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A school of silvery fish spread like a mist through the surrounding seagrass, their polished bodies reflecting the green light of the lantern like tiny slivers of mirrors.
Leander’s tail flicked through the school. The billowy end of his fin landed like a net over a section, pinning them to the seafloor. His hand slid underneath and emerged with a fistful of squirmy fish, their round eyes lighting green with amazement as they stared at the magic lantern I held.
“Look at that. Breakfast came to us,” he said smoothly, his lips cocking as he offered me the first handful.
My stomach rumbled, but the thought of their little bones cracking under my teeth made me want to turn green as well. I’d never minded as a merfry because I had known no other way to eat them, but now… “Thanks, but I’ll pass.”
Surprise lifted his eyebrows. “I guess herring are a bit oily. What would you like to eat, then? I’ll catch it for you.” He shoved the whole handful of thrashing fish into his mouth, their tiny bones snapping as he thoroughly chewed.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
He moaned in appreciation as he swallowed them down. Then he went back under his tail for more. I lifted the lantern, scanning around for something more palpable as Leander stuffed more into his mouth.
“The brown seaweed over there looks decent,” I murmured, squinting in the distance. Leander’s tail whipped instantly, sending a spray of dazed herring floating every which way.
“You like laminaria?” he snorted. One beat of his tail was all it took to close the gap between us and billowing brown strands. “How verymermaid-likeof you. How is vegetation going to fill you up?”
“Don’t forget I’m armed,” I warned, gesturing at my knife before poking him in the chest with a finger. Running a hand through the ribbons of seaweed, I broke off a few long strands. “I haven’t eaten raw fish in so long. I don’t know. It just seems gross to me now.”
“And laminaria doesn’t seem gross to you?” His face pinched as I brought the seaweed into my mouth. “It’s slimy.”
It was a bit slimy—and bland—but it would go down easier than a family of herring wiggling around in my mouth. Leander’s skeptical eyes watched as I swallowed it down and plucked up some more. “Well, it isn’t star grass, but I still think it’s good.”
Star grass had always been my favorite and was one of the things I missed most about my old life underwater. But it was also a rarity, so it would be a waste of time sending him on a hunt for some now. I doubted even royalty got to enjoy much of it.
“Star grass.” He hummed, looking out into the dark ocean ahead. He must have realized how unlikely it would be to find it growing in the stale waters of the harbor. “I’ll remember that.”
“See to it that you do,” I said with a joking air of royalty that got me a snort.
The only reason I’d even tasted something so above my status was because Papa had the keen eye of a collector and was always off on some mission or another. The best nights were when he came to get me from the palace with his sash wound into a bundle at the end of his spear.
That’s when I knew he’d found some, and later that night, after he’d carried me home, we would pluck the stars off one by one as we ate them and—
“Claira? What’s wrong?” The green glow of the lantern highlighted the sharp lines of worry forming over Leander’s face, drawing me back to the present.
“Nothing. Nothing at all.” I stuffed more of the bland brown ribbons into my mouth and chewed.
“Don’t tell me it was nothing. You were frowning.”
“Was I?” I broke off a bundle of seaweed and held it close. “If you’re full, you can start heading for your palace. I can just eat on the way since, well, what else am I going to do?”
The lines on his face melted into something soft. Sympathetic. “Hold the lantern. It’s a very important job,” he said gently, like he understood how much I hated feeling useless.
Dammit. I didn’t want his pity. For him to talk to me like I was a child. “Fine. I’ll hold the lantern,” I grumbled, and his arms locked around me.
Leander’s tail beat through the water with a strength that left me breathless. It was like the time he’d spent on land hadn’t mattered. Like it hadn’t disoriented his movements or withered his muscles at all.
Fields of seagrass passed us in a blur, the water rushing over my face and through my hair too fast to let me finish my breakfast. The darkness of the open ocean loomed like an ominous void in front of us, so I let the ribbons of seaweed slide from my fingers as I thrust the lantern forward to light Leander’s way. Pressure beat against my eardrums as we sank, the ocean floor falling deeper with every movement of his tail.
At this speed, how long would it take to reach the palace?
Wait. Did Leander even know how to get to the palace from here?
“Do you know where you’re going?” I asked when I noticed his tail had fallen into a simple rhythm. Three hard thrashes, then he let momentum carry us for a full three beats.
Laughter vibrated against my ear. “You don’t think I know the way to my kingdom?”
Holding the lantern steady, I tilted up to look at him, studying the way his eyes seemed to scour the seafloor. We passed a jagged rock speckled in moss, and his tail adjusted us in a new direction.
