The Mer Prince

Chapter 10

XY's POV

He was quiet in my arms the whole time I carried him. He looked so saddened, but it was no surprise why. He had gotten what he had wanted, and everyone had judged him for it. This was no way to treat a Prince, nor a son. A parent should always respect their children's choices.

I sang a small song quietly, the Sea's Lullaby. His eyes closed and the pain of the day melted from him, a peaceful look dawning on his face, one like a child's. I couldn't fathom what it would be like to find your last connection of family and have them swim away from you without a care. But I was going to take care of him now.

I carried him to the Conch Hotel, a hotel more 'trustworthy' in my sights then the one the king had usually suggested. I carefully moved the prince in my arms and grabbed a coral key from a wall, waving to an uninterested manager who had met me before, and he wrote my alias down in the books as I carried the prince into the rock building.

It was a decent hotel, at least that's what I always believe as I swim through the orange lobby and pass the red parlor, swimming up an inclined tunnel to a level with the round doors I've come to know, swimming through and passing two green-tails who giggle in my wake, earning them a raised eyebrow from me as I unlock my door. I don't understand what's so funny when I slip into my room and close the door behind me.

Then I'm reminded. The prince is a breeder. There is a parlor almost less than a block from here full of them, all in the business of 'fancy prostitution', where the females get guppies to do their bidding from, well. Mating. I wouldn't be surprised if the green-tails thought I was carrying him here to do something with him.

Even if I wasn't his bodyguard and an assassin, and that was the case, and he wasn't the prince, I still wouldn't hurt him or do anything like that to him. Even if everyone ordered me to. He slept peacefully in my arms, and trusted me now, as it seemed. And his face was not a face to have to hold pain.

I carefully lowered him onto the soft sponge bed, the yellows matching with the blue coral that decorated the room. He mumbled and wrapped his arms around my chest, and I carefully tried to move his arms when he whimpered quietly, a soft sound that I didn't quite understand and almost missed.

I wasn't getting out of his hold without waking him, and he was whimpering in his sleep. I wrapped my arms around his chest, sighing as he quieted and nuzzled to me, and I shifted so I was on the sponge beside him, his arms around my chest and head resting on my shoulder.

I guess I'm sleeping beside the prince tonight.