King of the Sea

by Elizabeth Frost

“You’re going to a party in the human realm?” She lifted a green brow. “Don’t you remember how the last one ended? Really Archer, it’s not a good idea.”

  “Just do it, Ebb.”

  She sighed, turned around, and cupped her hands to her mouth. “Tide!” The scream that echoed down the hall would have made anyone else’s ears bleed. The damned woman could be a harpy if she wanted to be.

  Something shattered down the hall and then footsteps raced toward them.

  Tide skidded into view. If Archer hadn’t known both of them since birth, he would have sworn they were the same person. Same face, same hair, but one of them was male and the other female.

  He thought.

  They took after oceanic creatures, and he couldn’t tell when one was female and the other was male. Sometimes they switched. Such was one of the reasons why he adored them so much.

  It was rare for Archer to be fond of anything. So, he had to keep both of them close.

  Tide was out of breath when he replied, “What is it, Ebb?”

  She pointed at Archer. “He wants a suit fit for a human party.”

  “Oh really?” Tide rubbed his hands together, and that’s how Archer knew he was Tide.

  Ebb liked to follow the rules. Tide liked to break them.

  “It sounds positively devious, Your Majesty. You want a suit? I will make you the perfect one.”

  Archer shook his head. “I don’t have time to wait. The party is tonight.”

  Ebb sucked in a deep breath. “Tonight? You want us to have you ready by tonight?”

  If he had a watch, he might have looked down at it. As it was, he assumed the benefit supper would be around seven, most humans liked that time, and that it was getting very close to five. “We have a couple hours.”

  “A couple hours isn’t enough, Archer,” she replied. “You know it takes at least three hours for perfection like that.”

  Archer ignored Ebb’s frantic complaint. “Oh, and I don’t know where the benefit is, so I need one of you to figure that out.”

  He might have broken Ebb with that. She turned white as whale bone and turned to her brother. “He wants a miracle.”

  Tide shook his head, “No. He’s too excited. What’s important about this benefit, Archer?”

  This was it. This was how he got them to do whatever he wanted.

  Archer cleared his throat, lifted a single brow, and grinned. “It’s about a girl.”

  8

  “You look stunning, River,” Dad said, putting the Jeep in park.

  He wore a light gray suit and a green tie that matched the color of her dress. His silver flecked hair was carefully brushed back and held in place with a pomade she’d given him for Christmas last year.

  River didn’t want to look beautiful, but she wasn’t sure how to tell her father that. She didn’t want anyone to look at her.

  Even if they didn’t know who she was, they would soon enough. No matter where she went, someone had seen her hands before. And then people would walk up, asking to see the strange appendages they couldn’t understand or fathom.

  No doubt there would be a doctor at the benefit supper. They’d poke and prod at her fingers, stretching them wide and holding the webbing up to the light.

  So many doctors had looked at her hands. They all got a glint in their eyes, like they wanted to put her on a table already and rip into her skin. Just to see how she ticked.

  River ran a hand underneath the neckline of her dress. The fabric was itchier than she remembered, or maybe she was just nervous and sweaty. She couldn’t tell.

  Dad got out of the car and walked around to her side. He opened the door and held his hand out for her to take. Like this was all very normal.

  They didn’t go to benefit suppers like this often. In fact, she’d call her father a social recluse most of the time. Unless there was a job opportunity. Then he wanted her to be the belle of the ball and immediately direct everyone toward her father. He put way too much pressure on her.

  He waggled his fingers for her to take. “Come on now, River. We have a lot of people to greet!”

  Of course they did. She would be paraded in front of a swell of teeming people who she would never understand. Nor would she remember any of their names.

  She doubted any of them would remember her name either, so that was something. They’d remember her strange hands and how odd they felt around her. They always remembered that. But they weren’t likely to know her name, or anything she’d said at all.

  Sometimes, she felt like she was seen but invisible at the same time. They knew where she was at all times. They pretended to listen to her words. But they didn’t care about her. They just wanted to see how much of her they could take apart.

  River was so tired of being around people.

  She put her hand in her father’s and let him tug her from the car. Silent as always, she followed him into the house.

  The richest man in town had hosted the dinner, shocker. He always hosted the big parties because his old stone mansion was built from the same blueprints as Napoleon Bonaparte’s house. The front entrance was small, but that was all it took for people to hand off their coats.

  Then, they were thrust into an actual ballroom. White and black checkered floor. Glass chandelier. Even a quartet of string instruments played by musicians who looked like they’d rather be anywhere but here.

  River shared their feelings.

  People were packed into the room, from wall to wall. Apparently when the Governor came to town, everyone wanted to be seen.

  Black tie events were rare in Charlottesville, so she supposed the whole town wanted to take some time and enjoy themselves. How often did people wear fancy dresses and see their spouse all dolled up?

  River could admit she enjoyed their smiles. She hadn’t seen people in this town so happy in years.

  The principal of her high school walked by with his wife on his arm. They were both dressed in black and looked years younger than she remembered them being. He grinned at her and bowed. “River! Look at you, all grown up.”

  Dad wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “Isn’t she? Looks just like her mother.”

  The principal’s wife stiffened, although River couldn’t guess why. The woman was gorgeous in a long, backless black dress with her grey hair cascading around her face in perfect curls.

  Yet another story she didn’t know. Something had happened with the principal, maybe? Her mother didn’t make attachments though. Not lasting ones, anyway.

  Her father must have felt the tension. He excused them and guided her across the room.

  “Dad?” she asked. “Why does Principal Harrison’s wife not like Mom?”

  “We’re not going to talk about that here.”

  “Why? Is it a bad story?”

  She turned to look at her father, only to realize he was trying very hard to not laugh. Tears were even gathered in the corner of his eyes as he bit his lip and shook his head. “No, nope, not a bad story. One that will make you love your mother even more. But not one I can tell here because they’re probably looking at us even now.”

  She leaned to look around him. And yes, they were both looking at her father. The principal with an amused expression, and his wife with a stormy look that could have seared flesh from bones.

  Tucking her arm through her father’s, she sighed and tugged him away from the dramatic woman. “Okay, Dad. Why don’t you introduce me to people?”

  The first half of the evening was a blur. Most of the people who met her were very kind. They wanted to speak with her father about his business, and he then forgot his daughter was standing right there.

  Thankfully, she’d gotten very good at relaxing and letting Dad talk. She’d already heard his speeches more times than she could count.

  They hadn’t, however. No one here knew how passionate he was about his business, and how much he wanted to help people. She’d stayed up into the wee hours of the morning hearing his frustrations an
d anger.

  He wanted the world to change. To be a better place for everyone in it. And that was something she admired about her father.

  It took only an hour into the greetings for someone to comment on her hand. This was a rival attorney who wanted the same job as her Dad. They’d already been introduced once, but the man pretended they hadn’t.

  His dark hair was greased tight to his skull and his suit was ill fitting. That’s all River remembered, his name was surprisingly illusive.

  “Patrick,” he called out. “I was just reminded your daughter has the most interesting deformity. May I see it?”

  River told herself not to flinch. While humans might find it a deformity, there was at least one man out there who didn’t. Archer liked the way she looked, and that was far better than one human man who wanted to make her feel bad.

  Her father, however, winced. He gave her an apologetic look before he gritted through his teeth, “She’s right here, Isaac.”

  Right, that was the man’s name.

  Isaac, the tall slimy man who needed to be reminded of manners, glanced at her dismissively. “Yes, yes. Hello child. I’ve heard the most marvelous things about your hands.”

  “My hands?” she asked, feigning her own curiosity. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  That stumped him. His tongue caught on itself before he finally caught that she was toying with him. “How like your father you are.”

  “Thank you. I take that as a compliment.”

  “Indeed.” Isaac looked her father over with clear disdain. “And here I was trying to hold out an olive branch.”

  River should have stayed quiet. She knew better than to pick arguments in public, especially with men who were her father’s rivals. But this one had insulted her, and her visit with Archer made her feel strong.

  She stepped closer to Isaac and smiled as sweetly as she could. The sickly emotion felt wrong on her lips. “Sir, my hands are not something for you to gawk at like I’m a sideshow freak. It’s not a deformity. And they aren’t for you to look at like you own them.”

  Isaac turned red as a lobster. His mouth opened, closed, and then she saw something dark flit behind his eyes. There was intention in his gaze, a dark intent that had her taking a step back.

  He might have said something nasty if another voice hadn’t cut between them. “Bravo, River. Put the slimy man in his place.”

  That voice. She knew that voice but it wasn’t possible that he was here, of all places?

  She turned and stared up at Archer. River had only seen him in a bathing suit and shirtless, but now she got to see him in all his glory.

  Suddenly, she understood why couples liked to dress up. His suit stretched tight across his shoulders and made him look all kinds of delicious. Unlike all the other men in here, he’d rolled the sleeves up, showing off his strong forearms covered in tattoos.

  He was everything she shouldn’t want. The bad boy dressed like a businessman who everyone knew was bad news except her.

  Damn, her mind was wandering.

  Isaac blustered at Archer. “And just who are you? It’s rude to interrupt a conversation between friends, you know.”

  Archer didn’t even look at the other man. “And if you were their friend, I wouldn’t have interrupted. Run along now, little man.”

  “Little man?” Isaac’s red face turned into a tomato. His hands clenched into fists he might have thrown if they were in a different place.

  To his credit, Archer didn’t seem concerned. But he turned toward Isaac and something odd happened with his eyes.

  River swore she saw his blue eyes start to... glow. Like they gave off their own light. But that was impossible.

  She had to amend that thought considering she believed he was a faerie. Could he do that? She didn’t know. Whatever magic burned in his gaze, Isaac went white in the face and backed away from them.

  Her father broke the silence with a chuckle and holding his hand out for Archer to shake. “Well done, young man. I’ve been trying to scare him off for years. I’m Patrick, River’s father.”

  Archer grinned and shook her father’s hand. “Sir, it’s wonderful to meet you finally. River has told me so much about you.”

  No, she hadn’t. She’d barely talked about her father. Why was he making it seem like they’d seen each other more than twice?

  Dad looked at her with an arched brow. She knew that look. It was the “we’ll talk about this later” look. He wanted to know everything about Archer, and she couldn’t actually tell him anything about the man.

  It wasn’t like she could explain that she met him in their pool. Or that he was a faerie, same as she suspected her mother to be. Or that she intended to keep seeing this man so she could learn where she came from because Dad clearly wouldn’t tell her a single truth.

  Did the room suddenly get hotter? It felt a lot hotter.

  River lifted her arms a little and tried to get some air under them. “Dad, this is Archer.”

  “Any friend of River’s is a friend of mine. I’m afraid I don’t remember you, though. Did you go to school with River?”

  Oh yeah, she was definitely sweating. Whatever Archer said would make everything difficult. She had to think up a lie to tell her father. Something that wouldn’t make him lock her up in the house and refuse to let her out again.

  “No, sir. I just moved here.” Archer brushed a hand through his hair, looking for all the world a young man in an unfamiliar place. “Down the beach from your place, actually. Afraid I got a little too close to your property and ran into River here. She was real polite about it, but reminded me that trespassing wasn’t exactly smart.”

  Her father relaxed. He laughed with Archer and shook his head. “The trespassing signs might be a little much, but you can never be too careful.”

  “No you can’t, sir. I’m just glad your daughter didn’t have a gun and was kind enough to introduce herself to me. She’s a real kind lady.”

  “That she is.” Her father looked down at her with a fond expression before he nodded sharply. “All right then, River. I’m off. Let’s see if daddy can get himself a new job, shall we?”

  “Good luck, Dad.” She tried very hard to make sure her voice didn’t warble at all or he’d know something was off.

  She must have been convincing, because he wandered off without a care in the world. Almost as though his daughter hadn’t introduced him to a man for the first time in her life.

  She felt her knees go weak. “What in the world are you doing here?”

  Archer burst out laughing. “I’m not allowed to go to benefit dinners?”

  “You’re not allowed to stalk me,” she hissed. Was she supposed to think it was a coincidence he showed up at her benefit dinner? He’d been following her.

  “Please, that’s rather dramatic, don’t you think?” Archer glanced over his shoulder, almost like he was making sure her dad was far away. “Maybe I happened to come to the same benefit dinner. You never said who it was for, this could all be entirely by chance.”

  Somehow she doubted that. He didn’t seem like a man who left anything to chance.

  Crossing her arms over her chest, she tried to stare him down. “Is this by chance?”

  He opened his mouth, but no words came out. She could see him even try to shape the word “no”, but it caught on his tongue before any noise could exit his lips.

  Could he not lie? Was that part of being a faerie?

  She’d never been good at it. Everyone always knew when she was trying to lie. Could that be something to do with her heritage?

  River made a mental note to look it up in the library or whatever resources she could find about faeries. Later. Right now, she needed to find out why he was at this benefit at all.

  Snapping out her arm, she grabbed his wrist and yanked him away from the center of the room. The only quiet place was near a food stand. It was filled to bursting with fresh seafood. The sharp smell of fish was overpowering the cl
oser they got.

  Once sufficiently hidden, she pointed at him. “You can’t follow me everywhere.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because-” Well, she didn’t know why. She stopped talking to think of a reason he wasn’t allowed to do that. “It’s creepy.”

  He grinned and leaned around her. So close that she felt his nose brush against her hair and swore he inhaled the perfume decorating her locks. “Do you really think I’m creepy?”

  Now it was her turn to not be able to lie. If she called him creepy again, then maybe he’d leave. But she couldn’t get the words out of her mouth.

  She thought he was a little overwhelming. And that sometimes she couldn’t breathe when he was near her and felt like she panted just because he walked into a room.

  “No, I don’t think you’re creepy,” she finally muttered. “But would you pull your sleeves down please?”

  “Why?” His brows furrowed.

  “They’re distracting.”

  “Ah,” he said, his mouth curving into a smile. “So you like it when you can see my arms?”

  She wasn’t having this conversation with him. Not when he was baiting her.

  River frowned. “You can’t say stuff like that to me either. If we’re going to be friends-”

  He reached out and touched two fingers to her mouth, forcing her to stop talking. Archer took one big step closer, crowding her with his broad chest and those ocean eyes. “I want to make something very clear, River. I’m not interested in being friends with you.”

  She nodded against his fingers and asked, “Then what do you want from me?”

  He eased his touch on her mouth, then dragged his thumb across her lower lip. “Everything.”

  What did she say to that? Her cheeks were flushed. Her body was hot and cold at the same time, and a rush of warmth pooled between her legs.

  He wanted everything from her? What did he mean?

  “River!” someone shouted from across the room. “Your father said you were here!”

  She couldn’t take it anymore. She had too much to think about with this handsome man claiming more than he deserved, and a crowd of people behind him who wanted to gawk at the strange daughter of the local attorney.