The Rules Keeping Us Apart

Hazel Love

Aether caught up with us in the town square, deserted under the cover of night.

He was alone.

"Aether!" Solara called. "Where's August?!"

Aether looked behind him like he wasn't sure how he got here. "What?" He sounded dazed.

I grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "Snap out of it!" I pleaded. "Where is August?"

His expression cleared and then hardened. He slapped my hands away and stepped back. "What is wrong with you? Didn't you see anything that happened? Didn't any of you?!"

I opened my mouth to answer, but he kept talking.

"And it all makes sense! I didn't know where he was from, he spoke a foreign language, he spoke the same language as..." Aether stopped. Drawing his sword, he was turned on Fire and Finn in an instant. "You two! You're both merfolk!"

I couldn't help it, neither could everyone else. We withdrew from them.

"Now, now," Fire said, putting her finger on the tip of the sword and moving it away. "Let's not jump to any conclusions..."

"Fire," Finn cut in warningly. "Don't be dumb."

"It's true, isn't it?" Aether pressed.

"Maybe a little bit." Fire shrugged, but took a step back.

"Yes," Aether growled. "Or no?"

Finn looked at Fire. They both put their hands up. "Yes."

Aether was about to do something drastic. He couldn't see sense through the fire in his eyes. He pulled back his sword.

"That's enough!"

Everyone froze. Melody was standing in front of both of them, her arms wide, feet planted. Her sword was drawn.

"Melody. Move." I felt that chill from over here.

Melody took a deep breath. "I promised that I would never defy you when I signed up for the army...but I have to now. I'm sorry, Aether, but I'm not going to move."

Aether's sword wobbled, and then it fell to the ground with a clang. He wasn't angry at all, I realized. He was grieving and trying to cover it up. He was betrayed and hurt. He didn't say anything.

Lightly, I touched his shoulder. "Hey. Let's go back to the cottage."

In the tiniest, most broken voice imaginable, he said, "Yeah."

We walked. Solara looked plain surprised, but not very partial to either side. When she saw my quizzical look, she just said, "Kavan is landlocked. We didn't really participate in the Merfolk Hunt."

What about me, I wondered? Was I angry? Sure, I was surprised. But it wasn't a secret I was the mom friend on this ragtag group of royal odds and ends. This was like a mother learning that her kid had been behaving very, very badly. Upsetting? You bet. Would the kid get a talking to? Fire and Finn certainly would. But I wasn't going to disown them for this.

I'd lived with these people for maybe a month at most, and yet...they had started feeling like family. They weren't evil. They were scared. Of course. August on the day we met- his trembling, his wide eyes, his sheer terror. Of course.

The woman, Coral, was leaning heavily on Finn. He seemed to have trouble carrying her.

Finn looked back at Alaric, and my gaze followed. Alaric was walking alone, arms crossed. He looked up at Finn. His expression was impossible to read. Finn, distracted, caught his foot on a rock and tripped, almost taking Coral down with him.