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“Oh.” My stomach clenches at the thought. I have to get out of here. There’s a lake near my dad’s farm. I can probably sneak off and swim there. That’s if I ever learn how to shift. Which I’m not sure I’m going to be able to do. Then there’s the overwhelming urge to have sex. I’ll buy myself a case of batteries. I’ll be fine. I smile softly, hoping she can’t read my body language, which has to be saying “give me a chastity belt, now please. Like right now.”
“I didn’t give birth to them all, my love. Nole, Castor, Soren, Cyprus, and Kai are the children of my womb. The others are the males of my heart. Atticus, Cade, Gotham, Jonas and Milo are my three youngest who moved out last year. Allgeminae. And they are all my children, my sons and Kai. I love each as much as the other. Kai says I love mygeminaesons more because they lack the stubborn streak of the Drakos. But I don’t know, they are all strong-willed males.”
“Oh.”
“From the outside, it must seem odd? Howgeminaearen’t welcomed into pods. But they are. It’s our damn genetics. We still aren’t sure why we have so few females. With them being split as embryos, the council is afraid of introducing it into our genome. Manygeminaejoin pods after the mermaid is older. My mate, Constantine, for example. There aren’t enough mermaids who are willing to have as many mates as me. You humans have a saying. ‘Two is a party, three’s a crowd.’ Well, here it’s ‘five is a party and seven is sleeping with a foot in your ear.’”
“Really?” I reach for my necklace. The one I always wear and fiddle with when I’m nervous. But I remember now I left it on the ship.
She laughs, and unlike my laugh, hers is melodic and genuine. “No, darling, I just made that up. But it’s good. And also true. That’s why I have two apartments. Because one can only take so much, even as a mermaid. But no one is asking you to do that.” She puts her hand on my shoulder.
I nod.
“There’s going to be... well, there is already quite the stir in the water. They want to know if it’s really true. You’ll have to do a public display at some point, I would imagine.” She smiles at me.
I nod. I should tell her right now that I can’t shift, that even with Castor trying to teach me, I couldn’t shift. Maybe this is good. Maybe if I can’t shift, they’ll just let me go. Let me—let me what? Swim away?
“Right, and the next room is what Kai used as a dressing room. In a proper apartment, the mermaid’s dressing room is attached to the bedroom. I do apologize that it’s not. That’s one of the reasons you shouldn’t be in that apartment downstairs. While we crave to be touched, a mermaid still needs her space. I, for one, sometimes just need a few minutes to myself. A little down time is the right of any mermaid.” The dressing room has beautiful stucco walls painted in a gradient from dark to light blue. Large windows take up one side where the dark ocean looms. “Of course, when you use the room, we’ll turn on the light outside. There’s a large school of glowing jellyfish that like the current around this side of the building. They’re relaxing to watch from in here.” She swirls to one of the large sofas, sits, and pats the cushion next to her.
I nod again. It’s becoming my signature move with the duchess. I sit next to her on the cream silk sofa. But I would still rather stay with Nico, Holter, and Castor in their apartment. The bed wouldn’t be so big, and I wouldn’t feel like I was going to break something.
“Here is your own bathroom. The main bedroom has its own for the males to use. Are you planning on having Holter join you and Nico?”
She says it so matter of fact. And I know myself well enough to know a red streaky blush is jetting up my neck. My dad never once asked about who I was dating or if I was dating. And here Castor’s mother is asking if Holter is going to sleep in the same bed with Nico and me. “I... I... I’m not sure yet. I guess I should talk to Nico about it.”
“Oh, how nice of you. It’s considered polite to talk to your mates before adding someone into your pod. But it’s up to you. And you can sleep with anyone you want, as long as it’s not a secret from your mates. The rules are different for them. It comes with the law of numbers.”
“Ah, right? I’ll keep that in mind, but I’m not...”
“Not what, dear?”
“I don’t think I could do that.”
Ophelia cocks her head. “Why, darling?” It’s like she’s speaking a different language.
“It seems unfaithful.” And that’s something I would never do to a partner of mine. I had a hard enough time being with Nico and Holter. And then when Castor came into the picture, I was so pent up with hormones, it took me over the edge. But it felt different with Castor than if it was someone that Nico and Holter didn’t know.
“Yes. Well, it’s not considered being unfaithful here. Not with an unmated male. And mated males simply don’t do that kind of thing. It’s not in their DNA. And like I said, decorum does say you need to inform your mates of your actions.”
“Oh.” I’ve heard that shifters never cheat on their mates. So, mermen not straying makes sense.
“Now we have to come up with a plan on how to get the populace to accept you. Staying with me will help, of course. It’s never a bad thing to have the support of a powerful duchess. Oh, with that in mind, I will have to introduce you to the duchesses of the other houses. Of course, we don’t have an active duchess right now. I am a grand dame duchess, which isn’t the same thing. Neither Koralli nor Zaffiro have active duchesses either, but they have grand dame duchesses.. Yes, I will have to have you meet with the others. But I heard what the Stele governor said to you. No way are you going to become his mermaid.” She sighs. “But if we leave them out, we’d have to leave out Braesen.” She stands, her gown rustling around her. She pulls some clothes of her daughter’s clothes from the closet. “Change and we can finish the tour. I’ve got a lot more to show you before lunch, and I think better when I’m moving.”
I change and she locks her arm with mine, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she starts skipping down the marble hallway. “Oh, here. Do you like to read? This is our library. Paper is a precious thing in the Veiled City, but a lot of us prefer it over digital books.” She turns the golden knob, and I think I’m going to fall over.
Its floor-to-ceiling bookshelves with a ladder. A real jump-on-and-glide-across-the-room ladder. The shelves go up at least ten feet, maybe twelve.
“I see by your expression you like to read.”
“I do.” I unlink myself from her arm and wander into the room. The middle has a long table with piles of books. There are scientific journals and novels all mixed together.
She laughs. “Oh, that’s my mate’s piles. He puts them away eventually.”
My hand runs over the books on the shelf. There are spines in Latin, Greek, Spanish, English, and a few I can’t figure out. But most of them are in Dorian. I recognize it from the lessons on the ship, and the signs around the city before they change to English.
“We have a lot of new books. Castor indulges our paper reading habits when he comes back from Greece every month.”
Another nod. I’ve picked up that he travels back and forth and that his job with the humans is a big deal, but I’m not sure exactly what he does or how he gets there.
