Page 28 of Depths
Ugo’s eyes flitted over to me. I wanted to reassure him, but at the same time, Keelan was right. I sighed and turned to Keelan. “I think you’ve just condemned me to adding an extra guard at all times.”
“Why not two?” Keelan grinned, the shite. He wasn’t at all remorseful.
I peered around him, pretending to search the shadowy water in the distance. “Did your mother send you?” Sahar had suggested I increase my royal guard as we started to travel. I’d refused. Had she manipulated this little show?
Keelan shrugged as his sea turtle swam up to him, and he captured it in both hands, exposing its belly as he gave the massive thing a hug. “Even senile old women can have lucid moments.”
My eyes narrowed. “I think I liked you better the other night when you and I teamed up against her.” Traitor.
He gave an exaggerated shrug and then looked down at his turtle. He adopted a posh accent as he said, “Mr. Whelk, I think Queenie might be mad at us.” He paused and tilted his ear toward the turtle’s mouth. The creature’s pointed pink tongue snaked out to lick the shell of his ear, and he nodded. “Oh yes, I agree, she shouldn’t be. We’re just looking out for her best interests.” Another lick. “But you’re right. Women can be utterly irrational.”
With a wicked grin at me, Keelan released his turtle, then jetted away so quickly that nothing but a stream of bubbles and laughter was left behind.
“That ass,” I grumbled, half amused and half frustrated as I turned back to my guards. He’d made his point, or more specifically, Sahar’s point, and then bounded off before I could verbally lash him for it. Brat.
He’d already been at the top of my list, but this interaction cemented his place more firmly. Because even if he was a shite, he talked in silly voices to animals.
Ugo cleared his throat. “Majesty, I want to apologize …”
I waved him off. “I’m sure you won’t let it happen again, Ugo. Besides, that bastard was one of you until last week. I’m sure you give him more leniency than you would any other—”
My words were cut off as Ugo grabbed my arm. The thick-browed merman’s face was contorted in panic. “Inside now!”
“What?”
My question was swept away as Ugo and the other guard grabbed my upper arms and hurtled toward the castle.
“Faster,” Ugo muttered, and their tails began to lash so quickly that their scales scraped the sides of my calves.
A horn started blaring somewhere, like an alarm. All around us, people stopped what they were doing. Nobles swimming in small groups halted their chatter. The glass workers dropped their volcanic bellows. Maids turned, laundry baskets in hand. All of them stared behind and beyond me before they wheeled around and rushed inside.
My heart skipped as bubbles and tiny currents from their flight filled my vision.
What is it?
What’s going on?
Panic sizzled inside my skull. My guards didn’t drag me to the front door, but up, toward the balcony I’d stood on during the opening ceremony. The door there was a royal entrance, used by none but me. Permanently manned. The footmen had the doors open before we arrived and shut them with a reverberating clang as soon as we were through.
My guards dropped my arms, and I spun around to peer out the glass walls of the castle, determined to understand this threat. Was it one of those mobile islands that Humberto mentioned?
What I saw took my breath away.
There was not a giant island. Instead, a massive orange and pink cloud swept toward the castle as if some magic had grabbed the sky and shoved a bit of it under the sea. Backlit by the sun, the cloud reminded me of sunset, streaks of orange and rose in it. But the texture was wrong. Instead of the cottony softness of clouds, there was a smooth, silken texture to this cloud. Tendrils dripped from the bottom, dangling like ribbons. I squinted, trying to understand what I saw.
A smooth, deep voice resonated in my ear. “It’s a bloom of jellyfish.”
I turned to find Felipe right next to me, his deep brown eyes firmly placed on mine before they slid down my body, giving me a thrill as strong as if he’d touched me.
He came to check on me. When the alarm sounded, he came to find me and make sure I was alright.
I tried to tamp down my physical response to him, to remind my body that he was required to do so. But when his eyes met mine again, there was a flame in his gaze that hadn’t been there before.
I took a deep, calming breath before I asked, “What’s a jellyfish bloom?”
He shoved his hands behind his back, transformed his tail into feet so that he stood beside me. He resumed his pose as a guard, reminding himself and me who he was, and what his station was.
I swallowed and took my own tiny step backward, acknowledging the truth he’d stated without words.
