Whispers Beneath the Deep (Royal Secrets Book 2) by Aleera Anaya Ceres

Author:Aleera Anaya Ceres [Ceres, Aleera Anaya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-15T16:00:00+00:00

As it turned out, there were things I’d wanted to do that day—visit Elias—that Percival didn’t allow. I barely got time to breathe. Lessons were shoved down my throat and, at first I feigned disinterest, but after a while, though I still refused to write and answer questions, I paid rapt attention.

There was so much to learn. About politics, foreign trade, strategic battle planning… It was all insider information. Things to be tucked away in my mind for future use. Whatever use I’d find for them.

After lessons, we went in for a light lunch that I fought hard not to devour, despite its bland taste. When we finished there were more lessons, listening to conches, and to my immense fear, hippocampus riding.

I tried not to tremble as I was brought before the massive beast. It was gargantuan, and it wasn’t so much the height I feared, but rather falling and then being trampled by it.

I recalled the first time I rode one of the beasts, the gut clenching fear, and the way Captain Saber had felt behind me. The protective way his arms caged me on the animal. The heat of his body against my back…

No. I had to stop thinking about Captain Saber. A feat that proved difficult without his presence. I expected to see him around every corner or trailing the shadows behind me. I’d been the one to chase him away. I never expected to feel his absence like a phantom, or to feel an ache for the slightest bit of teasing and banter.

Pushing thoughts of him away, I swallowed my fears and nervously approached the beast, trying to appear confident, though I was sure my features were pulled tightly into a grimace. I gripped the reins and hauled myself up, hugging my tail to the side of its body. I rode slowly with the instructor at my side, an instructor that didn’t give me much instruction, and the guards at my back, flanking almost all around me like a wall of bodies.

The guards were supposed to make me feel safe. I felt anything but. The excess mer was just a reminder of everything I still had to figure out. Marriage contracts. Why a war had been started. And what Percival knew about it.

I was having a hard time figuring out how to approach the subject. It wasn’t until later that I got my opportunity.

After surviving the hippocampus ride, we went back to our studies. I was listening to a recording on marriage contracts and found my opening.

“Why must marriage contracts be so tedious?” I pushed the shell away.

Percival glared. He did a lot of that, I noticed. “You and I both know that marriage contracts are a matter of state, Princess. Very important.”

“Yet it all seems so… cold. Like pawning off a hippocampus. I am a princess. Not an animal.”

Not for the first time that day, he sighed with exasperation, making me think that perhaps the princess was prone to those sorts of conversations with him.

“Marriage is a promise between two nations.

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