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At another word from his guide, he followed the man down another hallway, where he stopped at a door.

“You’ll stay here.” Brighton opened the door and gestured for him to go first.

The prince swept in with all the dignity he could muster, letting the blanket around his shoulders swirl in the breeze of his entrance. The room was scarcely a quarter of the size of hisanteroom in the palace, but the humans did not know he was a prince, so he did not hold the poor accommodations against them. There was a pile of cloth on a strange platform near a window, and several other large pieces of furniture which the merman did not understand.

Kaerius looked back at his guide, his eyebrows raised questioningly.

“Get dressed, and I’ll take you to the kitchen,” said Brighton with the barest edge of frustration in his voice.

Kaerius’s brows lowered in annoyance. He let the blanket drop and looked at the pile of cloth. If it were not for the cold, he would have thought clothes utterly superfluous, for what reason would a prince have to hide any portion of his beauty? Brighton himself was hardly unlovely, Kaerius thought, and congratulated himself on his mental generosity. Humans wore clothes because of their weakness, not their lack of beauty, because they were lovely in most ways, aside from their silly, useless teeth.

“Good grief,” muttered Brighton. “Here.” He strode forward, pulled the pile of cloth apart, and held out a pair of trousers.

Kaerius accepted them with some trepidation. How did one put on such a garment? He shot a glance at Brighton.

“Sit down.” The man crossed his arms and looked away. “Put the trousers on, then the belt, then the shirt.” He pointed at each as he named it. “I’ll leave you to it.” He stalked out of the room and closed the door firmly behind him.

If he wouldn’t be useful, Kaerius would prefer to puzzle this mess out alone, in his own time. He sat on the flat platform and was shocked to discover that he sank into it a little. He pulled the trousers on and set the leather strap aside, not knowing what to do with it. The shirt fell over his shoulders with a pleasing smoothness and the faint hint of warmth against his skin.

Standing up felt strange and perilous. He swayed, feeling that the world was rising and falling like the swells in a heavysea. The trousers sagged over his lean hips, and he wondered whether the leather strap might be useful in preventing that. He decided it was a problem he would address later. The floor rippled and swam, and he closed his eyes for a moment against the dizziness. Still, he made it to the door and opened it, then leaned against the doorframe. Brighton had a lantern now, and the brilliance of it in Kaerius’s eyes was nearly enough to steady him.

“Can you walk?” Brighton asked.

Kaerius nodded once, then closed his eyes against the spinning blaze of light. Was this how humans felt when they were hanging over the sides of ships? He would laugh at them a little less in the future. Chills ran up his spine, and he didn’t protest when the man gripped his arm and half-hauled him down the corridor.

Several minutes later, Kaerius was seated at a wooden table staring a plate full of unfamiliar items, having been admonished to “Eat up. It’s all I have ready now, and a bit bland, but it should hold you until tomorrow, at least.”

He poked a finger at the most promising of the items, a fish fillet, albeit weirdly hot and covered in little bits of green plant matter. The texture had changed with the application of heat, and Kaerius wondered whether he would be able to choke it down. A mushy white substance next to it held a little golden puddle of oil, and beside that, a variety of green plants clustered together, all warm and glistening. The scents were overpoweringly strong, though not exactly unpleasant.

He picked at the fish cautiously, noting how the flesh fell into tender bits, white on the inside with little green flecks all over the outside. There was no skin on it, and he wondered if humans did not like the skin. Perhaps the scales were too difficult for their dull teeth to manage. When it was cool enough not toburn his fingers, he ate cautiously, eying Brighton and the other human in the room, a woman some years older than the guard.

Flavors exploded in his mouth with eye-watering intensity, and if he’d had use of his voice, he would have exclaimed in surprise. Since he could not express his shock verbally, he examined each item with new interest and a healthy amount of caution. Perhaps he would not have enjoyed the meal with his former tastes, but his human mouth, with its foolish little teeth, was delighted by every bite. Hot food was an entirely alien experience, and once he had overcome that first surprise, he enjoyed it immensely. It was new and exciting, and the new flavors and scents made his head spin. His body needed sustenance after the exertions of the day. The mush with its golden oil was quite gloppy, and he wondered at the silliness of humans to create a food so difficult to eat with one’s fingers. But the taste was rich and mild.

The meal was marred only by a bout of coughing that brought saltwater to his mouth and tears to his eyes and left him so dizzy that he stared at the food for several minutes before Brighton said, “Eat.”

So he did, feeling numb and distant from the world.

“Use your spoon,” Brighton said.

Kaerius didn’t know what a spoon was, and the utensil had been half-hidden beneath a folded piece of white cloth, which he had not thought important. He licked his fingers clean and ignored the guard. His ears were full of far too many sounds, clinking and clacking as others in the room stacked plates and glasses, footsteps echoing behind him, the rustle of fabric, and the splash of water as someone washed dishes. The cacophony of sound was nauseating, and it made him feel that up was down and down was up. He closed his eyes and pressed his hands over his ears.

The warmth and satisfaction of the meal brought his fatigue back, along with the stupefying ache in his chest, which he had momentarily forgotten. It was all he could to do to keep breathing. His fingers tingled, and he slumped over the table, more than half asleep.

“What’s wrong with him?” the woman’s voice said.

“I don’t know,” Brighton replied quietly. “Her Royal Highness wants to see him tomorrow. Maybe he’ll be a little more clear-headed in the morning.”

Kaerius barely noticed when the guard hefted him to his feet and hauled him back down the corridor to the room in which he had changed clothes. The prince flopped onto the bed and watched with dazed wonder as Brighton did something at a cavity in the wall. Even the bright light of the flames that danced around the room could not keep his eyes open, and he felt into a feverish darkness.

Chapter 9

The Mer prince woke to the feel of fingers upon the side of his throat, and he reacted without thought, wrapping his arms around the man’s neck and under his arm to prevent the use of any weapon while he pulled the man closer and buried his teeth in his unprotected throat.

An explosion of sound and pain across Kaerius’s ear startled him enough that he hesitated, and he realized the blood in his mouth was hot and presumably human, rather than cold.

There was a knife at his throat. He let the man go. Not because he was afraid, of course, but because he chose to.

The man pulled away, one trembling hand pressed to his throat and the other outstretched as if to keep Kaerius away from him.