Chapter 8
Aweek had passed in the Triton Estate, and I had yet to run into Frederick or Darla, even though I’d seen Olivia and Pearl on two different occasions.
The sisters gave me a nod and little more, clearly uninterested in getting to know me.
Ursuline appeared and disappeared like the tides, at the oddest times, and I couldn’t piece together why the lawyer would be appearing like this.
Arielle was the person I saw more regularly, but only when she came to find me.
In the interim, I’d gotten to know more of the staff, and I’d put more time in on a multitude of different pieces I was painting in the studio in oils, in watercolors, in acrylics.
I planned on asking to leave soon, maybe to visit Jason, as Arielle had assured me I wasn’t trapped here.
Yet after spending so long painting in secret, I found relief in being able to go to the studio whenever the mood struck me, no constraints, nothing forbidden.
My parents hadn’t messaged once.
Clearly, I was no longer their problem.
Harsh voices came from the foyer, where I’d not so long ago entered this place, and I found myself drifting in that direction.
“He deserves to know.” Ursuline’s voice rang loud and clear, full of unerring command. “You can’t keep him in the dark forever.”
“That is our choice, Ursuline, not yours.” Frederick’s booming voice echoed through the corridor.
“Amusing you’d defend your right to choose while denying so many others theirs,” Ursuline retorted, a tension in their words like a dam threatening to burst.
“Enough,” Frederick shouted, and I froze. I shouldn’t have walked into this conversation. Fuck, where could I go?
Frederick and Ursuline stepped into view of the doorway.
Their gazes landed on me, and Ursuline’s lips curled upward in triumph.
Frederick’s eyes burned, and he huffed out in anger. “How much did you hear?”
I swallowed hard, stepping back a pace, except the sight of Ursuline standing there in challenge gave me the courage to ask. “What do I deserve to know?”
Frederick’s jaw set, his gaze stony as he scanned between Ursuline and me. Tension stretched between us all, like the threat of an oncoming storm. I squared my shoulders, prepared to run if needed. Hell knew, I’d never been a fighter.
Frederick let out a sigh and gestured. “Follow me.” He strode past me, his steps echoing through the hallway. I pivoted on my heel and heeded his direction, aware of Ursuline’s presence at my back. They were close enough that I could feel them there, and I didn’t want them to leave.
He made a left turn into a sitting room filled with plush cerulean couches and gilt trim.
Crystal lamps glittered on every stand, casting the room in a soft amber glow.
Frederick sprawled out on one of the couches, a grimness to his features that unsettled me.
The man was massive, with slick black hair threaded with grays, and the same salt and pepper mustache and beard.
His features were precise, along with his appearance as well.
Everything about this family remained a mystery, no matter how much I’d tried to look for information. Any hint of what I’d stumbled into would help.
“Given that you’ll be marrying my daughter, I will let you in on a family secret.
I suppose living here, there’s no way to avoid the truth,” Frederick said.
“However, if word of this spreads to anyone—your parents included—I don’t care if you’re her fiancé.
You’ll end up dragged to the depths of the Sentient Sea. ”
A chill spread through me, and I took a seat on the opposite couch, not trusting my knees to keep me upright. Ursuline sank onto the couch beside me, their tentacles mere inches away from me. Why hadn’t they sat with Frederick? Granted, they didn’t seem to share much fondness for their employer.
“I understand,” I croaked out.
Frederick let out a low rumble that echoed through the room. “Our family isn’t human. We’re merpeople.”
The hints whirred together, everything I’d questioned since I’d entered this place. The disappearances, the proximity to the bay, the iridescent scales in the bathroom. I should’ve figured them out from the start. All those hints felt glaringly obvious now.
“So the reason no one is ever here…”
“This isn’t the only home we own,” Frederick confirmed. “Oftentimes, we go to our estate in New Atlantis. Arielle does have a preference for the surface, though, which was why we believed she was the best daughter to marry a human.”
“So the alliance was for a foothold,” I clarified.
“In the human communities, businesses, yes. While we’re treated politely, since we’re relative newcomers, we’ve garnished a fair amount of hesitation and distrust. The Durand family has a longstanding reputation in Peregrine City.”
My stomach churned. Of course I’d been used as a pawn between both the families. I knew it, yet hearing the words aloud sliced into me.
“How are you walking up here?” I asked. The mermaids I’d encountered in the water all had fins—they weren’t capable of walking around on two legs, or shifting, that I was aware of.
When they did visit the land, they were conveyed around in mobile water tanks to make sure they could easily move rather than flopping on the ground, or in altered scooters, unlike kraken or cecaelia who had the tentacles to shift around.
Frederick’s lips quirked. “Let’s just say arrangements with witches have their benefits.”
So, a spell. And for it to transform something like that, it had to be a powerful and costly spell, one that only a family as rich as the Tritons could afford.
“I’m aware your family flirts with the Human First delegations…” Frederick started.
“I don’t share those allegiances,” I said. “I have no issues with monsters.”
“So you’ll keep our secrets,” Frederick said, the underlying threat simmering in his tone.
What choice did I have? This was the family I’d been sold to, their daughter the woman I was supposed to marry. “Of course,” I reassured him, even though I shrank at the way he glowered.
“Papa, I’m home,” Arielle said, striding through the entryway. She paused and glanced between us. “Did I miss something?”
Frederick heaved out a sigh. “No, sweetheart. Your fiancé is aware of what we are now, that’s all.”
She let out a tinkling laugh. “Thank the gods. I was so tired of making excuses. Plus, Olivia has the bad habit of shedding a few scales in the main bathroom when she scrubs off after a swim.”
“I wondered what those were,” I offered, appreciating how she lightened the mood. Being in a room with Ursuline and Frederick was like standing between two titans about to wage war.
“He would’ve figured it out sooner rather than later,” Ursuline reaffirmed, their voice like granite.
When I’d first met them, I’d believed they were just aloof, a professional.
But the more I got to understand them, the more I noticed the subtleties to their body language, their movements, the more I realized they loathed the Triton family.
Why they stayed employed with them was a mystery to me, but I’d just cracked the surface of this place.
The Tritons being a monster family made far more sense.
How they’d amassed their orichalcum fortune when no humans had a reliable source, why oceanic motifs were everywhere throughout the house.
The place also had an inordinate amount of bathrooms with tubs, which had seemed a bit of an extravagance.
Now I understood it was a way to connect to the water if they couldn’t dive into the bay.
“Can I go swimming with you sometime?” I asked Arielle, even though I’d been tempted to ask the cecaelia right beside me. Still, Arielle was my fiancée, and I should at least be making an attempt.
Arielle shrugged. “Whenever. I usually need to take a dive a few times a week, though the urges don’t hit me like they do the rest of the family.”
“This one blends with the landwalkers better than the rest of the family,” Frederick said, pride emanating in his tone. “Your marriage will be ushering in a new era for the Triton family.”
I sat close enough to Ursuline to feel them tense beside me. Questions bubbled up at once, ones I swallowed down. They wouldn’t answer anything in our current company.
“When is the engagement party going to be?” Arielle asked, resting a hand on her father’s shoulder.
He glanced up at her, affection gleaming in his eyes.
My heart squeezed tight with envy. I’d always wanted parents who’d look at me like that, not with the disappointment I’d received at every turn.
“I’ll have to commission a new dress for the affair. ”
“In a week,” Frederick said, switching his gaze to me. “I’d warn you on expectations, but you’ve grown up in this society.”
I bobbed my head. “Yes, sir.”
“The invitations have already been sent,” he continued. “Your parents will be there, as well as many of your family friends.”
The pronouncement made my gut twist. I should be excited about seeing my family again, yet the thought filled me with dread. Just another opportunity to let Angus and Mina down.
“I don’t suppose you’ll be matchmaking for Olivia anytime soon,” Arielle said, swaying back and forth where she stood. “She’s pouting that I’m the youngest and getting married first.”
“She’ll marry a good merman,” Frederick said. “There are a few potential suitors from prominent New Atlantis families.”
“Does the chef have dinner ready yet?” Arielle said, switching topics at lightning speed. “I’m starving.”
“I’ll go check,” Frederick said, rising and giving her an affectionate peck on the head. “Elrich, you’ll join us.”
Question wasn’t in his tone, which meant I was in for the first family dinner since the one that had landed me in this house in the first place. I didn’t feel comfortable, but surprisingly, I wasn’t as on edge as I was when dining with the Durands.
“See you up there,” Arielle called, not waiting for me as she swept off. Frederick strode out after her, already making the turn in the direction of the staff kitchen.
Ursuline sat beside me, and neither of us moved away. Truthfully, I didn’t want to.
“Thank you,” I said. “For fighting for me.”
“You got dragged into this as a pawn,” they said, their tone simmering. “It’s the least I could do.”
“I still made the choice,” I said.
A low growl emerged from them. “Some choice. You marry her or they disappear your friend?”
My chest squeezed tight. I wasn’t used to someone caring like that.
Jason had for years, in his own way, but the flash of protectiveness from Ursuline, seeing them stand up for me…
I couldn’t stop the flutter inside me, the way I yearned to lean closer again, to feel their touch.
I’d never experienced electricity like that before—not with flings, not with the transitory partners I’d had.
“If you want to swim…” Ursuline started, then stopped.
I clutched the edge of the seat, waiting for them to continue. Arielle’s response had been a blow off—I was aware—and I wanted to dive out there again. But after getting swept away in that storm, nerves held me back.
“I usually dive in the bay at midnight,” Ursuline said, their voice cool, unassuming, even though they proposed the very thing I’d hoped for. “I’ll be there tonight.”
The invitation rang clear between us.
“I’ll be there,” I said, my voice soft, as if the offer would be retracted at any moment. As if they were a hermit crab needing to be coaxed out of their shell.
“You’d better be getting to dinner,” Ursuline said, rising from their seat. Their tentacles shifted around them, moving with a mesmerizing fluidity. And tonight, I’d get to see how they coasted through the water. My heart sped. “Frederick doesn’t take kindly to lateness.”
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Home,” they said, their eyes twinkling. “You didn’t think I lived here, did you?”
“With the frequency you visit, I sometimes wondered,” I admitted, squeezing my nape.
They headed toward the exit, but before they left, they cast a glance back. “I’ll see you, Elrich.”
“Tonight,” I promised.
Their lips quirked, and they disappeared past the door.
Tonight, I’d take my first dip in the water since the storm; however, spending more time around Ursuline?
Those were much more dangerous waters, indeed.