by Judi Fennell
He should tell her about her father. The truth. That Lance Dumere had been the last of his line and wanted her as his heir from the moment he’d found out about her existence. That he’d searched for her for selinos, only giving up when all traces of her had disappeared.
But telling her that would involve revealing the sordid details of Lance’s less-than-honorable weeklong fling with Therese Monet, and he wasn’t going to hurt her more than Lance already had.
Instead, he chose a neutral topic. For her, at least. “My family. Okay, let’s see. I have a brother and three sisters.”
“Lucky you. I always wanted a sibling.”
Rod smiled, remembering the chaos that had filled their house in those early selinos. “Lucky? Sometimes. At others it was exasperating, annoying, crowded, noisy…”
She rested her chin in the palm of her hand, a soft smile on her face, the anger and hurt replaced with wistfulness. “It sounds wonderful.”
“It was.” And it had been. Until that damn dare…
“I want a lot of kids someday.”
He almost choked on an ice cube. Not because she wanted children, but because the minute she said it, an image flooded his mind like high tide in a storm. Her, beneath him, in his arms, as close as a man and a woman could be—
Except they weren’t just any man and woman. He was The Heir. No High Councilman had ever married a Human and diluted the bloodline of the oldest hierarchy on Earth. Reel was the only member of the royal family to have done so in recent memory, and if there was one thing to be learned from that, from how he’d lost the Immortality he’d earned, it was that falling for a Human was dangerous. Life-threateningly so.
“So, tell me about your brother.”
“Reel? Well, we’re twins and look alike, but that’s where the similarities end. He’s—”
“Wait. Your name is Rod and his is Reel? Is your dad into fishing?” Valerie touched his arm, her smile growing beneath sparkling eyes.
He’d like to think her reaction had something to do with touching him…
No he wouldn’t. Pure bloodlines, remember? Office of the High Councilman. Standards and protocols to be upheld.
Rod picked up his water glass again, resisting the urge to keep her touching him. “Something like that. Dad’s name is Fisher, and my parents have a good sense of humor.”
“Didn’t you get teased?”
He arched an eyebrow at her. No one teased The Heir. Except his brother, of course.
“Oh. Right. Prince. Stupid question.”
She took a sip of her soda again, her lips curving around that straw.
“So, did you guys pretend to be each other? I’ve heard twins do that.”
Rod rubbed his hand over his jaw, thankful she’d asked another question. His shorts were becoming uncomfortable.
Then he realized the question she’d asked, and his heart became uncomfortable. Be each other? If only that had been possible. Reel had legs, and he’d had the tail—the fundamental difference between them that had started it all. “No. Everyone could always tell us apart.”
Valerie, thank the gods, slid her glass away from her and picked up her sandwich. Surely there couldn’t be anything arousing about her eating a sandwich?
“So what’s he like, your brother?”
And even if there had been something arousing, her question squelched it again.
What was Reel like? Gods, where to start? “He’s a good Mer—guy. A practical joker. A daredevil.”
Both traits stemmed from their birth orders. Their physical differences were attributable to the gods; nothing could be done about that. The Heir had the tail, and any subsequent males born to the family got legs. But the daredevil part…
That could be attributed to him. Yes, the legs had been the instigation, but Rod knew where the blame lay for the daredevil part of Reel’s personality.
Reel had hated that he didn’t have a tail. He was a great swimmer, but legs couldn’t keep up with tails, and Rod, in typical sibling torture, had taken advantage of that fact to no end. Always challenging him to a race, giving him a head start—which Reel had hated because it made him feel inferior—but, no matter what, Reel would take Rod on, trying his hardest to beat him.
And Rod would let him—until the last second. Then he’d pour on the power and Reel would be left leagues behind.
That always pissed Reel off—which Rod fully understood. That was why, when they’d seen Erica in the water by the jetty that day, he’d come up with a dare he knew Reel wouldn’t be able to resist: touch her and escape without getting caught. The dare hadn’t pitted them against each other; just Reel against a Human. Rod figured it was an easy win. In and out, a plus to add to Reel’s tally.
Except that Reel had been fascinated by her. He’d hung around. He’d even brought the clamshell they’d found for their mother’s birthday to the jetty in hopes of enticing Erica out further.
It had worked.
And Rod had panicked. He’d known what their father would say if he heard about it. He’d tried to stop Reel, but, typical Reel, he wouldn’t quit.
Then Erica had seen him and screamed. And that was the beginning of the end of their carefree childhood.
If he’d only left his brother alone that day, if he hadn’t dared him, or if he hadn’t tried to “rescue” him, they wouldn’t have been separated.
If he’d obeyed the rules of their world, Reel wouldn’t have had to prove himself. He wouldn’t have wound up married to Erica and living on land. For the duration of a mortal lifespan.
If only—Gods! He’d been through the “if onlys” for selinos, and it all came back to one thing. If he hadn’t dared Reel, he wouldn’t have to face saying good-bye to him one day.
“Rod? Are you okay?” Valerie waved a hand in front of his face. “You looked like you went on a little trip there.”
He tried to smile, but the thought that it’d been his fault still ripped him in two. And once they bestowed the Immortality on him that came with the throne, he’d be able to revisit his guilt forever.
“Just remembering all the crazy things my brother did. One time he was hanging from the roof and dropped on top of his friend. Scared the guy so badly that he turned green.” Literally. It was the first time Oryx had come home from school with Reel, and he’d been smitten with Mariana. Oryx had thought the wrath of the gods was falling on his head for daring to ask out the High Councilman’s daughter.
“Off the roof? Wow, he really was a daredevil. Didn’t he get hurt?”
Right. The roof. Gravity was more of an issue on land than underwater. He had to remember that or risk giving himself away. Another reason to get to the ocean as soon as possible—once he convinced her she wasn’t allergic.
“No, Reel didn’t get hurt. He had a lot of practice and knew how to do it.”
“He must have been a handful for your parents.”
“That’s an understatement.” Reel definitely had been. Rod? Not so much. Rod had learned that lesson then buckled down to learn the rest of them.
“What about you? What were you doing while your brother was off pulling his crazy stunts?”
Rod picked up a salty fry. He hadn’t put enough of the mineral in his water to make it palatable and couldn’t with Valerie watching him, so the fries would have to do. They weren’t bad, actually, and provided what his body needed. “Not much. When you’re in line for the throne, you have precedents and protocols shoved down your gullet. I spent most of my time in the library studying.”
“Sounds like fun.”
Right. He raised his eyebrows at her. “Fun wouldn’t be my first choice to describe it, but it was necessary. I have a huge responsibility on my shoulders, and the only way to prepare for it was to study and observe.”
“Well, at least you got to take this fun trip, right? Dodging fish bombs has
to be more exciting than figuring out what kind of fish they were.”
“Flying fish.”
“I’m sorry?”
“They were flying fish. Exocoetidae. The easiest kind for JR to collect when he’s going for quantity.”
Val shook her head and laughed. “Rod, you need to lighten up. I was only joking about what kind of fish they were. The fact that they were fish—dead and bouncing off my car—is enough information for me. I guess you were stuck in that library too long.”
True. It’d been a long time since he’d just laughed. Since everything hadn’t been all about the throne.
Even this journey. He’d planned to bring her to the coast and immediately head into the water so she would gain her tail and he, the throne. His brother had suggested they take their time, introduce her to their world slowly, use his and Erica’s home while they were visiting their parents, and enjoy a few days before all the responsibility and order took up his life. But Rod had said no. His assignment had been to bring her to The Council, nothing more. He’d been groomed for the job and was more than ready to take it.
But, he had to admit, sitting here, sharing the memories and her amusement, he was reconsidering. She was no longer something he had to “do,” some abstract mission The Council had sent him on.
No, Valerie was far from “have to” material. “Want to” was more the idea.
Maybe taking a few days to ease her into their world wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Chapter 19
“What’d you find out, Livingston?” Rod opened the vehicle’s door for Valerie, careful to keep from touching her. The rain, thankfully, had cooled his blood. He didn’t need the added complication of an attraction to her. Obviously, spending time with her at Reel’s was not only unsafe for everyone, but specifically his claim to the throne now that JR was involved.
“I managed to get a message to The Council.” Livingston glided into the backseat. “That concern is now alleviated. But another one has cropped up. JR has all the airports in a hundred-mile radius surrounded. That’s why he gave up after the crow-and-blanket fiasco. If we show up, they’re going to ground the planes. I can imagine how, but not why these land avians are doing his bidding.”
“Did you explain… things?” Rod took his seat and buckled in.
“Oh, I explained, Rod. But they kept their beaks zipped and their heads shaking. Whatever they’ve been promised or threatened with, they aren’t budging, so we’ve got to come up with another plan.”
“What other plan?” Valerie asked, starting the vehicle. “We drive or we fly. Flying appears to be out, and if we drive, he’s going to be able to track us.”
“True.” Livingston shook himself, sending sprinkles of water all over the interior. “Sorry about that. Anyway, where we’re going isn’t a secret, so the tracking isn’t the problem. It’s what he plans to do while we’re on the road that worries me.” He worked his wings into place on his back and settled onto the middle of the seat again.
“Since every other avian out there is against us, I’ve put out a call for gull reinforcements, but this weather cell is staying put and stretches for miles in either direction. The guys back at the roost will have a tough time getting through, so we’re on our own until the weather clears or we get far enough east where JR hasn’t had a chance to do advance work. The guy knows his shit, that’s for sure.”
“That’s because he trained at the same academy you did,” Rod said, running scenarios through his head to quit replaying Valerie’s comments from lunch and ignore the way her hair tumbled around her beautiful face—both of which were still making his shorts uncomfortable—and to find a way out of this mess. Simple recovery mission, his tail.
“Yeah, but our training methods have advanced since he left. I’d like to think I’ve got options he doesn’t know about. Now if I can just figure out what those are.” Livingston stuck his bill between the seats. “So, can I have my fries?”
The fries. Rod looked at Valerie.
“You ate them, didn’t you? You ate my fries.” The gull hrrrmphed and dropped his head over the edge of the seat. “The one thing I was so looking forward to—hot, fresh fries. By the time I get them, they’re always soggy and cold.” He shook his head when Rod passed back the sandwich bag. “I get no respect, I tell you. None at all.”
No respect? Please. The bird was the highest-ranking security expert in their world. If they made it through this in one piece, Rod would make sure that Livingston had a french-fry line item added to his budget for the rest of his tenure. And then some.
The rain didn’t let up. If anything, the sky grew darker. It was only afternoon, but it could just as easily have been night.
After hitting a couple of slick spots, Val reduced their speed, gripping the wheel tighter while laughing at the latest round of Tritone sibling escapades. Rod had told her about his sisters and, man, the whole large family thing sounded wonderful.
Most of the stories, however, were about Reel. Rod obviously loved his brother, and it came through with every word he spoke about him. She felt sorry that Reel had been the one getting toppled by waves and trying to surf on the backs of stingrays while Rod had stood on the sidelines during family vacations.
His father had put a lot of pressure on Rod to be the perfect ruler—the exact opposite from the way she’d been raised.
Mom had let her go. No boundaries, no rules—well, other than the societal ones, of course. But Mom had been all about experiencing life, going off the beaten path. And, yes, that might not have worked quite as well as Val would have liked, given her prior lack of focus and job history, but at least she didn’t have what-ifs or coulda-beens.
And if the wistfulness she sensed beneath the surface of Rod’s words was anything to go by, his by-the-book, structured life hadn’t worked out any better for him.
Her cell phone interrupted a funny story about Reel and an overly amorous dolphin, and Val looked over her shoulder to Livingston. “Can you get that out of my bag, please?”
Livingston, doing wing lifts on the backseat (to keep in shape, he’d explained), stopped with wings at shoulder height and flipped them over.
“Valerie, I’m flattered that you think me so anthropomorphic, but one does need appropriate appendages to open a zipper and, sorry,” he wiggled his feathers, “these aren’t them.”
The phone rang again. “I’ll get it,” said Rod, leaning behind her seat.
Hmm… She got her phone and Rod’s shoulder brushing hers at the same time. A definite plus over having the bird get the phone.
The last ring before it went to voice mail made it to Val’s ear. “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me,” said Tricia. “What’s going on?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Val glanced over at Rod as another round of lightning started. “What’s up, Tricia?”
“First of all, where are you? The electrician came early, so I let him in, but I’ve been back and forth to the diner all day. Then Summer forgot her lunch, so I had to run to camp, but I’m keeping tabs on him.”
“Oh, crud, I didn’t call.” Dive-bombing peregrines were a perfectly acceptable excuse, but not one she could give Tricia without sounding like she’d gone around the bend—and she didn’t mean the one in the road. “I’m sorry. We had to leave early this morning.”
“Leave?”
As another round of thunder boomed overhead, Val gave Tricia a highly watered-down—no pun intended—version of the morning’s events, minus the talking seagull and fish-bombs, and tossed in the immediacy factor of the inheritance for tax purposes.
“So why aren’t you on a plane?”
Good question and one whose answer wouldn’t make a lick of sense out of context and without the experiences of the day. “We’re heading to an airport now. There weren’t any direct flights available on such short notice at the
first airport, and Rod needs one. He’s not much of a flier.”
Okay, not the best excuse, but definitely more believable—even if Rod raised his eyebrows and Livingston fell to the floor laughing, his wings semi-wrapped around his stomach, orange-webbed feet running as if he were on an invisible treadmill.
“I guess I’ll stick around then until all the new light fixtures check out.”
“Thanks, Tricia. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem. But, listen, I need an address for where you’re going to be. I found something you’ll want to see. It’s a package. From your mom.”
Between the thunder and the gull’s laughter, Val was having a hard time hearing Tricia. She frowned at Rod and nodded her head toward Livingston. A click of Rod’s fingers shut the bird up. “What did you say?”
“I said, I found the birthday present your mom bought for you. It was behind a bag of birdseed. I thought you’d want it as soon as possible.”
Val’s blood froze in her veins as memories and emotions hit her with as much force as the storm outside.
A package? From Mom? Months after her death?
Val didn’t know if she could deal with this.
First the inheritance from her father, now a gift from her mother. At the place where they’d first met. The place she was deathly allergic to.
What was the universe planning?
Did she really want to find out?
Or…
Did she want to run away?
Again.
Chapter 20
The soon-to-be-out-of-office-and-looking-forward-to-it-with-each-passing-minute High Councilman, Fisher Tritone, signaled the Serving Nautilus to leave the tray of mussels with the spicy red and green peppers his Olympian Advisor liked. The Nautilus placed the platter on the anemone-covered table then fluttered from the living room with only a tiny whoosh from his gills. Two dozen cleaner shrimp clambered over Mariana’s newest lava sculpture to trail after him, giving Fisher the privacy they’d need for this conversation.
