“No one,” said Heath quickly. “I was just clearing my head.”
And with a regretful glance back at the privacy of the rose garden, he followed Lord Niel back inside.
It wasn’t until the evening, when he returned to his own home, that Heath came face to face with Percival without any witnesses.
“What was that?” he demanded, without preamble.
“You meant to say, ‘congratulations on your rite of passage,’ I assume,” Percival said dryly.
“No, I didn’t,” snapped Heath. “Why didn’t you say it properly? Prince Lachlan is going to think that I agreed to change it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Percival airily. “After so many different versions were thrown around, it was hard to remember the exact wording. But I thought I said it perfectly.”
“You know you didn’t, Perce,” said Heath, his voice suddenly serious instead of angry. “What are you playing at? What do you hope to achieve by being defiant?”
“I’m not trying to achieve anything,” said Percival mulishly. “I’m just not going to make a vow I’m not willing to keep.”
Heath frowned at his brother. “You need to get it into your head that your actions have consequences that affect more people than just you, Percival.”
“I can’t believe you’re going to side against your own people,” said Percival darkly. “I thought better of you, Heath. You saw what that ceremony was like. It was a show of force, the crown demonstrating to us that we can be contained, silenced, crushed if necessary.”
“Stop talking like we’re at war!” Heath protested, frustrated. “This isn’t about taking sides!”
But Percival cut him off angrily. “That’s exactly what this is about! And it’s time you decided which side you’re on, Heath.”
And with that, he turned on his heel and strode away, back out of the courtyard and into the gathering gloom.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Are you ready?” Freja’s expression was calm, but Merletta could hear the tension in the older mermaid’s voice. Her self-appointed mentor wanted Merletta to succeed in her test almost as much as Merletta wanted it herself.
“I’m ready,” said Merletta, gripping her spear tightly as she fixed her eyes on the open ocean beyond the barrier. “It’s only a practice test, after all.”
Freja frowned. “You should take it as seriously as if it was your real test,” she said reprovingly.
“She’s just trying to give herself confidence,” said Felix to Freja, as he swam up alongside Merletta with his spear in hand. “I don’t think any of us could accuse her of not taking her training seriously enough.”
“That’s true,” said Freja, her expression relaxing as she gave Merletta a nod. “You’re the hardest working trainee I’ve taught in a long time. You’ll do fine.”
Merletta ducked her head in acknowledgment of the praise, hoping the gesture hid her burning cheeks. In spite of Agner’s encouragement, she still wasn’t used to so much approval. But Freja had been fantastic to work with over the last several weeks, and the members of her patrol had been accommodating about adopting a trainee into their midst two days a week. Merletta spent most of her training days with Freja’s squad now, and her combat had improved enormously as a result.
“She’s right,” said Felix kindly, as he led Merletta away from the rest of the squad, and toward the barrier. They weren’t near the oyster farm this time. They were northeast of the Center, in the neighborhood where Hemssted and Tilssted met. “You’ll do great.”
“That depends on how much of the test involves depth work,” said Merletta ruefully.
She wished her depth acclimatization had improved as much as her combat, but unfortunately it wasn’t so. It didn’t help that she’d been reduced to training in the shallow drop offs to be found within the Center, unless Freja’s squad happened to be leaving the triple kingdoms. She hadn’t risked crossing the barrier alone since her mysterious illness.
And, even more frustratingly, she hadn’t made much progress on finding out the cause of that illness. She didn’t see much of Emil in an ordinary week. Sage saw more of him, especially on rest days, when they both tended to visit their families in Skulssted. At Merletta’s request, she’d told Emil about Merletta’s speculation regarding the food, in case it helped in whatever research he was undertaking. But Sage had been so stiff when Merletta asked her to take the message, that she refrained from asking her friend to carry updates back and forth. The other mermaid was still a little cold whenever the topic of Emil’s assistance came up. It seemed she hadn’t entirely forgiven the two of them for agreeing that she would be safer out of it, although Merletta couldn’t confirm that guess, since Sage changed the topic if Merletta tried to bring it up.
But enough of that. It was time to clear Sage’s uncharacteristically cool behavior from her mind. Merletta needed her full focus to be on the day’s challenge. Looking behind her, she realized with surprise that the edge of the triple kingdoms was no longer visible.
“How far are we going?” she asked. She realized for the first time just how tense Felix was, his spear half raised as he swam, and his eyes darting constantly to all sides.
“Pretty far,” said Felix, casting her a look. “Didn’t Agner warn you about that? The area immediately outside the barrier is patrolled by regular guard squads, and they’re not allowed to know what we do in our Center guard training. We go far enough out that no patrols will happen upon us.”
“Oh,” said Merletta, trying to sound casually interested rather than nervous.
Felix gave a knowing smile, and she reflected ruefully that he probably thought she was worried about being exposed to the dangers of the open ocean. Better to let him think that than the truth, which was that she didn’t like being so far from her trusted friends and the security of crowds. Felix, for example, was likable and helpful, but how well did she really know him? He was a Center guard, after all.