16. Bay
Bay
If I survive all of this, Alin is going to find out just how furious I am right now. She’s risking yet another family member just to give me a chance to live. And I still have no idea how Pedro is supposed to help when he barely knows anything about our world.
He swims beside me as we approach the guards at the city gate. “I’m sorry, Your Highness, Princess Alianna. Princess Bay,” one of the guards bows slightly as he addresses us, then points to Pedro. “He can’t enter. He’s unknown to us, and he has no affiliation mark.” Just great.
“Do I need to remind you that my coronation was only postponed because of my pregnancy with our heir? Do you want to defy your future queen?” Alin’s face is ruthless as she stares him down. She’s definitely her mother’s daughter, and she’s learning fast.
The guard immediately bows his head in apology, then hesitantly swims aside, allowing the other guards to clear a path for us.
“You’re turning into your mother,” I say with a teasing tone, knowing how much she hates hearing that, especially since she looks like a younger version of her. At least I have a way to get back at her now.
She furrows her brows at me, signaling that I’ve started a war, and flicks her tail in my direction in an attempt to push me aside.
I quickly dodge, knowing her too well, and a laugh escapes me as a wave of nostalgia hits.
We grew up together, especially since no one else in the lineage managed to produce offspring besides our parents, and I will never get tired of this.
“What are affiliation marks?” Pedro suddenly asks, his eyes filled with curiosity, just like every other moment on our long journey here.
“Every pod has its own affiliation mark. Merfolk without these marks on their bodies are considered outcasts or betrayers, and no one allows them into their city,” I explain, showing him the small crescent moon mark of our pod right on the inner part of my arm.
The one Aunt Lora gave back to me. “We’re born with this.
You can think of it like a human birthmark. ”
Our gazes lock when his eyes move away from my moon mark.
His shimmering, gem-like golden eyes illuminate his face, catch the light, highlighting his rugged beauty.
The scattered scales across his chest only accentuate his muscles, sending a shiver through my tail.
Why does he have to be so damn attractive?
The gods of the oceans must be testing me too much.
He’s made it clear he isn’t interested, I remind myself, forcing my gaze away from his perfectly sculpted abs and back to his eyes.
I’m almost sure his gaze lingers on me with the same hunger, but he quickly breaks contact and swims ahead, taking in the city around him.
A pang of disappointment stabs my chest, and I turn, swimming back toward Alin, who’s already moved ahead along the opulent coral-stone path leading to the castle entrance.
“I don’t understand him. One moment, I’m almost sure he wants me, and the next, he completely ignores any intimacy between us,” I whisper, feeling the need to vent my frustration to Alin, despite still being angry at her for what she did.
She looks at me, her eyes softening with understanding. “Would you believe me if I told you it wasn’t any easier for me when Luca and I first met?”
“You never told me how things started between you two, but you’re like magnets to each other now.
There’s no way he ignored you the way Pedro ignores or denys,” I reply honestly, feeling like I’m finally letting go of a weight that’s been sitting on my chest. Wondering if I’m really just family to him.
“That’s how it is now, but when we first met, it was all ego battles and trust issues.
It’s a long story for another time, but I can assure you, in all the time I’ve known them, I’ve never seen Pedro with a woman, not even once.
He might have a big mouth, but he’s not the type to chase after women.
So, maybe you just need to give him some time,” Alin shares a piece of information that makes my heart leap with joy.
At least there are no other women in his life.
Maybe I’ll take advantage of Alin just this once… she owes me after all of this, anyway.
“Maybe you could do your favorite cousin a little favor and ask Luca what Pedro’s deal is? His brother surely knows,” I give her a pleading look, clasping my hands together in exaggerated supplication. If it’s really because of a fight they had, she can solve it… probably.
She immediately sighs loudly. “You’re about to face Jocelyn very soon, and you’re asking me for favors about your love life when we don’t even know if you’ll make it back tomorrow?
Unbelievable, love has blinded her…” she slashes the truth in my face, but I keep fluttering my eyelashes in a ridiculous show of begging, ignoring her protest until she finally caves, “Fine, fine.” Yes!
Maybe it’ll give me some answers to his behavior.
“Wait a sec, why is it so quiet suddenly?” I blurt, Pedro’s constant stream of questions has vanished behind us.
I quickly glance back and spot him swimming around one of the residents’ homes, designed inside a giant, pointed pink conch shell. I roll my eyes. He’s like a small merling in my world, needing protection from danger. Really, Alin, how do you plan on him helping me here?
I swim quickly over to him. “Pedro, you can’t just enter someone else’s home—you’re breaking our rules. It could cost you your life if they report you,” I warn him, grabbing his hand and guiding him back to the main path leading to the castle.
Alin laughs as she watches us. “I’m really enjoying seeing you take responsibility like a protective mother over a new merman.”
I flick my tail at her in response, knowing she’s teasing me back for my earlier comment, but I join in her laughter.
“No. Freaking. Way!” Pedro suddenly shouts from beside me as we swim toward the familiar castle I call home. “You live here?!”
Sometimes I forget just how impressive our castle is, even to visiting merfolk from other cities.
Our city holds more gold and gemstones than any other city in the oceans and is renowned for its constant glow at all hours of the day.
Well, a lot of those gems were created by me at Aunt Lora and Uncle Clarion’s request using the powers I once had, but the city’s reputation was already famous for its splendor decades before I was born.
When Alin brought me back from the Hunters’ pod, my eyes drank in the familiar sight of the castle after months in darkness. Even though I grew up here all my life, I still felt awe upon seeing it again, so I can fully understand Pedro’s amazement.
“Yes, this is where Alin lives with her parents, Queen Lora and King Clarion,” I respond to Pedro without looking at him.
“I shoved myself into Alin’s room without even asking her since I can remember,” I smile as the memories flood back.
I might be angry with her now, but she’s doing everything she can to sever my connection with the Guardian and keep me alive.
Without thinking twice, I reach out and squeeze her hand affectionately. She raises an eyebrow at me in question, but I just smile back in gratitude.
“Alianna, Bay, you’ve arrived just in time. Come, we need to hurry,” Aunt Lora suddenly appears from the entrance of the castle that has just opened before us, her gaze quickly shifting to Pedro beside us.
“Wow, he looks just like...” Aunt Lora begins, and Alin immediately finishes her sentence, “Roel? Yes, I know.”
Roel? Our uncle who was murdered when she was ten?
Aunt Lora swims toward him quickly, taking both sides of his face in her hands and scanning his body with her eyes.
Her body stiffens as she returns her gaze to his eyes.
“Roel...” she whispers as if she’s looking at a ghost. I wonder if they really do look so alike—I was only four when he was killed.
I don’t remember him well. I just recall that his tail was also blue.
“Aunt Lora, this is Pedro,” I remind her, noticing she isn’t letting go. I’m sure if we weren’t underwater, tears would already be filling her now pained-looking eyes. Pedro remains still, seemingly waiting to see how the queen reacts before making a move, quietly observing her every action.
“I also immediately thought of Roel, especially when I saw his golden eyes,” Alin shares with her mother, who now releases her hold on Pedro’s face and offers him an apologetic look.
“Roel was my younger brother. A traitor murdered him years ago. I don’t know how this is possible, but every scale and fin of yours looks like they were specially duplicated, even your eyes.
..” she explains, reaching her hand out toward his cheek again as he nods in understanding, but she quickly withdraws it, turning to swim toward Alin.
Aunt Lora never bothers to explain herself to anyone except Uncle Clarion, especially not to humans, even though she has already accepted them into the family.
That is too weird to watch. Aunt Lora is getting softer, while Alin’s getting scarier…
She now takes Alin’s hand and leads her into the castle. Pedro and I follow them without unnecessary questions. We don’t have much time as it is.
We swim to the upper floor of the castle, where her mother’s office is located. My heart pounds in my chest—I’ve never been allowed inside before.
I carefully swim after them, scanning the room with curiosity. It’s smaller than I imagined but overlooks the bustling city market below, where merfolk swim from place to place, handling their shopping, spending time with family, while I’m here in the castle planning my suicide mission.
Aunt Lora sits on a large, pointed conch shell with a base filled with seaweed, serving as a soft, inviting seat but leaving no room for anyone else but her.
Alin, Pedro, and I sit on a nearby greenish coral as she begins rummaging through a large, old golden treasure chest—probably found on a sunken ship in the ocean—that now serves as her office desk.
Aunt Lora knows far more about spells, potions, and mer history than any other merfolk in the city. If she can’t help me, no one can.
I slowly open my gills, allowing the water to flow in and out, along with the tension building in my chest. This could very well be my last day in this world.
“Here it is,” she declares, pulling out a large yellow flat stone with wave symbols engraved on both sides and a crescent moon engraving above it.
“What is that?” I ask curiously, swimming toward her as Alin and Pedro remain in their seat.
“This,” she says, holding the stone out in front of me, “will return the powers that were taken from you when you were sent to the Hunters’ pod.”
Did I hear her right? I’m going to get my powers back?!