Astrid is the crown princess of Atlantis, but she barely has time to worry about the kingdom with six younger sisters to watch over, especially with the youngest coming into her powers as a daughter of the sea to navigate time. When Astrid fears tha...
"There." Brendan places me back on the floor at the top of his castle, looking as pleased as if he just helped me build my own palace. "Now, let me show you which one is my room-"
I slap his shoulder.
"Ow," he mutters. "What was that for?"
Lifting my chin, I walk away from him.
"Um, Astrid?"
I glance back haughtily.
He grins at me and points down the hall opposite of the one I chose. "My room is this way."
Not backing down, I lift one eyebrow, hoping he translate that as 'and what do I care?'
Brendan raises his own eyebrows in response. "That is, unless you like to be wet and half-naked." A rascal-ish expression stretches over his face. "I sure don't mind."
As I walk back past him, I give him my best attempt to throw him back down to the lower level of the castle.
"Whoa!" he cries, grasping onto the wooden railing that stands on the platforms. "Careful there, Astrid. Your klutziness almost killed me."
Klutziness. Hmph. As a queen, I've always moved with the poise my regal blood afforded me- demanded of me, even.
But here, in this misshapen body on a land that obeys a different set of laws than my ocean home, I'm nothing more than a fish out of water. A queen banished from her kingdom. A lost little girl-
No. I stop the moisture of my eyes before it can escape, exposed without more salt water to disguise its appearance. I am not a lost, little girl. My sisters are, though. And I will find them. No matter the consequences.
"Astrid?" Brendan asks me, unsure.
I turn to him and look up underneath my thick eyelashes. Then I point toward the direction he said his room was in before cocking my head as if to ask why he hasn't already escorted me there.
Brendan seems to understand my unspoken message, and walks past me to open a door to a room that is as large as my own private quarters back home.
He must truly be like a king here, if his room is so comparable to the Queen of the Ocean.
Walking past him, I breathe in a musk that I recognize as his scent, only stronger here, in his domain. It smells of sea and sky and something spicy I do not recognize.
The pieces of furniture in his room resemble some of the pieces that we have in the castle, saved from various wrecks. Only, while ours have become misshapen from the tireless claim of time and the sea, his still seem firm and bright. His bed, however, is nothing compared to the one that I inheritted with my queenship, being only half its size and rectangular instead of circular.
I smile when I see it. So I still have dominance over him when it comes to where we lay our heads at night. My smile wilts. At least, where I used to lay my head at night.
As nice as Brendan's room is with its much limited wear and tear, his floor and almost every available surface seem to be covered in garments similar to the ones he's wearing now.
Glancing up, I find Brendan forcing a smaller version of the garment he wears around his legs under neath his bed, a blush spreading across his face. "Sorry about the mess. I wasn't expecting any guests until this weekend."
I take in the mess, and ponder what it would like to be able to just leave my possessions loose and not watch the sea steal them away from me.
It's too hard to imagine so soon after a witch stole my six favorite possessions away from me.
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