She studied him for a long moment, a little pucker forming above her eyes. Then, after a long moment, she took a deep breath and nodded.
21
Shimmers
Michael smiled wryly to himself as he rowed them out to the center of the bay. How many times had his mother begged and pleaded and cajoled him to woo some girl out in this very boat . . . or anywhere for that matter? And now he was out with the one girl in the world that his mother couldn’t stand.
But he wasn’t wooing. He was only helping her recover from a scare. It was the chivalrous thing to do.
“I used to bring Claire out here often,” he said as he rowed. “After her parents died she had nightmares. Sometimes we would come out here in the middle of the night just so she could fall asleep in the boat.”
Arianna watched him, and Michael couldn’t help fancying that he saw some warmth in her eyes.
Not that it mattered if he did. Because he wasn’t wooing.
She had stopped shaking at least, but the sorrow still hadn’t left her face. She reached down and trailed a hand in the water as they went, her fingers moving over its surface like a caress.
He almost asked if she missed the ocean, but checked himself first. They’d come out here to make her feel better, not to remind her of all she’d left behind. “This half of the bay technically belongs to Destin, but King Everard has been kind enough to give us full use of it, as there are no Destinian villages nearby. Its fish are the only reason we’ve survived this long without trade,” he said instead, bringing the boat to rest beneath a hanging tree.
Arianna looked up at the tree and frowned slightly before turning and squinting back at the peninsula across the bay.
Michael chuckled. “We can’t understand it, either. Destin is full of evergreen forests, and our little piece of land is as tropical as they come. All we can surmise is that the Maker wanted it that way for a reason. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about.” He laid his oars inside the boat and placed a hand beneath his chin. “We’re here to talk about you.”
Arianna blinked at him a few times before raising an eyebrow.
“It’s a game I play with Claire and Lucy. Just . . . indulge me.”
She shrugged, but a little smile surfaced.
“Here’s how it works. I ask questions, and you answer me either a yes or a no, and I have to guess what you mean.”
At this, her blue eyes lit up, and she sat up straighter.
Her eyes shimmered, Michael realized, like the sun glinting off ocean waves. For some reason this made him happy, and suddenly he was aware of a truth that he probably would have seen long ago, had he not been so wrapped up in his own problems.
Arianna wanted desperately to be heard.
“I know you had a brother. I believe you had a sister as well?”
She nodded so emphatically that a curl escaped her hair’s tight knot.
Michael laughed. “Very good then. I will proceed now to guess her name.” In actuality, he had met her sister several times, and he was fairly sure her name was Layla or Lilly or something similar, but the look on Arianna’s face now was brighter than he’d ever seen it, so he continued on with his silly game. “Is it Mildred?”
She made a face.
“Daphne?”
She wagged her finger at him.
“Audra?”
A roll of the eyes.
“Well, if I’m doomed to get it wrong, then perhaps you can at least tell me what she’s like.”
Arianna pulled her hand from the water and stared at it thoughtfully for a long moment. Then she placed her hands delicately on her cheeks and gracefully pulled her hands off.
“She’s often embarrassed.”
Arianna leaned forward and slapped his arm.
Michael laughed again. “Ah, you’re saying she was lovely.”
Another emphatic nod.
“Was she as lovely as you?”
Her smile disappeared, and she turned to stare out over the bay, fingering her shell necklace as she did.
“Arianna,” Michael whispered, “was she as lovely as you?” He reached out and tugged on her shoulder until she was facing him again.
In just a few flustered motions, Arianna confirmed what Michael had feared.
“There’s something I should have told you months ago,” he said, readjusting his position since it seemed they were going to be in the boat for a while. His silly game seemed to have opened up a wound that, had he pulled his head from the dirt earlier, he should have seen long before.
“The night your brother died,” he began, “I had one last conversation with him.” She sat up straighter, so Michael continued. “He pulled me aside and told me about you. ‘My father doesn’t want the Sun Crown to know,’ he said, ‘but I get the strange feeling tonight that someone ought to know.’”
As Michael recalled the moment now, he felt a chill run down his neck. Rinaldo couldn’t have known just how important that premonition had been. Michael swallowed hard before continuing.
“‘My youngest sister is different from the rest of us,’ he told me. ‘She can’t sing or even talk, and her health grows more frail the deeper she gets in the ocean. But she’s special. She sees and hears things no one else notices. And she’s determined to live!’” Michael paused.
Arianna’s eyes were closed, and tears were streaming down her face.
Michael scooted forward in the boat and took her hand before whispering, “He told me that he was convinced you might one day be the Sea Crown.”
Arianna’s eyes shot open, and she stared at him as though he’d lost his mind. Then, pulling her hand free, she looked up into the hanging branches above them and opened and closed her mouth before shrugging and shaking her head, tears falling even faster. Her shoulders slumped forward like a little old woman’s, and she placed her face in her hands.
Michael leaned forward. “I didn’t know him as well as you did, but I got to know your brother well enough over the years to know he was a man of honor. I didn’t understand what he meant that day, but I knew that if nothing else, he had faith in what the Maker could do with you.” Michael paused, unsure of how to finish his awkward speech. “He was a good man,” he finally said. “And he didn’t deserve to die so young.”
So much for making her feel better. Or himself. And yet, Michael wasn’t sorry for what he had said. This connection should have been made long ago, if not for any other reason than out of respect for Rinaldo. He deserved to be remembered with dignity.
“I think I liked him so much because in a lot of ways, he reminded me of my sister, Maura. She was like him . . . always knew what she was doing.”
Unlike Michael.
Michael suddenly had to look away for the strange prick in his eyes. When he looked up at the sky, he noticed that the sun had peaked, and he knew without a doubt that they would be missed at the midday meal. He should have been back at the palace nearly a half hour before. Still, he had one more question.
“Did you know who I was the day you rescued me?”
Slowly, Arianna nodded, her eyes wary, and Michael recalled the sailor’s words. Had Arianna watched him often, as the sailor claimed? The thought was a bit unsettling at first, until Michael also remembered what Rinaldo had said about Arianna’s limitations. A mermaid without the ability to dive deep or sing must have led a lonely existence indeed.
Now as they sat in the shade of the tree, Arianna leaned over the side of the boat and placed her hand in the water. The water rippled as two pretty little blue and yellow fish surfaced, nibbling the end of her finger.
What have they told you, he wondered, to make your self-loathing so great?
But he didn’t ask that. Instead, he asked, “Want to see how fast I can row us before we tip over into the bay?”
Arianna splashed him hard, and Michael laughed.
After rowing them back to the other side of the bay, Michael held out his hand to help her up from the boat. When she was standing on the d
ock beside him, however, he suddenly found it very difficult to let go. Warning bells, like the ones the church tolled when a fire had begun, sounded in his head as he stared at their clasped hands.
For a moment, he had forgotten his angst. He had forgotten his country’s situation and even his own problems. For a single second, there had been Arianna. Only Arianna.
Such thinking was dangerous, particularly for a prince who was barely maintaining a hold on his own kingdom. This was the worst time to be trailing after a woman. And yet, he found he wanted more than an occasional smile and nod. He wanted to keep her close. He wanted to hear her.
Michael was in a precarious place.
22
Accusations
“I still cannot see why three and seven make ten,” Lucy sighed as they took their seats in the dining hall. “All these figures hurt my head.” Then she perked up as Rolf handed her some silverware. “Perhaps there will be date cakes tonight! That would make my head hurt less.”
“We haven’t had date cakes in over a year,” Claire said as she took her seat beside her sister. “And it doesn’t matter if the sum makes sense. Three and seven make ten. They just do. Your head just hurts because of your sniffles.”
Arianna sighed a little. It would be so much easier to teach the children if she could talk. They were both quick, and she was honestly amazed that they had learned anything under her tutelage.
Renata would have known what to do.
The thought took Arianna a bit by surprise, and with it came the pang of guilt she still felt whenever her aunt’s face appeared in her mind.
“Arianna. Girls.” The cook nodded to each of them as he began to ladle the supper into their bowls. Arianna tried to keep a smile on her face as she saw the watery chowder splatter at the bottom of her bowl. Clams again.
But at least she had food, she rebuked herself immediately. Her face wasn’t gaunt or ashen like the humans had been in the city. And as she was feeling guilty about her dislike of chowder, more guilt poured in, as it often did when she had moments of weakness.
It had been two weeks since her last attempt at finding her aunt, the very day she’d been attacked by the old fisherman. Four times she had gone out now in total, and each trip had been cut shorter, thanks to the ever-encroaching monsters from the Deeps. That, and her fins were taking longer and longer to change in and out each time. Whatever magic had given her legs seemed to be slowly draining itself from her. Another gift of the Maker, she thought wryly.
The table quieted as Michael took his seat. He turned to the holy man and asked him to give the blessing, and while everyone else prayed, Arianna studied the tops of their heads.
As always, Bithiah and Rolf held hands. Arianna smiled wistfully as their fingers, dark on white, entwined peacefully. The queen looked as proper as ever, her fine brown-and-white peppered hair up in an elaborate twist and sprinkled with little jewels. Cook’s round face was still red from the heat of the stove, and so was his daughter’s, who helped him. The footman and one of the two maids held hands, too, a habit they had taken up the week before but never let anyone see after the prayer ended. Master Russo seemed to be getting the same bad cold that had kept Arianna and the girls indoors for the last week, as he continually sniffled during the prayer. And Lucas, well, he seemed to be as late as ever.
A movement to her left a few chairs down caught her eye, and Arianna found herself staring into the eyes of the eldest prince. Gently, he nodded at the holy man, who was still praying, then closed his eyes again. Embarrassed, Arianna ducked her head. Her relationship with Michael had been much easier since their boat ride. She had even been invited to the prince’s study each night, and while he argued with Lucas or Russo, she sat in her little corner and checked his figures. It was a peaceful time, and while they rarely talked during such sessions, there was something nice about sitting nearby and knowing another soul was there.
She wasn’t about to pledge her allegiance to a Maker who hated her, but she didn’t want another bit of consternation between herself and the prince, either. Whatever truce they seemed to have struck up was already confusing enough.
As soon as the prayer was over, everyone tucked into their food, though it was with less enthusiasm than they had when Arianna had first arrived. Cook struck up a lively debate on whether or not clams should be baked or fried. Arianna knew next to nothing of cooking. Still, everyone else seemed interested, probably because there was little else to discuss. Everyone else but Prince Michael.
He stared at his food listlessly as he stirred the white watery soup continuously with his spoon. Arianna suddenly found herself missing his smile. He was generally serious, but in the last few weeks, Arianna had seen him smile less and less, until his false grins were reserved only for the girls. Now one dark brow was pulled down over his hazel eyes, and he seemed even more gone than usual.
Something was wrong.
Something was always wrong, Arianna tried to chide herself. But she couldn’t escape the nagging feeling that a dark cloud was looming over their heads. If she could speak, Arianna decided, she would draw him aside and demand to know what had happened. And he would tell her. She was sure of it.
Actually, she wasn’t sure. But as she stirred her own chowder, Arianna wished she were sure. There had been something in his eyes that day on the pier, something she would have paid a thousand gold pieces to see again. And every now and then, as she played with the girls in the garden or worked with them on their numbers and writing, she sometimes thought she saw it in his eyes whenever she glanced up and saw him watching them.
But she was just being silly. He was watching his nieces. Nothing else. Probably making sure they were being well cared for and keeping up with their studies. Just at that moment, however, Arianna had the sensation of being watched. When she looked up, she realized with a start that Michael was looking at her with the same undeniable intensity he’d been observing her with for weeks. Her breath caught in her throat, and for the first time it occurred to Arianna that the prince could be just as silent as she.
If no one else were there to judge or advise him, what would he say? Would she get to hear his real voice?
“Michael.” Queen Drina’s grating voice jarred both of them out of their shared moment.
Arianna wanted to pinch the woman. But the prince just sighed and turned to his mother, who was sitting to his immediate right, a careful smile plastered on his face.
“Yes, Mother?”
“What will you be doing tonight?”
“Going over Lucas’s plans to repair our flagship. Why?”
“Won’t you be examining our finances as well?”
Arianna forgot to breathe. Where was she going with this?
“I have it from a very good source,” Queen Drina sniffed, “that you’ve been receiving help with that task.”
“Yes,” Michael’s words were cautious. He leaned back and studied his mother with wary eyes. “What of it?”
“Is the girl helping you?”
Their entire party went silent, and Arianna had to suppress the desire to crawl under the table. The way the queen said it made her quiet evenings in the prince’s study feel suddenly shameful, though she couldn’t say just why.
“I thought,” the queen continued, putting her spoon down and turning to glare at Arianna, “that I had made my feelings clear about her dabbling in our coffers. Also,” she turned back to her son, “I thought we had taught you better than to consort with young women alone.”
“Mother!” Michael’s mouth fell open. “My door is open to anyone who wishes to see me in the evenings. You know this! Besides,” he gestured at Arianna, which only made her blush more, “she is very good with her figures. Far better than me, actually. She’s already saved us more coin than I ever did. I was getting four hours of sleep a night, and thanks to Arianna, I’m now getting five!” He stood up so fast his chair fell over. “If you had listened to me that night, you would have seen it, too!”
; “Oh, I’m sure she is very good with her figure!”
“That is enough!” Michael threw down his napkin. “If you wish to have this conversation with me, you may do so in private. But do not try to tarnish her character here in front of our friends!”
The queen huffed and stuck her lip out in a ludicrous pout, but Michael wasn’t finished.
“When have I ever shirked duty? When, Mother?” He righted his chair and began to stalk off.
“Wait, Michael. I am still queen here! You will respect me!”
But Michael only slammed the door. The spacious glass room was filled with a nearly stifling silence. Finally, her head held high, the queen stood, too. No one said a word as she began to walk. She stopped, however, when she got to Arianna’s chair. Arianna smelled the faint scent of jasmine as Drina bent so close that their faces nearly touched.
“He may be blind to your wiles, but I know what kind of trickery you’re harboring,” she hissed, making Arianna’s ear hurt. “I am warning you now. Stay away from my son. I forbid you from visiting his study tonight or ever again. And should you be tempted to disobey me,” she touched Arianna’s necklace, “do not forget that I know where you come from. I can unmake you as fast as you tried to rise to power here.”
And with that, Drina straightened up, smoothed her peach silk gown, and glided to the doors, waiting for Rolf to rise and open them for her.
Arianna wrung her hands in her lap as she stared at her soup. They were all looking at her. She could feel it. And though the queen’s words had been whispered, there was no way anyone could have missed hearing them.
Did she leave now before incurring the queen’s wrath even more? A few months ago, the decision would have been easy. But now, the idea of leaving the girls tore at her heart. And if she was honest with herself, the thought of leaving Michael brought just as much pain. Still, surely the others would turn her out as soon as they knew her origins. Everyone had lost sons, brothers, fathers, and loved ones in the maritime war. They would escort her out of the palace themselves, no doubt.
Silent Mermaid: A Retelling of The Little Mermaid (The Classical Kingdoms Collection Book 5) Page 14