“Sorry!” Araxie yelled as she backed out of the breakfast room. She was happy for Theia. Really. But love and happiness was the last thing she wanted to see the morning after finding Jett kissing her best friend. It would be a long time before she’d be able to stomach the sight of a happy couple. Theia and Calder were the textbook definition of a happy couple. Even after three years of marriage the happy mercouple still acted like the wedding was yesterday.
“Princess Araxie!”
She turned to see Mar striding towards her as he used his tentacles to walk towards her.
“How could you embarrass the King like this?” He held up his stone tablet where he'd written notes from morning reports. “The bill from the club arrived this morning and the cost of the drinks from your tab over the last year cost more than the King’s throne.”
Araxie interrupted him. “I don’t have a tab.”
Mar held up a paper. “Your signature is on it, with your beau’s signature as witness.”
The memory of her first time at that club rose, Jett had left his money at home and asked her to pay that night. He’d ordered their drinks, they’d been in a hurry to leave when she’d signed the receipt and it hadn’t been an issue since. A mixture of shame, anger, and embarrassment turned her scales a darker black. How many times had she lifted a glass with him? How many times had she admired his generosity as he paid for their classmates?
Mar continued speaking. “I’ve had three more show up this morning along with the news of a fight. With no less than twenty witnesses. Even those friends of yours are telling everyone how you went crazy. Then the servants informed me of the state of your rooms this morning.”
Anger bubbled up inside her, but she pushed it down.
Mar leaned in close to her and hissed his next words at her. “If you're going to get emotional, do it in private Princess.”
Araxie clenched a fist, debating if she should show him how emotional she could be.
Proteus chose that moment to appear. “Advisor, shouldn't you be meeting with the King this morning?”
Mar looked at a clock on the wall and frowned. He turned to Araxie “I suggest you find somewhere else to be as the maids will be busy cleaning your rooms for a while.”
He strode down the hallway leaving Proteus and Araxie alone.
Proteus's red scales were polished along with his golden armor. He turned to her gently, concern and something else she didn’t want to understand right now in his eyes. “Calder told me you’re joining my unit after graduation. I’m looking forward to having you with me.”
“Thanks, Proteus.”
Her stomach tightened and she fidgeted with the rope strap of the bag on her shoulder. Did he know what had happened with her and Jett?
“You don't have to talk about whatever happened if you don’t want to. But I wanted you to know that I’m planning on having them transferred. Until then they'll be put to task keeping the supplies in order.”
Relief that she didn’t have to ask eased the knot in her stomach. With luck she wouldn’t see Jett and Calista in seven days at graduation, or at the palace for orientation since they’d have different jobs to do.
She gave a small smile, neither of them would be roaming the palace for her to run into with that task. Plus she could have her supplies brought to her room to avoid them altogether.
“Thank you,” Araxie said. “I'm going to go for a swim and some sun.”
She didn’t wait for Proteus to reply, she fled to the one place everyone knew not to disturb her unless it was absolutely necessary. She swam towards Heartbreak Reef, named such because it was created from Triton's grief when Araxie's mother died. The water surged, rocking her back and forth in the water, reminding her how her mother used to rock with her while singing a lullaby. Back and forth she swayed enjoying the tickling sensation when her fin brushed against the kelp below her. She swam to the rocks at the center of the reef and pulled herself out of the water to rest on top.
Her black scales sparkled in the warm afternoon sun and for a moment she marveled at the strangeness of seeing her tail without the blue dust. A water droplet slowly rolled off her scales, and Araxie wondered to herself for the millionth time how Alea could stand being so dry. Or the triplets for that matter since they’d volunteered for chaperoning Alea until she was married. The palace and family dinners had been so quiet with the four of them gone.
Taking a small bottle of black paint from her bag, Araxie examined her nails. The bright happy purple color hadn’t felt right this morning. She wanted a color that matched how she felt now. Araxie pulled out the file and small brush from her bag and began to do her nails.
When the dark paint was dry, she rolled to her stomach and peeked over the edge at the far side of the rock. Bright purple fish with yellow tails the size of her pinky swam next to the edge of the grey stone. She put a hand in the water and ran a dark fingernail along one of the fish. The purple was the same color as the nail polish she’d just removed.
As the fish swam circles around her fingers one hot tear rolled down her cheek and landed in the water. Seafoam bubbled up in the water. She couldn’t hold it back anymore. More tears fell, and the foam became so thick Araxie couldn't see the fish.
She had changed everything to be what he wanted her to be. Calista had encouraged her to change, saying that it made Araxie better.
Don't laugh like that Araxie. Cover your scales in red Araxie, that's my favorite color. Araxie you'll end up the size of a walrus if you eat more cakes.
The sun had begun its descent towards the horizon when she finally ran out of tears. Her scales had long since dried and transformed into human legs. Standing straight and tall she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
The scent of salt and sea beckoned.
Araxie dove into the ocean. Cool water glided along her skin and forming scales, providing relief from the hot sting of the sun’s rays. She let the gentle surge rock her once more as she swirled through the kelp. Jett had held her in his arms and swayed to the music with her like this once.
Black oil and foam bubbled beneath her as it rose towards the surface. It coated the kelp wherever it touched. She backed away but the water surged, thrusting her into the contaminant.
It burned and she tried to wipe it off her arms but it only clung harder.
Blackness coated her tail, it climbed up her stomach and it felt as if she were being stabbed with a thousand sea urchin spines. It kept spreading and burned her throat, her hands. Everything in sight turning to shadow, she couldn't see the sun or the swishing kelp around her.
Desperate to free herself she swam towards home using the pulse of the ocean to guide her. Something brushed against her arm, then against her back. Whatever it was twisted around her and squeezed.
She couldn’t breathe, a buzzing rang in her head. Her hands pushed and pulled against the binds around her but they kept squeezing tighter. Until she didn’t have the energy to fight anymore.
Chapter 4
The next thing Araxie knew, she was waking up in her own bed of white anemones. Bolting upright, she looked at her hands, her tail. There was no sign of the foaming oil or the binds on her scales and skin.
Swimming to her dressing table mirror, she saw it. Where her eyes had always been the color of gold, the iris of her right eye had a touch of red to it now. It reminded her of the volcanoes on the seafloor at night, bright and burning in the darkness. She blinked and it remained.