Read Online Son of a Mermaid by Katie O'Sullivan - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Katie O'Sullivan
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trouble. Now, pull your hair back from your face and let’s finish the planting. The King’s entourage will arrive any day now.”
Kae frowned, reaching for the hair clip her mother held out. “You don’t understand,” she said with a sigh, a thin stream of bubbles rising as she exhaled.
The pair began to dig, now side-by-side. A school of small shining dartfish swished eagerly toward the seedlings, their zebra stripes flickering in the sun-dappled field. Kira swatted them away with her hand, saying, “There seem to be more and more of these silvery pests each year, moving northward with us as the oceans warm.”
Kae said nothing, preferring to stew in her anger. Why would the name Shea cause trouble? Her mother was being unreasonable and overprotective, trying to keep Kae sheltered in childhood . I’m no longer a youngling, for Neptune’s sake . Why couldn’t her parents understand?
The pair worked in silence for hours. The garden covered the vast expanse of the rear courtyard, just beyond where a ring of boulders marked the edge of the formal patio. As they worked among the swaying greenery, Kae’s anger ebbed slowly, replaced by the serenity of the garden. Kae found the graceful green fronds and thin beige reeds much more beautiful than the stubby multi-hued anemones growing on the hard coral reefs which surrounded the winter palace.
The two castles were different in so many ways, both small and large. She wondered if the other clans had such variety in their summer and winter residences. She’d heard tales of the Pacific King building new summer residences every few years, scattered all throughout the wide expanse of his domain, one for each new prince or princess born into the already large royal family. She wondered how many servants they must employ to keep all those buildings maintained, and felt glad that her own clan was more traditional.
The Aequorean summer castle in the depths of Nantucket Sound had been in the royal family for many generations. Long and sprawling, the building stretched for more than a mile in each direction from the central courtyard. Long and low to the ocean’s floor, the castle consisted of many open winding corridors and countless guest rooms, all grouped in twos or threes to accommodate summer visitors.
Where the winter palace was a tall, imposing fortress of a structure built of glistening marble blocks and glinting with golden touches, the summer castle was built of local granite, the same as the jetties built by the humans which jutted out from the shoreline. Kae’s family lived in one of the servant cottages, which were separate two-room homes built with more of the stone and clustered off along the edges of the main structure.
Algae and seaweed grasses covered entire sections of the buildings, helping them blend into the surrounding landscape and go undetected in the comparatively shallow waters of the Sound. Although the castle had been built to go unnoticed, the proximity to the humans made drylanders impossible to ignore.
“Why are humans bad?” Kae asked carefully, finally breaking the silence between she and her mother.
Kira sighed, a slow stream of bubbles rising from the gills behind her ears. “Not everyone considers humans to be evil. The purity of blood arguments being spouted by the Adluos have been around a long, long time. But this utter hatred of drylanders is a new twist on an old story.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mermaids and humans have a long history of interactions. It’s nothing new, nor is there anything wrong with it.”
Kae rolled her eyes. She already knew her parents disagreed with the extremist views of drylanders. But her mother’s next statement made her heart skip a beat.
“Your father himself was born above water,” Kira continued, still intent on her planting. “His name Lybio means ‘born in a dry place.’”
Kae realized her mouth was hanging open at this completely unexpected revelation. “I didn’t know… I
Kae frowned, reaching for the hair clip her mother held out. “You don’t understand,” she said with a sigh, a thin stream of bubbles rising as she exhaled.
The pair began to dig, now side-by-side. A school of small shining dartfish swished eagerly toward the seedlings, their zebra stripes flickering in the sun-dappled field. Kira swatted them away with her hand, saying, “There seem to be more and more of these silvery pests each year, moving northward with us as the oceans warm.”
Kae said nothing, preferring to stew in her anger. Why would the name Shea cause trouble? Her mother was being unreasonable and overprotective, trying to keep Kae sheltered in childhood . I’m no longer a youngling, for Neptune’s sake . Why couldn’t her parents understand?
The pair worked in silence for hours. The garden covered the vast expanse of the rear courtyard, just beyond where a ring of boulders marked the edge of the formal patio. As they worked among the swaying greenery, Kae’s anger ebbed slowly, replaced by the serenity of the garden. Kae found the graceful green fronds and thin beige reeds much more beautiful than the stubby multi-hued anemones growing on the hard coral reefs which surrounded the winter palace.
The two castles were different in so many ways, both small and large. She wondered if the other clans had such variety in their summer and winter residences. She’d heard tales of the Pacific King building new summer residences every few years, scattered all throughout the wide expanse of his domain, one for each new prince or princess born into the already large royal family. She wondered how many servants they must employ to keep all those buildings maintained, and felt glad that her own clan was more traditional.
The Aequorean summer castle in the depths of Nantucket Sound had been in the royal family for many generations. Long and sprawling, the building stretched for more than a mile in each direction from the central courtyard. Long and low to the ocean’s floor, the castle consisted of many open winding corridors and countless guest rooms, all grouped in twos or threes to accommodate summer visitors.
Where the winter palace was a tall, imposing fortress of a structure built of glistening marble blocks and glinting with golden touches, the summer castle was built of local granite, the same as the jetties built by the humans which jutted out from the shoreline. Kae’s family lived in one of the servant cottages, which were separate two-room homes built with more of the stone and clustered off along the edges of the main structure.
Algae and seaweed grasses covered entire sections of the buildings, helping them blend into the surrounding landscape and go undetected in the comparatively shallow waters of the Sound. Although the castle had been built to go unnoticed, the proximity to the humans made drylanders impossible to ignore.
“Why are humans bad?” Kae asked carefully, finally breaking the silence between she and her mother.
Kira sighed, a slow stream of bubbles rising from the gills behind her ears. “Not everyone considers humans to be evil. The purity of blood arguments being spouted by the Adluos have been around a long, long time. But this utter hatred of drylanders is a new twist on an old story.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mermaids and humans have a long history of interactions. It’s nothing new, nor is there anything wrong with it.”
Kae rolled her eyes. She already knew her parents disagreed with the extremist views of drylanders. But her mother’s next statement made her heart skip a beat.
“Your father himself was born above water,” Kira continued, still intent on her planting. “His name Lybio means ‘born in a dry place.’”
Kae realized her mouth was hanging open at this completely unexpected revelation. “I didn’t know… I
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