Orphans.
Tatiana had heard rumors that servant girls frequently arrived at the doors of the orphanage with
lost
merlings. Unclaimed, they were raised then turned over at fourteen, when they could serve. Tatiana had suspected servant girls, often un-chaperoned, might be persuaded to mate in secret places with slick talking guards who’d promise to take them away—never kissing them. But that fairytale never happened and as a result, the Queen was never without an influx of help.
Nicole continued on, disrupting Tatiana’s thoughts. “When Azor was born, Dori mysteriously disappeared and Mistress Zerelda took over the new orphanage. Then, when we were deemed of age, we were assimilated into servitude.”
“I’m so sorry,” Tatiana said breathlessly. “That’s horrible.”
Nicole sniffed, the water washing away her tears. “Thank you, Princess, for your kindness,” she whispered. “We were told by Mistress Zerelda that our parents must have done something hideous for Poseidon to judge us so cruelly.”
“What?” Tatiana gasped. “No, Nicole. Poseidon had nothing to do with that.” Tatiana huffed and shook her head. “It was an accident, like you said.”
Nicole gulped and looked down. “King Merric was injured and almost died as well. But he was weak after that, and once Prince Phaleon had his son, he too all but disappeared. I remember my mother, a beta, would praise at what a gracious leader King Merric was and how he cared about all mer, never treating anyone differently.”
Tatiana blinked, reminded of King Phaleon’s warnings and his insistence she teach her son history. Her parents rarely spoke of Natatoria as it was, and being on land, she’d been separated from current events. Hopefully she’d still be able to get his book and read about the secrets of the past, but the thought of running into the King made her shiver. “I’m so sorry, Nicole. Truly sorry.”
“Thank you. And it’s an honor to serve you, the future queen.”
Tatiana’s stomach contracted. What if an accident had killed her father when he widened the Tahoe gate years ago? Would she be fitted in gloves and serving another future queen? She had to do something. She had to stop this archaic lifecycle hurting her people.
At the door creaking open, Tatiana startled, expecting Azor. Xirene popped her head inside.
“Sorry to bother you, Princess. I’ll show Nicole to her quarters now, if she’s finished unpacking your things.”
Xirene’s eyes panned the room, then smugly eyed Tatiana’s yellow skirt. Did she overhear Azor ask her to change?
With a glare, Tatiana rose in the water. How dare Xirene flaunt her disrespect. Twice she’d entered her room without announcing herself, and this would be the last time.
“I don’t care what you’ve done in the past, Xirene. You’re not to open my door without my approval of your entry, do you understand?”
Xirene’s eyes flew open wide. “Y-yes, Princess.”
“Such a crime could lead to a flogging, Azor has informed me.”
Xirene’s chest heaved, her eyes hitting the floor. “Yes, Princess. I apologize.”
Tatiana looked over to Nicole, flashing a smug smile. If only she knew the torture she’d endured from Xirene this entire time. The reprimand served Xirene right for ogling Prince Azor, then overstepping her bounds as keeper of the compound.
“And what are you wearing? This isn’t acceptable attire.”
“I-I’m sorry, milady. With everything, I haven’t had time to do wash.”
“Wash?” Tatiana laughed, before pity took over. Faces of the citizens asking for help flashed across her memory. “Oh. Yes. That’s understandable, considering… Apology accepted.”
Xirene bristled. “Can I show Nicole around the compound and explain her new assignments?”
Tatiana caught Nicole fidgeting in the corner, her eyes low as well. It was then that Tatiana’s mistake became clear. Nicole didn’t know the nit-picking and interference Xirene had caused Tatiana. She’d only witnessed Tatiana burst into unprovoked rage over what: intrusion without knocking and improper attire, offenses Nicole and Tatiana had committed themselves.
Tatiana’s chest fell forward as an apology burned on her lips. In one interaction, she’d done the direct opposite of what she’d claimed she’d wanted to do, confirming she’d always regard Nicole and the others as lowly servants.
“Yes. That would be fine.”
Nicole smiled weakly. She swam out of the room behind Xirene, her arms hanging limply down below her.
Tatiana blew out a sad breath, and moved to watch the sharks out the window. She wanted to take back her comments to Xirene. Normally she’d never be this rude to anyone, let alone a servant, but Xirene had a way of getting under her scales.
Off in the distance, the sharks mocked her. Even after the Queen had demanded Azor seal them outside the gate, they swam in defiance, waiting for another time to attack.
Everyone was overstepping their bounds in the kingdom: Azor, the King, Xirene. When would it end?
Tatiana sifted through her clothing, looking for something enticing to wear. After the tulle incident, she was intimidated to do anything unconventional. If only she’d had Grandma Sadie’s shell encrusted promising top.
After an hour passed, Tatiana grew impatient. She jetted out of her room and down the porthole, swimming headfirst into Jacob’s chest.
“Oomph.” She sculled her hands to right herself. “We have to stop meeting like this.” She smiled coyly, hoping he wouldn’t insist she return to her room.
“Hmmm…” he said, running his hands through his hair.
She craned her neck to look over his shoulder, finding an empty room beyond Ms. Sea Urchin. Voices filtered in the water just beyond, but she couldn’t decipher anything.
Jacob stiffened and kept a straight face. “Azor isn’t finished debriefing yet.”
“You think?” Tatiana propped her hands on her hips and let out a long breath.
“He said he’d be up soon.” He tilted his head, his lips in a tight line.
“Sure he did.” She pushed her tail, swimming around Jacob, and looked for something to busy herself with so she could listen in.
On the ceiling, two orange starfish caught her attention. With a quick flit to retrieve them, she attached the invertebrates to Ms. Sea Urchin’s tatas and laughed on the inside.
A giggle from the kitchen caused Tatiana to swivel around.
“That’s a good one,” Coralade said with a thumbs-up.
Nicole smiled too, but the happiness didn’t touch her eyes, stealing away Tatiana’s joy.
The girls returned to their work in the kitchen, but Tatiana didn’t feel comfortable joining them. After her altercation with Xirene, and the fact the girls knew she was waiting for Azor’s private attention, she had to show the wait didn’t bother her. Under no circumstance would she let the maids have more kindling for their gossip.
She turned to Jacob, head held high. “Just let Azor know I’m waiting in his room.”
A quick forced smile lit her lips before she swam through the porthole, down the hall, and shut herself inside his room.
The creatures once again made her shudder. Their glaring eyes made her think twice about removing her top. Instead, she propped herself on her hip, pressing her arms together to show cleavage and fanned out her tail to show all the colors. The faces leered, sending out hateful vibes with their eyes. Tatiana shut her lids tight to block the condemning stares, listening to the muffled voices downstairs. Her heart thundered away as she waited.
Then she had a better idea and zipped to her room to retrieve some clothing. The gargoyles needed a makeover.
16
: : :
Pancakes
At a low rumble, Tatiana opened her eyes with a start. Light from sun-tunnels filtered into the windowless room, illuminating the heads she’d draped with her clothing the night before. She blinked, gathering her wits, when the bed came to life on its own and shook beneath her.
She swam into the empty hall, panicked. Like always, Jacob had been standing guard, but today—when an emergency happened—she couldn’t find him.
“Jacob?” She traversed down the hall, calling his name again.
“Princess?” Jacob’s face appeared at the porthole, eyes alert. “Is something wrong?”
“Didn’t you feel that?” She placed her hand on the wall to confirm if another had hit. “I think I cursed Natatoria after all.”
Jacob hid a slight smile.
“This isn’t funny. I just felt an earthquake.”
Jacob shook his head. “No… it’s dynamite.”
“What?” After Nicole’s story the evening prior, her heart hammered faster. “Dynamite? Who’s using dynamite?”
Jacob sighed. “Azor. Who else?”
“What? Why?”
Jacob pulled his lips into a tight line. “He’s reopening the Tahoe gate, that’s why.” With a quick shrug, he swam off.
She pressed her palm on her forehead then flitted down the porthole to the first floor, mad as a hornet fish. Ms. Sea Urchin’s uncovered tatas distracted her momentarily before Shanleigh’s voice filtered in from the kitchen, halting Tatiana in her spot.
“All this blasting is giving me a headache,” she said.
“If the royals want it opened so badly, then they should do it their dang selves,” Coralade interjected. “The hard way, with pickaxes.”
A chorus of giggles followed.
“Y-yeah,” Nicole said, her voice shaking. “It’s just so d-dangerous. The rebels have f-families.”
Tatiana moved in closer; the fear behind Nicole’s voice constricted her chest.
“But the rebels should open it considering it was their leader who blew it up to begin with,” Shanleigh said.
“True,” Coralade agreed. “Give them the pickaxes.”
Coralade snorted.
“How long is their sentence anyway?” Nicole’s shy tone hinted she didn’t agree.
“I heard a month,” Shanleigh said, hushed.
“I heard no one goes home until all the rebels turn themselves in,” Coralade said.
As Jacob swam by with a stack of tridents in his hands, Tatiana straightened and tried to act casual, preening her hair in a mirror. He gave her a puzzled look before he disappeared down the hall. She blew out a breath and returned to the doorway.
Shanleigh continued, “I think they deserve what they get—defying the King like that, over what? A promising to Prince Azor? Limping limpets, no wise parent would deny the Prince their daughter’s hand. But,
no-o-o
, T gets to
ch-oooo-se
—”
“She doesn’t know how good she has it,” Coralade said. “I mean, if she doesn’t want him, there’s a line of mermaids who would, including me.”
“And I’d be in the front,” Shanleigh trilled. “But I heard they don’t even stay in the same room.”
Tatiana withheld a gasp. Azor hadn’t returned to the master bedroom like he’d promised the night before, and his common practice of avoiding her, along with her barren womb, was front page news of the palace’s tattle tribune. Her internal heat turned up, bubbling the water next to her skin.
“They don’t?” Coralade responded. “Well, Pearleza said that they haven’t even done it yet.”
At the snickers, Tatiana’s blood pressure skyrocketed. She fisted her hands and readied her fin to swim in, when Shanleigh added.
“He should make her wait considering she thinks she’s
too good
for him. Honestly, the nerve.”
The heated water whooshed over Tatiana’s gills.
Too good for Azor? Is that what the palace thinks of me?
“And have you seen how
you-know-who
reacts when he gets too close to T?” Coralade lilted.
Tatiana’s breath caught. Did they mean Xirene?
“I think someone’s a little jealous,” Shanleigh crooned then a squeak followed, as if someone had pinched her. “Stop it, Coralade.”
“What?” she laughed innocently. “I’m just saying that I’d take Chauncey in a fin-flip.”
“Uh-huh,” Shanleigh said. “Even Grommet… or Jacob.
Hubba hubba
.”
Visions of strangling Shanleigh and Coralade overcame Tatiana.
Coralade tsked. “Jacob’s a bore. He never leaves T’s side to have any fun.”
Tatiana clutched her neckline, her pulse zooming in anger. How dare they speak about the royals, the rebels, and Jacob that way? She put her hands on her hips, ready to confront them when Xirene swam from the front door, her arms loaded down with baskets.
“Princess,” she said with a frown. “Can I help you?”
Fear radiated from the kitchen, along with a few gasps. Tatiana smoothed her hands down the front of her blue skirt, trying to appear calm. She’d had enough of their forked tongues. They’d learn first hand how high-and-mighty she could get when she tossed them out on their fins. But the walls of the house shook again.
“Holy!” Coralade shrieked. “When will they quit already?”
Another frantic gasp came from the kitchen—this time filled with terror.
“You okay?” Shanleigh asked.
“Y-yes, fine,” Nicole whimpered. “The blasting. It’s just like before—”
At Nicole’s distress, Tatiana knew stopping Azor took priority. She’d deal with Coralade and Shanleigh’s vitriol later. With a quick flit to the front room, she caught Jacob’s eye.
“I’m going to the Tahoe gate. You coming with me?”
He nodded, though his frown said he'd rather polish the weapons than escort her. “Yes, Princess.”
Thankful that he didn’t put up a fuss, she refocused her energy and rehearsed what she’d say to Azor. He’d get an earful, not only about the blasting, but about where he slept that night.
Jacob stopped before he unlocked the front door. “You can’t go out. Not without this.” He produced a thin, blue iridescent hooded cape.
She took a long look at him, shocked he’d insisted she wear such a beautiful garment, and smiled. Maybe they had made progress in their friendship.
“Thank you, Jacob,” she said appreciatively, until a horrid stench of rotten fish filled the water. “This reeks.”
“I know.”
“You know?” Tatiana wrinkled her nose, attempting to remove the offending garment. “I’m not wearing this.”
Jacob stilled her hands and tied a bow at her neck. “You will if you want to see Azor,” he said, blue-grey eyes sliding into her, “You’ll wear this. No exceptions.”