Page 27 of Depths
The red of his hair leaked into his cheeks, and he muttered, “My mother did that.”
“Well, it matches your new necklace nicely.”
He laughed, free and easy, as he hadn’t laughed since that odd moment in the ballroom. I turned, swimming back to the tent entrance and flicking it open, only to find Ugo and the other guard hovering just outside.
“I’d better go,” I told him.
Radford looked disappointed. “So soon?”
“I have a ton to prepare before we leave. There’s a lot of paperwork to running a kingdom.”
“I’m sure there’s more to do than that.”
I sighed. “I wish there was. Unfortunately, I’ve become more intimately familiar with the royal bookkeeper than anyone else here.”
“Intimately, hmm? I’ll have to ask him for tips.”
A blush rose on my cheeks, and I couldn’t help laughing. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it!”
Radford grinned. “Do I?”
I shook my head as I swam outside, but I did turn back. “Keep that necklace on for now, but I’ll send a mage again to see if they can find the proper potion to reverse whatever happened at the ball.”
He gave a brisk nod of thanks. And then I swam off with Ugo and another guard, heading back toward the palace. While I could feel Radford’s smile warming my back, I couldn’t help the chill that ran through me. Someone had enchanted Radford. But who?
7
An apology is a bow, a verbal way to kneel and accept another’s authority. It’s the perfect time to slit a groveling man’s throat.
—Sultan Raj of Cheryn
* * *
I feltlike an utter failure for not seeing it before. People didn’t just change in a split second. I should have instantly suspected magic. But I’d always hated whenever anyone hated me. It had always been something that had made me feel desperate, mind blank, made me feel like curling up in a corner. Before I’d found out my true heritage, I hadn’t been hated. I’d always been more of a peacemaker. Now … What was happening? Was it because of Mayi? Because I’d been raised on land? They didn’t even know me! I couldn’t wring my hands in public, no, I had to flutter my wings a bit more to swim gracefully and give gentle nods of acknowledgment to the people around me as the guards and I swam back to the glowing green palace. No public agitation allowed.
I wanted to cry though.Why do people hate me so?All I wanted was to be in this kingdom, this place I was supposed to belong. Did I really not belong anywhere? I didn’t belong on land, my wing-like fins and scales proved that. If I didn’t find my place here … if I made too many enemies … what was I to do?
I could feel a panic whipping up in my insides, as quick as the castle cook beating an egg. I’d be scrambled if I let myself continue down that path, so I tried to focus on something else. I could see the repairs going on, the hot glow of magically-created lava bellows and trowels that the glassblowers used to melt sand into magnificent shapes as they rebuilt my damaged castle. But the shards of the wreckage from the battle were still strewn about the ocean floor. I had to remind myself that the repairs to this kingdom weren’t only physical.
Mayi had shattered the people as well.
She’d broken their hopes, cowed them with the might of her magic, bent their wills and tangled them with her own until they hadn’t known sand from sky.
I needed to keep that in the forefront of my mind regarding whomever had enchanted Radford. They were probably angry, lashing out.
I paused, my feet sinking to the ocean floor as I debated whether I should turn back and ask him if any others from Nowhere were at the ball. One of my guards swam on ahead as I chewed my lip. No, I should simply have Sahar look into it. I didn’t know him well enough yet. And as much as I liked Radford, I wasn’t certain I could trust him to tell me something negative about his own people, especially if it might later implicate them.
Ugo turned toward me, a crease appearing between his eyebrows. “Majesty?”
“Queenie!” a boisterous male voice shouted across the courtyard. I whirled, water swirling around me, to find Keelan swimming toward me. Today, his white blond hair caught the rays of sunlight that pierced the depths. He’d changed the bolt of color on the side of his head from green to a vibrant blue as his legs kicked through the water. A sea turtle swam beside him, circling him and then playfully nipping at his heels. The turtle was a mottled green and gold, and roughly the size of a shield, and he looked utterly enamored with the siren.
Keelan didn’t slow to a stop when he reached me; to my shock, he barreled right into me full force and sent us spinning, head over feet, in the water. We rolled a few times until his arms grabbed onto me and pulled me to a stop before he spun around to face my guards.
“What kind ofprotectionwas that?” he scolded, voice irate, hand tossed to the side. “I could have had a weapon hidden on me.”
Ugo’s cheeks blotched. “You’re a competitor.”
“Doesn’t mean my intentions are noble. In fact, my intentions are pretty damned naughty concerning her, and I’m pretty sure some of the other contestants have motives that are much worse.”
