Droplets (DROPLETS Trilogy Book 1) (16 page)

     All was silent as though no one knew what should be done next; each eye turned to the king waiting to hear what he would say. For some time he did not speak, but instead walked to the large open window behind his desk. The dark sky was cloudless and the moon shined brightly against the deep blue canvas. The king sighed heavily and ran a hand through his red flecked hair.

     “Elik,” he said. The dark haired merman who had smirked earlier when all others had been serious stepped forward.

     “Sir,” he said, his voice pleasant and excited. Even the way he stood, broad shoulders thrust back at attention, had a sort of buoyancy to it. He was serious and experienced, but optimistic.

     “When will the Captain return?”
Captain?

     “He should arrive any moment.”

     “Very good,” King Oberon said, nodding his head in approval. “You all may leave us, except you five.” He drew a circle in the air with his finger that contained the group in the center of the room. But I knew that I was supposed to stay. The Captain would be back soon. And I had a hunch who this Captain might be.

16. Discovery

The patter of bare feet on marble rang through the room until everyone had exited. Left in the room were our small group, the king, the merman named Elik, and another young man with hair so blonde it was almost white. The large door shut with finality and its closing took away some of my stress. For the first time since we entered the room, I was able to really breathe.

     “Take those infernal things off him,” the king said gesturing with his hand toward Patrick. Elik stepped in front of Patrick, his blades breaking his forearms. With one quick motion, he sliced the ropes binding Patrick’s wrists. The severed ropes fell to the floor.

     “Thanks,” Patrick said while rubbing his wrists.

     “Don’t mention it,” Elik smiled. “Although from the looks of it, Kryssa must have been the one to tie the knots?”

     “Of course,” Patrick chuckled, surprising me with his calm. I had not expected him to be so relaxed.

     “I had to make it look real,” Kryssa snapped as she bent to pick up the broken pieces of rope. “Otherwise Voon would have been even more unpleasant.”

     “Just what we need,” Elik said, shaking his head in disgust. “How are you? It’s been a while.” His dark eyes searched Patrick’s face in concern making me warm up to him immediately.

     “It has been a while,” Patrick returned and clapped Elik on the shoulder. I wondered if I was the only one to notice his ignorance of answering Elik’s question.

     “I am sorry for the formalities, Patrick,” King Oberon said. He walked forward his hand extended in greeting, and Patrick grasped it in response. The king smiled at him, his eyes holding none of the earlier abrasiveness. All too soon those eyes turned to me, and I was even more uncertain of myself in this new relaxed setting.

      “And I apologize to you too, Lissie. There are certain standards I am expected to uphold here in my court.”

     “I understand, sir.” I nodded, not really sure how to respond to his kindness.

     “Well,” he smiled calmly and the lines around his eyes deepened, “make yourselves comfortable for the time being.”

     He turned back toward his desk and beckoned to Shaylee. She followed him and bowed over what appeared to be a large map. The light-haired merman sat on one of the wooden benches, where Nixie followed suit beside him. The connection between the two was obvious.

     “Hey.” Somehow the one word calmed all my nerves. I looked up and Patrick’s mouth quirked. He was back to being my friend. The composed features of his face mirrored my own. I knew that the previous night’s events were behind us. A feeling of kinship and understanding tied a bond between us.

     “Hey.” I replied and nudged him with my shoulder, not sure of what else to say since so much had been revealed in the past few minutes. He now knew that I had been lying to him. Although he didn’t know about me yet, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be much longer before someone figured it out.

     “How long have you known?” he asked. He didn’t have to explain himself, I knew what he meant.

     “Not long at all,” I sighed, putting a hand to my forehead. “I only figured it out on our way here.”

     He nodded and continued, “Kryssa tried to be sly pulling us through the water. All that caution for nothing.” He chuckled while I realized what he meant. I had thought the motor was too small to make us move so quickly. It’s ridiculous I hadn’t figured it all out then, but I pretended to agree with Patrick. If I told him how I had noticed Kryssa’s hair it would only lead to more questions. For now it was best to remain ignorant.

     “I have a question though,” I said quickly.

     “That’s not a surprise,” he said, folding his arms over his broad chest. Distracted for a moment, I looked at the deep golden color of his skin so different from my own. If only he knew how different we truly were. “You were saying?” He said, pulling me from my reverie.

     “Well, when King Oberon was talking about the enemy, what were they called again?”

     “The Hyven.” Patrick said the word quickly, but I couldn’t help noticing how every line in his face grew solemn at the word. His voice was deep and menacing.

     “Yes, the Hyven,” I said, trying to act as though I hadn’t noticed his change of demeanor. “Well, umm, who is their leader?” I asked the question innocently, but all my worries and fears were riding on his answer. If it was who I now guessed it could be, I would no longer have to worry about his presence here in Lathmor.

     Patrick quirked an eyebrow and his eyes narrowed slightly. I tried to look as innocent as possible. “His name is Morven.”

     Relief flooded me even though I had been anticipating this response. My feelings whirled as I realized I was safe here. Morven could not touch me where I was, and I did not have to worry about him coming near me. The feeling was enough to make me want to run, to scream and shout for joy, but I reined my emotions in not wanting to be suspicious. Although from the way Patrick was looking at me, I assumed I wasn’t doing a very good job of it.

     “I was just wondering,” I said, trying to be nonchalant and failing miserably.

     Patrick opened his mouth to say something, but whatever he meant to say I’ll never know since at that moment Elik approached, his hand extended toward me.

     “I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier. I’m Elik,” he said as a dimple formed in his right cheek as he smiled.

     I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you,” I choked out, nervous of making a bad first impression.

     “Have you been enjoying yourself on the island?” The question was simple enough, but the way Elik said it was suggestive. Patrick stiffened in annoyance, but I smiled and then hated myself when my cheeks warmed.

     I opened my mouth to answer, but my response was cut off by the loud creak of the door opening into the chamber. A powerful looking man stepped through the door; he was tall and broad, with well-defined muscles. His hair was cut close to his head, much shorter than any of the mermen’s hair I had seen thus far. He was dressed in all black clothing, dark pants and a tight long-sleeve shirt covered his arms, enhancing the size of his chest. I couldn’t help but notice the small slits in the sleeves of the shirt along the forearm, just where I knew the blades would protrude if ejected.

     The man’s eyes were serious and perused the group quickly. He held my gaze for only a moment, but there was something in his eyes which gave me a sense of foreboding.

     “Tunder,” Shaylee said. The name fit the powerful person before my eyes. The one word was an exhale of relief, but it was enough to break the tension in the room. Without another word, Shaylee crossed the open space and embraced the man whom I assumed was the Captain. Their affection for one another was evident and the moment they shared somehow seemed private even in this big room. The look upon Tunder’s face transformed as he beheld Shaylee and she smiled back at him, her eyes holding more emotion than I had ever seen her show before.

     “That’s the Captain,” Elik confirmed quietly to me. “Shaylee’s husband.” His statement put everything into place.

     “Captain, how was your mission?” King Oberon spoke, breaking up the reunion between husband and wife.

     Tunder tore his gaze away from Shaylee and she stepped aside. “It did not go as planned.” His voice was deep and rough.

    Kryssa sighed heavily and crossed her arms over her chest, her disgruntled look reflected in the eyes of all in the room. Beside me, Elik’s shoulders slumped in slight defeat.

     “How many casualties?” The king asked, showing no emotion.

     “None sir, and no injuries.” Tunder spoke with finality, “We were unsuccessful because we could not find Morven.”

     At Morven’s name I tensed unintentionally. Patrick glanced my way, noting my reaction, but I pushed it aside too focused on what was being said.

     “Something has changed. You were right sir, he is no longer busying himself with infiltrating Lathmor. The Hyven are not fixed upon us anymore; any time we caught sight of them they fled as though they were unconcerned with our presence. It’s as though they are searching for something.”

     The king nodded, rubbing his chin with his hand. “It has happened then.” His words were subtle, but the simple statement was like a dropping cloud of depression on every person in the room.

     “You can’t mean—” Patrick said and then broke off as though what he wanted to say could not be true; his grasp tightened around my hand.

     “Yes,” the king said, his eyes lifting to Patrick’s. The compassion within them only confused me more. Patrick stiffened, his chest lifting as he tried to breathe deeply to calm himself.

     “What?” Shaylee asked, wondering at the exchange. I had the sudden feeling she was not used to being left out of things. Beside her Tunder was looking at me, his eyes honest, and in that moment I realized what had happened.

    
They knew
.

     Patrick turned his eyes to mine and the thoughts running through his head were obvious: he knew what I was.

     “Lissie,” Tunder said slowly. I waited for his words to undo me. “Do you know who Morven is?”

     For a moment I stayed still, my chest lifting in distress with each breath I tried to take. “Yes,” I said, my throat clogged.

     “Have you ever met him?”

     “Yes,” I confirmed.

     “How could you?” Kryssa yelled, and I was taken aback by her sudden outburst. “I trusted you!”

     Ignoring her, the king stepped forward, his eyes staring intently. “Did he mark you in some way?” he asked.

     Struggling to contain myself, I nodded once more. Patrick’s arms fell to his sides and he stepped away; the small space separating us felt like a large valley. I looked at him, but he refused to meet my gaze.

    “Father,” Kryssa beckoned from where she stood, “what are you talking about?”

    Nixie and the pale-haired merman were now standing. Their eyes, like everyone else’s, fixated upon me. 

     “Lissie is not human,” the king spoke slowly. There was grief lining his eyes. “She has been changed.”

     “What?” Kryssa again spoke, “It can’t be,” she whispered. 

     “I think it is time you told us the truth,” Tunder coaxed.

     Taking a deep breath I raised my trembling chin. My greatest fear was that I would be handed over and that they would use me in this war to abate Morven and his Hyven. “The night I fell overboard, Morven found me in the water,” Patrick sighed heavily, and moved to look out of one of the large windows. His shoulders were tense as he leaned against the window pane, but I tore my eyes away from him and instead looked out a window across the room. The memory took over my mind, transporting me from the confined marble walls and the watchful eyes of the merfolk to the night that changed my life forever.

     “He took me back to my family and let them pull me back on board, but then he reappeared on deck.” My voice grew strained but I pressed forward. “He said he
wanted
me and told my father I was no longer his concern. There were others there, more Hyven, all ready to take me away, but they didn’t. Instead he cut me and placed part of his own flesh inside the wound. I didn’t know what was happening. He told me I would be different, and then I blacked out.”

     My sentences were becoming jumbled, one running into the next. But I couldn’t stop the spew of words.

     “I woke up later and my father told me what I was, what I
am
. I left home so he wouldn’t be able to take me. I won’t sit back and let him control my life.” The last words I spoke rang with defiance as I thought of the Morven who reigned in my dreams.

     Silence met my speech. No one moved or spoke. The only sound was my heavy breathing.

     Somehow I found the courage to look at Patrick, but he was still turned away from me. His head was hung as though defeated. Guilty, I looked away. I knew I had betrayed him. Betrayed what little friendship we had kindled. Yet, I couldn’t help but hope he would forgive me.

      The king cleared his throat, “Where is your mark?” He asked quietly.

     In one slow, fluid movement I grasped the bottom of my shirt and the waistband of my shorts. Sliding each a few inches in opposite directions, I revealed the lavender scar on my hip. The very sight of it was a symbol of my disgrace: the marking which made me something I was never meant to be.

     An exhale of resentment reached my ears and I lifted my eyes to the brown ones I knew so well. But the kindness which usually filled them had disappeared and they were instead filled with anger. His eyes were fixed on the shimmering lavender mark and he left the room without a word.

     I knew there was nothing I could do to coax him back.