Galadriel’s face fell. “It’s the signal for everyone to gather at the square. There’s to be an announcement.” She brought her fist to her lips and stared at the Dradux cloaks. “I think you’re right Fin. We can blend in. Then once we know what we’re up against, we’ll form a plan.”
Jax and Fin hummed in agreement and each took a weapon and a cloak, but Ash’s stomach turned aerial stunts. How was she to blend in when she didn’t even know the first thing about being a mermaid? Let along holding the weapon of choice for the Grimm Reaper?
40
: : :
Baby Blue
At the signal horn, Tatiana stood from her vanity, dressed and ready to go. Her eyes met Pearl’s who handed Tatiana the sleeping merling girl, dressed in a long gown. “I’ll be with you the entire time, my Queen,” she said before she bowed. “Anything you need, just ask.”
Tatiana nodded, unable to catch her breath, her heart pounding. In a daze, she walked forward and moved into the hall. At once, the guards surrounded her and escorted her to the front of the palace. The entire walk, the soft shush of her beaded gown hitting her bare legs echoed against the stark walls. Her coronation day and she still had no idea where Azor held Jacob.
The group stopped before a porthole leading to the staged area outside in the square. Through the windows Tatiana could see the dais decorated with pillars and sprays of anemones and coral. Oberon, officiator of the ceremony, stood next to three vacant thrones. To his right, the boys' choir sang the anthem while the women and children below huddled together, frightened. Rebels were bound in pillories like Lily had said, flanked in long rows on either side of the square.
The women watched on in horror and hid their children’s eyes while Dradux guards draped sacks over the rebels’ faces. As far as Tatiana could see, the Dradux hovered menacingly in the current with their scythes crossed over their bodies, uninviting green hoods over their heads.
The last to be covered was Badger. Tatiana gasped, covering her lips with her fingers, her limbs shaking. Was Lily right? This didn’t look like a pardon. More like a massacre. What did Azor have planned?
“Ready?” Azor said behind her, startling her.
“Azor.” She forced a pleasant expression, dropping her hand. “Yes.”
He smiled, eyes still shining. “What? No happy birthday?”
“Oh, right. Happy Birthday.” She curtsied.
He laughed and proffered his arm. “You know you’ll have to kiss me to make this believable,” he whispered while escorting her to the porthole.
“I know,” she said, revolted at the thought of his lips touching hers.
With a quick plunge underwater, the baby awoke. Under her gown, a tiny baby-blue tail flipped out of the blanket and wiggled. Tatiana quickly wrapped her fin up and out of view, looking to see if anyone saw.
“Ladies and mermen, welcome to this glorious occasion. I give you Queen Desiree, Prince Azor, Princess Tatiana, and the newest Prince, Treviathan Jacques,” Oberon bellowed.
Tatiana’s head whipped to Azor. Jacques was her father’s formal name.
Azor leaned in. “Appropriate, don’t you think?”
She shuddered, keeping a firm hold on the rambunctious merling. Of course, not having to change the babe, she’d assumed the merling to be a boy. But how could that have slipped by Azor? He would have found out the instant he took her underwater when her blue tail thrashed around anxious to swim. But most important, if she didn’t keep a firm hold on the child, she’d flit away and all would see.
: : :
Staring at the dais, Ash pulled a ragged breath of water through her tensed gills at the announcement of names. The Prince’s name struck her odd. Did the Queen just have a baby? Another son?
She squinted hard, staring out from under the stinking green hood, while the people cheered flatly around her. A beautiful woman with white-blond hair floated in first and took her seat, stealing Ash’s breath. In her soul, she felt the instant connection and knew instinctively who she was—her mother.
Azor appeared next, smug with his jet-black hair and dark, sinister eyes. Then Tatchi swam in with a gorgeous pink, purple and blue tail, and Ash’s hand flew to her mouth, one in recognition of her best friend and another for the small bundle in her arms.
The guards around them broke into cheers, smashing their weapons together.
Ash jumped. “Holy crawfish!”
Fin moved in closer, taking her hand, but his face portrayed horror mixed with confusion. He looked to Galadriel and mouthed, “What in Hades—?”
Galadriel shook her head, just as stunned. “Maybe she did like him,” she whispered.
“No,” Fin said adamantly. “She hated him up until the moment he kissed her. And, it’s not possible. We left only two weeks ago. Unless…” His nostrils flared. “If he even so much as touched my sister improperly—”
Touched her? Didn’t like him?
Were they implying the baby belonged to… not Tatchi?
“Hold up,” Jax interrupted quietly, grabbing Fin’s wrist. “Rumor was they weren’t even, you know,
together
, so I’d say no… I know my brother wouldn’t have fallen for her otherwise.”
“What?” Fin turned to Jax, his eyebrows pressed together. “How do you know this?”
“I was in the dungeon with the rebels, man. We talk.” His eyes canvassed the line of shackled hooded men. “Jacob’s not with the Princess, though, which is odd.”
“Jacob?” Fin asked.
“My brother is Tatiana’s bodyguard,” Jax corrected.
Ash’s eyes snapped to the front when Azor began to speak.
“Welcome all,” Azor started. “I’m glad you’ve joined us. Though today is to be a happy time with the announcement, my birthday, and my son, Treviathan…”
Murmurs and gasps came from everyone in the group. “
Son? How could he have a son? They’ve only been promised for two weeks. How improper.”
“—It is also a sad one to have to inform you that my father has indeed passed.”
“W-what?” Galadriel clutched her neckline, gasping. “Nooooo… He didn’t!”
At the Queen’s wail, Ash gripped Galadriel’s arm, trying to withhold her own sorrow. She responded and embraced her. She knew the King to be a cruel man, chopping off Galadriel’s fingers to hide her promise, but she couldn’t handle seeing her mother so upset, robbed she’d never meet or confront her father.
The Queen continued to sob, interrupting Azor’s concentration, and the crowd broke into confused whispers. Azor’s side fins flared and he motioned to his guards. With a quick bow, he lowered down in front of his mother while two guards manipulated the Queen’s arms like a puppet to place the crown on Azor’s head.
He rose and waved to the audience. “So, without further stress added to the Queen, I accept the title as your king,” Azor said, hurriedly.
“Long live the King,” the crowd mumbled half-heartedly.
“That son of a bass,” Galadriel grunted. “When I get my hands on him.”
Ash was still confused, unsure what this all meant and his reference to
his son
? Did mermen have more than one wife? But at hearing her mother’s desperate cries, her heart ached to comfort her. She flitted her tail and rose slowly upward, her head tipped backward so she could see the Queen better.
“And with that said,” Azor continued, “for my first order of business, I’d like to address the mermen before me.”
Ash shook her head, releasing the hood for a better view, and stared blankly, out in the open, hoping to gain eye contact with her mother.
: : :
Out of nowhere, someone placed the crown on Tatiana’s head. She startled momentarily, then held her breath and prayed the next words Azor spoke would be to pardon the rebels. If not, she’d let his daughter swim, thus giving the power back to Desiree to lead.
If only she’d stop crying and take the lead.
Desiree’s sobs, though, visibly interrupted his concentration; his face reddening and jaw clenching.
Nevermind. Let him have it. He deserves this,
she thought with a vengeful smile.
The Queen suddenly stopped mid-wail and her eyes glazed over. Staring into the crowd, a flicker of hope hit her face. Tatiana scanned the audience for why, for the source, hoping for a miracle, and blinked in disbelief, and blinked again to clear the mirage. But the redheaded girl that was her very best friend didn’t fade away.
“Ash?”
Azor continued on unaware, his body relaxing in the sudden void of grief. “As agents of harm, you’ve been found guilty for your acts of treason, for attacking the compound and attempting to kill your Queen, and you’ll be punished under the full letter of the law. Beheaded—”
“Lies!” the Queen shrieked, rising from her throne. “All lies!”
The crowd gasped.
“Mother?” Azor said, reaching for her.
She sirened and all the mermen doubled over, holding their ears. The merling sent out a small siren of her own. Unthinking, Tatiana placed her hand over the babe’s mouth.
“You will not touch me!” The Queen screamed to the approaching guards. She continued to glare at Azor, pointing. “You are not of royal blood. You are not my son! I replaced you. I replaced you with her, my daughter.” Her finger shifted to the new target; to the redheaded girl fluttering in the current, wearing a Dradux cloak. To Ash.
Ash reached out for her mother, the two of them propelling themselves to meet in the middle.
Fin? What is going on?
Tatiana screamed in her head.
Get Ash out of here!
We’re here to save you!
Fin yelled back telepathically.
She scanned the people surrounding Ash’s tail and didn’t see an army, let alone Fin. What were they doing?
I don’t need saving, idiot! Ash does. Get her out of here! Now!
Dradux guards darted toward Ash the same time Azor swam to his mother, yanking her back by the tail from the crowd.
“Do not say another word, Mother,” he threatened. He released her to two Dradux guards who grabbed her arms and pulled her off the dais.
“Silence,” Azor bellowed, lifting his hands. “That’s only my sister, Galadriel. She’d returned to serve me. And of course I’m of royal blood. Queen Tatiana has the royal mark.” He gestured his hand to Tatiana. “Go on, show them.”
Galadriel? Tatiana panned the crowd again to find Ash. She was gone.
Fin? Fin!
She mentally called.
She knew she hadn’t imagined seeing her. They had to be somewhere. She’d spoken with Fin even. What did Azor mean she was his lost sister, Galadriel?
At the siren scream beyond the dais, Tatiana’s head whipped around to find her mother-in-mer struggling against the guards. She couldn’t keep up the charade anymore. She had to find Ash. She had to rescue Jacob.
The squirming merling, as if understanding it was her turn to shine, bopped her tail just right and wiggled out of Tatiana’s shaking hands. The blanket fell away, revealing the colorful tail signifying a girl. The crowd gasped.
Tatiana fell back into her seat, watching her twitch her body in the current, happy as a clam.
“It’s not a boy!” someone in the crowd yelled. “Imposter!”
“He
is
an imposter!” Ash yelled, surfacing from the crowd once again. Her hair like fire framed her head. “I’m the royal heir to the throne! I’m your queen!”
Queen?
Tatiana gasped. She’d never seen Ash so vocal before, so brave.
“Arrest Galadriel!” Azor shouted.
And in a flash, Tatiana saw two girls. Two redheads. Two Ashes.
A skirmish broke out around and between the Dradux guards. Siren screams parted a sea of mers, scurrying to find safety as the green hooded figures mobbed in. She spotted Fin and another merman in a Dradux cloak, releasing rebels from the pillories. They’d come to save the day, with backup and look-a-likes apparently. She unbuttoned her beaded gown to release her weighted garment and straightened her black get-a-way dress that had been hiding underneath, when a hand tightened around her neck from behind.
“You did this,” Azor seethed, yanking her from her throne and lifting her off the stage. “Deal’s off.”
From the corner of her eye, she watched Pearl pluck the merling from the current and scurry away, but as for anyone else, she couldn’t see them through the stars flickering in her eyesight.
Fin!
she screamed telepathically
Fin! Help me!
41
: : :
Toll
At the splash, Jacob peeled his eyes open to see the intruder. He’d heard the announcement horn and knew it was only a matter of time before Azor would come to gloat, then finish him off.
The dark silhouette only stared at him. After another hard look, Jacob recognized the blond merman, the odd one from the practice field.
“Hey,” Jacob said, straightening. “Ferdinand?”
The man only tilted his head, birdlike. Hope pulsed through Jacob anyway. Badger had said he’d let all the rebels out of the dungeon. Had he come to save him, too?
“Ferdinand, it’s me. Jacob. I’m Badger’s friend. I—I need help.” He rattled the chains over his head. “I think if you hit that rusted spot with a spear, they’ll break free.”
Ferdinand looked off to the side, sniffing the air. Then without a word, he slipped under the water.
“Ferdinand? Ferdinand!” Jacob yelled, slumping against the slick wall. “Red Tide!”
42
: : :
Lost and Found
Azor slammed Tatiana’s wet body against the wall inside the palace.
“I did no such thing!” Tatiana yelled once her gills faded from her neck and she could breathe from her nose.
“You let the merling go!”
“The baby wiggled from my hands. And she’s a girl, Azor! There’s no denying that.”
“Don’t you think I know that? Pearl was supposed to keep that hidden from you!”
Tatiana laughed, still struggling to free herself from his hands. “It’s over, Azor. The mers know you’re a fraud.”
He moved inches from her face. “I’m not a fraud and the crown is now mine. You’ll give me the son I need eventually and I’ll take my birthright.”