Queen of Mermaids by Audrey Rich & J. A. Armitage

Author:Audrey Rich & J. A. Armitage [Armitage, J. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Enchanted Quill Press
Published: 2020-01-29T06:00:00+00:00

2nd February

The Conch floated from my hands, and the pages scattered around my feet. I did not bother picking it up from the ballroom floor, where I was hiding from everyone.

After a perfect day spent with Fish yesterday, I'd forgotten my problems, and when he'd dropped me back at the palace, my mood had improved considerably. I'd even almost gotten used to the fact my mother was a mermaid. Or at least, I had until this morning's newspapers were delivered. Queen Antonella is a Mermaid! screamed the Conch's headline, followed by a quote from Hannah: “Queen Antonella has betrayed all Atlanticeans.”

The words did not exactly state that she would also raise up the AML tribe against her, but my best friend would make it her mission to have my mother abdicate the throne.

She was my best friend… or, at least, she had been.

The Conch lay on the floor, spread out. My eyes focused on the second headline, halfway down the front page, reporting about the “Antla Town Riots.” The pictures of riots on the outskirts of Antla as well as those in the town brought pangs to my already bleeding heart.

Another reporter announced that Atlanticeans from the other side of the island might march to the capital and demand explanations from the monarchy.

The front-page news laid it out in black and white that nothing would be the same for me or my parents.

Not. One. Single. Thing. Ever again.

I inhaled, held it for ten seconds, and exhaled, hoping to stop an anxiety attack. I had never had one, but it seemed the likely response as my life crumbled.

Our lives crumbled.

Where was my father? Why wasn’t he on damage control?

I'd asked Emma earlier to alert the head butler and the guards to bar all the doors to the palace and secure the windows, and she had not yet returned. With the curtains drawn, I ambled through the large room, wondering whether or not my parents would cancel the Valentine Day’s Ball. A lot could happen in twelve days, but with my mother’s transformation, the ball would surely have to be canceled. While she had set almost everything up, she would not be able to finish the last-minute details... or attend.

My fingers caressed the deep red velvet curtain the staff had hung up the day before specifically for the upcoming ball. The red tones were a shade of burgundy much deeper than the red-orange of Fish’s tail.

I really need to stop thinking about him all the time. Focus on something else!

Across from the curtains, a pair of large glass urns filled with pretty fish were placed on either side of the twenty-foot tall double wooden doors, reminding me that my mother had always brought in pieces of her previous world into ours. She had decorated every part of the house with sea plants, sea creatures, even our paintings and statues contained bits of the sea.

I hadn't really noticed before now, but her underwater world had been brought into ours.

It seemed as if she hadn’t just wanted the sea life to beautify the palace, but for the sea to be a part of our lives.

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