A Thousand Salt Kisses Later (Book 2 of Salt Kiss series)

An Honour

After our aperitif, Nephys and I swam through mossy, fairy-lit corridors towards the dining room for our evening celebrations. As we travelled, I asked her about this dinner we were attending.

"Oh," she laughed, "it's just family and friends, nothing too fancy."

I felt relieved; I did not feel like mingling with a huge crowd of wildly curious mers, right now.

I suddenly had a thought. "Neph, who's your brother, by the way?"

"Ah," said Nephys, taking my hand as we swam. "Jasper."

Jasper.

"The guy Spirit said he had brought me to see," I said curiously.

Nephys giggled, "Yes," she replied. "That was the dimmest lie Spirit has ever told, by the way."

"Why's that?" I asked, intrigued by Nephys's mysterious sibling.

"Oh, you'll see," she said as we approached a big glowing entrance. "We're here!"

We swam into a well-populated room, and I instantly felt, to my relief, a warm ambience. There was a chunky round table in the centre, surrounded by several small trees. Big orange-coloured glass balls were tied to their branches, and fairies swarmed about inside, casting a warm amber glow.

There were around a dozen guests, and they all stopped and waved at us as we entered. Nephys instantly shot off, throwing her arms around various mers and screaming excitedly, while I hovered alone.

My eyes travelled around the room, but I could not see him anywhere. Maybe he's gone off to another party, I thought. I mean, he hates me anyway, so why would he want to come to my dinner? I swallowed and decided to try and cast aside my silly little fantasy from earlier. It was a ridiculous idea, let's face it.

I would go and introduce myself to people, I thought decisively. No point hanging around like a lonely lost sheep.

"Crystal?" said a voice beside me.

I turned slowly. I was quite sure I recognized that brooding, mysterious accent.

I looked up, and I felt those same butterflies from earlier flutter about in my stomach.

Spirit was looking a lot less bedraggled than earlier that day. He even looked like he may have made a tiny bit of effort. His hair was parted in the middle and tied back, and he no longer had a beard; in fact, he was cleanly shaven.

I looked down and saw too that for once, he was not clutching that frigging spear. He looked better for it too. His handsome face was more open, less 'on guard' than usual.

"Oh, hi," I said casually.

He too looked me up and down appreciatively, and I could have sworn his mouth was slightly open.

"You look..." he trailed off and looked away, smiling a little.

Hmmm. He clearly can't bring himself to compliment me just yet but it's early days, I decided. Maybe give him a little time.

Nephys's relatives began to swim around us, eager to introduce themselves to me. I turned from Spirit and greeted them. They were friendly mers, I realised as I looked at their big open smiles.

"Maids and Men," boomed Tairise's voice, "Let us gather together around the table."

There was a flurry of movement as the guests swam to their places, settling on the lava-like rocks which surrounded the table. I took my time swimming over, glancing at Spirit out of the corner of my eye. And it could have been my imagination but I noticed that he too lingered behind almost deliberately, letting the rest of the mer pass us by.