Mer Tales 01 - Everblue

wanted.
    From the edge of the balcony, I spotted Chauncey floating over and he whispered something in the King’s ear. Whatever he said wiped the smirk right off the King’s face, his glare finding me. Normally I would have reveled in anything that annoyed King Phaleon, but this time I had a feeling it had something to do with Tatch and why she wasn’t at the parade.
    :::
    When the parade ended, Badger didn’t speak to me and immediately took Lily home. I was ushered back to the palace by the same annoying goon squad.
    “ Get comfortable,” the scrawnier one said before he shut the door and bolted it on the other side.
    Comfortable? All that was in the room was a mirror, a table and four ornate chairs carved from rock. Why were they still holding me hostage when I had the bracelet on? Dread choked me as I noticed bars covered the windows, making my guest room a renovated jail cell—a new addition while I was at the parade. Nice.
    From outside I heard people chatter excitedly about their upcoming futures together. I wondered what Lily told her parents about how I behaved today. I could only hope the ceremonies wouldn’t be for a while with all the Queen’s lavish plans. Far enough away for us to escape.
    I awaited news from someone about what happened with my mom and sister, continuing to telepathically call for Tatch without any return response. My plans when I got out weren’t complicated: free Tatch, get the bracelet off, and escape Natatoria with my family. How, was a different question.
    Could someone get word to Dad instead? Besides Badger, I didn’t know who I could trust to help me. I was a pawn in a game the King controlled. He probably reveled in what was to come—Dad’s not so joyous homecoming filled with news that not one, but both of his kids were promised in his absence. Nice reward for risking your life, leaving your family, and doing a secret job to help the King. Another insult to an injury Dad didn’t inflict so long ago.
    The bolt on the door unlatched. I stood upright.
    “ Son,” Mom said and rushed to me, hugging my neck tightly.
    “ Mom?”
    She wouldn’t stop hugging me and then I realized she was crying.
    “ Mom!”
    “ I’m sorry, Fin,” she said, her face pained. “I’m trying to be strong. Your sister—she fell apart today and refused to go to the parade. We did everything we could to convince her. I even secretly told her the plan to escape, but she’d wouldn’t fake like she supported this. Once the King heard she wouldn’t cooperate, he got very upset.”
    I stared into my mother’s ashen face and my dorsal fin flexed. “What did he do?”
    She looked up at me sadly—nothing but failure behind her eyes. “He’s arranged a private ceremony for you and your sister. You’ll be promised tomorrow.”
    “ No,” I said, backing up as if I was cornered. “I won’t do it. Lily doesn’t even want to. The King tricked her parents. She said I’d asked for her hand by a letter, but you said they asked you.”
    “ It doesn’t matter. There’s nothing any of us can do. The King firmly believes if the two of you are promised, you won’t cause him anymore grief.”
    “ But I’m already promised!” I yelled.
    “ Shhh, I know.” She pushed her hands downward. “This is such a mess. They sedated your sister, then she couldn’t stay awake to attend.”
    “ Really?” I scrubbed my hand through my hair. “I can’t believe this is all happening.”
    She pressed her palms over her eyes. “This is all my fault.”
    I put my arm over her shoulder, suppressing the urge to tear apart the room instead. “It’s not your fault. It’s going to be okay, Mom. Like you said earlier, things could be worse. We still have time. I’ll figure out something.”
    “ Without your dad, I don’t know how.”
    The fire in her eyes from the night before had extinguished, lighting anger inside me. I’d been looking at this whole situation like a child. What could Dad do that I couldn’t? I was a man. It was time I started acting like one.
    I swam to the door and pounded on it.
    “ I want to see the King,” I demanded to the goon.
    He looked at me with amusement. “Okay,” he said before shutting the door.
    I wedged my fin into the door jam and pushed it back open. “I’m serious. I want to see him tonight.”
    He gave me a wild smile; one tooth was missing. “Whatever ya say, Captain.”
    I drifted back, alarmed at the craziness in his eyes. Why did he call me