Chapter 16
Maren
Prince Arnon’s palace was a modest structure in comparison to Kye’s royal monstrosity of glass.
From outside, it almost looked like a sprawling one-story bungalow constructed over water with support from the gleamingly white coral columns.
But since it was a siren’s dwelling, one could rest assured that there also was plenty of living space underwater as well.
“Promise you’ll try to get some sleep tonight,” I said to Kye when we stopped on the path that led to the entrance guarded by two armed men.
One of the guards slipped through the doors into the palace, probably to let the prince and his family know that their night tenant had arrived.
“Do you want a formal promise?” Kye asked with a teasing squint at me.
I shook my head. “No.”
A formal promise meant putting one’s life in danger, binding them to something that might not even be possible to fulfill if the circumstances changed in the future. As tempting as it felt at times to demand a promise like that, I never wished to exert that kind of power over anyone.
“Just... Take care of yourself, please.” I said, then smiled. “So we can have fun tomorrow.”
The doors to Prince Arnon’s palace opened wide, and a dark-haired woman ran out.
“Maren!” she exclaimed, rushing to me. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.” She sank into a bow for Kye next. “Greetings, Your Majesty.”
“Evening, Princess,” he greeted her too, and I spotted no particular emotion in his voice, no warm inflections but no chilly animosity either.
Since he addressed her as “princess,” I assumed this must be Princess Dorelea, Prince Arnon’s wife.
She wore a pale pink gown that matched her pearly pink skin.
Her straight, ink-black hair spilled unbound over her shoulders and down her back all the way to the floor.
The only adornment she wore on her head was a coral-pink circlet crown, decorated with long strings of pearls that shimmered in her black hair like milk drops.
“I didn’t expect you to honor us with your visit, Your Majesty. Will you join us for dinner?” the princess inquired cheerfully.
It was a bit late for dinner, in my opinion, but then again, what did I know about the habits of the sirens in Lyrei? I had spent most of my time with Kye, and he didn’t strike me as a man who closely followed domestic customs or traditions.
“No. Thank you,” Kye declined unceremoniously. “I need to speak with your husband, however. And I would prefer to do it here rather than inside, as I’m sure he would too.”
Prince Arnon appeared at the entrance of his palace before his wife had a chance to send for him.
“Good evening, Your Majesty.” He walked down the path but stopped a safe distance from Kye and bowed. “My apologies, my king. I didn’t know you were personally delivering...um,” he glanced my way as if trying to figure out what to refer to me as, “Maren,” he wisely settled simply on my name.
“She’s my most precious possession,” Kye replied.
“It’s only natural that I would bring her here myself for your safekeeping.
I also have to warn you about the power that’s after her.
And I hope you were able to find out what the fuck is happening in the Abyss and why its inhabitants are encroaching where they don’t belong? ”
The two men walked aside to talk as Princess Dorelea grabbed my hand, leading me toward the palace’s entrance.
“Are you hungry, Maren?” she asked.
I turned to Kye, wishing I had a chance to wave goodbye to him or at least exchange one last look.
But he seemed to be too absorbed in his conversation with Arnon now.
Partially hidden in the shadows off the path, his tall, pale figure looked like an apparition, an extension of the moonlit glow of the night.
As if sensing my stare, however, he moved his shoulders, then finally turned his head to give me that last parting look I craved.
“I’ve never felt so in tune with someone else’s desires,” he’d said earlier.
I sensed the same might be true about our thoughts and feelings too on occasion. Sometimes, they seemed to sync as well, singing in perfect resonance.
“He really cares about you, doesn't he?” the princess said with a warm smile.
Kye had just called me his “most treasured possession.” For some, that might be enough.
“I guess he does in a way,” I said, holding back a sigh.
“You won’t be apart for long. You’ll see him again, sooner than you think,” the princess assured me, leading me into her home.
Smaller than the royal palace, Arnon’s house still gave me a good idea of what Kye’s home must’ve looked like before his curse transformed it so drastically.
Thick columns of white coral supported the walls of pink marble. Stained glass mosaics decorated the floors, including the artfully arched bridges across the open pools in every room we passed.
The coral columns weren’t brought and mounted in here.
Instead, the structure was built around the existing coral branches that grew from the ocean.
In Olathana, the coral didn’t grow the way it did back home.
Here, the polyps built it from the bottom up, eventually pushing the tops of the coral branches up and out of the water.
I’d seen many of the dead, sun-bleached ends of those branches on my way here. With the seaweed growing through them, they created a large part of Lyrei’s unique landscape. Here, they also served as the foundation of the building.
Turned to glass in Kye’s palace, the coral blended into the overall structure, largely indistinguishable from the rest of the materials used.
In this place, the coral retained its natural texture and the colors that ranged from gleaming white to salmon to darker pink.
Some branches were relatively straight, others curved in fluid shapes, giving the sirens’ structures that distinct shape that looked like a splash of water from a distance.
Under the surface, the coral columns were bursting with life.
The underwater vegetation decorated their bases with bright frills and ribbons of seaweed that fanned and floated in the water.
Multi-colored fish of different sizes darted between the ocean plants, filling the pools with movement and life.
Both flora and fauna had plenty of luminescent species, making the pools glow with soft pastel colors.
The night in Prince Arnon’s home didn’t feel nearly as intimidating as it did in the royal glass palace.
“This is beautiful.” I bent over, peering closely to better see the details of the thriving underwater scenes as we passed by.
“Oh, right,” the princess sighed. “I forgot you haven’t yet seen a normal living space the way it’s meant to be. King Kye killed it all in the royal palace, didn’t he?”
There was an accusation in her voice as well as the wistful note of mourning for the life lost and the beauty gone.
“He couldn’t help it,” I defended him, even though it wasn’t entirely true.
Kye’s curse was a cruel, terrible thing that happened to him. He had no control over it. However, his reaction to it was very much his own doing. The destructive rampage that he went on afterwards was entirely on him.
“Of course,” the princess agreed, then promptly changed the topic. “We’re at the end of our dinner, but I can order more food for you if you’re hungry.”
“No, thank you. I already ate.”
We entered a spacious room open to the ocean. Tall windows on all other walls except for the one with the door made it look like an open terrace rather than just a room.
A long stone table stood in the middle, with only four chairs around it, one on each side. A large tray of fruit stood in the middle of the table. A teenage boy sat in one of the chairs, lazily stirring a spoon in a crystal bowl of something pink and frothy.
“Tal, this is Maren,” the princess introduced me. “She’s King Kye’s guest and will be staying with us tonight.”
The boy got up and tipped his head in a stiff bow.
His wavy, dove-gray hair was cut short, not a typical fashion among sirens, I noticed, but not entirely unique for Lord Tal, either.
Talios, Elina’s husband, wore his hair even shorter.
And I’d seen a couple of dancers on the beach earlier tonight with their hair completely shaved off.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Maren,” young Lord Tal said in the formal tone of a well-schooled courtier.
His mother strolled to a chair at one end of the table and gestured at the seat across the table from her son for me.
“Will you join us for dessert at least?” she offered, taking her seat.
“Thank you, but I’m really not hungry,” I shook my head, but since everyone was sitting now, I sat down too.
There was always some awkwardness when meeting strangers in such an intimate setting as their family dinner. But both the princess and her son were welcoming enough to make me feel comfortable. The night was calm, with a warm breeze and soft moonlight, further relaxing me.
“Maybe just a drink then?” Princess Dorelea insisted with a smile, waving in a servant with a tray of tall glasses.
The man put a glass in front of me, and I didn’t refuse it, feeling that it would be rude to keep declining everything. At the very least, I could have a small talk over a drink with my hosts. What harm would that do? They deserved a chance to get to know someone they opened their house to.
The milky liquid in the glass shimmered with pink, which caught my attention.
“What kind of drink is it?” I wondered, lifting the glass for a closer inspection.
“Oh, it’s just fruit-flavored kelpie milk,” the princess explained with a bright smile. “We always drink it before bedtime, don’t we, Tal?”
Her son nodded, raising his glass too.
“Its calming qualities are beneficial for one’s health and well-being.” The princess brought her glass up for a drink. “It has a pleasant taste. Have you had kelpie milk before?”