Them?
The king’s words were barely out of his mouth before the doors on the right side of the throne room opened with a bang. I jumped, holding my hands in front of me as my eyes widened.
A dozen young mermales entered the throne room. Swimming in a single file, they held their heads high as they formed a line beside the throne.
I swallowed as minnows erupted in my gut.
This was… not good. In fact, I would go so far as to say that this was very bad. If my father had gone to all the trouble of bringing this many suitors here, it could mean only one thing.
My freedom slipped away like a piece of kelp between my fingers.
“Princess Mareena.” The High King’s voice echoed through the throne room, and I stiffened. “You are hereby commanded to marry.”
Commanded.
To.
Marry.
The words echoed around in my skull painfully. I clenched my fists at my side, my breath coming heavier. Blood left my face, and my lungs tightened as my entire body urged me to do something. Instead, I forced myself to remain still. “But, Fath—”
He held up a hand, the gold bands around his wrist shimmering. “Enough!” he yelled. “I have given you time, Princess Mareena, to find your own husband. Time to decide for yourself who you shall marry. I am a patient male, am I not?”
There was no way in hell I was answering truthfully.
“Of course, my king,” I lied smoothly.
“Which is why I am willing to give you one more chance.”
“Father?”
His gaze pinned me. “You have seven days, Mareena. If you do not take a husband within that time, you will forfeit your claim to the Coral Throne and be cast out of my presence. It is your duty to wed and continue the royal line.”
Cast out.
The words echoed around in my head. Would he really do it? Not even a second went by before I knew the answer. Of course, he would do it. My father was the epitome of cruelty. He would likely find some twisted pleasure in throwing his only daughter to the wild sharks that called the Indigo Ocean their home.
The king continued. “In order to assist you in your search, I have invited these kind gentlemen to come and remain at the palace with us. They will spend every single day with you until you get to know them. You will marry, daughter of mine. But I will be gracious enough to allow you the privilege of choosing your own husband.”
Behind me, hushed whispers came from the gathered courtiers. I couldn’t spare a thought to try to understand what they were saying, though. My every focus was stuck on the males before me. Their expressions ranged from bored to lecherous, but each of them had a commonality.
They were clearly my father’s males. There was no way he would choose anyone who would defy him as a potential suitor for me. I already knew what kind of males these were. They were the same ones who always flocked around my father at the balls he threw, the same ones he had thrown at me countless times since I had Matured.
Rude. Mean. Only interested in pursuing physical affections. Dangerous.
There wasn’t really a choice here. I wouldn’t marry any of them. So I could string them along or…
A plan began to take shape to form in my mind. It was insane and more than likely would result in the loss of my birthright. But if it would save me from this horrible fate, then it was worth a try.
I cleared my throat. “You say I must find a husband in a week’s time, Father?”
The king nodded curtly. “Yes.”
“Or I will lose my birthright as your heir.”
“Correct,” he growled. “The entire court has heard me, daughter. Do not think you will make me go back on my words. I swear on all that is good in Nontia’s blue ocean, you will marry within seven days.”
I smiled. “Oh, that is not what I am trying to do at all.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Then you will marry?”
This was it.
“Yes.” Gathering all my courage, I continued. “I would ask for your leave to go into the city and search for a husband.”
A collective gasp came from the courtiers behind me. The water in the throne room felt as thick as soup as my father stared at me. He pushed himself off the throne, his muscles bunching with absolute power as he swam towards me. His eyes flashed as coral power rippled off him.
“You dare defy me?” he roared.
I shook my head. “Of course not. I will marry,” I said quickly. “But I would like to choose my own husband.”
He seethed. “What would you have me do with them?” He gestured to the suitors lining the wall. “They came here for you, daughter. You would have them leave without so much as a taste of their prize?”
Anger bubbled up within me. I was not a prize to be won just because I’d had the misfortune of being born female.
“Send them home?” My voice was quieter than I hoped.
He glared at me. “What?”
“If you please, Father, send them away. If I am to do my duty,”—I gulped as a shiver ran down my spine—“at least allow me to search for someone with whom I am compatible. Someone who cares for me. Maybe someone who could, one day, love me.”
The king stared at me. His gray eyes pinned me, and he stared and stared and stared. The weight of his gaze was heavy, the coral ribbons swirling in the water around him both a threat and a reminder of his power. My own magic, that same coral power, cowed in my veins. That usual constant hum was dimmed until I could barely feel it. Until I took my throne—something which seemed unlikely at this point in time—I would never be as powerful as him.
My heart pounded, the coverings around my breasts suddenly feeling like they were nothing at all as I swam before him. I was laid bare before the court, waiting for my father’s response.
He stared, and I waited.
Then, the strangest thing happened. My father, the High King of the Seven Seas, laughed. He roared, and mirth roiled off him like a wave at high tide. Everyone froze for a moment before nervous giggles and chortles rose all around us.
I couldn’t do anything except stare at my father. I had never seen him laugh. Ever. In all my years, even in my youth before I Matured, he had never so much as snorted in front of me.
And here he was, laughing.
“My daughter is a romantic,” my father choked out. Tears streamed down his face as he slapped his hand against his tail. The sound echoed through the watery throne room, and no one even dared to breathe. “May the gods have mercy on me. A romantic!”
He laughed until he was blue in the face. Then he swam to the throne and sat as he gasped for air.
Still, I did not move. I did not breathe. I just waited to find out my fate.
After what felt like an eternity, Father canted his head. “Alright.”
“Alright?” I repeated, unwilling to let hope enter my voice.
He nodded, and there was a glimmer of violence in his eyes. “You have a week, daughter. I’ll send these suitors home.” One of them groaned, but Father ignored them, continuing. “Find yourself a male who is ‘worthy’ of your love, or get out of my ocean.” He sat back, clearly proud of himself. “It’s your choice.”
One week.
Seven days.
How could one find a husband in that short of a time?
But I looked at the males lined up against the wall, their tails moving slowly in the warm water of the throne room, and I knew that I would take it. I had to. I wouldn’t marry them.
Swallowing, I dipped my head. “Thank you, Father.”
“Oh,” he said, holding up his hand as a predatory smile crept across his face. “One more thing.”
A frisson of fear ran down my spine. “Yes?”
He snarled. “You will leave now. Be gone, Princess Mareena. Remove yourself from my sight. You are not permitted to return to your rooms, nor may you take anything with you from the palace.”
I gasped. “But how will I survive?”
It was becoming exceedingly clear that I did not think this through.
Father raised a brow. “That’s no longer my problem, daughter.” His voice was colder than I had ever heard it before. “You’ll figure it out or die trying. Either way, you will get out of my sight.”
Nontia help me.
Knowing that my father was not one to be trifled with, I turned and swam as fast as I could toward the back of the throne room. My eyes stung with unshed tears as I rushed past the couriers. They stared at me, venom in their expressions as they watched me pass. Some of them hurled insults my way.
“… Ungrateful…”
“… daughter of a sea witch…”
“Should be sent to the beaches of Ithenmyr…”
“… Teach her a lesson…”
“Ugly bit—”
I forced myself to ignore them, keeping my eyes trained on the exit. From the throne room, it wasn’t a long swim before I found myself at the main entrance of the palace. This place had been my home for my entire life. I had never been allowed to leave through these doors on my own. Every time I left the palace, I was under heavy guard.
But now, things were different. I was leaving with nothing but the band around my breasts. I wished I could say that at that moment, I was fearless. That courage had run through my veins. I wished I could have said that I was ready for the challenges coming my way.
But that wouldn’t have been true.
Fear ran through my veins like frigid waters on a bitter winter day. I was afraid of the world that I was going to enter. I was afraid of what I would find. That I wouldn’t find someone who could love me or even tolerate me. But more than that, I was afraid of being used as nothing more than a womb and locked in the palace, never to escape. I was afraid that if I remained, I would become nothing more than a figurehead. A female whose sole purpose was to exist.
And so I took a deep breath, ignored the stinging in my eyes, and pushed open the doors.
* * *
Coral City was nothing as I had imagined. My father’s palace was filled with muted colors. Grays and blues and greens. Colors were few and far between. It was as though darkness itself ebbed off the king in waves, leeching color from his surroundings.
That was not the case in the city. During the first few minutes of my freedom, I did nothing but swim down the steps of the palace onto the main street. My jaw fell open as I stared at the vibrant colors. The brightest blues and deepest greens were intermingled with brilliant pinks, deep purples, and bright yellows.
It was more than incredible—it was magnificent.
Schools of multicolored fish swam around me, filling the great seas with their colors as they went about their days. Kelp rose from the sandy sea floor, moving gently in the currents. Everywhere I looked, there was more beauty.
Suddenly, understanding flooded me. This was beauty that inspired art. Colors like this were the reason that artists painted, composers wrote music, and thespians acted in plays. These colors spoke to a part of me I hadn’t even known existed. They called upon an appreciation of beauty that I had never known.
Looking at the beauty of the city, my heart swelled. Even when I had gone into Coral City in the past, I had never seen it like this.
It was as though I had been seeing things in gray-scale until this point and now I could see what life really looked like.
It was stunning.
And the people!
There were hundreds—no, thousands—of merfolk out in the streets of Coral City. I had never been out of the palace unescorted. The merfolk did not know I was here. They were just living their lives.
It was so incredibly loud. Every possible sound filled my ears. Tails slapping against each other were the backdrop to conversations that abounded. Raucous laughter from merlings intermingled with shouts coming from the streets.
It was so much, and yet, it wasn’t enough. There was so much to see, and I had just bought myself a few days of freedom. Surely that was enough time to explore. Just a little. Just enough to see the world that I had been denied.
“Do it, Mareena,” I mumbled to myself as I swam down the busy road. “Live a little before you find yourself a husband.”
A laugh came from beside me. “I’ll be your husband, baby! We could dance together all night long.”
I turned to see a mermale swimming along, raising his white brows as he gazed at me lecherously.
I shuddered, shaking my head. “No, thank you.”
“Suit yourself,” he replied before lifting his hand in a rude gesture and laughing at me.
I snarled at him, showing him my sharp teeth, before turning around. I didn’t have a map, and I’d never learned much about the inner workings of Coral City, but I figured that if I headed down the street, I was sure to encounter something interesting.
And so I swam.
* * *
An hour turned into two as I played the tourist in my own city. The city I would—hopefully—one day rule.
I didn’t have any coin to spend, but that didn’t stop me from observing the small families out with their merlings or the busy merfolk as they swam to and from their places of work. Everyone was so busy that they didn’t seem to notice the princess in their midst. That was good.
The further I got from the palace, the more chaotic the city became. Near my home, the streets were long and orderly. But as I continued into the city and past shops where vendors were selling food, things began to change. The city evolved. Long, tall structures rose up from the sandy floor, the coral buildings filled with windows that provided glimpses into their inhabitants' lives. From them came sounds of life. Children screaming, newly birthed merlings crying, and adults yelling at each other.
None of these things happened when my father was around.
I swam down the sandy streets lined with rows upon rows of tall green plants, watching as people around me lived.
I was observing two adolescent mermaids flirt nearby when the hairs on the back of my neck prickled. I stiffened, but nothing seemed amiss before me. The same two girls were now holding hands, whispering as they swam off together. I was just about to turn around when a hand landed on my shoulder.
A deep voice growled in my ear, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
A scream rose in my throat as my eyes widened. Before I could yell, a large and calloused hand landed on my mouth. I tried to bite the hand at the same moment that my assailant jerked us both backward.
No, no, no.
This could not be happening.
My heart hammered in my chest, and I whipped my tail as hard as I could. Gathering my strength, I rammed my elbow into a very hard chest. Pain radiated through me, but I didn’t stop fighting.
“Stop it, Princess,” my attacker hissed, grunting as my elbow connected with their stomach. “It’s me.”
Me?
In my panicked fog, I didn’t recognize the voice. I reached up, clawing at the arm holding me still as I shook my head back and forth. Whoever this person was, I would not go with them willingly. I swung my tail around, knocking into them. The moment my attacker’s grip loosened around my mouth, I snapped my teeth. I tasted salt and flesh and copper as his blood seeped into my mouth. My assailant cursed, wrenching their hand away from me.
I spat, blood tinging the water red.
“What the hell?” I yelled as I turned. “Don’t come any clos—”
My words dried up in my mouth as I stared at the large mermale currently shaking his injured hand in the water.
“Dammit, Princess,” he said. “That actually hurt.”
“Calix?” I asked.
He crossed his arms, his trident catching the light as he glowered, grabbing my arm. I inhaled sharply at the contact. My entire body felt alive as he touched me. I was so entranced by the feeling; I didn’t fight as he dragged me into a secluded courtyard, where our only witnesses were the orange and yellow fish swimming all around us.
When we were alone, he released my arm and snarled, “Do you know any other mermales?”
I shook my head. I truly did not. Other than my guards, the only other men I had ever met were the potential suitors thrown at me by my father.
Apparently, he believed males could be bad influences on the female mind.
It made me wonder why he was so eager to have me married.
“That’s what I thought,” Calix said. He crossed his arms, and I couldn’t help but notice the generous bulge of his muscles.
“What… What are you doing here?” And why was he talking so much? Calix had said more words in the past minute than during our entire acquaintance.
He tilted his head. “I thought you might need some protection.” Lifting his hand, he winced at the bite mark. His blue eyes flashed, and his mouth twitched. “Apparently, I discounted your abilities.”
My heart slowed in my chest as I pondered his words. His many words. Nibbling my lip, I studied him. “You left the palace? And followed me? But my father sai—”
“Someone has to look out for you,” he said. “If the High King isn’t smart enough to see that and assign you a guard, then I will have to do it myself.”
“What about your job?” There was no way that he would be allowed to just waltz back into the palace. Not now that he left without warning.
He shook his head. “I can get another one.”
“But—”
“Look, Princess, as much as I love answering your questions, can we not do this right now?”
I stared at him. “Do what?”
“This.” He gestured around him, and the water rippled. “Night is coming,” he said gruffly.
“And?”
He huffed as if speaking this much was physically paining him. Which, to be fair, it might have been. “And unless you plan to spend the night sleeping in the streets with the common fish, we need to find somewhere to be.”
I blinked at him.
Somewhere to sleep.
I hadn’t even thought about that, to be honest. I had been so focused on not marrying those twelve idiots that I hadn’t really planned much at all.
Calix stared at me. “Did you even have a plan?”
I bit my lip, my gaze wandering. “Not so much of a plan as an… idea.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Of course, you didn’t have a plan.” Sighing, he grabbed my arm. “Come on then. Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere safe.”
Without waiting for a response, Calix swam away. I stared at him for a minute before sighing and hurrying after him.
Night was falling, and whether it was prudent or not, I trusted Calix.
I only hoped I was right to do so.