Page 12 of Drown Me Gently

“Then you already know the answer.”

Ulric’s throat tightened.

Don’t provoke her, he silently urged. Not like this.

“I know you’ve been playing a dangerous game,” the Queen continued. “Swimming close to the surface. Visiting human ships. Endangering every life in this city with your curiosity.”

“I was careful,” Auren muttered.

“Clearly not careful enough,” she said. “Because now the humans are watching. They linger. They probe. You were seen.”

Auren flinched but didn’t deny it.

“I’m forbidding you from rising again,” she said. “You will not approach the surface. If I sense even a ripple near the barrier, Ulric will craft a sinking potion that physically prevents you from crossing it.”

Auren’s head snapped up, and Ulric’s breath stuttered as those eyes swept past the queen and locked on him. Like Auren was silently pleading with him to speak. To contradict her. To come to his rescue, as Ulric had done many times before.

I’m sorry, spriteling.

Ulric held his gaze and forced the words out.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said, each syllable cutting his tongue. “I can create such a tonic.”

Auren’s body stiffened, and Ulric felt the betrayal radiating from him like heat from a volcanic vent.

The Queen rose, voice final. “Then we have nothing left to discuss. You are both dismissed.”

Auren didn’t bow. He turned and stormed from the chamber, emerald tail swishing violently, causing the massive doors to slam in his wake.

Ulric didn’t follow. Not immediately.

He floated beside the throne, trying to still the ache that had bloomed behind his ribs.

“Ulric,” the Queen said as she rose from her perch. “You understand this is for his protection.”

He nodded. “Yes, I do.”

Her silver eyes scrutinized him for a moment, and for a heartbeat, he feared she sensed the whirlpool of emotion ravaging his insides.

“Good,” she said finally and left the room.

This is for his own good. He’s going to get himself hurt. It’s for his protection.

Guilt tore through him like a shark at wounded prey. Because what the queen asked of him… what he had agreed to do… It wasn’t protection. It was a cage.

And Auren had heard him say yes to the lock.

Ulric hadn’t meant to return to the cave.

He’d meant to let the sting of the courtroom fade, to give them both space—time to breathe, to cool the frayed ends of their patience. But something restless churned in his chest. He told himself he was only checking on Auren. To ensure the prince was safe, and therefore, fulfill his duty.

He reached the mouth of the hidden cave only to find it empty. No hint of an emerald tail, no sharp voice demanding he go away, no echo of movement or breath.

Panic struck.

Did he really just go to the surface in broad daylight?

Ulric’s tattoos pulsed with unease. His gaze swept the reef’s edge. Sunlight fractured through the shallows ahead, far too close to the surface for any Mer to be lingering.