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“I don’t know.”
“What does it say?” I ask Dahlia.
“Well, her friend must have a lover,” Porcia answers.
Dahlia’s eyes furrow as she looks at her block and back to Porcia. “What? Marina? I don’t think so. She tells me everything. And if she had someone interested in mating her, she would have told me.”
“I didn’t say someone interested in mating her, I said a lover. The two are not one and the same.” Porcia purses her lips. “You may write that down.” She tilts her head at Dahlia, who does.
“Can I see?” I ask Dahlia. She passes her block to me. I start from where it’s open.
B, I’m going to be busy.
Doing what? I thought we were going shopping for ball dresses at Hortences?
I don’t have time for shopping.
I certainly don’t get anything from the conversation.
Porcia smiles at me. “You think I’m wrong? Well, I guess I might be. I’m not usually, though. You see, Hortences doesn’t like it when mermaids don’t show up for their appointments. They will ban you from ever wearing one of their gowns.”
Dahlia nods. “It’s true.”
“What would keep a young, unmated mermaid from going to her appointment? It has to be big.”
I nod. More importantly, it was something she knew was going to happen.
The servers arrive and place our lunches in front of us. They even have a plate for Porcia.
Kai claps. “Oh, the first course looks amazing.”
15
NICO
I lean up against the fence to the fucking bridge. “How long have they been in there?” I ask Dar again.
“A little over an hour,” Ellery answers. Only he and Dar are standing at the bridge’s entrance. Kai’s three other mates are lying in the fallen petals. At least, I think that’s them. Bennett’s face is completely covered, his hands behind his head. If he thinks he can sleep while he’s supposed to be guarding his mate and mine, he’s going to have another think coming.
“Yo, Bennett, are you still alive?” Dar shouts. His thumb twitches into an upward motion. “He was on guard duty last night. Cut him some slack, Nico.”
I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised that Dar read my face. There are groups of males scattered all around the tea house—some standing, others lounging around on the ground like piles of puppies. “Guard duty?”
“Yeah, Kai’s going a bit stir crazy. But with everything that’s going on, we don’t want her going anywhere without one of us. Especially after the other day.”
I nod. We haven’t taken to keeping an eye on the interior doors, but the more people Little Krill meets, the more likely she is to try and get out of the apartment. Not to leave us but to do something dumb like try and get into the caverns by herself. My eyes flick over to Holter. Eros took off early this morning, said he would be back before dinner but that he had some things to clear up.
There are a few faces I recognize, but no one has approached me. That’s the trouble with being on the Centauri for so long: I know my crew and not many others. Then again, I didn’t need anyone else to survive, and that’s the point, right? Survive, get to another day, and do it all again.
I look around at the males, and two things strike me as odd. One, why in the hell don’t we have benches—hell, lounge chairs—and a full-service bar out here? And the second is that most of the males don’t look like they’re having a bad time. Sure, most look bored. But there’s no one who looks agitated. That stirring in my gut is mine. It’s not normal.
My eyes scan over those who are staring at me. “We should do some intelligence gathering,” I say to Holter.
“Right, if you could stop glaring at the rest of the males like you’re going to kill them, maybe we can get someone to talk to us.”
“I’m not going to kill anyone. Why would I kill anyone? You’re being?—”
“Start by dropping your arms,” says Dar. “When you cross them over your chest, you’re putting up a signal that says ‘don’t talk to me.’” Dar nods at Holter.
