Page 52 of Tempted By the Forbidden Mate

“Oh, one more thing!” Kai says and pulls me back into the room. She points to a box on the dresser that I haven’t noticed before.

“What’s that?”

“You’re Ophelia’s sponsored mermaid. This is jewelry to go with the title.” Kai opens the box. Inside is a beautiful golden stick pin, a circle with nine stones around the edge of the metal, a dark medallion of rose gold.

“It’s stunning. Does it have any meaning? It must. Everything around here has meaning.”

Kai fastens it to my breast. “It represents all the domes. It means that you are looking at expanding your pod, and there are symbols from each of the nine other domes. It’s what a mermaid wears when she’s looking to add. Obviously one of my mother’s favorite pieces of jewelry.”

I hold back a laugh, but Kai doesn’t. She doubles over, holding her belly.

“Luckily, I think she’s through now.”

“You don’t want to be a duchess?”

She shakes her head. “No, I mean, I suppose if the right male came along. But we have it really good right now. Everyone gets along. We all love each other in my pod. A lot of pods take a long time to get to where we are. We have fun. I wouldn’t want to spoil it by adding somebody just for the sake of numbers to become a duchess. I don’t want it to just have it. I’m old-fashioned. I have to be in love.”

A shiver goes through me. Right now, it feels like I’m going to the grocery store and I can just pick any kumquat or cucumber, but that’s it. This is as important a choice as it is for a human. I’m really thankful Soren has found his mermaid because, while he’s nice and kind, he just doesn’t make my heart beat fast.

I look into Kai’s eyes and away. I keep forgetting I just need to get out of here. I can’t stay here. They’re too violent. How could I ever be happy when they are this set on warfare? They have too little care for life. But most of all, Nico kidnapped me, mated me, and changed me. How can I ever forget that? How can I ever forgive him?

There’s a knock on the door. “Ladies, are you almost ready?” The voice is deep.

“Yes, Papa,” Kai says.

“Your mother is waiting for you in the dining room,” he replies. Footsteps retreat down the hall.

“Are you ready?” Kai asks. “Greeting the other mermaids is the hardest part. When we get to the ball downstairs, it will be smooth swimming.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s going to be rough dancing for me. But let’s get this small talk going.”

Arm in arm, Kai and I head to the dining room where her mother awaits. Ophelia spent a good hour getting ready with us. She explained how the night would go—meet her in the dining room, meet the other mermaids in their personal ballroom, then the processional to the ball itself. Normally, a ball of this size would be led by a king or queen. But the king of Doria is currently on theOmicronand also unmated.

Each mermaid has a dance card, but unlike the historical romance my cousin writes, these are kept on a mermaid’s block. During the ball, the block is held by her mother. So Ophelia is holding mine and Kai’s tonight. After we meet all the other mermaids in the Drakos’s ballroom as a group, we will enter the room, Ophelia and I entering last.

Kai knocks on the dining room door and then enters. She curtseys to her mother, and I mimic her actions.

“Ladies, you are beyond stunning.” Tears well up in Ophelia’s well-mascaraed eyes. Her golden lace dress covers her neck to wrists. But when she turns around, her entire back is cut out. It dips low, past where an underwear waistband would go if they wore underwear in the Veiled City. Together, we glide down to the hall to the ballroom where dozens of beautiful mermaids stare at us.

Someone chimes their champagne glass, and a hush goes through the crowd. Everyone stops and stares at us.

“May I introduce Annabelle Portsmouth,” announces Ophelia, “whom I am happy to sponsor this evening.”

I notice it’s the older mermaids in the crowd who smile at me while the younger ones look like I’m coming for their men. Unlike at the docking ceremony, there don’t seem to be any rules about who can talk to whom because a cluster of mermaids swarms us. Or rather Ophelia. I curtsy like she taught me to and greet each one, trying to remember their names as they say them. On board theCentauri, I had a few days and photos to memorize. Here, it’s all by the seat of my pants, and I really wish I’d been able to study.

I feel like I’m a debutante being introduced into society. Which I guess I am. But inside, I’m still a farm girl trying to make it in the male-dominated world of academic science.

I’m standing next to Ophelia. Anytime someone asks a personal question—Do I have a fluke? Can I swim? How many mates do I want? Can I guarantee I can have children?—she shuts them down with a crook of her well-appointed eyebrow.

The Duchess of Koralli, who is younger than any of the other duchesses I have met so far tonight, leans in and softly asks, “How was it being on a sub with so many males?”

Ophelia draws back, ready to cut the topic down. But Kai has returned to my side. “This I want to hear, Mother.”

“It was fine. I spent a lot of time in thedoctro centusia, learning about the docking ceremony.” Thinking about what Holter and I did in the study pod has heat going up my neck. I can only hazard a guess that I’m turning bright red. But then, these are all mermaids. Each of them has gone through the change, had the crazed sexual cravings.

“Oh, my dear, you did amazing. How you ever learned so much in such a short time, I don’t know. It’s going around you’re a genius,” the Koralli duchess says.

Ophelia purses her lips but doesn’t shake her head.

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