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“No one,” I said. “Go dance.”
I winked once at Nixie and they left me to go dance. Now I was alone, though. Was there anyone else here to have fun with? I eyed the group across from me, laughing and joking around. Nope. One of the girls in there had been mad at me since we were young. Time to head home. Besides, it would give Nixie a better chance to have fun without me around.
The water was dark and clear as I swam home, only the usual creatures in sight. As soon as I entered the castle, though, Herman found me. “Princess,” he said in his dry, humorless voice. “You are to see the queen immediately.”
I sighed, following him to my mother’s office. I wasn’t surprised she was still awake; usually she worked on projects late into the night. Before she saw me, I stared at her for a second. Wisps of gray hair mixed with her dark hair, and new lines wrinkled her face. For the first time, I wondered if she was getting old.
“You called, Mother?”
She glanced up from her stack of stones, eyes unfocused. After a second, they narrow in on me and she nodded. “Yes. I need you to host the human ambassador’s child.”
Chapter 6
“Mother, I have other things to do besides babysit some little kid.”
She raised her eyebrows regally. “Like your new human lessons? Don’t worry, you’ll still have time. I’ve made sure of it.”
“No, not that.”
“Then what? Parties? Please, Allura. We need to settle this feud between us and the humans if we don’t want to be wiped out.”
My shoulders dropped as the image of the injured merpeople in the sick ward came to mind. “Fine.”
She waved me away, eyes drawing toward her stones. “Tomorrow.”
I sighed and left the room, not answering her. She wouldn’t have heard me anyway once she started reviewing those stone tablets. In my room, I greeted Squiggles, who squawked at me, then finally, went to bed in my swinging hammock.
The next morning, I waited in the throne room, hovering next to the queen, for the ambassadors to arrive. I twisted my bracelet around my wrist, gold wire fashioned into an octopus. Mother said there were three, a couple and their child. I had no idea what I was going to do to entertain a snot-nosed brat. Maybe find a few jellyfish to show it. Poisonous ones.
“Can’t you find someone else to take their kid around?”
“Allura, we are their hosts. Please, act like one,” said Queen Amaria.
My father peeked around her and grinned. “It might be fun.”
“As much fun as surgically removing my eyeballs, you mean?”
“Allura!” said Queen Amaria, her voice alarmed. “You’re a young lady. Act like one!”
I snickered, then abruptly stopped when the stone doors to the throne room opened. For the special guests, my mother had extended her power to allow the humans temporary merpeople tails. They would be gifted with these tails and gills while underwater as long as they were in our oceans. She enchanted an ordinary shell to contain the power until she revoked it. Squiggles poked his head out from under my hair, and he hummed in excitement, a rare sound from him. Usually, he just shivered in fear.
A guard came forward with a spear, announcing the visitors. “Their esteemed guests, Mister Toyama and Mistress Hana. Accompanied by their son, Kaga.”
My spine straightened at the name Kaga. That was the same name as the merman from last night. It’s impossible. They hadn’t arrived until today. Right?
“Enter,” commanded Mother.
The ambassador family entered, all wearing their shells around their necks, held there by a thin leather string. Good planning on their part. The one other time my mother extended this power to allow human merchants to visit, the shells fell down and broke within the first few minutes. It had been a disaster for them, and hilarious for me. The trade negotiations the humans had wanted quickly ended after that.
The man, Toyama, was tall with dark hair, his face stern, as if carved from unyielding stone. His tail was dark green with a lighter green edging to the scales. Hana was the water to his stone, a smile on her round face. Her tail was a shimmering coral pink, with orange edging the scales. Instantly, I loved the colors, knowing she would get along with Nixie. Instead of wearing a typical chest covering, she wore a human shirt over her top. I grinned. It wouldn’t take her long to find out how uncomfortable that was down here. Modesty was different under the sea.
And then there was Kaga. My eyebrows furrowed. It was definitely him, the merman from last night. He caught my eye and winked. Wait, if he was human. My mouth dropped open. He was the same man on the beach the other day! No wonder I didn’t recognize him yesterday. I hadn’t been expecting him to be a human. I glared at him, and if daggers shot through eyes, he’d be shredded right now.
“We welcome you to our city, Thalassire,” said the queen. “I trust you are used to swimming with your tails after a day of practice. As such, you are welcome to explore as much as you want, and when you are ready to negotiate, we will be here. Since you have not traveled our waters before, we are assigning a few guards to watch after you. It in no way is mistrust on your part, but rather a safety measure on ours. The sea is covered in dark corners where creatures with teeth lurk and hide.”
She paused and surveyed the ambassadors, not giving a smile at all, but staring at them thoughtfully. “Princess Allura will accompany Kaga.”
Toyama floated forward, wavering a little on his new tail. He bowed at the waist. “We are grateful for this opportunity to mend relationships between us all. The terms are acceptable.”
