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Staring down at what was left of the clothes at my feet, soiled and covered in glass shards, I finally let myself take a breath.
15
Claira
Stay here?
Yeah, like I was really going to just stay where he put me.
I lifted one end of the net Leander had tossed to the floor and ran my fingers over its frayed edges. “Well, I think that merman might be the last fish you ever see, my friend.”
I pictured the shark’s lacerated skin, caught and wound up in a similar net, and suppressed a shudder. Balling the net up in my hands, I worked it into one giant knot as I peeked out from the edge of the shower curtain.
Unfortunately, it looked like some of the crowd had lingered even after the spectacle had ended. With the way the mermaids were snickering amongst themselves, it was apparent that seeing their crown prince return home naked in the middle of the night made for a nice impromptu social event. Fantastic.
Not that I could blame any of them for sticking around to see the next crazy thing that would inevitably happen now that my existence had thrown their unfortunate little castaway lives into chaos. Was Leander telling his father about what a circus freak I was right now?
I shuddered again, recalling the cold way King Eamon had addressed his son in front of the entire kingdom. Watching Leander’s usually confident demeanor crumble underneath his father’s gaze had nearly broken me, too. Why had I let him go without me?
He was clearly anxious about meeting with his father. Terrified, even. And still, I’d let him walk out of here alone.
My hands tightened around the net.
What harm was there in waiting near the storeroom door for them to finish? The net needed to be thrown out before it found its way back into the ocean anyway.
Making up my mind, I slipped through the curtain, only to pause when a small merfry caught my attention with an enthusiastic swing of her hand. Waving at me from the opposite side of the king’s platform, she poked her head further out from the bottom of a neon pink sheet and shot me a toothy grin through a tangled mane of bed-mussed hair. Although it was obvious she’d recently awoken, her freckled face was brimming with energy, as if she was absolutely elated to have a reason to be up before the sun.
The child started toward me, shimmying across the concrete one elbow at a time, until her stone-faced father threw back the sheet and snatched her up by an ankle.
“Oh, no you don’t,” his tired voice scolded, but there was a trace of humor in the curves of his eyebrows as he slid her back into the room on her belly. “It’s back to bed for you, little sea squirt.”
“Oh,come on!” the child whined, waving her arms in dramatic exasperation. “But Papa!”
“No buts. This isn’t any business for meddling sea squirts. Back to bed.”
She folded her arms and harrumphed in defeat. “I never get to see anything!”
It wasn’t until the curtain fell back into place that I realized I’d stopped just to watch their exchange.
Papa, she’d said, and the word had struck me like a loaded cannon. Suddenly, I couldn’t help but feel anxious about a child I didn’t even know.
What if her father woke up one day and decided her spirited little personality was too much of a burden for him to handle? Would he take the easy way out and abandon her, too?
I shook the thought away.
No, not all mermen treated their children like my birth father had. Leander certainly wouldn’t.
Wait—Why was I thinking about what kind of father Leander would be?
Heat rolled up my neck as I shook that thought away, too. A couple of kisses, and I’d already lost my mind.
I had to focus on the mission. I ducked my head and hurried past the platform, weaving my way through what was left of the crowd. My nerves seemed to twist tighter with each mer I passed, my eyes darting to find anyone bold enough to stop me.
There was no way I’d let them cage me again without a fight. And if they’d hammered the walls back together, I’d already hidden knives under the cage’s bottom slats. I’d even tied a knife in the middle of the blanket Leander had left there for me, just in case. My lips softened into a grin, and I dipped my head down even further to conceal it.
Let themtry to catch me. Nerida might have been a pushover, but Claira was as slippery as a mullet. They’d have to be clever if they wanted to keep me.
My eyes drifted over to the door to storeroom 2B as I passed it, and I wondered what would happen if I knocked. Just imagining how furious King Eamon would be if I interrupted their conversation made my skin crawl.
