The Merfolk Queen cursed and quickly turned her back to the window, adjusting her hooded cloak as she did so. King Elon started laughing and waved back at them.
Queen Mikko groaned, “Oh my Fae. Now, that is humiliating.” The tiny Caster Queen herded us, quite forcefully, away from the window and toward the castle I could now see above the nearby buildings. “If we are not careful, everyone will know we are here.”
I rearranged my sweater she had managed to yank down too far on the left side, grumbling, “You’re much stronger than you look.”
“I know.” Her smile held the essence of the predators of the swamps she lived in. “Do try to remember that.”
A shiver worked down my spine, so I held my head up higher as we maneuvered through merfolk coming and going all around.
We entered the castle gates through a small back entrance for servants, and soon we were slipping into the Merfolk Queen’s colorful stone and coral castle through the servants’ living area.
Queen Alora lowered her hood with a contented sigh and marched straight up a thin stairwell, lit sconces chasing the shadows away. “I’ll show you to your rooms. There is probably thirty minutes left now before lunch is served, so I’ll have a trusted servant sent to your rooms in fifteen minutes to direct you to the reserved study.”
I scratched the back of my neck as we followed her up the stairs in single file. I needed a bath. Badly. Studying my fingers, I had sand beneath my nails and embedded deep into the cuticles.
I hadn’t even touched the ground!
My eyebrows furrowed in thought. “It is possible I will be a few minutes late, Your Royal Highness. I need to bathe away the sand.”
Laughter fell from the Merfolk Queen’s mouth.
King Elon snorted. “Princess Trixie, if you manage to find a way to get rid of it all, you must tell me your secret.”
