Page 102 of Mermaid on Heels

“And as a stark contrast to that, dear Ella hates you to the core,” Luke countered with a laugh.

“I’m working on that,” Cedric said, amusement lacing his voice. “I’ll show you how she is going to end uplovingme.”

Luke paused in his tracks and turned to his cousin, his expression both incredulous and amused. “Am I missing something?”

Right before his eyes, Cedric flushed.

“Good radiance!” Luke laughed silently, throwing a cautious glance towards the door of the dining hall. He grabbed his cousin by the arm and dragged them back to the corner they had come from. Whatever they were to discuss, Ella’s ears shouldn’t catch it.

“Oh please.” Cedric groaned as he got dragged away. “If you’re thinking anything such as I’m going to discuss my love life with you—”

“Let’s melt her loathing of you into love before you call it yourlovelife, shall we?”

Cedric rolled his eyes but didn’t defend himself as Luke had expected. “Fine. What do you propose I do,bigbrother?”

Luke stoked his chin, pretending to be thinking. “Well, for starters, you could start acting nice to her.”

“Iamnice to her, thank you very much,” Cedric retorted, keeping his voice as low as possible. “Butsheis impossible.”

“You know what, I’ll simply cross my fingers and hope you don’t mess things up. And when you do mess up, I’ll be right behind you—laughing.” Luke winked, threadingCedric-sarcasminto his words.

Cedric’s eyes widened for a fraction at the unexpected jesting. Then he sputtered a laugh. “And that’s why I call you my brother.”

“Come on.” Luke put an arm around Cedric’s shoulder and led them back towards the dining hall. “Our banter can wait—though we’re seriously going to discuss this matter somewhere else—but the ladies can’t. More importantly, my stomach is rumbling.”

“Ah, sothat’swhere the terrible smell was coming from.” Cedric sniffed and scrunched his nose before shoving a playful punch at Luke’s stomach. “I am really glad you’re the same even with a woman in your life now, man.”

Luke grinned at him instead of replying, as they stepped closer to the dining hall. He dropped his arm from Cedric when they entered and greeted everyone at the table.

His heart began to race upon catching Liriya’s eyes, and wondered it would ever settle to a normal beat in her presence. Luke waited for his favorite part, where her eyes smiled and she glowed inside out. But that never came.

That wasn’t normal.

Every time he stepped into a room where she was present, upon seeing him, she would literally glow. It had given him the impression of the sun rising from the horizon and lighting up the world; as if he was the sun and she was the world waiting to be basked in the light. Her eyes always smiled at him, looking at him like he was the sun, the moon, and the stars in the heavens—just like how he saw her.

However, not today.

She is still in pain about her mother,he thought as he sat down. They needed to talk about it again. Averting his concerned eyes from her to the others, Luke noticed Aeira’s chair was vacant.

His eyes swept back to Liriya. “Where is Princess Aeira? She is not usually late.”

Liriya shrugged with a shake of her head. “We did not see her when we left the corridor, nor her maid.” She averted her gaze to Lady Riley who sat opposite to her. “Have you?”

“No, I haven’t.” Lady Riley shook her head with poise and turned to Luke. “But, Your Majesty is right. Princess Aeira is always punctual. Perhaps we ought to send someone to look for her. What if she’s unwell?”

Luke nodded at her and turned to one of the maidservants serving them. While he didn’t know the names of all his servants, he did know the ones who served him daily. “Polly, could you please check on Princess Aeira and assist her down for breakfast if she needs your help? If she’s unwell, please send for the doctor and come back to let me know.”

Polly handed over her task to a fellow maidservant immediately and dipped into a curtsey. “Right away, Your Majesty.”

Luke helped himself to his breakfast. As time dragged by and there was no sign of Polly returning, he assumed that perhaps Aeira was unwell and Polly was caught up getting the doctor and seeing to her care. He made a mental note to pay Aeira a visit after breakfast.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps enter the room and looked up from his plate.

An ashen-faced Polly entered the room, her eyes wide and hands fiddling nervously as they met Luke’s gaze. Before Luke could open his mouth to ask if Aeira was alright, two guards followed, their faces equally ashen.

An unsettling feeling formed in Luke’s stomach, but he ignored it and pushed forward his question. “What is wrong?”

“Your Majesty,” one of the guards began, nervously. “We don’t know how, the guards were awake all night I swear, but Princess Aeira seems to be missing.”

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