Chap 10
Had she imagined it?
Penny stood at the center of the marble bridge over the lake and stared into the water.
The lake reflected the morning sky perfectly.
Yet every ripple drew her attention.
Every flicker beneath the surface made her heart jump.
The creature had been real.
She knew it.
Penny leaned farther over the low railing at her knees.
A flash of silver moved beneath the water.
Her breath caught.
Then a fish broke the surface.
Nothing more.
Disappointment settled heavily in her chest.
Around her, the human flowers started to move about again.
Flowers wandered to the lake carrying books and painting supplies.
One settled beneath a willow tree, sewing silver thread into a gown.
Penny barely noticed.
Her attention kept returning to the lake.
Which was why she didn't realize she was being watched.
Not until someone spoke beside her.
"Hello."
Penny looked up.
The dark red-haired girl from the ship stood beside her.
Penny smiled immediately.
The other girl gave her a brief hug and motioned her other friend to join them.
A human flower a beautiful tan-skinned girl.
One hand rested proudly against her swollen belly.
"You need to get pregnant."
The red-haired girl pointed at her new friend and then back at Penny trying to explain.
"Kaiden explained to me last night only the fertile girls are allowed to stay in the garden."
The thought of the green velvet wearing vampire with the hungry eyes.
The taste of the petal that prevented exactly this still sat on her tongue.
"Mary I don't think she understands." the pregnant flower says.
Penny jumped on the name in her head. Mary was the girl that came over on the boat with her.
The one that was dancing with...
Penny's mind traced back steps until she got a name.
Kaiden.
The vampire in green velvet.
The one with the hungry eyes.
Penny's tongue instinctively tasted the lingering bitter taste the petal had left behind.
"You do understand!" Mary said with relief.
Penny immediately wiped the expression from her face.
Too late.
Mary pointed accusingly.
"I knew it."
Penny smiled innocently.
Mary groaned.
"Now how am I supposed to explain that Kaiden offered to help both of us?"
Mary asked her pregnant friend, but the other girl got a shrug.
"I could introduce you both to gentlemen if Kaiden doesn't work out." The human flower offered.
"If you bloom, you're safe from tastings, get better food, new gowns, and you don't vanish like the ones that don't."
Penny lowered her eyes and shook her head as though she understood nothing.
The Mary sighed dramatically.
"Songbird I wish you understood."
Other human flowers laughed softly as they approached.
"The king barely looked at anyone else."
"Did you see the ribbon?"
"Celeste are you furious."
Mary gave a worried look behind her and hugged Penny.
"See you at the ball, good luck."
Then with a look of apprehension at the approaching voice took the hand of her new friend and left.
Her gaze lifted slowly.
The same woman that Sable had steered her away from. Surrounded by several other flowers, all dressed in white silk.
Celeste.
Beautiful in the cold, polished way, winter was beautiful.
Her dark curls, spilled down her back almost to her waist, gleamed beneath the sunlight while one hand rested possessively upon the swell of her stomach.
"So this is the king's new little toy?"
The flowers gathered around Celeste laughed softly.
She rested one hand possessively over the swell of her stomach.
"Don't get comfortable."
Her smile sharpened.
"If this baby is a vampire, the king will have to take me back."
Several of the girls nodded eagerly.
"The barren ones always disappear."
"They don't keep flowers that can't bloom."
Celeste's fingers drifted over her belly.
"Third time's the charm."
Her gaze traveled slowly over Penny.
"Then I'll be back in the king's bed instead of some foreign bird."
Penny lowered her eyes and pretended confusion.
Inside, she was suddenly very interested in stockpiling the wild rose's petals.
But as Celeste drew closer, another ripple crossed the water below the bridge.
Penny saw it and turned to look.
"Be careful near the railing, little Songbird."
Then a hand struck her hard between the shoulders.
Penny gasped.
For one impossible moment, she saw nothing but blue sky.
Then the bridge vanished beneath her feet.
Cold water swallowed her whole.
Her heavy silk gown dragged her downward instantly, blooming around her body like drowned flower petals while sunlight shattered above her into trembling silver pieces.
Penny kicked desperately toward the surface.
She had been swimming since she was tiny, but the dress bound her legs and dragged her farther down.
The bridge was already becoming distant.
Panic clawed through her chest.
The lake was far deeper than it looked.
Penny kicked desperately toward the surface.
Pale faces appeared above.
Girls leaning over the railing.
Watching.
No one jumped in.
No one screamed.
No one was coming to help.
Penny turned and frantically tried to find the ties that the king had so easily found.
Her fingers grabbed her back, snagging a small braided string, and pulled.
The dress bloomed away from her as her body sank below it.
A pale figure drifted upward through the green-blue depths like part of the lake itself.
Long silver hair floated around an inhumanly beautiful face.
Dark green eyes watched Penny with open fascination.
A tail shimmered below her, scales flashing blue and silver beneath the water.
A mermaid.
Her lungs were burning; she needed to kick to the surface.
The creature reached for her face, tilting Penny's face upward.
Penny's last breath left in bubbles beside her.
Then the mermaid kissed her.
Cool air flowed into Penny's mouth beneath the water.
Breath.
Sweet as sea wind.
Ancient as tides.
Penny's eyes widened.
The ache in her chest vanished instantly.
The mermaid pulled away only slightly.
A shy smile touched her mouth.
Then she tugged gently on Penny's hand.
An invitation.
Together they descended into the hidden kingdom sleeping beneath the garden.
Sunlight faded overhead.
The water darkened.
Then lanterns began to glow below.
Hundreds of them.
Soft pearls of golden light suspended beneath the lake.
Penny stared.
Another crystal dome rested among flowering reeds and drifting silver fish.
Shells and pearls decorated carved archways while lanterns glowed softly beneath the water.
Silken cushions drifted across the shallow pool inside like floating clouds.
The entire place reminded Penny of the upside-down glasses she used to sink in buckets as a child, trapping air beneath them.
The mermaid touched the crystal wall.
A hidden doorway appeared.
Penny's lungs were beginning to ache again.
She didn't hesitate.
Swimming through the opening, she surfaced inside the dome and immediately sucked in a deep breath.
The water only reached her knees.
Relief flooded through her.
An unfamiliar flowering vine climbed the crystal walls, weaving through the lantern light.
Penny looked at one of the floating cushions.
Then climbed onto it.
The pillow dipped beneath her weight and drifted lazily across the water.
A laugh escaped her before she could stop it.
The underwater chamber shimmered around her.
A moment later, the mermaid surfaced beside the dome, holding Penny's discarded dress.
"This is yours."
Penny hopped from the cushion and accepted it.
"Thank you."
The mermaid froze.
Completely still.
Her green eyes widened.
"You understood me?"
Penny looked at the sodden gown and tossed it aside.
She didn't mind her nakedness at all in this hidden alcove with a sea creature.
"Yes, it's a spell I put into a rose bush."
Sitting back down on the floating pillow, Penny smiled.
"I am Penny."
The mermaid smiled shyly, "I am Alyrina."
Penny kicked her feet, making the pillow move about the space.
The mermaid gave a little laugh that sounded like bells as she sat on another floating pillow.
"I am the king's favorite flower."
"He is going to marry me."