Chapter nine
TAVRIC
“I need to get out of here again,” I said without preamble, walking into the dining hall.
Lyri was having lunch and I was interrupting. She took a cautious sip of her tea and then looked at me. “What happened?”
“My father was unable to hold court this morning, so I did so in his absence.” I dug my short fingernails into my palms, trying to focus on that so I could ignore the rolling discomfort in the rest of my body.
Her face was immediately draped in concern. “Is your father all right?”
“Just feeling a little unwell,” I lied. “But I don’t have much practice with such things, and it was nearly five straight hours of a loud, crowded room, and everyone wanted me to solve all their problems. I just…want quiet; I need quiet.”
“I thought you usually went to your library for quiet.”
“They’ll find me there.”
She looked up at me with a mix of concern and anticipation. “Where did you have in mind?”
I looked at her plate, which was nearly empty. “Have you had enough?”
She sat back and rested her hands on her stomach in a way that no noblewoman ever would.
It was a sharp reminder that she wasn’t royalty, and that I shouldn’t be seeking her out.
Yet, she was the one person who felt safe at the moment.
“Likely too much,” she admitted. “There are always so many wonderful things to choose from. I can tell my maid is not lacing my dresses as tightly as when I first came, and it’s been barely more than a week. ”
“Good. You deserve to be well fed.” I held a hand out to her. “Please, can we go before the council decides they need my attention too?”
She stood, slipping her hand into mine, and something in my chest loosened.
Instead of taking the winding footpath down to my boat, I had a horse saddled with the padded pillion seat for Lyri and pulled her up behind me.
The feeling of her arms banded tightly around my chest calmed me perhaps better than anything else I had tried.
I placed my palm over her hands where they rested just below my sternum, hoping she would keep them there.
I was rewarded by the feeling of her arms tightening further, and more of my tension melted away.
We rode through the village and down to the part of the shoreline that stretched out with sandy beaches until they ran into the black cliffs on the south tip of the island. There were tide pools here, but my aim was the caves tucked away under the cliffs.
I tied my horse in a copse of trees lining the shore and ran after Lyri when she headed toward the water, sand kicking up behind her, shoes tossed casually in the sand.
She stopped well before she reached the water and then just stood, letting the wind pull on her skirts and knot the loose tendrils of her hair, her eyes closed and her face tipped to the sky.
Escaping the palace had been for my own benefit, but seeing the way Lyri soaked in all the freedom and adventure that I was able to give her was a different kind of pleasure.
I wanted to ask her to dance with me again—to see her smile, yes, but mostly as an excuse to touch her.
I was so used to the comfort of being by myself that it was a strange thing to crave her proximity.
I walked slowly to where she stood but resisted the urge to rest a hand on her lower back. “Have I converted you to my love of the ocean?”
She laughed. “No, I’m fairly certain the ocean managed that without your princely help.”
I grinned, loving that she wasn’t intimidated by my princely ways. “Wait until you see the caves.”
She looked off toward the craggy cliffs. “Are they there?”
“Yes.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” she asked, taking off at a run again.
I loved watching the joy she found in movement and I tried imagining what it had been like with all that hair.
It would have ruled her life. I was certain that the reason she ran and spun and dashed here and there was because that simple freedom was new to her.
Naturally, I chased after her like a lovesick fool, trying to tell myself it was only an innocent attraction.
I was a liar.
I’d nearly caught up with her when she came to an abrupt stop, turning around to look at something on the ground that she’d passed. I came to an ungraceful halt and joined her as she stooped to pick up a sanderling and cradle it in her palms.
She ran her fingers over its wings. “Hey, little one, what’s wrong?”
“What have you got there?” I asked as she held it gently to her chest and stroked its back.
“Just a bird.”
“Is it injured?” I asked, not seeing anything obviously wrong with the sanderling.
“I’m hoping it’s only stunned.” She stroked its little head and back and made little clucking noises at it, then looked up at me with a grin. “He can come with us,” she declared, and then started heading toward the caves again, this time at a sedate walk.
I smiled to myself as I followed after her, catching up so I could lead her to the opening in the cliffs. Once we stepped through, there were only a few feet of dry sand inside the cave before the water was lapping at the little beach inside.
The cave was a deep crevice that ran from this side of the cliff all the way to the other side, where it opened out to the ocean.
The waves rushed in from the far side and gently tumbled their way toward us, petering out not far from where we stood.
Sunlight poured in from both sides, lighting the dim space enough that we could appreciate how wide the cave had become from the constant onslaught of waves beating away on its inner walls.
“This would be the perfect hideout for mermaids,” Lyri commented, one hand pressed to the rock wall at the entrance while the other still held the bird.
“Yes, it would.” I studied her bright eyes and the braided gold crown of hair ringing her head. “You know, my men believed you were a mermaid when we pulled you from the ocean.”
“I remember. I thought it was very strange. Mermaids are the stuff of legend, not reality.”
I blinked as I considered her words. It was just another example of how she’d come from somewhere completely foreign to me. “You don’t think mermaids are real?”
She froze and fixed me with a stare, then blinked and asked, “Are they?”
“Well, now I feel foolish admitting to my belief.”
She let out a laugh. “I’ve spent the past ten years isolated in a tower.
Believe me, I don’t think I am an authority on anything happening in the world.
If you say there are mermaids, then I believe you.
It’s actually a relief to know that something so fantastical could exist in this world.
” She looked down at the sanderling in her hands and stroked its head. “Have you ever seen one?”
I bit my lips together for a moment before deciding to confide in her. “Once. In fact, I think she saved my life.”
She looked up at me, her eyes wide with awe. “Truly?”
I nodded. “I was foolish and I should have drowned in that ocean, but she brought me to shore…and then she disappeared.”
“How extraordinary.” She looked off at the crashing waves and then turned back to me. “Shall we thank them?”
“What?” I asked with a chuckle, expecting to find that teasing spark in her eyes, but she looked sincere.
“They communicate through song, do they not? I think I read that in a book.” Then she turned to face the deeper recesses of the cave and sang out, “Thank you, mermaids, for saving the prince.”
I sucked a breath through my nose, completely captivated.
Spellbinding. That’s what her voice was. Beautiful, soothing, angelic, and devoid of pretense. She sang out with confidence and wild abandon, yet there wasn’t even a hint of pride in her voice or bearing.
When Melody had saved me, her song had been just as magical, but it had a haunting quality, and there had been a haughtiness to it, as if she knew all too well the effect her voice had on me.
Suddenly, the bird Lyri had been cradling stood up and fluttered its wings.
“Oh!” Lyri jumped in surprise and let out a delighted laugh. “Had enough rest, have you?” she asked the bird.
The sanderling hopped once, fluffed its wings again, and took flight, disappearing into the bright sunlight outside the cave.
Lyri’s face was shadowed by the dim cave interior, yet her smile was so bright, I had to wonder how someone who’d spent years as little better than a prisoner could have retained such effervescence and hope. I envied her ability to move about the world with such optimism.
So much of the time, I felt strangled by the world and the people in it.
Maybe that was why I’d chased after Melody for so long.
The idea of living in the quiet of the ocean was appealing.
And yet, I’d thought of Melody less and less since I’d pulled Lyri from the same ocean.
The dark allure and mystery of Melody couldn’t hold a candle to the bright openness and steady calm that Lyri brought with her.
She stepped a little closer to the water and reached up to wrap a hand around her necklace.
She did that often. It was clear that she valued the necklace for its attachment to her mother and nothing else.
I’d been around plenty of foreign royalty, often with them vying for my attention, and it had always made me uncomfortable.
Perhaps that was why I’d pushed back so much when my mother had gotten excited at the prospect of her being royalty.
I didn’t want to pursue and marry someone who made me feel uncomfortable.
But Lyri…
A larger wave rolled into the cave and rushed around our feet.
I jumped forward to be sure she didn’t lose her balance, but she let out a startled yelp, followed by a delighted laugh as she clung to my arm to keep her balance.
“Perhaps your mermaid friend is trying to get you back in the water,” she teased.
I just shook my head. “I’m happy where I am.”