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Lessons with Percival were as dull as ever. There were no more tracings left of our conversation about marriage contracts, or talk of treason, or anything else I could take back to Elias in order to continue our investigation. Not that we spent much time investigating. In between conches on the princess’ life, we spent time talking or wrapped up in each other’s arms. Sharing every aspect of ourselves. Every secret through quiet touches and glances.
We were closer than any two other mer could quite possibly be, and we didn’t even really need words at all.
My face flushed, and I felt the sudden whack of a whip on the backs of my hands. Pain broke me from embarrassing reverie. I cried out, yanking my hands to my chest. Red welts began rising on the backs of my knuckles. Unfortunately, I was well-versed in Percival’s punishments. My hands wore the bruises and hard skin of his beatings. He’d started hitting me often enough in the past few days that my hands should have been used to the pain by now. They weren’t. The first time he’d struck me, I’d been so surprised that tears had welled behind my eyes. The second time as well. By the third time, I’d learn to expect the lashings.
“Pay attention!” He waved the whip around in front of me. The tadpole. “Now, I’ll ask you again, when was the treaty of Fraema signed, who signed it, and what did the treaty consist of?”
I racked my brain for the correct answers. So. Much. History.
“It was signed on the... thirtieth? ... year of the Malabella rule. It was signed by... Thalassar... Prague and... Iol?”
The whip came crashing down onto the table with such a force it rattled it. Luckily, my hands were pressed tightly to my chest and didn’t suffer the brunt of his wrath.
“Wrong!” he snapped. “The treaty was signed by Thalassar, Prague, and Ventlair. What did the treaty consist of?”
My hands trembled, but I did not dare bring them down. Tears prickled behind my eyelids, threatening to swarm out. I pushed them away. I’d not embarrass myself by crying in front of him. It’d be like placing a loaded speargun in his hands just so he could shoot me with it.
Gone was that docile, exasperated merman from that first day. Now, he was a cruel teacher. And this obviously wasn’t the first time he’d administered such punishments.
No wonder Odele had fled.
“It allowed for free passage between the nations to supply equal trade and commerce?” I was doubtful of my answer and tried hard not to be.
A princess must be sure of all things, even if she is unsure and incorrect.
Again, he slapped the whip onto the table.
“Hopeless and brainless,” he critiqued.
He liked to do that, to toss out insults that made me forget myself. The confidence I feigned while wearing Odele’s mask waned as, bit by bit, he tore into my every action. Soon, I’d not be able to take it anymore, and I feared that day’s arrival.
Besides, how had the queen’s advisor come to be little more than a glorified nanny to Princess Odele? Was it because she was the future ruler and he was passing on his experience?
I could tell him now that if he treated Odele half as bad as he treated me, the moment she ascended the throne, he’d be out on his fins in the streets.
The welts on the backs of my hands stung.
“That is enough study for now. Unfortunately nothing stuck. Hopefully you carry yourself better in the gardens while taking tea with your cousins.”
Dear Tides. Not again.
After what had happened between me and Odele’s cousins that first round of tea time, I had no desire to repeat such an incident.
I’d single handedly turned Odele’s closest confidants against her.
Not that they hadn’t deserved it, the wretches. But it had been a harrowing experience. They’d no doubt accept me with disdain.
Percival got up from his seat and gestured to a nearby servant, who began gathering up all the conches and kelp parchments quickly. I smiled at her almost absently before I caught myself.
A princess does not thank the help.
“Hurry along now,” Percival urged. “You have a schedule to keep.”
The schedule. To the flippin’ abyss with the schedule. It was like swimming in shackles. I was told what to do, how to speak and dress, what to eat and even who to see. And to my regret, this schedule did not allow for many breaks or to see Elias or Prince Kai at all.
I probably shouldn’t have even been thinking of the Prince of Draconi, considering all the intimacies I shared with Elias, but I couldn’t help it. He was beautiful. He was a prince. I could hardly help it if my heart fluttered whenever my thoughts went astray to him, especially when I caught sight of his guards trailing after me alongside my own. Besides, Elias hadn’t helped with whispered words in between kisses of what he would do to me, to Prince Kai. Sultry fantasies feathered against my skin and made me imagine things I shouldn’t.
Prince Kai was kind, a stark contrast from other royals I had met. And he had kissed me. It hadn’t been anything like the feverish caressing between Elias and I. Kai’s had been sweet. A promise of something else.
I couldn’t help but want to see him again. I could pretend to be Odele with everyone else, but with him, it was harder. I so desperately wanted to mend whatever rift was between them, even if I had to be myself to do it.
At least, that’s what I told myself, denying with every fiber that I was actually getting close to him for myself.
“Hurry along, now.” Percival signed off on the ledger.
I followed slowly and did the same, taking the quill and signing Odele’s name. At first, I’d worried about the handwriting and how it wouldn’t match. Now, I could make the excuse that the signature was different because my hands hurt.
It’s not like anyone but the old librarian seemed to notice anyway. Thankfully, he never made comments about my wretched handwriting. Especially not with Percival around. The last thing I needed was him prying into who I really was.
As we exited the library, Percival began speaking in that clipped, dull tone of his that spoke of lectures and chastisement. “You have an hour and a half of tea time. I’ll escort you there and the guards will escort you to your rooms, where you’ll change into your riding habit. I shall wait for you with your instructor in the stables.”
He spoke as though I didn’t know my own schedule, the barnacle.
I didn’t bother replying.
We passed through the opulent hallways of the palace where rows of Eramaean royalty stared at us and made me uncomfortable. The portraits veered into statues and vases that looked like old relics. It wasn’t until we neared the end of the hallway that the sounds from the opened doorway registered.
Clank. Swish. Pant.
Percival swam right past, but I stopped at the entrance and peeked in. My curiosity got the better of me. Usually all we passed were vacant rooms or spaces filled with courtiers that were either desperate to speak with me or desperate to avoid me. These sounds were wholly new and I wanted to investigate.
As I did, the water left my lungs and my gut clenched, flittering with nerves.
Prince Kai was in the room. It was a training room if I ever saw one. Weapons adorned the walls of the place, and the floors had thick leather-like mats in square sections.
The Prince of Draconi was in one of those sections, and I breathed him in. Every detail, every contour, every breath. It’d been so long since I’d last seen him, and yet his beauty was still so staggering. He was all high cheekbones, and soft, refined features.
Although, from what I was currently witnessing, the last thing he’d be considered was soft.
Prince Kai was engaged in a vicious sparring session with one of his guards. A long katana was gripped tightly in his fingers, the blade clashing against that of his guard.
He became a blur of silken black robes and steel as he danced through the water around the other mer.
Clash. Clank. Swish. Dodge.
It was like watching a dance choreographed in vicious savagery. There was something elegant about the way he moved but dangerous as well. His posture, and the formidable way he attacked, made my heart thump a little louder in my chest. Here he was.
The Dragon Prince.
Steel sparked against steel; it was obvious his opponent was good. Not good enough. Kai made a series of blows with katana and tail, and a moment later, the katana went flying from his guard’s hands, all the way to the ground at my fins.
It rattled and settled, and I couldn’t stop myself. I bent and picked it up by the hilt. It was a heavier blade than what I was used to, but it felt comforting nonetheless in my hands.
“Princess!” Percival was suddenly at my side—probably having noticed a bit too late that I was no longer following—screeching. His loud voice seemed to draw every eye over to us. Kai’s. His advisors. His guards.
My grip tightened on the hilt of the katana.
My eyes—and Kai’s—found each other. Where I expected that sudden politeness he was known for, something else glowed in his eyes instead. It was daring, dangerous, and it heated the blood coursing through my every vein. Still high off the adrenaline of this battle, his eyes took me in like a predator hunting for prey. He looked like he had weeks ago, in those moments when I was caught in the Black Blade’s grasp. It was feral and untamed, the darker side of him he kept hidden.
Excitement swelled in my chest, causing me to smile. He smiled back and then sauntered forward with purpose in his every stroke.
I braced myself for the impact of his voice.
“You’re holding it wrong.” His Draconian accent clipped the words out in slow resonance, but there was a romantic lilt to it. I looked down at the foreign sword. He placed a hand over my own, fingers adjusting my grip on the weapon. “Use both hands,” he instructed coolly, pulling his own hand away from mine for a brief second. I did as I was told. With the blade pointed down at the floor, I grasped the hilt, one hand encircling at the top, the other at the bottom like he’d instructed.
Once my grip was adjusted, he moved off to the side so I could lift the katana.
Percival sputtered. “Princess!” he chastised, suddenly appearing behind me and making me jolt. “You will be late for tea with your cousins. You cannot dally around here and partake in heathen Draconian behavior.”
Kai raised an amused, delicate eyebrow in Percival’s direction. Behind him, his advisors and guards seemed to ruffle indignantly at his tone. I didn’t blame them. If this was supposed to be Odele’s betrothed, why was he blatantly insulting him for all to hear?
And he’d chastised me on war and treason. Old fool.
I half turned to Percival and commanded, “Cancel it.”
His face reddened. “Cancel it? I couldn’t possibly—the schedule!”
I shrugged, feeling bold with the blade in my hand and Kai’s near-glowing eyes on me. It gave me courage, that stare. “Throw the schedule into a lava seam for all I care.” I turned back to Kai.
His smile was breathtaking. “Are you looking to battle, Odele?” he asked with amusement.
I hated when he called me by her name. Just once, I had the impulsive desire to be called by who I really was. To hear him say my name in his beautiful accent. For him to know exactly who I was and who I was not. But that’s who I was pretending to be, after all. Princess Odele.
“That depends on the opponent.”
He smiled wider, obviously pleased with that coquettish answer.
“Clear the floor!” he ordered.
Everyone rushed to obey, moving aside so he could pass. It was rare to see him so commanding. To see him take charge. And I rather enjoyed the layer of niceties stripped away. I had not bowed to him, and he had not kissed my fingers as royal propriety dictated we greet one another.
I swam over to the mat. My guards and Percival filed into the room after me. More to watch what would surely be a spectacle rather than to protect. I had no experience with sword play.
‘The princess is a skilled fencer,’ Captain Saber had told me those first days on our journey from Lagoona to Eramaea.
I wasn’t skilled at anything, and Prince Kai would soon find this out.
But the challenge in his gaze was impossible to ignore. So I took my place opposite of him on the mat.
And waited.
Kai paced back and forth, a prowess in his posture. The katana was held lightly in his hand, almost carelessly. He knew I’d be no match against him. But it’d still be fun to try.
“A powerful blow does not come in the strength of your swing...” He held his own katana at the ready. “...but in the angle of the swing.” He demonstrated by bringing the sword over his head and flying down in a graceful arc, then a few more at opposite angles. The sleeves of his bright training robes slid down his arms, giving me the perfect view of long forearms... and the scars crisscrossing his skin. “Brute force does not win battles, my gem.” He twirled through the water in a series of swings until he had closed the space between us, the distance of the blade the only thing that kept us apart. A blade he slashed against the sleeve of my dress, tearing it down to the elbow. “Skill and cunning do.”
I stared down at my sleeve with widened eyes then back up at him. He was already retreating back to where he’d been before.
Mischief gleamed in his eyes. A dare glowed there as well. A challenge to come towards him. My eyes narrowed. “I was fond of this dress.”
“I wasn’t.” He smirked. Even that was beautiful and distracting. My tongue felt suddenly heavy and I couldn’t swallow. Was this a mistake? Was I in over my head? “I’d much rather see you without it, anyway.”
My face flamed, and I cautiously looked around to see if they’d heard. But of course they’d heard. We were locked in a room where sound traveled through water. They gave no indication that they were listening, except for Percival, who was fuming with rage at the very suggestion.
I turned back to Kai and pointed the blade at him. My voice shook when I replied, “Is that a challenge?”
His eyes were alight with adrenaline. Yes, there was something spectacularly different about him. I wouldn’t doubt it if he had a hidden personality in there somewhere. The soul of a dragon lingering, ready to break through that carefully construed surface of politeness.
His eyes roamed over the length of my body, and I could almost feel his fingers on me, pulling each garment slowly from my skin. Funny, just how much a single look could convey.
It was like it was just the two of us, and everyone else was falling into an abyss.
“It could be, my gem. In fact...”
I didn’t see him coming. He was a blur before my eyes. I felt the snag of the blade on my clothes, the other sleeve ripping at the seams. The flaps of the material floated to my elbows.
“Try and bare me before your merpeople.”
A challenge.
“Alright then.”
I swung the blade.