Page 6 of Midnightsong
She didn’t need to worry for him on top of her schoolwork and part-time job. She needed to focus and he wouldn’t let himself be a burden on her.
The pain dissipated within another flare of his gills and he relaxed.
Nothing to worry about.
Since that day over a tidesyear ago, the odd pains came on and off but never hurt him long enough for him to truly give it more than a moment’s thought. But today, it lingered. Despite his best efforts, he struggled to keep pace with Angie. If he swam any faster, a bout of fatigue would strike him from head to tail.
Kaden parted his lips taking in a long swallow of seawater and calming himself as he turned his focus to his lover.
Each time he saw Angie—thought of her—his heart felt like it would burst with passion.
He had spent close to a tidesweek looking for and picking out those flowers, but it was a feat worth enduring to see the happy surprise on her face.
Perhaps, the effort to search for the flowers or, more likely, the stress of his royal duties here and back at home, was the culprit for his chest ache. He needed a good, long rest, was all.
Having her at his side made the swim to Haiping’s palace a quick one.
He found himself before the jade doors, gleaming in the darkness, the single bright spot in the black canvas of the deep sea.
When he and Angie approached the Mer-Queen and Mer-King in the throne room, they swept out their arms in a warm welcome. King Varin, his hair strands of suede, tawny skin smooth and taut kind eyes like two shimmering sapphires, was soft-spoken.
Cyrus’ and Kaden’s Aunt Cassia was Serapha’s older sister and always a familiar face he relished seeing when he visited them. She was Varin’s opposite with her firm and direct tone, hair as dark as the depths with sharp, moonstone eyes, and harsh lines and angles.
Both rested on their respective throne pillars of onyx and crimson fire corals, yu wiggling in and out behind their heads and at their sides. Deep-sea corals decorated the ceiling above and walls around him and burnt orange and prismatic creatures Angie called sea stars crawled amongst them.
“Still tides to you, Kaden and Angie. What brings you to us?” Varin held his iridescent tail and hand tightly to the pillar to keep his balance against the force of the currents.
The dimmed lights from bioluminescent creatures highlighted their dark hair with muted pinks, blues, and purples. and the glowing creatures illuminated the bangles and clasps snug around their arms and burrowed in their hair.
“An update, my Queen and King. I have news. Well, Angie does,” Kaden said after a formal bow with Angie following suit. An automatic move after over two decades of bowing to his parents.
Cassia held up a hand before he could say more. “What did we tell you about addressing us?”
Kaden nodded. Aunt Cassia had repeated it to him over and over since he and Cyrus were children that just because Serapha and Aqilus had their sons address them by their titles, she did not want, nor expect that treatment. And when Cassia met and bonded with Varin over twenty tidesyears ago, he had insisted on the same. Kaden had yet to kick the habit of calling them by their titles. “Aunt Cassia and Varin.” The titles sounded strange on his tongue.
“Better. Now, what was it you wanted to tell us?” Cassia adjusted the band of pearlescent eelgrass silk around her chest, her expectant gaze flickering between Kaden and Angie.
Beside him, Angie fiddled with the strap of her swimsuit, her nervousnesspalpable. He gave her an encouraging nod and she straightened her shoulders as she repeated to them that she had told Kaden.
“We haven’t heard news from Serapha,” Varin set his lips into a thin, pale line. He reached for the seaflute tied around his waist. “But we’ll get in touch with her. And Kaden, would you check on the villages outside the palace? Let us know if there’s anything we need to know.”
“Will do.”
“If there’s nothing else, you’re both dismissed,” Cassia said, her attention on Angie.
Kaden watched his uncle as Queen Serapha’s lilting voice came through his seaflute.
Another bow and he was on his way to his guest quarters, swimming out to the open sea from the throne room and looping his way upward, reaching another gilded section of the palace on a layered, oblong rock some feet above the palace’s apex. From his vantage point, the mer and sea life swimming leisurely below looked like amorphous shapes, the occasional flash of color coming into view from glossy mer tails.
“I hope your mom is okay,” Angie offered when they were at his door. “I mean, Stefan is on it too. Hopefully he caught them in time.”
“I hope so,” Kaden replied, his thoughts lingering on why Cassia rushed them out prior to calling his mother. And the way she looked at Angie before, though Angie was the one who brought the plight to their attention.
Then again, though she was friendly with Angie and had invited her to family gatherings, she had admitted to Kaden, in private, that she remained cautious of humans reneging on their truce. He turned to Angie and trailed his arms down her lower back to encircle her waist and pulled her flush to him. She wrapped her legs around the distal part of his tail until a current passed. “It’s getting late. Do you need to leave? Or can you stay longer?” He pressed his lips to her ear. A shiver caused his nerves to spark.
She put a hand on his chest. “I’d love to, but I do have to get back by mid-morning. Work and Lulu await.”
“Good.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Because I had a small meal ready and my pillows fluffed in case you would say yes.”
