Resonant

Chapter 2

Zale

When dinner was finished, Mom asked if I wanted some tea. She never wanted tea, not unless there was something she needed to talk about with me, so of course I agreed.

Once we each held a steaming cup, I waited for her to bring up whatever it was she needed to say. Mom stared into her tea for a while before she broached the subject.

"Your father contacted me."

I had been so sure this would be like all those other times when my mother tried to talk to me about my responsibilities as her heir. She had accepted when I went to live on the surface in my early twenties. She had accepted the human man I fell in love with even though he had no political value and he was totally unsuited to living under the sea when it came time for me to accept my royal mantle. Harlow used to have a hard enough time breathing on land, and I used to spend a lot of time worrying about whether I could get him to a doctor fast enough if he needed one.

That was moot now.

But my mother, she took so many of my choices into stride even though I knew they weren't what she would have chosen for me. She had even accepted, with obvious bewilderment, when I took on a teaching position at Ashen Oak Academy, whose students came from all walks of supernatural life. I was the only mer on campus, and it was a far cry from the preparations I probably should have been doing as crown prince... but it was my one chance at pursuing the career of my heart instead of the career of my duty. Somehow, my overbearing, strict mother understood and she let me have this for now.

What she had never been able to accept was my complete disinterest in ruling, and it had been the topic of many of these late-night talks.

What had not come up before was my father, the steward of the Vidonian Empire. All she had ever told me about him was that his name was Euripides and that he left before I was born because he didn't approve of my mother giving me the magic I needed to rule when she was pregnant with me.

"What did he want?" I asked. Possibilities whirred through my mind, and I wanted to kick myself for the aching hope that he might want to meet me.

Mom grimaced. "He wanted me to ask you for a favor on his behalf. In the interest of maintaining cordial relations with Vidonia, I agreed. You're under no obligation to do anything for him, of course."

"Okay...?"

"You have a brother." Mom paused a moment to let this sink in. "He's having a hard time, and he's insisting on spending some time topside. Your father enrolled him in that school of yours and wants you to look after him."

How had Euripides – I refused to think of him as Father – known I lived topside? Or where I taught? Or that I taught at all, for that matter? I had always been under the impression that he had completely forgotten about my existence the moment he left my mother.

"What's his name? My... brother?" It felt weird to form that word. My mother had never had more children. Her pregnancy with me had almost killed her, and she had been advised never to attempt it again. But as much as Euripides had no claim to a relation to me, this... brother... of mine was innocent. I had always wished for siblings, mostly so there would be someone else who could inherit the throne. Even though my brother couldn't, I was still curious. And I still wanted to know him.

"His name is Adras. But he likes to go by Astrea," Mom said, and she pursed her lips in distaste.

"Astrea?" I repeated dumbly. "But that's..."

"A girl's name? Yes. That would be part of the hard time your father is so concerned about. Like I said, you shouldn't feel any obligation to help your father." Mom paused, and I could see what her next words would cost her even before she spoke them. "You might consider helping your brother, though."