Page 46 of Secrets Among the Tides
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MY HEAD WAS POUNDING.I’d gotten through twenty conches and there was nothing.Nothing.There was just a buoyant attitude regarding every situation. She detailed who had kissed who, which royal she thought was riptide, cute or a total shipwreck. In some videos, all she did was stare at the conch and make kissing, puffer fish faces.
And I was supposed to believe thatsheheld knowledge that was getting her hunted? Maybe someone just wanted her dead because of howstupidshe was. That wouldn’t surprise me. Rubbing at my temple with one hand, I reached the other out to take the conch from the disk and set it gently on the table.
This Princess would literally be the death of me. In more ways than one.
Feeling drained, I swam up the cove and through the small opening until I made it back to the bedroom. I didn’t bother changing out of my clothes as I climbed into the bed, swatting away the anemones that sucked at my scales as I passed. As soon as my head hit the soft cushioning, I fell into a deep sleep.
~~
THAT NIGHT I DREAMT.The dream was so vivid, I could have sworn it was real. I tossed and turned on my bed, peeked my eyes open to find a mer in the room with me. My body ached from the strain it’d been put under the past few days, my fin flaring with cramps that never seemed to disappear. I was too exhausted to scream, to call out for help.
Instead I watched this mer in the darkness, a darkness that was only illuminated by the slight buzzing of the jellies that hung in the canopy above my head. The mer was small, at around my size, which made me think it was a mermaid. Her shoulders were cloaked, a hood covering her head. She was by the coral shelves on the other side of the room, near the small collection of shells, glass and other knick knacks. The mer was fiddling with objects there quietly. When she finished and turned, she froze mid-stroke when she noted my heavy lidded gaze on her.
And it was like looking into a mirror.
I’d watched so many conches with the Princess, that I was starting to hallucinate her, too. Sighing, I turned on the bed, pulled the covers up to my chin and fell back to sleep.
~~
I HAD TO KEEP TO MY SCHEDULE THE NEXT MORNING.Apparently, nearly getting murdered wasn’t cause enough to stop my Princess-y duties. And those duties? Taking tea with my cousins. I’d almost expected it to be sitting in on meetings with foreign ministers, but no. Tea time was something very important that I could not afford to miss.
I dressed in a dress of sea foam green to meet with Jessinda, Silviya, and Scarlet. Since watching the conch’s of the Princess, I knew intimate details about these mer that not even Captain Saber had been able to provide. And I was dreading every second. I’d much rather take a turn about the gardens with Prince Kai again, rather than hang out with flippant guppy royals.
Granted, Prince Kaiwasa royal, but something about him was different from the rest. He was kind and honest. A warrior. And I admired him. I wished the Princess’s stupid schedule would allow for more time with the Prince, but it was limited to seeing him twice a week on Moonsday and Starsday, as propriety allowed. Royal rules were ridiculous.
I was escorted there by Captain Saber and his guards. He hadn’t said a word to me since the day before, when he’d saved me from the spear that very well could have killed me. I hadn’t even had time to properly thank him for risking his own life to protect mine. I’d known he went after the culprit and had caught him. The merman had been killed before he could give any useful information.
I promised to make time among the stupid busy schedule of the Princess to get him alone and thank him for what he’d done. Even if it had just been duty and not because he liked me enough to save me, I was grateful. And he needed to know that. He needed to know that I wasn’t just some ungrateful freshwater mer playing too hard at Princess.
When I arrived to tea time, the three mer were already there waiting for me. They got up and gave low, proper bows before taking their seats in front of fine shipwrecked china. I sat among them, feeling like the oddity of the group as they began falling into easy chatter, serving a light frothy tea. I reached for a little pastry in the center of the table when Jessinda finally spoke to me.
“Is it true you were attacked again, Odele?”
I paused with the pastry halfway to my mouth before I set it down again. “It is true,” I replied.
They gave little gasps of astonishment. They sounded so fake, I tried not to roll my eyes. “However did you survive?” Scarlet, a rotund mer with bright red hair asked.
“Well, it was only thanks to Captain Saber and his soldiers that Prince Kai and I survived.”
“Prince Kai was there, too?” Jessinda asked. She picked up her tea cup, took a sip and set it back down. “Strange that he’s been there for both of your attacks so far, isn’t it?”
I didn’t like what she was implying. My eyes narrowed. “Not at all. Heismy betrothed.”
“Well, yes, but did he even try and protect you as Captain Saber did?” Jessinda intertwined her fingers and rested her chin on them.
“Well…no, but—”
“Strange, that he wouldn’t jump in front of that spear to save his betrothed.” Her voice was as low and evil as a barracuda. It was how I knew she was up to something, trying to manipulate me somehow. “He does come from a kingdom of warriors, after all. You’d think he would have battled alongside the good captain and his soldiers to save your life.”
I ground my teeth together. Just because he was a warrior didn’t mean he had to fight. Besides, everything happened so fast. Right after Captain Saber had gotten off of me, we’d been corralled into a tight protective circle. And it was during that time that Prince Kai had gripped my hand tightly in his, had pulled me close by the waist with a grip that told me he never wanted to let me go.
“You know they don’t care for each other, Jessinda,” Silviya, a mer with long silver hair and scales chimed in, her voice chastising. “Is it really a surprise that he didn’t want to save her? You know they hate each other.”
“Hold on…” I waved my hands out in front of me. “I don’t hate Prince Kai. And he doesn’t hate me.”
The three mer shared a look before looking at me with…pity? “You confessed to us when he came here that you had no interest in a pathetic little lizard Prince. Did you change your mind?”
