“My name is Maren,” my brave butterfly introduced herself. “No formalities necessary. I hold no title.”
I would give her every title in the ocean. I would name her my queen if only for helping me face my people tonight. That proved to be one of my most trying actions in decades.
“Maren.” The woman nodded, gathering her skirts and her bearings. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Nedali.”
“It’s very nice to meet you too, Nedali. It’s a beautiful evening tonight, isn’t it?”
“Yes. It is indeed,” the woman echoed, tossing me a cautious glance from around Maren.
I gave the woman a benevolent smile. She blinked and cast her gaze downwards at once.
“Nedali? Are you alright?” A man tentatively peeked from behind a coral trunk where he’d been hiding.
He’d fled the scene at the sight of me but then must’ve realized that his companion was left behind and came back for her, probably dreading she might’ve perished from my touch already.
“How do you do?” Maren greeted the man politely, primly folding her hands folded in front of her.
“Good evening, my la—”
“Maren. Her name is Maren,” Nedali corrected him, jamming an elbow into his side.
“Maren.” He nodded his head jerkily, then bowed deeper for me. “Your Majesty.”
“You’re wise to keep a distance from me, but it’s not my intention to harm anyone tonight,” I said to Nedali and her timid companion, welcoming the unexpected opportunity to explain myself to at least two of my subjects.
“We’re just going for a walk,” Maren added cheerfully. “Enjoy your evening.”
As we bid our goodbyes and moved on, other people emerged from the fringes of the gardens and rushed to Nedali. Everyone seemed eager to learn how she survived the encounter with the wicked cursed king.
“You’re doing great, Kye.” Maren’s praise had the effect of a warm hug on me.
“You were splendid, too, my darling,” I praised in turn. “The way you conduct yourself in a crowd, one would think you were born and raised at a royal court.”
She shrugged nonchalantly. “Not a royal court per se. But surviving in a shark tank of politicians, high-profile lawyers, and the finest snobs of generational wealth that we call ‘high society’ might’ve had a similar effect—” She stopped abruptly, turning her ear to the shore. “What’s that music?”
“There’s always music in Lyrei,” I dismissed. “Someone is always singing one song or another.”
Music was inescapable even behind my glass walls. It was as constant as the sound of waves in the ocean.
“No, it’s different,” Maren insisted. “There is more of it, louder... Excuse me.” She called to another woman who was ever so carefully trying to bypass us on the path.
The woman stopped and held perfectly still, like a mouse that knew it’d been sighted by a predator.
Recognizing her terror, Maren used her sweetest voice ever, “Would you happen to know where all that music is coming from, please?”
“Oh...” the woman ventured to release a breath. “It’s just a welcoming ceremony for the merchant ships that returned from Lorsan this morning. It’s always a good reason to celebrate when everyone returns safe and sound after dealing with gorgonians.”
Had I been an actively ruling monarch, I would’ve known about the ships’ return. As it was, I hadn’t even known about their trip in the first place. Arnon handled it all. He had probably already greeted the sailors and the merchants earlier today too. The woman was right, surviving the deadly, serpentine stares of gorgonians made any successful return from the Lorsan Wetlands worth celebrating.
“What does the ceremony look like? Is it like a fair? A festival?” Maren craned her neck and rose to her tiptoes, trying to see behind the shrubs and flower beds, past the coral pillars and across the bridge to the next island over.
Taller than her, I’d already spotted the ribbons and flower garlands decorating the merchants' stalls on the outskirts of the fairgrounds by the beach.
“I want to see it,” Maren announced, skipping off the path, then running across a lawn.
Alarm punched me in the gut as the distance between us widened. I couldn’t physically hold her to me. I couldn’t even hold her fucking hand.
“Maren, wait!” I ran after her, crushing the grass into glass dust under my feet.
