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The next afternoon, I dressed with great care in a light blue dress with a long train that gave into soft puffs of white. It looked like a wave crashing to shore. Though I imagined it to be what a two-legger sky would look like. The dress was comfortable and easy to move around in, as my limbs were still a bit sore from the poison.
I’d wanted to stay in bed, ignore the duties that awaited me—the princess—beyond the palace, but Captain Saber had insisted I make an appearance. Besides, that morning, there had been a tentative knock on the bedroom doors. When I opened them, Prince Kai had been on the other side, his hands clasped tensely behind his back, the soldiers in charge of my protection glaring at him, though what he’d done to garner those looks, I hadn’t known.
I hadn’t invited him in.
The pain of his last visit still stung. It shouldn’t have. We weren’t anything, despite what he thought had shifted between us. I wasn’t the real princess, and we would never marry. Once my business here finished, I’d never see him again.
But the prince had kind eyes and a gentle touch. Something about him drew me in like sea bugs to jellyfish stingers. No matter how badly I wanted to ignore it. I knew he was only in the engagement with the princess because of his own benefit, to help his kingdom. Royal marriages weren’t based on love or even affection.
And because I wasn’t the princess, I couldn’t let myself believe that he felt anything for me. Because I wasn’t the princess, I had to release my hurt. After all, wasn’t I parading around as her for the exact same reason he’d come to Thalassar? To better conditions, to help the mer?
“I was wondering if you’d like to have a turn around the gardens with me,” Prince Kai said, forming the sentence as a command rather than a question. While his posture had screamed of confidence, his eyes were beseeching and uncertain.
I wondered what Princess Odele would have done in that situation. Would she have turned him away? Would she have told him she needed to check her schedule? I pushed those thoughts aside and found myself nodding. A turn around the gardens couldn’t hurt. It may even help my aching limbs since my fin had been hurting me since I’d ingested the poison. As if the contents in it had made my limp prominently worse.
Prince Kai nodded once, agreeing to meet me later, and turned to swim away.
When I finished dressing, I looked at myself in the mirror. Purple tresses were pulled away from my face and held together by a blue jewel. Few wisps curled loose over my temples, and as I stared at myself, I had to force away the cutting words from the mermaid on the telly.
Plain.
Perhaps I was.
Turning away from my reflection, I went out the door to find Captain Saber waiting for me with a gaggle of soldiers on the other side. He bowed low when he saw me. “Princess Odele, we are here to escort you and the prince around the gardens.”
I tried not to glare at the mer who had been keeping watch. I would have liked to swim alone without the eerie sense of them following me. But after being poisoned, I couldn’t be too careful. I would hate to die before I’d even had a chance to rule and change things.
“Do we really need so many soldiers?” I asked, looking them all over. There were about ten of them. A tad too many, in my opinion.
“It’s for your safety, Your Majesty.”
I sighed but nodded. Then I followed Captain Saber down hallways and stairs until we made it out to the royal gardens. There, Prince Kai was waiting for me, and he was accompanied by his royal advisors as well as a set of Draconian guards of his own.
He was wearing his traditional kimono in a royal blue that really offset the dark color of his hair and eyes. When I swam over to him, he smiled softly and took my hand, bending over it to press a kiss to my knuckles. Like always, his lips against my skin made my whole body tingle. Except this time, the heat of his lips reminded me of someone else’s.
Dark eyes flashed in my mind, the hot press of the Black Blade’s body. His lips and tongue. How he’d made my fins curl beneath me and when he’d pulled away, all I wanted was more.
I snatched my hand away without meaning to. A quiet look of hurt flashed through Prince Kai’s eyes as he straightened, and I tried to push aside my guilt.
“Your Majesty,” he greeted. “You look lovely.”
The advisors and guards floated around us, not bothering to turn away or give us privacy. “Thank you,” was all I managed to say. How could I say more or even think about complimenting him with so many eyes and ears on us?
“Shall we?” He offered me his arm and I placed my hand on it, only to be guided through the gardens.
It was a beautiful splash of colors. Coral and exotic plants burst in bloom all around. Magenta, cerulean blue, and yellow flowers swayed with the gentle breeze of the current. Fishes darted in and out of anemones, colors in splotches of purple and pink sea roses blotted blue bouquets.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered quietly as we passed a small forest of water lilies. The sight of them reminded me so much of home, I was nearly crippled.
“It’s my favorite place in the whole palace,” the prince admitted quietly. “Because it reminds me of home.”
I turned with a surprised look to him. Then I looked over my shoulder. The soldiers and advisors were following behind us at a steady pace. There was enough space between us that they wouldn’t openly eavesdrop on our conversation, but close enough still that they could hear what we said if we spoke loudly.
I rolled my eyes and the prince stiffened.
“Sorry. I wasn’t rolling my eyes at you.”
“Okay.”
“I wasn’t!” Then, to change the drift of the conversation, I said, “It’s my favorite part of the palace, as well.” Not that I’d seen all of the palace yet. But this was too beautiful to hate. It gave me an overwhelming sense of nostalgia that made me smile despite it.
“Lilies are my favorite.” The prince stopped and broke away from me. He bent over the bright pink water lilies and picked one. When he turned back, it was with his arm outstretched shyly. “I wanted to apologize,” he said as I took the water lily, face heating brightly as I did. “I did not mean to offend you or hurt you the other day. Your captain implied that I only cared about your well-being because my kingdom needs you. While that may be true, I’ve found in the past few days that you aren’t entirely what I thought you were at first. Something... something seems different about you. You have something in you that I didn’t see before.”
I was at a loss for words, not knowing how to reply or what I could say that wouldn’t ruin this moment. My eyes darted quickly over to the soldiers behind us. They had stopped at a respectable distance, the majority of them looking around the waters for any possible threat. Captain Saber was looking at me with narrowed eyes. For a brief second, I wondered if he was chastising me with his gaze, if he didn’t approve.
My fingers tightened against the water lily, and I brought it to my nose to sniff. I was here to make a change in any way possible. Why not start with Prince Kai? Just because I pretended to be her didn’t mean that I had to be as mean, flippant, and daft, right?
I was here to make a positive change.
“I felt it was time for a change,” I said slowly, lowering the lily from my face. “And I was hoping that maybe we could start over. Get to know each other?”
I was sure Captain Saber was shooting daggers in my direction, but I avoided his gaze. It would do no good to dwell on what the princess would or would not do in this situation. I didn’t have it in me to be rude or indifferent to Prince Kai. Not when my heart beat faster when he was near. Not when my fins curled and my stomach twisted into knots. Not when my fingers tingled at the touch of his lips.
“I’d like that, Princess.” He smiled down at me.
“Please, call me M—” I cut off, sucked in a sharp breath, and then breathlessly added, “Call me Odele.”
He took the lily from my hands and tucked it behind my ear. “Then call me Kai.”