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He sat in the dark by his friend’s bedside, with his back against the wall and his arms resting on his bent knees, listening to Brighton’s soft, steady breathing. He cupped his hands over his eyes and then over his ears, so that the sound of the blood rushed like waves.

Marin departed for her meetings without speaking to him again.

The morningand afternoon passed in near silence. Brighton rose to use the restroom once. He leaned on his wife as he did so, muttering thanks and a rejection of Kaerius’s offer of help. Afterwards, Lila helped her husband back into bed and said she would stay with him.

“I’m all right,” Brighton mumbled. “You can read or something. Just… I don’t want the light. I’m sorry.”

I will stay with him in the dark.

Lila put a hand on Brighton’s pale cheek. “I don’t mind staying,” she said.

“I’m all right,” Brighton said again.

“I think Kai would like to stay in here with you. Do you mind if he’s here?” Lila glanced at Kaerius but focused on her husband. “I don’t want to leave you alone, but if he’s here, you can ask for help if you need anything.”

Brighton mumbled something that sounded vaguely affirmative.

“I’ll be right out there,” said Lila to Kaerius. She left the door cracked so the room remained dark, but he could see her move across the strip of light and eventually settle on the couch just outside.

The Mer prince sat on the floor again in silence. He felt hollow and strange. He was hungry, but he did not want to eat; he wanted to stalk through the halls of the palace and find evidence of Ralph’s crimes that a human would understand. He wanted to justify himself before Marin, to show that he was not as petty and small-minded as she seemed to believe.

He wanted to weep. He had believed there was warmth between them, that he had earned a little trust and friendship. Perhaps she even desired him.

Instead, she questioned his character and his honor.

He doubled over with his hands over his ears.

As the pulse of his blood throbbed softly in his ears, he wrestled with hope and desire. After seeing the kindness of her heart and her love for her people, he could no longer be satisfied with what he had hoped for at first. He had bargained his voice away because he was beautiful and strong, with power and status among the Mer and a voice that could sing down the stars. He had thought her inevitable desire for him would satisfy his own desire.

He was exquisite and she was lovely, and of course she would love him. When he could sing of his love for her, she would be even more awed by him. She would be honored by his regard, and he would be delighted by her.

This no longer seemed even remotely satisfying.

Kaerius, prince of the Mer, was ashamed.

He was ashamed that he had thought her so easy to win and ashamed that he had expected so little of her. She was a princess with responsibilities of her own! She was a person with needs and desires far more pressing than his regard for her or his pretty face. Perhaps she needed his help, or would benefit from it even if she didn’t need it, but she did not need his professions of love to distract her from her duties. She certainly did not need his pride to cast doubt on critical information that only he could offer her.

“Kai?” Brighton croaked.

Kaerius rose. His eyes were damp, but his hand was steady and strong when he put it on Brighton’s shoulder. In the darkness, the human could probably see very little, but theprince could pick out Brighton’s pale face against the slightly darker blankets.

“Some water, please.” Brighton’s voice rasped with sleep.

Kaerius poured some from the pitcher and held the cup so Brighton could drink.

His wife stepped into the room, and Kaerius bowed to her and retreated.

Guilt pressed upon him, and he told himself that the attack on Brighton was not his fault. But the guilt and regret stung him like a box jellyfish, sharp and insistent.

Ralph knew that Brighton was Marin’s guard, and so he was certainly a threat in his own right. But that alone was not enough to justify attacking the guard. Ralph had already put more than enough political pressure on Marin to ensure the success of his suit; there was no need to attack Brighton physically. If Ralph wanted the guard dead, he would have been able to accomplish that after they were married, when Ralph would have filled the palace with his own countrymen.

If Ralph had not attacked Brighton out of sheer impulsive rage, there must be some more urgent reason.

Why had he attacked Galbraith? Surely he did not perceive the Severtian as a true threat to his suit.

Kaerius flopped onto the couch in the vestibule and lay back to stare at the ceiling. He put one arm over his eyes, letting the pressure remind him of the peace of the deeps. There were predators in the deep, dark water, but there was also silence and space to think. He kept his eyes closed and pulled the blanket over his face, trying to imagine the softness of the cloth was the familiar pressure of water. He put his hands over his ears again, blocking out the faint murmur of Lila’s voice as she spoke to Brighton and the gulls and wind audible through the windows of the princess’s quarters. The doors to these quarters stood open, but Kaerius had not ventured in there while Marin was gone.Mer were intensely conscious of not intruding where they had not been invited, and though Kaerius had been invited into the sitting room the previous evening, he was not invited now.

If he had been invited, perhaps he would have opened the windows and closed his eyes to smell the salt breeze. He had been inside far too long, and his heart felt bruised and raw without the soothing pressure of water and the taste of salt on his lips. He felt trapped and itchy and dry, with his feet raw and his ear canals empty.