Page 44 of Depths
Sahar’s hands moved to my shoulders, and she turned me around to face her, a questioning expression on her face. “You do know Humberto comes from a line of mouthbrooders, don’t you?”
I quirked up a brow. “A what?”
She pressed her lips together, stifling a laugh, before she explained, “In his family, the women place the fertilized eggs in the men’s mouths to carry until they’re hatched.”
“You’re joking!” She had to be. There was no way.
She laughed but shook her head. “I wish I was. It’s an old, nearly defunct tradition. Most mer simply resort to legs and have babies the ‘sky breather’ way … because at least one can function. Can you imagine having to hold eggs in your mouth for two weeks until they hatch?”
Sahar’s know-it-all face collapsed in laughter as I mentally pictured what she’d described.
When she bulged her cheeks out and gave me a visual demonstration, my nose crinkled and my tongue popped out. I was horrified. “Disgusting!”
“So, now you know why he ran away so quickly,” Sahar chortled.
“He thought I’d give him eggs? I hardly know him!”
She shrugged. “It was a pretty massive display of masculine prowess he put on back there. I mean, he saved everyone.”
I sighed. “Let me guess … for cardinal fish, that’s all it takes.”
“Ohh, if we’d been closer to the reef, you would have had to fight the ladies off tooth and fin,” she told me, matter-of-factly. “They would have been tossing eggs at him left and right, hoping he inadvertently inhaled.”
“That’s a delightful mental image.”Cue puking.“It’s definitely less offensive that he swam off now that I know that.” I squinted in thought. “He literally thought I was going to dump a cluster of fish eggs into his mouth?” I repeated the question. I just had to be sure.
“Yep.”
I didn’t even want to think about how those eggs would be fertilized if they were in his mouth. Nope. Not going to do it. Not going to think about him swallowing his own … ew. I tried to erase that mental nightmare with conversation. “But … I’m a sprite. Not a shifter.”
“He’s not the fastest fish in the school.” Sahar extended a hand and gently cupped my shoulder. She rubbed there for a second, a little “there-there” and a hint of mockery in her gesture. “Don’t be sad he fled your net. There are plenty of others to catch.”
I grinned up at her, shaking my head before fanning my wings out behind me. I glanced up at the whale, where conversation had started up as everyone recovered. The silhouettes of all the competitors for my hand were backlit by the morning sun. I sighed. “Yes. Plenty of others. Too many.”
12
A good lie is the basis of every alliance and every fight.
—Sultan Raj of Cheryn
* * *
Entering Reef City,I realized, not for the first time, how truly foreign I was. But in this new city, that knowledge didn’t come in fits and spurts, it smacked me across the face.
We had to leave the whale and battered carriage outside the city limits because there simply was no room for them. We’d disembarked, and my royal guards had spoken with the city patrol before leading a parade of men and servants through the winding street that was the entrance to this massive city. I was the last to enter, swimming with Sahar and Felipe on either side of me, and Ugo along with three others taking a defensive position at my back.
We ducked under a giant wall of sunshine yellow fan coral that surrounded the outer edge of the city. The coral was so tall and thick that I could hardly see shapes moving behind it. It must have grown over centuries. “Is it magically enhanced?” I asked Felipe.
Behind me Ugo snorted.
I glanced backward, and the orange-tailed merman stuttered. “Sorry, Majesty.”
“Is there a story there?”
Felipe instantly said, “No.”
Ugo said, “Not one I can tell and live.”
I glanced between my guards curiously, and Felipe shot Ugo a withering stare. “Nothing important, Your Majesty. Just a little issue with my first leg potion.”
