AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 3
“My beautiful princesses,” the commander said with all the charm of a stingray barb.
Chills coiled in my stomach whenever I was in his presence.
As per merfolk custom, he kissed my sister’s cheek, and she leaned away and tensed.
“Sweet sister,” he said to her.
Yuck.I hated it when he referred to us as his sisters. We weren’t related and never would be. Poseidon did not bless my father with sons. Triton had taken the orphan Faraall under his wing, mentoring and grooming him. Under my father, Faraall had learned the ways of fighting and defense and had exceeded my father’s expectations in all areas. Triton adored the boy, and a deep bond had formed between them. But in spoiling the rotten, little brat, Triton had given Faraall an enormous ego and a temper to match.
Neither my sisters nor I liked the slimy slug. Faraall had been cruel and merciless growing up, torturing my sisters and me, sticking snails under our tops, putting dead jellyfish in our pillows—he’d even killed my sister’s pet dugong. Each time my sisters and I had complained to Father, he’d refused to listen to us, as if Faraall were his perfect child, and we were all his whining girls. On Faraall’s eighteenth cycle, my father had appointed the jerk second-in-command of his army. Faraall had worked his way to the top, and now my father’s army was at his disposal. A dreaded fate for Tritonia’s army.
Unlike our father, my sisters and I weren’t fooled by Faraall’s false charm. But he had everybody else in court, including my father, under his spell.
As the commander turned to me, Nimian put a finger in her mouth, pretending to vomit.
Faraall offered me a kiss with lips like sand. “Enjoy your trip to Shark Bait bar, my beautiful princess?”
I almost choked on his horrible, sulfurous scent mixed with death. Time to find another place to hang out. The idea of his creepy eyes—or those of his soldier spies—watching my every movement made my stomach spin.
The commander pinched my cheek so hard, it stung. “Why so rigid, princess?”
I wanted to wipe that smug smile off his face and yank the shell necklace he kept playing with off his neck and clonk him on the head with it.
“King Triton is about to share wonderful news concerning your future,” Faraall added.
More chills scraped along my spine. What the heck did that mean? Why had my father confided in Faraall, rather than speaking to me first? Didn’t I deserve to know about my future?
“I hope to share a celebratory goblet of seagrass wine with you after the announcement.” Faraall kissed my hand.
Disgust had my stomach roiling. I tried to yank away, but his fingers dug into me. Pain flared in my hands. His strong grip would leave a bruise. His horrible laugh grated along my scales.
“Everything all right?”
I jumped at the sound of the unexpected voice, twirling to face the speaker—a merman. One of the noble’s sons—I forgot which one, but Nimian would know. Whoever he was, he smiled at Nimian and me, his gaze drifting across our bodies. Lecherous looks like those were why I didn’t like most of the aristocrats in the kingdom. They were always treating the princesses like pieces of meat, born simply for their leering pleasure.
Horrid creep. Now I wasn’t sure who was worse: the noble or Faraall.
The seedy appreciation didn’t go to waste on Nimian. She fawned like a seahorse trying to impress a mate.
The water between Faraall and me sizzled. Muscles in the commander’s arms and chest tightened, curling his back and shoulders forward.
Sweet Poseidon.
I recognized that position. Faraall was about to blow. I’d seen it twice before. One time, he’d beaten up a cocky noble for calling me “sugar.” He’d left the poor merman with a broken nose and finger as a reminder. Another time, a soldier under Faraall’s command had gotten three days in a cell for sayinghelloto his princess on a royal visit to a barrack. Of course, my father had taken Faraall’s side, believing his lies, claiming he’d defended the king’s daughters against insults from insolents.
For some reason, the commander thought he owned me. I didn’t know why. Not once had I encouraged his behavior or given him the impression I was interested. Far from it. The creep repulsed me…even more so now that I knew he followed and spied on me. Maybe I should blame it on my father. When I reached eighteen moon cycles and came of age to marry, Papa had begun dropping hints about me dating Faraall. How happy it would make him to see his favorite daughter align with his adopted son, he’d said. Several refusals and a few cross words had cleared that idea from my father’s plans.
Still, to avoid anyone getting injured, I had to put a stop to the commander’s temper. Doing the first thing that came to mind, I put my hands on his chest, stroking it. Using my best feminine wiles, I batted my eyelids, pouted my lips, and stared into Faraall’s mud-brown eyes.
“Everything’s fine,” I told the noble, my gaze locked on the commander’s eyes.
Something switched behind Faraall’s expression. Was it desire? Approval of my affections? Another scheme? I hoped it wasn’t a promise to hurt the noble later.
Bubbles popping beside me told me the merman had continued on his way into the hall.
“Who was that?” the royal army commander growled, staring after the noble, his eyes spitting daggers.
