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I inspected and reinspected the rope that formed my bindings, hoping to find a weak spot in the material to untie or tear through. But my hands were too far apart, and the rings around my wrists dug into my flesh when I pulled too hard. Bruises had already formed.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been here, trapped in the cell. I’d always found it strange that the kingdom had a cell. Most of the disputes brought before Father had been dealt with amicably; and, as far as I knew, commissions of crime had been non-violent.
Violence went against our Perlnaut nature. And yet, what had gone wrong with Acai? Where had he been while away from the kingdom? What atrocities had he encountered that he found fit to share here?
Where was Acai now? Had he already met with Cari and Hazel? Had Pap, the owner of the land, gone with them? I expected Acai would not hurt them. But what if they refused him, and their refusal stood in the way of what he wanted? Would he treat them the same way he was treating me, his own brother?
Having not seen the sunlight in so long, it could have been days between each of Acai’s visits thus far, and I would have no way of knowing. I recognized that he was keeping me on the brink of weakness—a fine line between life and death. Despite my exhaustion, my sleep cycle was a mess. I slept in bursts.
I missed Lorcan and the other members of my kingdom. Some part of me longed to see Hazel again, too. Had I not met her, I would have had no reason to transform and travel to the creek. I would have never left my kingdom in a vulnerable position. I would have been strong enough to have prevented Acai from taking over and moving forward with his plans.
But I also wouldn’t have known about the wealth of L’even pearls kept by the humans. Whether Acai also realized it or not, Hazel’s cooperation was the kingdom’s only hope. My kingdom’s.
I felt the power of the L’even pearls before Acai stepped into the cell. A light blue glow cast across the room. I squinted through the light, wondering what horrors Acai would inflict upon me this time.
He positioned himself near me, but at an arm’s length away, just out of my reach.
I met his eyes.
“Your human friend has a natural, understated, and yet beguiling beauty, doesn’t she?” he said.
I frowned. Beguiling? I wasn’t sure I’d ever thought of Hazel quite that way. She began as something akin to an enemy, for I first found her with my father’s diadem. From that point on, she became a curiosity as well as a source of information.
Attractive, yes. Beautiful, yes. But also inquisitive and kind. She’d tried to feed me and also said she wanted me to be safe. We both believed each other to be wrong concerning the ownership of the L’even pearl pieces, but we were also motivated to work together, to some degree, for purposes of sorting out a solution.
When I didn’t provide an answer to Acai’s question, he continued without one. “I can see why you’ve spent so much time with her—why you made the arduous trip to the creek and weakened yourself as a result.”
My teeth clenched together. My brother had no idea what he was talking about, to the point of which I was getting confused as to where this conversation was going.
“I hope you mean her no harm.” My hands balled into fists. I could feel my elbow fins quaking with anger. “Otherwise, there will be consequences.”
“Quite the contrary. I would like to get more closely acquainted with the lovely Hazel. As you know, I am looking for someone with whom to share my kingdom. Our rules say nothing about the queen having to be a Perlnaut, per se. Should I successfully woo her as a life-mate, her own family’s wealth of L’even pearls will be mine.”
“No,” I growled. I’d suspected as much. And yet, the very idea tore at me more than any pain of hunger or other form of torture he’d put me through. “You will not have the kingdom, you will not have the pearls, and you will not have her.”
Acai leaned in and gave me a quick tap on the nose before withdrawing himself from my range.
“We shall see about that, brother.” He grinned. “We shall see.”