Red Louie snickered at me, but answered, “The day after the morrow.”
“I must keep reading,” Black Louie remarked in his monotone voice, unmoving where he stood examining the page. “The fourth artifact will be found in the Merfolk Kingdom. You have five days from the start of your journey to find this artifact, or it will not be bequeathed.” He yanked his head back to turn a page, and then he pushed the book flat against his face again. “Lovers be, lovers lie, all before they cry and die. By sink thy memories on their site, try, try, and watch them fly. Mercy be thy victor of tri.” The gremlin closed the book and lowered it.
All of us gawked in confusion at him.
His big, round brown eyes blinked. “Yes?”
Red Louie tilted in his direction and whispered, “Where’s the part where they touch the artifact to return safely?”
Without emotion on his face or in his voice, Black Louie returned, “It is a given.”
The other three Louies looked at him oddly.
In the stunned silence, I snorted and waved my hand at the fourth gremlin. “He is learning! Way to put forth the effort, Louie!”
Black Louie blinked. Nothing else.
“Well, it was…almost…perfect.” I winked at him. “You’vealmostgot it. Keep going. I am so proud of you.”
King Athon groaned softly and stared at the ceiling.
King Traevon placed his mouth near my ear and stated quietly, “I do not know what is more worrisome: Louie as he was, or Louie changing.”
I chuckled delicately…
But it quickly fell away as royals slowly looked at me.
“Yes?” I lifted a red eyebrow.
Queen Alora waved her right hand in a circular motion, vastly annoyed. “Well, what is the dreadful news you need to tell me? Who has betrayed me? Or what did my original do in the past that was appalling? Or…whatever horrible thing you are about to say?”
I scrunched up my face as I thought hard and nibbled on my bottom lip in nervousness. How I had become the font of information was entirely grandmother’s fault. She could have easily told my father.
I did not enjoy the royals’ wrath.
But it did not matter what I liked or disliked.
Everyone…waited.
“Um.” I squinted at her. It seemed obvious to me, but, perhaps, it was not. And it was important that I kept my tone respectful as I asked this. “Your Royal Highness, do you know that the original merfolk and original gorgon were steadfast lovers in the beginning? They were in love, so even after their soul mates were given to them they continued their affair in secret?”
Queen Alora and King Elon jerked back a step.
The Merfolk Queen held a hand to her chest, and the Gorgon Kinghissedever so quietly. Neither one appeared pleased. Honestly, both royals might faint if they became much paler.
I will take that as a no, they didnotknow that.
I cleared my throat harshly, uncomfortable now. “I do not know how they died, though. Grandmother Isabella never said. Only that one of them betrayed the other.” When everyone continued staring at me in the awful silence, I shook my head. “That is all I know.”
King Athon bit his lower lip and gradually let it slide free, while he closely watched the two royals who were close to hyperventilating. He reengaged them, “Queen Alora, all of the artifacts have been found with the originals. Do you know where your original’s remains are?”
The Merfolk Queen messed with her ponytail, flipping her multihued hair over her shoulder to her back. Her movements jerked as she massaged her forehead and shook her head. “No, I only know how he died. After that…no merfolk cared where his remains went.”
King Traevon gripped me harder around the waist when I tilted in the wrong direction. “Do you know where we should begin the journey, at least?”
Queen Alora sucked in a large breath and squared her shoulders, obviously trying to regain her composure. “Cosimian Trench. There is a wealth of information there in the library. With the amount of material to go through, it will take all of us.”
Cosimian Trench, the Merfolk capital city.
