Chapter 18
Eighteen
Kaden
Voices outside his door roused Kaden when he exited his bedchambers, and he stopped halfway sliding his door shut.
Two sentinels swam by greeting him and resuming their conversation. They were going in the same direction he was and he trailed behind them.
He thought of Angie as he paddled along, his entire being aching for her. He talked to her when they both could, and while she graced him with her lovely voice, he missed holding her, kissing her, or simply sitting, or floating beside her.
The sentinels turned a corner and their voices dissipated as Kaden kept swimming straight down the lengthy hall.
Saeryn had asked him to attend a mediation session with citizens at high noontide.
It was low suntide now and he had two tidal cycles until the session.
That gave him enough time to visit a village within the queendom—show them he wasn’t the villain they believed him to be.
He could turn the public’s perception of him, even if it took one village at a time, one citizen at a time.
He made his way to the Northwest Villages, where he knew some citizens there had lost family members during the last war. He hadn’t visited there in tidesyears, but the directions were still familiar to him.
Ten kicks east from the western end of the palace—when you see a group of six black smoker vents, go southwest—five more kicks and the village came into view.
As with all their villages, the entrance was at the top of a rocky dome surrounding the abodes and structures inside. Mer swam in and out, some giving Kaden a nod of respect when he entered. Others stared at him, as if deciding whether they should swim away or greet him.
Kaden made a circle around the top of the dome, looking down at the villagers for someone who might be receptive to talking to him.
He found it in a lone merman with a brass tail at the base of their Sanyue statue, attending to the village’s public coral and seagrass garden.
Kaden recognized the tail color; he was the lifemate of a sentinel who lost her life in their past war.
The merman glanced at Kaden when he approached, and he straightened his torso, hands behind his back, and bowed his head.
“Prince Kaden. What brings you to our little village today?”
Around them a small crowd had gathered, and not all of the mer were looking at Kaden with anger or suspicion in their gazes, heartening him.
“It’s been too long since I came here; I wanted to visit—hear from all of you, the faces of our queendom, your feelings about King Saeryn, and as his high advisor, my rule—and to offer my condolences again, personally, to those of you who have lost a loved one in the war two tidesyears ago.”
He caught murmurs of ‘thank you’ and ‘I appreciate your sympathy’ through the additional ten merfolk who had joined him and the brass-tailed merman.
“Thank you, Your Highness. It has been hard moving on without her,” the merman said, lowering his head. “Your visit is appreciated.”
“Prince Kaden, I have a concern—” a mermaid beside him began, only to be nudged hard by a merman next to her, her lifemate, and he leaned in to whisper in her ear. Kaden watched her, urging her to go on, but she shook her head. “N-nothing. There’s nothing you can do.”
Kaden’s gut quivered. Several merfolk swam off, and the rest of the group followed, some stopping to give Kaden another quick bow before departing.
The brass-tailed merman stayed, leaving Kaden with an opportunity to find out why the others stopped to see him, and all but fled when he faced them. “Why are they acting like that?”
The other merman’s gaze trailed to the seafloor, his shoulder-length dark hair draping either side of his face.
“Your Highness, you came all the way here to speak with us privately.” A flick of his tailfins stirred up silt beneath them.
“With all due respect, many of our villagers have, erm, concerns about your affiliation with a landwalker.”
Kaden rubbed his face. “They don’t trust me.”
“N-not all, Your Highness.”
Curses.
“Thank you for your honesty.” Kaden put a hand to his heart.
The merman gave him another bow. “Word has spread that you’re now the king’s high advisor. Please give him our regards.”
Kaden nodded and swam off. The cool seas warmed around him, signaling the arrival of low tide. It was time to meet Saeryn in the throne room.
When Kaden entered the throne room a new sight below him drew his gaze. The seaweed-fiber rug that laid beneath the two thrones for as long as Kaden could remember had been removed, leaving the sandy seafloor in its place. “Making yourself at home, are you, Uncle?”
“Oh, that?” Saeryn’s gaze darted to the sand. “I only wanted this place to feel homier.”
Kaden took note of the chamber, spotting other differences.
Serapha and Aqilus had been militant about keeping the corals polished and clean, but apparently Saeryn took no such liberties.
Where vibrant yu had once made their homes there, the corals stood devoid of life.
Several of the coral branches at the bottom of the throne had broken off—the jagged, broken edges staring at Kaden, fierce and unwelcoming.
Though he had been in this room many, many times, Kaden didn’t dismiss the unfamiliar sensations in the waters. “Why do the corals look so unkempt?”
“I haven’t had the chance to get the cleaners in here, but I will.” His brow furrowed. “Does it make you uncomfortable?”
“A bit.”
“That’s the last thing I want,” Saeryn said. “I’ll stop and I’ll ask for the cleaners to tidy up the corals right away to be more hospitable.”
A sentinel peeked her head in and Saeryn waved at her to send the first group of citizens in.
This was only his second mediation session since he became monarch, and the sentinels had already come in once, warning them of the crowds gathering outside waiting to speak with Saeryn.
Meanwhile, his mother and father held these sessions on alternating tidesdays.
Four mer swam in, a merman and mermaid, and two adolescents. All four bowed first to Saeryn, and then to Kaden, before beginning at Saeryn’s urging.
“Your Majesty, thank you for relocating our family to a safe cavern,” the mermaid started.
“You are welcome.” Saeryn’s voice swelled with pride. “I trust you’re finding the accommodations acceptable?”
“Well, it’s a little close to the trenches for our liking. And there are a lot of loud, hot vents we must avoid when we go in and out,” the merman offered. “But it’s no problem. We just have to be careful.”
Though Saeryn couldn’t see him, Kaden narrowed his eyes. The space did not sound safe at all.
“You are safe there, I assure you.” Saeryn sounded so convincing. For a moment even Kaden believed him.
“Thank you,” the mermaid said.
“Do you bring other concerns?” Saeryn asked.
The mermaid leveled her gaze at Kaden and then looked to Saeryn; her eyes became pleading. “Might we speak with you alone, Your Majesty?”
“Certainly. Kaden, could I ask you to swim out for a moment? I’ll let you know when to resume.”
Kaden blinked, but what was he going to say? No, and lower the citizens’ opinion of him further? “As you wish,” he said.
He waited outside with the two sentinels listening to the conversation inside.
“Now that the prince is here, will he lead the landwalkers to us?” The mermaid sounded fearful.
Saeryn’s tone was placid as he responded. “No, I will assure that does not happen, and I will keep him in check.”
Kaden clenched his hands together, cracking his knuckles. He felt sick and approached one of the sentinels. “Can you let His Majesty know I am feeling unwell and will return?” He couldn’t stay a moment longer.
The sentinel gave him the briefest of acknowledgements.
A commotion drew Kaden’s attention as he left the throne room, exiting the palace to enter his quarters from the outside.
So Saeryn was planning to protect the queendom from Kaden?
He had so badly wanted to believe Saeryn was a well-intentioned merman, but the longstanding beliefs he held onto about his uncle were slipping bit by bit.
On the lighter side, several tidesdays ago, he’d gotten word from the family that had been displaced who were now living comfortably in the caves he’d shown them to. They had invited another family and bonded pair to join them.
It warmed his heart to hear. But it went cold again when he heard of their village being used as a military base, sentinels and warriors taking up residence in the displaced mers’ homes.
Kaden stopped. A small youyu sailed by with its tentacles tickling his caudal fins and he curled the tips. The youyu stopped and faced him with its beady eyes, and waved tentacles at him before leaving.
He made his way down the walls toward his chambers, the commotion he had heard earlier growing louder.
A group of mer were gathered at the entrance, protesting, and held back by the sentinels. Some were loudly protesting and others called for the attention of Saeryn. They didn’t seem to have noticed Kaden approaching.
There must have been upward of a hundred mer.
If they were calling for his uncle, he must have rallied the mer there. For what purpose, Kaden didn’t have the first idea.
Several more tailkicks forward and their protests became clear.
To his shock, Adrielle was at the forefront of the crowd, addressing several of them. When she glanced up, her gaze meeting Kaden’s, she raised one arm up, drawing his attention.
His stomach twisted inside his gut when Saeryn appeared and addressed the crowd.
Was he done meeting with the citizens already? That was decidedly fast.
“Exile Prince Kaden!” a small group was chanting. A disembodied voice carried over the group. “He caused the murder of the queen! Why do you allow him to stay?”
Kaden said nothing and moved around the crowd to float beside Adrielle.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked the princess in a whisper.
“Heard your uncle had called for a rally. I came to investigate.”