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We were minutes away from our city when Nerus suddenly stopped. I could hear his heart pounding, and I glanced around, trying to see why.
There, swimming in front of us, bloodlust on their noses, were a handful of sharks.
Chapter 4
Gal waved his spear forward, trying to shoo the sharks away. One of them snapped at the weapon, and Gal pulled back before it became a chew toy. Squiggles shot up under my hair, not even daring to squeak.
“Really, Nerus?” I said. “You’re scared of these old things. You know they can’t see very well down here.”
“It doesn’t matter when they smell your blood,” he said, his voice hard.
Gal reached out and put a hand on the shark. Instead of calming it, though, the shark swung its head and tried to bite him.
“Seriously?” I said.
“It’s not working, your majesty,” said Gal, clearly confused.
I dropped out of Nerus’s arms, swimming to the shiver of sharks. I put my hand on one’s head, projecting the message leave to it. The shark shakes himself, as if coming out of a stupor, then swims off, the others following close behind.
With my arms crossed, I faced Nerus and Gal. “Not so hard. You guys need more training.”
Before I heard their response, my world darkened.
I woke with a start, glancing around. I sighed in relief when I recognize the sea shells plastered to my ceiling. “Squiggles?”
A squeak came from the seaweed. Good, he was here, too. I sat up and yelped, putting a hand to my head. Immediately, I laid back down in my hammock. I had used too much power at once. Swinging my tail over the side of my hammock, I used it to push the water back and forth, rocking my hammock. At least now the queen will let me rest. There would be no denying I did do my duty. I sneered at the word. Duty. How much had I wasted my life on duties instead of actually living?
I stared up at my ceiling, counting the shells, until my head stopped hurting. My stomach grumbled, and I sat up, slower this time. I glanced at a contraption hanging on the wall. It contained a giant hourglass encased inside a metal circle. Every hour, it would turn and which hour would appear at the top, spelled by magic to continue forever. It was a remnant from the human city it once was, though I’d never seen one on land, the scant time I’d visited the village. The number four was on top of the hourglass right now. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. “I need food. Let’s go, Squiggles.”
He reluctantly untangled himself from the seaweed and swam to me, settling onto my shoulder. I swam out of my room, heading toward our eating hall. I stopped short when I saw my parents at one end of the long stone table.
Father glanced up at me and smiled. “Allura, come join us.”
Mother narrowed her eyes as she studied me. “Did you attend to all the sick?”
I clenched my hand behind my back. She was always treating me like a child, making sure I did my duties. There must be a club somewhere for adults whose parents still manage them like children. “Yes, Mother. Surely you learned from my guards that I did.”
I swam to the chair next to my father and sat down, the smooth stone hard against my back. “Of course I did,” she said. “I wanted to find out from you, though.”
Muttering under my breath, I grabbed a plate, piling food on it. My parents’ cryptic glances at each other did not go unnoticed.
Ignoring them both, I examined the food for today. All merpeople can cook underwater with magic, but our chef was the best at it. But sometimes she would combine strange ingredients. Today, it looked like she had made fried fish placed on top of small, round, flat breads. They were covered in sauce and lettuce. I lifted my plate up, wondering how to eat it. Father laughed at me, and leaned forward, showing me how to bend the bread and bite.
“Hey,” I said with a yelp. “You bit my food!”
He shrugged. “I was just showing you how.”
I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed while my mother tsked.
I bit into my food, and it was delicious. Savory with a hint of salt and spice, but not sweet. Just the way I liked it. Another of the queen’s duties was to renew the magic that keeps food from turning into a watery mess. Thankfully, Mother took it seriously or this flat bread would be disgusting.
Mother eyed me as I continued to eat, and after I had taken a few more bites, she spoke up. “Allura,” she said. “I have found a new tutor for you.”
I clenched my jaw and put down my food, sliding my hands under the table where she would not see. “Mother. I am twenty-one. I do not need any more tutors.”
“I disagree,” she said coolly. “You will be queen. There is no end to your learning.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but closed it at the subtle shake of my father’s head. I sighed, dropping my shoulders. “What is it this time?”
