Page 32 of The Hunted

Funny how that worked.

Which was also why, when her mother did get to come out and spend time around the rest of her people, Zale made Rosel sit at his feet like a pet. As if she were an octopus or sea snake he’d trained to behave a certain way, sweetly entertaining while also mindful of her presence. Or rather, lack of it when the moment demanded it from the king’s wife.

She should be a queen.

Instead, this is how she lived her life.

Arelle often wondered how their people viewed her mother—a woman meant to be their queen—but she had learned that it wasn’t her place. Everything went far smoother in her father’s kingdom when everyone stayed in their respective positions without argument.

That didn’t mean they liked it.

“You could send out the guard to ch—”

“Hush,” Zale hissed, his reprimand swift and sharp for the woman sitting beneath him. And just like that, Arelle watched as her mother’s expression reverted back to a statue’s, with no soul and no life to her eyes. A sad thing, really.

Shameful.

Just as fast, Zale’s attention went back to his daughter in the middle of the room. Poe still looked ready to kill, but Arelle knew this discussion was over. It had been over before it’d ever really began.

Nothing ever changed in the Blu Sea. Determined to stay the same, she was sure they would all die for it, too.

“Do you still hear your mate?” Zale asked.

Poe swallowed hard. “I do, but—”

“Then, perhaps he will find his way back.”

“He went hunting two weeks ago.”

“And according to the mermen from the party who returned, he went too far past the islands. Chasing a creature, from what I understand. How many times did I tell Tak that he needed to put his enjoyments aside and take his proper place beside you—a princess? Many times, Poe. This was his mistake, and I will not sacrifice who knows how many of my guards on the chance of returning him to you. Give it time. You’ll find a companion, and your child will have someone to help raise her.”

“But he’s my mate. You know that’s not possible for me now.”

It was the ache in her sister’s voice that had Arelle holding a little tighter to the baby in her arms. The girl had yet to be given a name, which wasn’t uncommon in their sea. Typically, around their first year … a name would be chosen for the little ones born during the end of the last season of storms.

So far, her sister hadn’t picked one for her child.

However, as Arelle stared down at the baby girl … well, she couldn’t help but feel the pang of sadness echoing in her chest. Things had not been good with her sister ever since she had been made to suffer through confinement for Poe’s lies and manipulation, but they had gotten better after the baby had been born. Her sister, like any other merwoman, depended on the help of her kin after a birth and Arelle couldn’t have refused.

Because of the baby.

So, without needing to be told, she knew very well how painful this was to Poe. Not just because she was left with a child that now had a father who was missing, but also because the two were a mated pair. That was for life. Those bonds would never be broken even after death. Her sister would never properly mate again.

A companion was one thing. A mate … quite another. If the man was dead, then eventually, her sister would follow to meet the same fate. The only thing that would hold back a mermaid from doing exactly that was their young.

“If the landwalkers caught him,” their father continued, “then there is nothing I can or will do. That is my final decision on the matter, Poe. The rest of us still need to live safely and he, better than anyone, knew that before he went out with the party.”

“Your guard never leaves the colony! How does that even keep us safe? It doesn’t. It keeps you safe, and the rest of us are just left to figure it out on our own.”

Poe’s outburst had their father rising from his throne with the grace of a king, but the slowness of a predator. The same way the sharks cut through the water, going directly for the kill, their father’s movements were the same.

Arelle recognized the danger quickly.

She was not so sure Poe did.

Then again, this was about the woman’s mate. That couldn’t be forgotten, and she thought … their father should have known that, too. Instead, he felt like making an example out of his child, the same way he’d done with Arelle the season before.

Shocking.