Page 164 of Cruel Tides

Now that I’d targeted the loophole in my queen’s command, it was time to play the part of her puppet.

“Understood,” I said, masking my growing excitement. “I’ll make sure to break her curse in the most efficient way possible. Even if it means hurting the princess.”

I had no intention of causing more harm to her than I already had. No, my little captive was far too important.

I’d done everything in my power to prevent her from coming here, but fate had intervened. Now that she’d arrived, I’d be smart, cunning, and most of all, careful. The Undersea was a merciless place, after all. Even for a princess with her lineage.

She’d suffer enough without me hurting her as well.

“Good.Now go and get to work.”

My tentacles acted on their own, moving me away from the queen. When I reached the entrance, I froze over the threshold as one of the queen’s old commands plucked like a string, holding me back before I could enter the royal hallway.

You must crawl along the royal hallway, child, to remind you of your lowly existence.

There was a time when I held out hope that the ‘child’ she’d added to the command would cause it to fall away as I aged. Naïve, wishful thinking.

To a queen well into her second century, nearly everyone was a child, no matter their age.

And even now, twenty years later, the command persisted. But I’d rather give up all of my magic than be forced to crawl along the hall like I’d done when I was a spawnling.

Before I could teleport across it, an annoying grunt sounded through the hall. Seconds later, a substantial mass flopped down into the royal hallway from above.

“Arghhh!” Fat tentacles flailed haphazardly as the body that landed struggled to roll back upright.

Ah. The Rook.

I had no idea how he’d managed to fit through the tunnels above, but it was no surprise that he’d ended up on his backside.

Always remain respectful in the Rook’s presence.

Respectful. Creatures such as him didn’t deserve respect. Once a hulking brute of a knight and the queen’s former paramour, time had reduced the Rook to nothing more than a geriatric, half-blind octopus.

As expected, it took him reaching the mouth of the throne room to realize I was there at all.

“Puppet,” he grunted, shoving me aside with a tentacle as he lumbered by. “Can’t believe my queen is wasting her time lying with a whelp like you.”

The mere thought of being subjected to the same treatment as one of the queen’s pawns made my tentacles recoil. No, even if I was her puppet, the pawns had always been her playthings. A fact for which I was immeasurably thankful.

I regained my composure in time to assess the silver scar running down his face. Seeing the aftermath of what my magic had done to him once it had finished stitching him back together was always a delight.

It was far from my best work, but the vague command ‘Bring the Rook back to me alive’ had provided me with ample room for creativity, letting me wait until the last possible moment to intervene before he bled to death.

How would he feel knowing not only that he had a granddaughter but that he’d attempted to assault her upon their very first meeting?

I knew better than to think that pampered slob would care at all.

My fist clenched around the pole of my trident as the Rook dragged himself past me, but I didn’t let my anger show.

Although the memory of how he’d tried to harm her never ceased making my blood boil.

He’d even ordered me tothrow herat him, and although I wasn’t normally held to his commands, that vile queen had bid me to follow his every order while he was tasked to collect the spoils of the Atlantic.

Now that he’d failed his queen and his mission, the only command I was bound to regarding the Rook was to show himrespect. So instead of teleporting away, I waited for him to drag his bloated body across the hall. Respectfully.

“Aracos. Where is she?”

“Safe, Master.”Immediately, a vision straight from my familiar’s eyes flashed into my mind—a curtain of finery draped along an arched passageway. The chambers were some of the nicer ones that branched from the royal hall. Despite my aversion to her being here, it brought me satisfaction that she could potentially be comfortable in her assigned chambers if she chose to be.

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