This was alright. This was a game. Or maybe a test. She’d told him to lie still, let it happen. He was a good boy. He could listen.
His muscles relaxed as he exhaled the remaining air from his nose. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open to reveal a trailof bubbles and his mother’s face shimmering above the water. Perhaps after this, he could show her around his room. Maybe she could even talk to the guards in the gardens so that the noble children would be allowed to play with him.
Yes. He ignored the burning in his chest as he pictured it all – an afternoon of goblin tag with his new friends, then dinner with Mother and Father in the dining room. Lukas clasped a hand over his mouth to hide his grin. How wonderful this day would be!
His throat seized as his body squirmed involuntarily. The two hands keeping him down tightened their grip on his skin.
“Mama?” Lukas whimpered, but any sound was drowned out by a thousand bubbles. “Mama!” he squealed again, his whole body shaking. “Mama!”
He gasped. Water filled his chest. It burned and felt completely wrong, but there was a strange relief there too. His hands turned to fists. Desperately, he beat them against his mother’s arms. But when he was forced to breathe again, something strange happened.
The soapy water became crystal clear. His mother’s face faded above the surface. And his burning chest calmed, as if the water had smothered the fire in his lungs.
“Mama?” he called again, but now his voice swam around him as if part of the water. He relaxed against her hold. Dark brown hair haloed around his face, the strands tickling him as he giggled. This was even more wonderful than playing in the garden. He could hide under the water for hours and bring as many friends as he wanted. The guards would never see him! He—
Two hands yanked him from the bath.
The young prince yelped as water crashed around him. For a brief moment, the air felt wrong and murky – until all the water poured out from his lungs and he could breathe normally again. As the fogginess cleared from his eyes, he blinked to see his mother’s pale face glaring back at him.
She was furious – for a few heartbeats. Then the anger gave way to horror, and she dropped her son as if he’d burned her.
“How?” she stammered, tears bubbling in her eyes. “You’re a boy. It shouldn’t be possible.”
“Did you see me, Mama?” Lukas righted himself in the bath and gripped the edge with his small hands. “It’s so fun under the water! We should play there together! We can be fishes!”
The Queen’s lower lip trembled. “How could the Oceans be so cruel?”
“What’s wrong, Mama? Did I do something bad?” Lukas dipped his chin into the water, leaning his face against his knuckles.
Her icy gaze dropped to him, and she scowled. “Don’t call me that,” she spat. “I’m not your mother anymore.”
Then she rose from the floor and rushed out of the room, taking all the warmth with her.
Later that night, the Queen returned to his bedchamber witha stack of blue books in her arms.
“Wake up,” she hissed, nudging his shoulder.
Reluctantly, the young prince opened his tired eyes and rolled over to face her.
Moonlight poured in from the window, making her face appear even more skeletal. But despite her hollow cheeks, her eyes were just as puffy as his. Perhaps she had been crying too? Though judging by her bored expression, she wasn’t there to seek comfort.
“Can you read yet, boy?” she asked impatiently.
Lukas chewed his lip. “Yes.”
The Queen scowled before dropping the books into his lap. “You’ll want to read these so you can understand exactly what you are.”
Lukas glanced at them. The heavy leather binding was already cutting into his legs, and there were strange words on the covers. Strange, scary words that made his tummy churn.
“What did I do wrong, Mama?” he asked, not realising he’d spoken.
The Queen scoffed. “When you are big enough to have real soldiers, you should ask your father,” she snarled, before turning away and retreating into the shadows.
After Lukas heard the door shut, he rose from the bed and scooped the books into his arms. Whatever was in those books – inside him too – was clearly hurting his mother. So, he wouldn’t read them. Not even if she told him to.
With a determined scowl, he marched over to the fireplace and tossed the books into the flames. The intense heat dried his tears before they could fall to the stone floor.
“I’m so sorry for being bad, Mama.”
