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Leander snorted to suppress a chuckle. “Yeah, okay.”
“Hey, now! I used to be taller than you, remember?” I wasn’tthatshort. Sure, my boots gave me an extra inch or two, but he didn’t need to be reminded of that.
“Yeah, when we wereeight.” His lips pulled into that sinful smirk of his, and I could tell he thought he was right.Damn cocky prince!
Bouncing up on my tiptoes, I captured his lips with my own just to prove how wrong he was. Our mouths met, but the blissful satisfaction was short-lived as gravity brought me sliding right back down. But sturdy arms caught me before I could fully slip away, sliding down around my waist and pulling me back into the kiss.
Leander’s stupid grin was more prevalent than ever as a deep chuckle vibrated through his chest. The stupidity must have been contagious, because I couldn’t stop myself from grinning, too.
“Ahem.” A throat cleared from somewhere beyond the doorway we were idling in front of, but the arms holding me up only fastened around me tighter. “May we be of service to you, Your Royal Highness?”
“Fuck,” Leander breathed out the moment my lips retreated.
“See, I’m not so short after all,” I whispered up at him with a confidence I hoped wasn’t countered by the fiery blush spreading across my face.
“You sure? You still seem short to me,” he mumbled back. One of his eyebrows lifted as he pressed our hips back together like he’d already forgotten about the guards who were waiting for his answer. “I think we need to measure again, just to be sure…”
“Your Royal Highness?” The voice came again, and an impatient breath shot through Leander’s nose like he was fighting to restrain his temper.
“I guess this isn’t the right time or place to tease you. Sorry,” I said, pulling away from him. I gave the closest guard a nod, but his face was red as well, only with indignation instead of embarrassment. “Are you gonna show me what they’re guarding, or did you just want to talk to me about the other princes?”
“Oh, did you want to see what we keep in here?” he asked, offering for me to step through the doorway first.
Of course I wanted to see. I moved past him without a second thought, but the guard closest to me stepped forward, cutting off my path with a swish of a long wooden pole. He brandished the heavy rod like he was wielding a spear, sweeping it through the air and stopping just short of slamming it against my chest. Rows of bristles gave away its true nature—a worn-out push broom that was likely once tasked with keeping the concrete floor clean.
“Let her pass.” Leander stepped beside me, easily shoving the rod away with a single press of his palm. “She isn’t our prisoner. Claira is my guest, and youwill show my guests proper respect.”
“But sir, I do not think—”
The guard furthest from us beat the end of his broom handle on the floor—two quick strikes—and the merman standing before me straightened up like a bolt. In an instant, he’d pulled his own broom close to his body in some sort of military-taught maneuver. Lips tightly sealed, he shot me a heated look before marching a step away, letting me get a full view of what he’d been tasked with guarding.
Aside from one table, the room was completely empty. Someone had pushed a rickety card table up against the far wall, balancing it up on three legs and a dented filing cabinet that was a few inches too short to keep everything level. Twin white cords sat across the surface in a neat line, their long lengths trailing off the edge and cascading down, likely ending at an electrical outlet hidden underneath the table.
No way. They couldn’t be what I thought they were. My mouth gaped as I threw Leander a questioning look.
Yes way. Leander was already reaching back, sliding a phone out of his back pocket. “You’d better stay back, Claira. This will only take a minute.” He moved up to the table, and I leaned forward as well.Oh, I had to see this.
The guards’ shoulders inched closer, their legs straining to keep them at attention as they pretended not to be interested in what their prince was doing. It was a good show, but their eyes betrayed them. Both pairs grew wide as they watched with bated breath as Leander ever so gently picked up the end of one cord, his fingers careful not to touch the little metal bit at the end. He held down a gulp of air in the same nervous concentration I’d imagine an electrician had when surveying a live wire. Steadying his hands, he held both the plug and phone high in the air, slowly inching them together until…click.
The pieces connected, and all eyes were on the phone’s dark screen. Two seconds passed and light flickered out from the phone, illuminating a familiar icon of a charging battery. Three sets of lungs released an elongated sigh of relief.
Were they serious?
Leander sat the phone down on the table at a precise angle and gave a little bow of thanks to… the table? Or maybe the charger? Then he carefully straightened out the length of both cords, looking a little too satisfied with himself for doing something so damn simple.
“This is where we bring the phones when they need to be reluminated,” he explained, glancing back at me with a smug look that said he was ready and waiting to hear some high praise. Too bad I couldn’t come up with any.
“Oh, um, wow.” That was all I could say. Pallet cages, shower curtain buildings, and beach chair thrones were one thing. But this?
They had really stationed merfolk here day and night in a tiny room just to guard some sort of shrine altar they’d made for their phone chargers?
Andreluminated?Did Leander really think that cell phones were anything like the magic lit lamps they used back in the palace? Sure, those had needed reluminating at night, but that was a ritual the guards had performed withactualmagic. This was just wires and electricity—but then again, how would merfolk know the difference? This could very well be some sort of land magic to them.
I bit my tongue to keep from saying something foolish. I already knew at least one guard didn’t like me, and I didn’t need to berate his duties right in front of him. No need to give him a reason to strike me over the head with his broom handle.
With a bright smile, Leander drew a hand through his hair before taking hold of my arm once again. “I’m glad my father needed me to reluminate his phone. Gave me an excuse to follow you.” Aiming a stiff nod to each guard, he led us back out of the room.
I stole a quick glance back, watching both guards tighten up their stances in front of the card table, forming a barricade of angled arms and broom handles. At least King Eamon wouldn’t have to worry about someone stealing his phone.
