she have told him she needed to check her schedule? I pushed those thoughts aside and found myself nodding slowly. A turn about the gardens couldn’t hurt. It may even help my aching limbs; my fin was hurting me rather badly since I’d ingested the poison. As if the contents in it had made my limp prominently worse.
Prince Kai’s body seemed to physically relax. He nodded once, agreeing to meet me later and turned to swim away.
When I finished dressing, I looked at myself in the mirror. I’d pulled my hair up behind my head, holding the strands together by a blue clipped jewel. A few strands were loose, curling around my temples. I fought away the words of the merwoman from the telly.Plain.Perhaps I was.
Turning away from my reflection, I went out the door to find Captain Saber waiting for me with a gaggle of soldiers on the other side. He bowed low when he saw me. “Princess Odele, we are here to escort you and the Prince about the garden.”
I tried not to glare at the mer who had been keeping watch. I would have liked to swim about alone, without the eerie sense of them following me. But after being poisoned, I couldn’t be too careful. I would hate to die before I’d even had a chance to rule and change things.
“Do we really need so many soldiers?” I asked, looking them all over. There were about ten of them. A tad too many, in my opinion.
“It’s for your safety, your Majesty.”
I sighed but nodded. Then I followed Captain Saber down hallways and stairs until we made it out to the royal gardens. There, Prince Kai was waiting for me, and he was accompanied by his royal advisors as well as a set of guards of his own.
He was wearing his traditional kimono in a royal blue that really offset the dark color of his hair and dark, almond shaped eyes. His features were soft and smooth, slightly feminine around the edges. However, everything about him oozed a gentleman. From his tall, proud posture, to his dark, lilting voice. His beauty never ceased to amaze me.
When I swam over to him, he smiled softly and took my hand, bending over it to press a kiss to my knuckles. Like always, his lips against my skin made my whole body tingle. Except this time, the heat of his lips reminded me of someone else’s.
Dark eyes flashed in my mind, the hot press of the Black Blade’s body. His lips and tongue.
I snatched my hand away without meaning to. A quiet look of hurt flashed through Prince Kai’s eyes as he straightened and I tried to push aside my guilt.
“Your Majesty,” he said a little stiffly. “You look lovely.”
The advisors and guards floated around us, not bothering to turn away or give us privacy. “Thank you,” was all I managed to say. How could I say more or even think about complimenting him with so many eyes and ears on us?
“Shall we?” He offered me his arm and I placed my hand on it, only to be guided through the gardens.
It was a beautiful splash of colors. Coral and exotic plants burst in bloom all around. Magenta, cerulean blue and yellow flowers swayed with the gentle breeze of the current. Fishes darted in and out of anemones, colors in splotches of purple and pink sea roses blotted blue bouquets.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered quietly as we passed a small forest of water lilies. The sight of them reminded me so much of home, I was nearly crippled.
“It’s my favorite place in the whole palace,” the Prince admitted quietly. “Because it reminds me of home.”
I turned with a surprised look to him. Then I looked over my shoulder. The soldiers and advisors were following behind us at a steady pace. There was enough space between us that they wouldn’t openly eavesdrop on our conversation, but close enough still that they could hear what we said if we spoke loudly.
I rolled my eyes and the Prince stiffened.
“Sorry. I wasn’t rolling my eyes atyou.”
“Okay.”
“I wasn’t!” Then, to change the drift of the conversation, I said, “It’s my favorite part of the palace, as well.” Not that I’d seen all of the palace yet. But this was too beautiful to hate. It gave me an overwhelming sense of nostalgia that made me smile despite it.
