Page 61 of Oceansong
Given his resemblance to Kaden, he must be Cyrus, but where Kaden’s features were soft and gentle, Cyrus’ appeared harder, sterner, reminding Angie of Bàba’s austerity. Three mermaids and mermen were before them, gesturing wildly as if pleading a case to their superiors.
The mer-queen was lovely, her hair of ebony and silver tied into a single large braid surrounded by threads of smaller ones. Her skin was iridescent pale, her eyes creased with deep lines, and she sported jewelry of pearls and shimmering gems covering her neck and breasts. The mer-king had moved upright and was speaking to the small crowd, the tip of his tail flicking back and forth. Possibly a gesture of annoyance. His hair was silver, his chest and arms strong like his sons’ were, and rough edges lined his face. On his right wrist was a thick, brass bracelet full of inscriptions. Cyrus wore an identical one, except his was bright silver, bordering on white gold.
Kaden didn’t wear one. Was that for the father and eldest son, the same as in her own culture, where tradition dictated the eldest son became head of the household when the father passed?
Despite her insides quivering, she couldn’t look away, fascination taking over.
Cyrus turned his head in her direction, and she lowered herself so she sank below Kaden’s level. “Angie, come on. If they spot us, they’ll haveus imprisoned or exiled.” His voice grew urgent as he tugged on her wrist.
“Okay, okay. Sorry.” She followed him down another hallway, and then another, stopping once to allow a mermaid to swim by far ahead of them.
They reached his private quarters several kicks later. The room was more cavernous than the rest of the palace, or at least, the little she’d seen so far, and she took it in. Kaden swam to the oval mirror across from them and shuffled away his floating trinkets and personal care items into small nooks inside a rock ledge.
“Sorry for the mess. I put everything away before I came to you, but the currents must have gotten to them.” Kaden rubbed at the back of his neck, looking sheepish.
Angie thought it was cute. She returned her attention back to her surroundings. A bookcase embedded in rock sat on the other side of the room, filled with what looked like thin slabs of stone. Beside it, two hooks kept a stack of thick, square-cut kombu kelp in place. Underneath the stacks were what looked to be a handful of thick, pointy rock cylinders and shells, anchored to the rock wall with sturdy, fibrous rope.
Must be writing utensils, given their proximity to the kombu stacks.
She looked closer at the first piece of kombu, with writing on it. The wordsoceanandhellowere scratched in neat lettering, and three symbols were above them. The symbols looked vaguely like traditional Chinese characters, but she couldn’t make out what they said.
“It’s the first piece of translation I learned when I was a child. I kept it as a memory.” Kaden swam up beside her, resting a hand on her elbow.
“I kept one of my old childhood drawings of mermaids, too.” She performed a gentle sidestroke so she was closer to him. “How did you learn modern English, anyway? I thought you’ve all been closed off from us for three centuries.”
“Well, the royal families sent sentinels to the surface to observe and keep abreast of human behaviors and speech. As a way to keep an eye on and understand their enemy. Mostly, they watched ships and sailors, but some would venture closer to shore or through rivers. They were very careful in staying out of human sight.” Kaden’s hand slid around to her waist and pulled her so they were flush. “They would report their findings back to our royal and noble families. All royals and nobles and their families are taught human languages, of the land regions they are closest to. Some non-nobles and royal mer may speak your languages, too, but most do not.”
Angie nodded, absorbing what he told her. He kissed her temple before moving away from her. She returned her attention to her surroundings, taking in everything she saw.
Violet seagrass atop a sandy, ridged seabed dusted underneath the bookcase and beneath his dressing ledge. The sides of the room were of frosted glass embedded with seashells, pebbles, and preserved bright sea grasses and seaweeds.
The room was lit of pale greens, blues, reds, and aquamarines from a glass ceiling, though there was no natural light this deep in the ocean.
Angie looked closer at the lights, lips pursed. They were thousands upon thousands of tiny lights of varying colors, from bioluminescent deep-sea critters.
Utterly fascinating.
A small grouping of cylindrical rock protruded from the ground, its tops flat and sloped.
“What are those for?” She pointed to them.
“For us to sit on. It’s sloped so we don’t crush our fins.” He was still across the room, rearranging the stone slabs in his bookcase.
Angie let herself float in stillness, looking for something to grab onto so she could relax for a moment. Her sights settled on a large, thick, and gelatinous hammock, held in place at two adjoining walls.
Kaden swam behind her and pulled his turquoise, frosted, sea glass door shut, and with a hungry glint in his eyes, he zipped to Angie and pulled her into a hard, desperate kiss, his lips parting, and his tongue finding and entwining with hers. Kissed her like he hadn’t eaten in weeks, teeth playfully dragging on her lower lip, a sultry groan escaping his throat. She kept her arms tight around his neck, wanting to savor every tingle, every pleasurable ache flooding her.
“Do you want to stay longer?” He moved his head back and cupped her cheeks.
She hovered her lips inches from his. “I’d like to stay here. With you.”
He responded by swimming upward with her and laying her inside the hammock, which shifted and molded around her, preventing her from floating away.
“What’s this made of?” She tapped it and stretched out.
“Seaweed and seagrass fibers of the highest quality. I could lay there for hours on hours and feel no need to leave.”
“Sounds like me every morning”
