Page 2 of Cruel Tides

“Of course.” He gave me a quick pat as he laughed, then turned back to where the other captains gathered.

“Oh, Papa?” I asked, just before he swam to join them. “Can I stay for the party? Please? None of the palace guards or the maids said I needed to leave, and I promise I won’t be a bother to anyone or get in anybody’s way.”

His thick eyebrows drew together, and I worried for a moment he might tell me no. “Just this once. But only because it’s so early in the day. I don’t get off duty until after the Feast horns.” He ruffled the top of my head before taking off.

I couldn’t believe it—I could stay for the party!

Now that Papa had said it, everyone had to listen. Not even a palace guard could carry me away without risking getting into serious trouble with my papa.

I pulled my head out of my alcove to look at the wide-scaled merfolk again. They were still in their group, but King Eamon was now in the center of it, and every eye was on him. Behind him, the musicians gathered up their instruments, and a few chefs reappeared, carrying golden platters around the foyer. I could hardly believe such an ordinary day had turned out so amazing!

Grinning, I turned my beautiful oyster over in my hands. I told Papa I wanted to hold on to it, but really, I just wanted to try prying an oyster open for myself for once. Setting my fingers into the groove, I strained, trying to force it open but?—

“What’s this?” a voice asked from above me, and the oyster was snatched right from my hands.

“Lee!” I shrieked. I swung my arms to grab it back from him, but quick flicks of his tail had him darting zigzags all around me. “Give it back!”

He stopped his tail’s expert movements only to scowl at me. “I told you to call me Prince Lee,” he corrected. Dragging a hand through his hair, he flashed a showy smile. “Because I’m soprincely.”

My molars ground together. There wasn’t a single merfry in the entire ocean more annoying than Prince Leander of the Atlantic. I swiped for my oyster again, but he easily twirled out of my reach with a twist of his tail. Showoff!

“I’ve got loads of pearls, you know,” he said, the golden scales on his tail glimmering in the lantern light as he spun. “All colors and sizes and?—”

I gasped as the merfry with the curly dark hair plucked the oyster right out of Lee’s fingers.

Although he looked to be around my age, I couldn’t believe how large he was compared to me and Lee. Just as the scales on his tail were wider than normal, his chest and shoulders seemed wide as well, almost double the size of Lee’s.Wow.

Lee grabbed for the oyster again, but his father’s sharp voice called from across the room, and he was gone in a streak of gold, leaving me alone with the dark-haired merfry drifting in front of my alcove.

“Is this yours?” the merfry asked quietly, his eyes peeking at me from the blanket of dark curls falling over his eyebrows. There was something about his voice that made it hard for me to understand it, and I felt my neck turn as I worked through the words. “Yours?” he repeated, and he held the oyster out to me.

“Oh, yes, it’s mine,” I said, taking it back from him. “Thanks for getting it back for me.”

His mouth formed into a small smile, but his gaze drifted down like he was trying to hide underneath his hair. “You are welcome.”

When I looked back down at my oyster, my face felt strangely warm. Weird. My fingers went back to the shell’s groove, and I tried to pry the two halves open, pulling at them just like Papa always did. My muscles strained, but no matter how hard I pulled, I couldn’t get them apart.

“May I?” the merfry asked in his strangely thick voice, and suddenly he was in my alcove, palms outstretched, offering his help.

“Sure.”

The merfry cupped it in his hands just like I had, but when his fingers pried into the middle, the two halves snapped right open.

“Whoa.” I looked up at him, totally stunned. “That was amazing.”

“Mmh.” He offered the halves back to me, but I froze when I saw what was inside them.

Two beautiful pink pearls sat nestled together in one of the halves.Two.

“Doubles?” I gasped, leaving the oyster halves in his palms as I dug the pearls out. “I can’t believe it. That’s like super rare.”

They were perfectly round and such a delicate shade of pink, too. This was the first time I’d ever opened an oyster with two pearls inside it. Was that because it came from the Red Sea? Papa had said it had come from a special place, and it was a lot prettier than normal oysters. The shell felt thicker, too, and this merfry had cracked into it like it was nothing.

“You’re so strong,” I blurted, still amazed by how easily he’d pried it apart. His shoulders jerked at the compliment, and I wondered for a moment if it was as hard for him to understand me as it was for me to understand him. “Your arms,” I said, poking at them. “They’re strong.”

He glanced up at me slowly, his dark curls nearly hiding his eyes, but he didn’t say a word. Maybe he wasn’t used to getting compliments.

“Here.” I pressed one of the pink pearls into his palm and gave him a smile. “For helping me.”

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