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His kiss was quick, yet it still managed to warm me all over, despite how unhappy I was at his suggestion. I didn’t need another guard, especially not Prince Kai’s. If I had mer swarming all around me while I tried to go about my fake life as the princess, I didn’t think I’d survive the end of the week.
It was difficult enough trying to uncover the secrets of the royal tides, I didn’t need the added difficulty of being followed around everywhere. That would mean I’d have to be constantly alert. Constantly worry about someone discovering my secret. Not to mention there was a greater chance of Elias being discovered if I wasn’t left alone.
Prince Kai straightened and turned, swimming out with an elegance that only he seemed able to muster. Once he was gone, and the double doors to the throne room closed behind him, the queen turned to me with a hateful glare over her beautiful features.
“You may have enchanted the Dragon Prince, peasant, but we know who you really are.”
Her words speared through me, even if they were true. I was beneath them. But the way she said it made me feel entirely too small. Like a mere speck riding the current.
“If he knew who you really were, do you think he’d be so quick to come to your aid?” When I didn’t reply, she smirked, and the cruelty that lived in that single gesture was unparalleled. “I thought not.”
She turned haughtily away from me and swam back up to her throne, sitting on it with her back straighter than ever, and her neck held too high. She sniffed once, looking down on me. I wondered if she was waiting for me to bow. Rebelliously, I did not. For a fleeting moment, I imagined the real Princess Odele would have cheered me on for this bit of defiance.
“Now that he is gone, we can speak freely. You are swimming in thin tides here, little mer. When Captain Saber brought you here, it was my understanding that you’d be nothing more than an image for the merpeople of Thalassar to look at. Not an ambassador for peace and unity.” She scraped her nails against the golden armrest of her throne. “You have tested my patience at every single turn, and I am fed up.”
A lump caught in my throat. Would she send me away? Back to Lagoona? My hand went to my neck as another thought occurred. Would she have my head on a spike along with deserters and criminals to the crown? Fear coiled tightly in my belly, making me suddenly nauseous. I’d seen so many of my friends and neighbors die at the end of a royal blade, it was only a matter of time before it happened to me as well.
Tears burned behind my eyelids, but I pushed them away. I would not give her the satisfaction of seeing me cry.
“Your meddling ways have become quite tiresome, and the fact that you practically aided in that criminal’s escape means you cannot be trusted with this task. You are a foolish, incompetent, crippled—”
“That’s enough!”
Her rant was interjected by the king’s sudden angry shout. He pushed himself up from his throne and looked to the queen with a furious expression. The queen seemed to recoil from his gaze, though I wondered why when she was the supreme ruler of Thalassar. If anyone should have feared, it should have been him. And then I wondered if there was any love between them at all. His wife had died, only to be replaced by this mermaid a few months later. He hadn’t had a proper mourning period because the kingdom could not have anyone on the throne unless they were of the Malabella lineage. Odele had been too young to take over the kingdom herself at the time; she was still too young. It wouldn’t officially be hers until she turned eighteen and wed Prince Kai.
“How dare you speak to me that way?!” The queen regained her wits quickly enough, dropping the shocked hand from her throat to tighten in her lap.
The king rolled his eyes at her theatrics. “Be quiet. I am sick of hearing the ugliness you spout from that impetuous mouth of yours.” He turned away from her, as curt a dismissal as Kai had given Captain Saber minutes earlier. The king swam down from his throne and came before me. There was compassion now in his gaze as he took my hands in his. He pressed a kiss to the back of my knuckles, and I had to force myself not to tear them away. He was treating me as if I were true royalty, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
“Are you really fine?” he asked.
Numbly, I nodded.
He let out a sigh of obvious relief, let go of my hands, and turned to his wife. “The most important thing to us is that you are here, alive and safe.” He put emphasis on the word as he glared at the queen, daring her to contradict him. I felt like I’d been dropped in the middle of a feud and was watching a battle war out between the two royals. But the queen said nothing, so he continued, “The details of the consequences of your behavior can be discussed at a later time. Right now, I suggest Captain Saber escorts you to your chambers, you soak in sand scrubs, and change into something more comfortable while we deal with the gossipmongers.”
“Your Majesty...”
He smiled at me. “Not all royals are complete barbarians.” That brought out a smirk in me. I dared not let my heart melt in my chest, but a part of me couldn’t help it. I’d never had a father, and the king was very fatherly in his countenance. “Your actions were impudent, but I am sure after your trying time today, you realize this and regret it. Please, Maisie, do not let it happen again.”
That last part was said so sternly, I could only nod in agreement, to which he smiled and shooed me away with a wave of his hands. I started to turn, Captain Saber swimming up beside me as we started for the door. I didn’t look back, but I heard the queen practically screech at the king.
“You are a soft-hearted fool! Babying her the same way you babied Odele!”
“You would do well to hold your tongue—”
The rest of the king’s reply was cut off by the door opening, and the captain ushered me out of it quickly. It closed behind us, and I regretfully didn’t hear the rest of their rising shouts.
I’d vowed not to let myself become overwhelmed by this sensation, but for the life of me, I couldn’t very well help it. The king had kissed my hands. He’d looked at me with worry. He’d said my name. And a strange sort of happiness bubbled up in my chest, despite everything that had happened that day.
Because I let myself believe that the king loved me, the way a father loved a daughter.
And for a moment, I let myself believe that he was mine.