Page 59 of Depths
Worry brimmed in my gaze as I looked over at Felipe, who swam just off to my right, slightly behind me. My guard gave me a calm, confident look in response, as though this was within his control. I had no idea if he knew how much I’d come to depend on his confidence in the short time we’d been together, but I had. I couldn’t be more grateful for everything he’d done for me.
Deacon excused himself before swimming to visit with some others further down on the platform. That left me with two spare seats at my side, and I turned to my guards.
“Feel free to sit if you need a break.”
Felipe scoffed. He and Ugo took up posts hovering on either side of my chair as I stared out at the crowd and wondered about all the things that had happened since the start of the tournament.
My mages swam into the tent and took their seats along the sides. Lizza wasn’t with them yet, she’d stayed with Posey in the competitors’ preparatory room. But that reminded me. There was a third odd thing that had happened to one of the men in the tournament. Radford’s odd fit. I started to rise from my seat, but Felipe quickly stopped me.
“Majesty, is there something we can get for you?” His tone was crisp and professional.
“I just wanted to speak to one of my mages,” I told him.
He lifted his hand, indicating I should sit back down. “Any of them?”
“Carle, please,” I requested.
He nodded and swam over to Carle. Seconds later, the dark skinned squi-shifter swam back to me. He was the oldest of my four royal mages. And he was the one I’d asked to check on Radford several times. Unlike the rest of the crowd, my mages were dressed in black pants today to identify themselves as magical healers in case they had to swim out onto the field.
“Majesty.” He bowed his head.
I leaned forward in my seat as I asked, “Were you ever able to find a solution to the Radford situation?”
He bent his head down and spoke softly so that we wouldn’t be overheard by the well-to-do of Reef City, those the mayor had invited to watch the joust from our platform so that they could be seen literally rubbing elbows with me. “No, Majesty. All I can say is that whatever happened didn’t come from any potion bottle. It’s not a spell any of us are familiar with.”
I nodded my thanks, and he swam away, relieved to lose my full attention and thereby the attention of everyone around us. But I was left with a sense of unease. I knew my castle mages weren’t the best, but wouldn’t they at least recognize magic at work? Perhaps not.
My face was placid, and my eyes studied the crowd, but inside I fretted and my heart paced rapidly as if it were walking back and forth across the ground in agitation. There was no proof that what had happened to Humberto was anything more than an accident. But what had happened to Radford, and the attack, neither of those things could be so easily dismissed. Was Deacon right? Were these bad things related? Or was that just a paranoid flight of fancy?
Travelers were attacked on the road even in Evaness. It wasn’t uncommon. And those rebels had been interested in more than just hurting me. They’d wanted the gold from the carriage. Maybe they were just victims from Mayi’s reign? Maybe Radford had some enemy I didn’t know about, some rival whale trainer who’d enchanted him to humiliate him? Maybe he’d used some random podunk spell that wasn’t in the royal books. Maybe I was making molehills into mountains.
I sat back in my seat, trying to steady the lumbering thumps of my heart. I was an idiot to get myself worked up before the tournament had even begun. All I had was speculation. A lot of assumptions. And Queen Gela had taught me what assumptions made of people: asses.
My gaze was drawn down to the side when I watched a green sea turtle swim up from the stands and land right on my lap. The turtle glanced up at me, and I swore I saw a smile cross his face.
“Mr. Whelk! You impertinent bastard!” a familiar voice rang out.
I started to laugh, and I reached down to pet the turtle’s leathery head as I asked, “Did your master put you up to this?”
Mr. Whelk simply let out an adorablesqueeand rubbed his spotted head harder into my hand. He was a fan of getting petted, it appeared.
Keelan strode up to the tent, his arms wide and the frown on his face as fake as a painted jester’s. He wagged a finger at Mr. Whelk. “You naughty, naughty little turtle. You have no shame.”
“I think it’s his master who has no shame,” I quipped. I bent down conspiratorially toward Mr. Whelk and asked, “Isn’t that right?”
Keelan made his way over to me, eyes lighting up when he saw that I had no qualms about snuggling a very large turtle.
I noticed that he’d changed the lightning bolt of color in his hair to orange today. He slid into the seat at my right-hand side, the seat reserved for Felipe. My guard said nothing, just moved over slightly.
“Queenie! Good morning. I apologize for Mr. Whelk. He was just so excited to see you.”
Mr. Whelk abandoned my lap the moment Keelan was seated, utterly denying his master’s words as he nosed at Keelan’s pants.
I pressed my lips together, but a huge grin crossed my face anyway. “Well, go on. Give him the treat in your pocket. He’s earned it.”
Keelan pulled out what looked like a bit of pasta from his pants and held it up. Mr. Whelk snapped at it contentedly for a moment before I realized that the noodles were actually jellyfish tentacles.
Once Mr. Whelk finished his snack and wandered off toward Mayor Deacon, probably in search of more treats, Keelan turned to me. “You look … well, there are no proper words to describe how you look.” He leaned in close and brushed his lips against my cheek in a sweet kiss. “Now, I’m here so you can make good on your statement that I’m your favorite.”
