Page 31 of Surface Pressure

What did he even mean by that? Did he know something he hadn’t told her? Of course he did. But what exactly was it? Why was he so adamant that the humans weren’t a problem?

“Why won’t you trust me?” Soulara’s frustration burned, yet her voice betrayed the pain she felt instead. Because she wasn’t just some princess. She wasn’t someone who would stand aside and let her people die. She wasn’t someone who did nothing. Didn’t he know that by now?

“I know you believe what you’ve seen.”

“No. I know what I am talking about.” Desperation kicked in. She had to make him understand. She had to make him believe her because everything hinged on this one moment.

Without permission, Soulara pressed her memories into her father’s mind. Filtering some of Autumn’s own memories in as well.

Pregtox’s face drained of color as he gasped.

“You have your mother’s magic.” His eyes fixed on Soulara’s, wide, all-seeing, pained. Why was he so wounded? There wasn’t accusation in her father’s tone, but something else. That combined with the look, Soulara understood.

Sadness.

“Yes.” She would have apologized, but Soulara knew better. One didn’t apologize as a royal. Not even to the king.

The silence stretched until Soulara knew she had no choice but to break it.

Soulara swallowed again, wishing she hadn’t forced food down before this. She feared a reappearance of the heated starfish. “I’ve been spending time with my mother.”

“Milan.” Pregtox spoke the name on a reverent whisper. Soulara didn’t have to check if he said her name wanting an answer from Soulara.

Despite the fight that had torn them apart, her father never spoke ill of Soulara’s mother. The rare moments Milan had come up in conversation, Pregtox had floated off to a different time. A time long before the fights and the anger.

His jaw tightened, and he didn’t tear his gaze away from her. “Is she…” he paused, as if deciding whether or not to continue. “Is she well?”

Soulara’s lips curled up into a smile, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Yes, Father.”

“Good.” He shifted uncomfortably, as if snapping back into the moment. “And Milan has been training you. You’ve been spying on these humans.”

Soulara often forgot how clever he could be. He already understood more than Soulara knew how to say.

“I have been talking to a human.” Soulara forced down the swirl of emotions that coiled inside her, heating to the middle of her tail. “She doesn’t want to take the water, but she is a soldier following orders. And her world is in desperate need of it.”

“Soulara. If you want to be involved in stopping these aliens, there’s one condition.”

Only one? Soulara bit down on her bottom lip to stop the words slipping out. She nodded, which seemed enough for him to continue.

“You must lead this battle. You must finally accept your responsibility to our people and your place in this kingdom.”

The condition didn’t shock Soulara. She’d expected it, along with many other demands. That didn’t stop her stomach churning with the full reality of what she would be accepting. And why, after all these years of pushing against her role as leader was she now so willing to put herself second for her people?

She knew the answer.

Autumn’s name hovered in her heart.

But it couldn’t be that way. It never could and never would.

“I’ll lead this battle, but only alongside Honour.”

“I expected nothing else.” Her father’s smile stretched, but his eyes glinted, hinting at something other than joy. Were his thoughts still on Milan?

“I’ll go talk to her now.” Soulara hesitated, still seeing that distant look in his eyes.

After another second, she swam quickly away before she could turn around, take everything back. She hadn’t ever wanted the throne. But it had never been the responsibility that she didn’t want. It had been something far more personal. A desire to not repeat the actions of her parents, the desire to live a life of love and privacy, of following dreams.

She followed the coral hallways without seeing the decadence of bright colors and molded shells and rocks that formed statues of previous leaders. It didn’t take her long to find Honour.

---