A large castle built of coral and sea stone stood before them. Maids swam everywhere, their shimmering tails flicking behind them as they twittered and pointed at his passing ship. Some faces he recognized.
The fiery red hair of Maiven, trailing behind her like flame, caught his eye. Of course she’d see him first. Of all the maidens, he’d dreaded seeing Talia’s grandmother most. Within the sea realm, none aged. Maiven’s skin was as firm and tight as a nubile youth, but her memory was ancient and her love for her granddaughter unswerving. Her orangey red tail flicked behind her in agitation as she swam off, headed toward the castle gates. Clearly going to warn the twins of his arrival.
He sighed.
Soon a crowd of maidens began to gather, and with them a few of their mates. It was rare for a maiden to give birth to a male, which was why most sought their mates in the upper realm. Those who’d known him were in the front, watching their ship with a mixture of curiosity and pain.
Amani and her mate Kai of the eastern Maji Kingdom. Amani’s large doe eyes roamed the length of Hook’s face, a question burned in their depths: What are you doing here?
Kai seemed perplexed, his swarthy good looks screwed into a tight frown as he stared between his mate and her flickering robin blue tail and him. Finally, he turned and headed back to the hutch they shared.
But Hook knew, and even understood the source of Amani’s animosity. She’d never forgiven him for taking Talia away. A part of him wished he never had, if he’d not asked her to join him that day she’d still be alive.
Amidst the crowd he spotted another group he recognized, and couldn’t stop his answering grin. Talia had called them the furious four.
Nixie, with her flowing white tresses and blood red tail. Aolani, dusky skinned, black hair and ebony pearl tail. Gabriella, blue hair, blue eyes, aquamarine tail and Viz, hair so blonde it almost appeared white with a golden tail.
He’d always had a particular fondness for the quartet, they were the hellions of their realm, a characteristic he’d always related to. Laughing and twirling, the girls threw him air kisses before swimming off with a gleeful song in their wake.
“Was that a man I saw?” Trishelle broke into his thoughts.
He nodded. “Yes.”
“But, how? We’re underwater and I didn’t see a bubble around him.”
Turning to her, he leaned against the railing. “Soon we will disembark. The monarchs will demand an audience. If they agree to our being here, they’ll share their magic so that we might breathe in the under as he does.”
“And if they don’t?” She shivered, hugging her arms to her chest.
“Then it’s Davy Jones’ Locker for us.” He smiled, patting her shoulder gently when he noticed the fluttering beat of her pulse in the side of her neck. “They’ve known for some time we’re coming, if they’d truly not wanted us we’d have died during our passage here. Do not worry, Trishelle, you will be fine.”
“Captain,” Smee’s voice interrupted them.
“Aye?” He looked at his first mate, who was now scrubbed and wearing fresh clothing. His men knew the maidens would play so long as they presented a pretty face; the maids had a weakness for anything shiny.
“We are here.”
Chapter 9
Trisha hadn’t known what to expect, but not this. This place went beyond imagining, and after everything she’d already seen, how was that even possible?
The floors were made of gleaming marble with flecks of silver and bronze throughout, the walls of hammered gold. Crystal hung from the ceilings and fronds of green swayed and danced. Massive towering stems with equally large jeweled petals blossomed as they passed. Tiny puffs of gold rained down on them from the pistils. She wished she could inhale its fragrance, but Hook had explained so long as they walked inside the pocket of air they’d be unable to smell anything. When they’d disembarked a piece of the ship’s bubble had attached itself to them.
It carried just enough air for thirty minutes, which meant they wouldn’t have a chance in hell of breaking surface if the king denied his magic.
This place was beautiful, but so potentially deadly she couldn’t enjoy it. Her knees knocked the closer she got to the gigantic, pearl doors.
Two mermaids swam before them, their white tails swishing back and forth as they gracefully moved ahead. Trisha couldn’t get over what she was seeing. She’d read the Little Mermaid, watched the movie and always thought how cool it would be to actually meet one someday.
But to actually see it in person—totally different. It was almost macabre to see skin give way to scales. As pretty as they all were, it didn’t make it any less strange.
And the women, they were all breathtaking. It wasn’t hard to see why Hook had fallen for one; they had an ethereal quality about them that beguiled the same way their song had earlier. Grabbing a corner of her dress, she began to fidget as images of her gasping for breath and her face contorting into a horrible, ugly mask slammed into her thoughts.