Page 82 of On Silver Winds
Ceri rushed to greet them as they entered the clearing, but immediately pushed past Kai to grasp Adeline by the hands.
“I’ve just finished readingThe Nightingale Jeweland I could die!” She cried, in lieu of a greeting.
Adeline sighed. “Isn’t it tragic?”
They nodded fervently at each other, looking the furthest thing from saddened. Kai felt a tug at his cloak and turned to see Iseult half-hidden behind his legs, smiling shyly up at him. Ger leaned over her head, speaking from the side of his mouth; “I believe Her Highness would like an introduction.”
A chuckle swelled in his chest, but Kai held his face straight as he bowed his head to Iseult. “Of course. Ceriwyn?”
She turned, hands still held to her chest in a display of heartache over the book she and Adeline were gushing about. “I’d like to introduce you to Princess Iseult of Eisalaan.”
Ceri’s cheeks dimpled as Iseult stepped out from behind Kai’s legs, falling once more into her small, graceful curtsey.
“It’s an honour Your Highness,” Ceri said earnestly, dipping her own curtsey.
“You’re a princess, like me, aren’t you?” Iseult said in a small voice.
Ceri glanced at Kai; she’d never really been called a Princess among the Merrow, just as he had never been a Prince. Their father was the King only because he was elected to represent their people on land. Then he had died, and Kai had taken his place. Princes, Princesses – they weren’t titles that sat naturally with the Merrow.
But Kai nodded and Ceri beamed at him, then at the little girl.
“Yes, I suppose I am.”
Iseult glanced hesitantly at her elder sister. She took a step past Kai and leaned over, and Ceri dropped to her haunches in the snow to hear the girl’s whisper. Adeline narrowed her eyes, and Kai fought to keep his face still, certain he knew what Iseult was asking. When Ceri threw her head back and laughed, he knew he’d guessed right.
“Would you like to see?” said Ceri.
Kai stiffened.
But Iseult’s copper curls bobbed emphatically and Ceri loosened her cloak at her throat, turning her head so that the girl could see the faint pink scars beneath her jaw.
Kai cast a sharp look around them; the clearing was full and bustling. Gerard was leaning curiously over Adeline’s shoulder, and people danced past them close enough to dust Ceriwyn’s cloak with snow.
“Ceri, I’m not sure it’s advisable –”
Adeline spoke too; “Iz, I told you that’s not polite - ”
But each of their sisters ignored them. Ceri’s shoulders rose up beneath her cloak and stiffened as she held her breath; her gills pulsed, a small flash of deep pink.
Iseult gasped just as she had at Kai’s demonstration.
“That,” Ger breathed from behind him, “is incredible.”
Ceri sealed her gills and grinned up at him, nodding her head in a mock bow.
“One might even call it… breathtaking.”
Only Kai and Adeline didn’t laugh.
“I like you,” Ceri chuckled. She held her hand out to Gerard and he pushed past Adeline and Kai to bow and press a kiss to her fingers.
“I’m Gerard, Princess. Makes a nice change to meet a royal with a sense of humour.”
Adeline caught Kai’s eye and shook her head in wordless apology. She was plainly mortified, a completely alien expression to her warm, laughing face.
Kai’s answering smile overtook him. Some impulse within him called out to smooth the pinch of her narrowed brow, and though he could feel that it was too soft a smile, too intense, it didn’t matter to him in that moment.
She blinked, a slow flutter of her feathered lashes, and then slowly smiled back.
