Page 61 of The Princesses of Ruin (The Princesses of Ruin #5)

Chapter fifty-seven

Jasper

T he languid figure of Vek’ihr appears at the edge of the coral.

My spines deploy on instinct, my body on alert.

I pull in a deep gillful of water and remind myself that the ga’hanoi are not my enemy, that we made a peace pact with them.

That they are just as hurt and needing of help as my people. And that I was part of that hurt.

I did kill several of them, and destroy their government.

Reina says she’ll never forgive me for that, but I hope she will. She’s worried how I could so easily murder sentient beings. It was out of necessity. I saw an opportunity for lasting change and peace with them, and I took it.

One day she’ll truly believe me.

“Queen Reina, King Jasper,” he greets us. “I am so blessed to be among you and the light.”

“And we’re blessed to have the ga’hanoi as our friends,” Reina replies.

The tentacled creature glows many different colors as his limbs flitter about. It’s probably his form of laughter.

“Thank you for meeting me here. I need to discuss the relocation plan,” he says. “Let us move so our gills can more easily draw. ”

We begin patrolling the edge of the Deep, watching fish large and small as they move about their lives, oblivious to our dealings.

“We will not abandon our stronghold, but we want to move back into the islands surrounding the Verdant Drown,” he says.

“The water there is still quite dangerous. Toxic to most, and those who survive it I fear have been horribly mutated by the power of the fungal spores,” Reina says.

“It would be a death sentence,” I add. “You’re better off moving closer to Illya.”

Vek’ihr cocks his head. “But that is Opal Isle territory.”

I look at Reina. “Yes, and we’re struggling with our population after the false king took most of my people hostage. We can’t sustain a city on our own. I can’t be there to run it.”

Vek’ihr curls in on himself, the petals that obscure his upper half tightening. Light pulses through his abdomen until finally he speaks.

“This trust is too far. It is not normal. Tell me, Opal King, do you intend to go back on your word?”

“No,” I say, turning to the creature. “I have seen the greatness of your people. Of what you’ve created to endure your isolation. I’m…sorry for what role my people played in the destruction of your kind.”

Vek’ihr dips his upper body. “It was mutual destruction. We hunted your kind.”

“But that was our fathers’ fathers,” I say.

He shimmers with color. “It was, but I have eaten of my father, and he of his father. The memories of hunting your kin are as fresh in my mind as the memories I make with you now.”

It’s almost sickening to think they prioritized how to kill selkies, but…I know why. We did hunt them, and when they were isolated creatures, no t a society to contend with, it was easy. We pushed them out of territory and dwindled their numbers—my mother confirmed it.

Such is the nature of small spaces and conquesting creatures.

“Vek’ihr, if I may say so,” Reina starts and we look to her. “Just because you feel the memory as strongly as your own, doesn’t make it yours to be accountable for, or to bear the weight of. You have never eaten anyone without their consent, correct?”

He dips his upper half. “This is true.”

“You have never hunted a selkie?”

“Correct.”

“You’ve never killed unless it was necessary?”

Vek’ihr stiffens for a fraction as his colors flash. Then, he flows and nods. “Yes.”

“We trust you,” she says.

“And we trust you to lead your people in the same way,” I add.

He considers our words for a moment, his colors dancing. “I appreciate this more than your words can convey. I would like to make another promise.”

My eyes narrow. “What’s that?”

“To grow closer, I will give you my first hatched male,” he says.

“As a…diplomat?” Reina asks, and I nearly laugh at her naivete.

“As a prince, for your princess,” Vek’ihr says. “I would give you the first two males, or three, if you wanted. If that seems appropriate.”

I shake my head. “We won’t have our people marrying into yours.”

Reina turns a shrewd gaze on me. “And why not?”

Suddenly, I’m at a loss for words. Why, indeed?

Because his people killed mine. Because we’d been at war for centuries. Because he’s so…alien.

“How could they ever copulate?” I ask.

Reina tries to repeat the word a few times with questioning lilts. I switch to Fynish.

“How would they make babies?”

She clutches her chest and looks between me and Vek’ihr.

“Isn’t the purpose of an arranged marriage to make offspring that force kingdoms together?” I ask.

Vek’ihr dips his upper body. “We can…change. One of us could become more like one of you. Enough, I think, to copulate.”

The idea turns my gut with fire. It’s too soon. It’s too much. And also…

“With our princess?” I ask, eyeing Vek’ihr carefully.

His colors blossom and flare. “Yes…?”

I look at Reina. “ Our princess?”

“Yes,” he says.

Reina doesn’t look pregnant.

She shakes her head.

“Can you not hear her heartbeat?” Vek’ihr asks.

I quiet my monologue and tune my ears, listening hard to the vibrations of the sea. I sense my heart, and Reina’s, Vek’ihr’s two hearts, the fish flitting by…and a fluttery thing that beats so quickly.

I place my hand over her belly. “Rei, you’re…”

Her eyes are wide in horror. “I can’t be. We’ve been taking the fertility blocker!”

“My senses don’t lie,” I say.

Her shoulders heave as she tries to pull in more water, to breathe deeper. She covers my hand with hers and stares off into the deep.

“It’s too soon, I’m too…I’m not ready. ”

Fuck, I’m not ready either. But that doesn’t matter. We’re compatible. We’re compatible enough to have children! I’m going to be a father. I’m going to have a child to raise with the woman I love.

“I’m sorry to be the bearer of the bad news,” Vek’ihr says, reminding us of his presence.

I turn to the ga’hanoi and grin. “No bad news here, friend. I’m going to be a father!”

Reina looks at me with deep fear in her eyes. I rush back to her and pull her against my chest.

“What is it?”

“I don’t want a child, I don’t know what to do with one,” she says.

“What do you mean?”

“What if I hurt it? What if I don’t give it what it needs? It’ll be part selkie, after all. I have no idea what to do!”

“Her,” Vek’ihr corrects. “It’s a girl.”

I glare at him with my brow furrowed. He backs away with tentacles raised in submission.

“Are you worried that you won’t be the most perfect mother?” I ask.

“Yes,” she nearly wails.

I laugh. “Well, get in line. No mother gets it perfect.”

“Bastard,” she snaps, pushing my chest away.

I fight her, pulling her against me harder. “Oh, get over it. You’re not going to be perfect. Neither am I. But we are going to have a child that we love.”

“What if it hates us?” Reina sobs.

“She,” Vek’ihr adds again.

I glare harder.

He backs even farther away.

“She’s not going to hate us,” I say .

“But if we put her in an arranged marriage,” Reina sobs and I stiffen.

Ah, yes, the whole reason we’re on the topic.

My gaze sharpens on Vek’ihr.

“If we were to have a child, it would have worldly prospects.”

Vek’ihr shrinks. “Of course. Forgive me for suggesting that any of my brood would be of the caliber to even look upon yours.”

The groveling makes me sick. Whether it’s been beaten into him or he’s using it for manipulation, I don’t know.

But some part of me does feel that bringing the ga’hanoi closer would be better for us, in the long run. Maybe not for me…but later. Some other threat that looms could be better fought with the ga’hanoi on my daughter’s side.

“Courting rights,” I say.

Vek’ihr cocks the bulbous top half of his body to emulate confusion. “What are you saying?”

“Your first son will be able to court our daughter, to convince her to marry him,” I say. “That’s the best offer I will allow. She’ll choose him, if it’s her will.”

Vek’ihr shifts through every color, then throws all his limbs out as he approaches me. My spines raise and I move to attack, but Vek’ihr is making the most horrible laughing sound.

“You would honor me so. I’m humbled by your offer. And, Queen Reina, do you also extend this offer?”

She looks like she’s about to throw up. “I do.”

He wraps his tentacles around us and squishes against my shoulder.

“I accept!”

I hug Reina, and pat Vek’ihr, fighting the urge to rip him apart as I do.

Hopeful I didn’t just fuck everything up.