Her voice was cool, but Neela could see the confusion in her eyes. She’d hoped to keep her cousin’s foolishness a secret from Sera. She’d hoped he could behave during his stay. Apparently, that was too much to ask.
“Look, Serafina, I need to explain,” he started to say, getting up.
“Um, Mahdi? Are you shimmering?” Serafina asked.
“Hold on a minute…he’s shimmering?” Neela said. She swam up to Mahdi and looked him over, and then Yazeed. Parts of them were shimmering, other parts were completely see-through. She grabbed her brother’s gold chain and pulled it over his head. A small whelk shell dangled from it. As she turned it over, two pink pearls fell out.
“Transparensea pearls,” she said. “Let me guess…you two cast pearls last night, then snuck out of the palace. When you tried to sneak back in, all the doors were locked. The windows, too. So you spent the night here, passed out under a coral. The only question is: Where did you go?”
“Nowhere,” Yazeed said innocently. “Just out for a swim.”
“Oh, please. I bet you went to the Lagoon. You did, didn’t you?” said Neela, crossing her arms over her chest.
Yazeed looked around, suddenly interested in the architecture.
Neela glanced at Sera again. Her friend’s eyes were on the lipstick kisses on Mahdi’s cheek. They traveled to the scarf on his head. It had an L embroidered on it. L for Lucia, Neela thought. Her heart clenched as she saw the hurt on Sera’s face.
“You’re really something, Mahdi,” she said angrily. “We are guests of the Merrovingia—invited here for your betrothal, I might add—and you go shoaling?”
“We weren’t shoaling. We were, um, attending a concert. Broadening our cultural horizons,” Yaz said.
Neela held up her hands. “Just. Stop,” she said. She turned to her cousin, thumbed a smudge of lipstick off his cheek, and showed it to him. “Broadening your horizons?”
Mahdi had the good grace to blush.
“Neela,” Serafina said in a small voice. “I have to get back.”
But Neela didn’t hear her. She was scolding her brother again.
As they continued to argue, Mahdi swam up to Serafina. “Hey, Sera…” he said haltingly.
“Sorry, Mahdi. I have to go,” Serafina said.
“No, wait. Please. I’m sorry about this. Really. This is not how I thought we would meet again. I know how it looks, but things aren’t what they seem,” he said.
Serafina smiled ruefully. “I guess mermen aren’t either.”
Mahdi flinched at that. “Serafina,” he said, “you don’t know—”
“—you,” Serafina said. “I don’t know you, Mahdi. Not anymore.”
“Serafina!” Yaz shouted. “Help me out, merl! Tell Sue Nami here to cut me a break. All we did was hang out at the Corsair. The Dead Reckoners were playing. They’re my favorite band. Mahdi’s, too. We had to go. Otherwise, total FOMO.”
“FOMO?” Serafina echoed.
“Fear of Missing Out,” Yaz said.
“Don’t encourage him, Sera. He thinks he’s a badwrasse with his stupid gogg slang,” Neela said.
“We started dancing and some silly merls recognized Mahdi and went crazy and drew all over us with lipstick. Then some swashbucklers told us there was an all-night wave going on in Cerulea, so we swam back,” Yaz said. “That’s all that happened. I swear!”
“An all-night wave in the ruins of the reggia?” Neela said. “Do you really expect us to believe that? It’s a national monument!”
“Is that where we are? We’re supposed to be in the Kolegio,” Yaz said. He gave Mahdi a look. “Navigate much?”
Yaz was fibbing. Wildly. Neela was sure of it. He was trying to cover up whatever they’d really been doing.
“Look, I really do have to go,” Serafina said. She was good at hiding her feelings, but this time even she couldn’t pretend.
“Wait, Sera,” Mahdi said, looking desperate. “I’m sorry. You’re hurt, I know you are—”
“Oh, no. I’m perfectly fine, Your Grace,” Serafina said, blinking back tears.
Mahdi shook his head. “Your Grace? Whoa, Sera, it’s me.”
“Yes it is. I guess Lucia was right,” Sera said softly. She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, Mahdi. I’m fine. I would be hurt…if I cared.”
“GOOD MORNING, Your Grace!”
“Good morning, Principessa!”
“All good things to you on this happy day, Your Highness!”
In the Grand Hall, courtiers bowed and smiled. Serafina thanked them, accepting their good wishes graciously, but all the while, her tears were threatening to spill over. Her heart was broken. She’d given it to Mahdi, and he’d shattered it. He was not who she thought he was. He was careless and cruel and she never wanted to see him again.