Chapter 34
Kaid grew anxious as they approached Naltania. He had been in the Ventarin Sea for over a week now and had not once seen the kingdom that was his. Nor had he met his own mother.
The crew moved quickly after the morphling grouper attack. The final fish had retreated completely once Asta drained its companion, likely frightened to meet the same end.
After an onslaught of questions from Asta, Soren and Revna managed to explain that morphling groupers were actually finfolk.
Finfolk all had the option to complete a transformation referred to as the Morph, changing them into beastly, gargantuan groupers.
Historically, this form was utilized in battle, seeing as the groupers were incredibly difficult to take down.
However, once the Morph was initiated, the finfolk only had three days to live.
Again, well utilized in battle as most of those warriors did not expect to make it home anyway.
It was a last-ditch effort to fight for their cause.
If the finfolk were dispatching morphlings, they were getting desperate.
Soren did mention that he had never seen anyone drain a morphling grouper in order to defeat them, and he suspected that the one that got away returned to the finfolk kingdom with what little time it had left to report the new weakness that had been discovered.
Asta very well could have changed the war in her hunger frenzy, and Kaid was so incredibly mesmerized by her.
He didn’t know how to talk to her after the way they had parted on the beach.
It did not help that they hadn’t had a moment alone since his rescue and he suspected they would not once they arrived in Naltania, either.
First things first, he needed to meet his mother—the Empress. That wasn’t intimidating at all.
“Just over this embankment,” Soren shouted over his shoulder.
Kaid didn’t know what to do with his hands. He tightened his fists, then released them. A calloused hand slipped into his and squeezed. Asta gave him a soft smile, her bioluminescent eyes practically glowing in the morning light underwater.
The kelpies rushed over the hill, followed by Annika and Tova. Soren and Revna went up and over together, the tops of their heads disappearing as they went down the slope on the other side.
Kaid saw a tall tower first, pointed and bright. The tower drifted down to shorter belfries, then a full opalescent castle surrounded by a thick coral reef illuminated with every color of the rainbow. It took his breath away.
Asta grinned at Kaid and signed to him. “Welcome home, Lost Prince.”
Kaid was quickly whisked through the castle upon entry, more sirens bowing and sea creatures darting out of his path than he could imagine.
Kaid and Asta came to a large set of etched pearl double doors, which were pulled open by two siren guards on either side of them.
In front of them sat a large golden desk, grand windows made of sea glass shards making up the walls to their left and right.
Behind the desk sat a fire-haired female siren with the same eyes as Kaid.
Queen Arielle rose and Kaid couldn’t help but notice they had the same royal blue fins. She clasped her hands together and Kaid swam forward, unsure how to greet the woman who birthed him, but also whom he’d never truly met.
The empress came around her grandiose desk and her breath hitched. She dove forward and pulled Kaid into the warmest embrace he had ever received. His nerves dissipated with each second they held each other. He had a mother.
When Queen Arielle pulled back, she surveyed Kaid’s face closely, likely taking him in while also looking for injuries. Her eyes landed on the iron shackle and chain he dragged from his wrist and her brows furrowed.
She quickly signed to Asta and Kaid only knew a few words—he, stuck, hurt.
Asta shook her head and signed back—tried, open, fight, warrior.
Kaid looked back and forth between the women, wishing someone would include him somehow.
“She asked if you were stuck, and if the cuff hurt. I told her I tried to release you and you were bruised but that’s it.”
Kaid was new to sign language, but he definitely saw the words fight and warrior thrown in there. Asta was keeping something from him, but his mother read her lips closely and made no objections.
The siren queen signed again and Kaid spoke aloud as he translated. “You are home. You are safe here. My son, I, uh, something?”
Kaid looked at Asta and her cheeks flushed. “I love you.”
His heart skipped a beat when she first said it, his breath frozen deep in his lungs momentarily.
Asta shook her head. “That’s what she said. ‘My son, I love you.’”
“Right, of course,” Kaid cleared his throat. She was translating. She had never taught him the word love because he had never asked. It was never in his vocabulary before now.
Kaid signed with his mother, Asta helping with the more complicated words from time to time, but he could get the gist of most of her sentences.
The empress of the Ventarin Sea explained that now that the lost prince had returned, the finfolk would be relentless in their quest to dominate the sirens.
She could hold them off, as she had been doing for many years, but they would only grow stronger now that they had more motivation.
Kaid essentially had a massive “abduct me” sign on his back.
“I do not want you to leave home so soon, but there is work to be done,” Arielle signed. “There is a way for us to get the advantage over the finfolk, but it is a mission.”
“We will do whatever it takes,” Asta signed back.
The siren queen smiled softly. “If you can find the trident, the comb and the mirror, we may be able to end this war. For good.”