“Hello Elowyn,” they said in unison. The pair shared Raylik’s coloring: rich brown with flecks of fire-colored scales.
I dipped my head in a quick hello to all. “Hello there, lovely to meet you.”
Then I sat in a free seat next to Raylik’s cousins as Lumina took the other open seat beside me.
Hidden by Raylik’s large figure, Nixie leaned forward with a little wave and a smile, her short pink curls pinned to one side and her eyes painted in glossy pinks that faded into her cheekbones. She quickly leaned back in her seat, and I could hear her clear voice chiming to whoever sat beside her.
“Myra and Lyra are here with their father, my uncle Melquin, Leader of Mariscal Circle,” Raylik said, then looked across the table to a siren with the same intense eyes as his daughters and long dark braids that draped over his shoulders.
He was speaking to another ancient-looking woman, her coloring ice-white like Morvyn. They shared hushed words, and by the way their eyes darted in my direction, I knew they discussed me. It seemed that no matter the court, I was a spectacle.
I scanned the room for Morvyn and spotted him talking to a siren carrying a tray of chalices, a flirtatious smile painted across his chiseled face that made him look superb. The way he wielded that smile told me he knew it.
His eyes caught on mine, and he raised his glass as a greeting, and winked.
I smiled back.Ridiculous. Why was I not surprised that he was conversing with anyonebutthe honored guests?
Eventually, Hylos entered the room dressed in a glorious ocean-blue robe, a crown of aureate shells that cupped gems wreathing his head. There was no announcement, nor a royal address; he didn’t need either. Just the fact that he had entered the space immediately made the chamber’s attention bend in his direction.
It was the first time I realized just how well Hylos could command a room.
Among his friends in casual settings, he just seemed like a young man. All smiles and jokes. But here, now, he seemed every bit a king. Even if he was merely king regent. But regent or not, tonight Hylos was the true ruler of Naiadon, and that was apparent to all that looked upon him.
The young sirens beside me clicked and trilled in their strange tongue to one another, this time more quietly to avoid Raylik’s wrath. Girlish smiles lit their young faces, and then one turned to me. “Do you think him handsome?” Lyra asked, or was it Myra?
“Hylos?” I asked as we all watched him work his way around the great table, greeting each guest.
“Who else is worth speaking of in this room?Well, besides you. But it would be rude to speak of you now.”
“Thanks for sparing my feelings.” A smile flashed across my face at her lack of subtlety. “Unfortunately, my type rarely has fins.”
The girls both looked at me flatly, not budging at the joke.
Tough crowd.
“Yes, he is handsome,” I answered.
They trilled to one another giddily. Apparently that was the right answer.
I supposed it was true. Hylos was handsome, especially now as he beguiled his guests. But he still looked like a boy to me. I suppose he was. Beneath the robe and crown and bravado, I’d seen the child who missed his parents so much that he spent his free time in their study just to be close to them. The boy who still believed his father was alive, despite him being missing for years.
But my thoughts didn’t matter. All that mattered was the way his people looked upon him now, how they basked in his presence with admiration and pride.
Their young, strong, charismatic leader. Taking the helm from his father, who held the epithet “the Great,” and doing so wonderfully.
Sadness panged in my chest. His father and mother would be proud to see the man he was in this moment. The king he had become in their absence.
I couldn’t help but compare him to my father. The only other king I knew in the flesh. He too had a kingdom thrust upon him unexpectedly. His brother died from the sweating sickness one night and the following day he was king of Oakhaven. My father was the spare to the heir and found himself in a position that he’d never expected. That he was not prepared for.
I always wondered if that was why he was so transfixed by ensuring his line of succession. Maybe he didn’t wish to burden someone unready to rule with a crown. Or maybe he was simply a narcissist obsessed with ensuring a part of him lived on after him. I would likely never know.
Hylos laughed heartily at something a siren with a pink complexion said. There was another obvious comparison to be made between Hylos and my father as well. Where the king of Oakhaven sat above all at the Yule feast, looking down at his people, Hylos greeted his subjects at their level, and seemed to truly enjoy them.
“I hope at my first Hydroxia, father arranges for me to mate with him,” one twin said, her head tilting as she stared at Hylos longingly.
“Me too,” the other added. Would that not be a little awkward? “To have his progeny would be the highest honor.”
“But I would have his nasty lover sent away or kill her myself.”
