Aria: A Reverse Fairy Tale Romance Series (The Happily Never After Series Book 3) by Plum Pascal & H.P. Mallory

Author:Plum Pascal & H.P. Mallory
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2020-04-23T04:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

ANDRIC

I’ve always thought I knew the sea.

I was born on a boat, thirty miles off the shore of Delorood, to a woman who was known colloquially as the next best thing to a siren. My mother taught me to swim only weeks after I learned to walk. As such, my hands know the feel of rope, canvas, and wood of the Ashray, my mother’s ship, better than the feel of my bedsheets in the castle.

But, truly, I may as well be considered a mere hobbyist, because I’ve only grazed the surface of the ocean’s wonders.

I can’t help but stare as we paddle farther and farther outward, propelled along by the aquatic suits we’ve purchased from a merchant. They were Geppetto’s design, originally, I believe. A brilliant man, though his predilections are warped. I wonder if he’s still trying to create the perfect boy out of metals and wood—a boy to act as his son. The most recent of his creations, named Dolion, was Geppetto’s best yet, but the wooden boy was still banished.

We’ve been going for almost half a day now and we’re making great strides, though my muscles burn. We’ll need to surface soon.

The journey is planned out in three jaunts. Aria estimates it will take us quite a while to reach a strategic point from which to strike, owing to the slow pace these aquatic suits enforce. We have to surface every now and again to allow the suits to replenish our air supply. We float on our backs and sleep in shifts, with at least three of us awake at a time to be on guard against sea monsters or hostile merfolk.

This journey has been, in short, incredible. Awe-inspiring. Unbelievable. And I don’t want to miss a single, breathtaking moment, especially not to sleep.

We traversed the thick kelp fields hours ago, staying close enough to the surface that the heat of the sun still burned through the water to lick at our backs. It was almost peaceful, even watching small predators wind through the leaves beneath us in search of prey. None big enough to challenge us or strong enough to break through our suits.

Now, we swim deeper, where the cold is more pronounced. Not so cold as the depths, Aria assures us with a light laugh, but still colder that we’re used to. We’re gliding over a reef and the vegetation is so colorful, it almost hurts the eyes. Lurid reds, oranges, and yellows are splashed onto the ocean floor with abandon and the curling shapes of the plants are intriguing. I wish I had longer to study them. I can only imagine how much richer our knowledge of the ocean would be if I could commit all of this to a journal.

But this isn’t the time for science or mild artistic appreciation. We have a king to overthrow, and in order to do so, we have to rest. Aria plans to send Bastion down to the trenches to retrieve still more soldiers to aid us. As many soldiers as the deeps can spare, which will lift our total from twenty-one to twenty-eight.

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