Page 12 of Depths
Radford stared at him in shock for a second before blurting out, “I’m sorry. I dunno what happened.” Color rose on his neck and spread up to his cheeks and down toward his defined pecs as if he was blushing so furiously the color had stained his entire body.
“Foot-in-mouth disease?” I suggested, feeling a bit more confident and less adrift now that my guard was beside me.
“Blow to the head recently?” Felipe queried.
“Well …” Radford gave a sideways tilt of his head. “I didn’t think it was that recent, but maybe you’re right.” He glanced out into the crowd. When he looked at me, his features hardened again, but he slid his eyes so quickly back to Felipe that I questioned what I’d seen.
“What do you do for work?” Felipe asked conversationally.
“I’m a whale breaker.” Radford lifted a red brow and gave a grin, the sweet man from the start of our conversation emerging once more.
I just looked at Felipe, feeling as clueless and confused as I had during my first day in Okeanos’ court.
My guard leaned sideways toward me, and a shock of grey hair that ran through his blue mane fell forward as he whispered, “I believe the land-based equivalent would be a man who trains hoses.”
“Horses?” I questioned.
“Yes, those.” Felipe nodded.
“Hmmm. Thank you.” I’d seen Jace, the stable master in Evaness, suffer from a kick to the head more than once. Perhaps that’s all this was. A crack to the skull had made Radford loopy. I’d send a castle mage his way to check on him later. How embarrassing. I tried to ignore the offense I’d taken and have a bit of compassion instead.
“Can those horses on land crush a trainer’s spine with a flick of their tail?” Radford questioned, an insulted throb in his jaw. “I think it’s a mite more dangerous down here in the deep,” he told Felipe.
My guard just looked at me, eyes wide. “I’ve never seen a hose, horse. Aren’t they covered in scales? Don’t they breathe fire?”
I suppressed a giggle. It was completely unacceptable for a queen to laugh at another’s ignorance. Another of Gela’s lessons that had been smelted into my brain. “Horses are soft and covered in hair not scales. They run, don’t fly, and while they’re taller than a man, they’re much smaller than a tree—” I realized by their blank looks that was a bad comparison. “I mean, they’re about the size of a dolphin.”
Both of them gave knowing nods, and my stomach fell when Radford’s eyes darkened aggressively again, and he pressed on. “But could those beasts swallow a man whole? My whales could—”
“Your whales eat krill,” Felipe countered, unable to help himself. “Tiny fish smaller than…” He held up two fingers and pinched them together.
I fought a smile as my guard and this stranger threw eye daggers at each other. While I would have liked to prolong the moment for my own amusement, I was here to make friends not enemies. Radford was wavering on the edge of the two, and while my ignorance about the sea kingdom was vast, my knowledge of politics was not.
When it all came down to it, countries were the same. People were the same. Whether they had scales or petals or skin … they wanted three things: to belong, to be proud, and to be envied. I let false admiration light my expression.
“So you must be wonderful with animals, right, Radford?” I pretended an interest I didn’t feel, throwing in his name to add a sense of familiarity. Animals had never been a passion of mine. I hadn’t spent any great amount of time at the barn, unlike Bloss and Connor, her “childhood best friend turned husband number four of five.” Although that didn’t really matter. Especially not now.
But unfortunately for me, the insane Radford re-emerged. His mouth twisted cruelly as he looked at me. “The ignorant might call it good with animals. But really, what it is … I’m quite good with a whip. I’ll show you sometime.” He let a dark, meaningful look accompany this statement, the kind that made goose bumps rise on my arms.
Blow to the head or not, I was done with tiptoeing around him. Anymore and I was likely to actually break a toe. He was too changeable. Too unpredictable. Until a mage saw him or a healer cleared him, I wanted little to do with him.
“Well, it’s been very nice meeting you.”I hope I never have to speak with you again.“This conversation was most enlightening.”It couldn’t have been more awkward.“Please, help yourself to some clams.”If you choke on them, you might save us both a lot of future misery.I redacted that last thought because it was a smidge mean, though I couldn’t help thinking it. That interaction had been painfully strange.
Radford gave a bow and quickly swam off without looking back. I wasn’t certain if he or I was the more relieved. Felipe and I shared a subtle “can you believe that” look before he swam back to his post at the side of my throne, slightly behind me.
Sahar was at my side before I could even let out a deep, cleansing breath. “Your Majesty, may I present the nextfoolattempting to win your hand?” Her voice was harsh and completely void of the diplomatic sheen she normally spread on every word.
My eyes widened as I looked from Sahar, the one woman I’d come to trust here, to the very angry, very handsome young siren next to her. He looked younger than most of the other competitors. He was fit but lean, with golden skin typical of sirens, but he’d made his hair a bright white blond with a lightning bolt of green slashing down one shorn side. His chin dimple was pretty adorable even if he did have quite a baby face still. He actually looked close to my age, unlike the dozens of other competitors who looked more like they should be my tutors.
“Queen Avia, meet Keelan. My son.” Her entire body was stiff and full of tension. She stayed, hovering in place for a moment before Keelan cleared his throat loudly and Sahar gave a shake of her head before she swam back to the line, which now wrapped around one side of the ballroom.
“Welcome.”
“You’re charmed, I’m sure,” Keelan said as he scooped up my hand and gave it a kiss. “It’s alright to admit it. I’m pretty amazing.” He crossed his sparkling amber eyes and stuck out his tongue like a doof. He was lucky his dimples were the size of canyons and his voice was deep and resonant. I worked very hard not to notice the muscles on his pecs as he continued to be silly, because I’d just been burnt by a man being silly, one who’d turned out to be insane. Still, though I worked to tamp down on my natural attraction this time, his ridiculousness deserved to be answered in kind.
“Yes, that right there wassotalented,” I complimented. “Very few people can cross their eyes with such finesse.”
“I know. I should use that pose for statues more often. But generally, they want these babies on display.” He flexed and my throat most certainly did not dry out because of it. I just suddenly needed another sip of my fermented bubble.
