Indigo Shores

Chapter 4

Leaving the airport, my feet slowed as my eyes zeroed in on the Mer holding a placard with my name. "You must be Shadow?  I'm Lax, son of King Neelam." His eyes were perfectly violet, skin the olive tones of the Sun Mer, almost bordering on brown, and hair a thick mess of the darkest reds that must look like living flames underwater. His lips twitched. "We are kin, so you may talk to me without our parents permission."

"So, not a suitor hoping to get under my skirt?"

His lips twitched to reveal perfectly white teeth. "I won't deny my father has my mother making a list of good first introductions for you, but they will let you settle in before they start match making."

"Poseidon help me!"

"The list is pointless, really. Once they know you are here, the shoals will send all their eligible sons to court you. We don't want our island sinking under the onslaught." Laughing at his own joke, Lax assessed me. "He was right, the mix of ice and sun make you very alluring."

"He?"

"Oh, no one of significance. Just a friend who visited your mother not so long ago." Throwing his arm around my shoulder, Lax took my wheely case and started walking towards the taxi stand. "Don't worry about the suitors, I'll make sure they know Ice is in your blood. It will cool them off for a while. Now, let's get away from the humans and home to the indigo shores."

Sitting me in a waiting taxi, Lax jumped in beside me and tapped the driver on the shoulder with a few bills and spoke in fluent French. "The old bluff house." The taxi pulled out into traffic and headed off. "I have a boat that will take us home. Nothing with motors is allowed to cross the reef that surrounds our nest of islands, so we have to sail. Have you ever sailed before?"

"I used to race sailboats in my youth.  Catamaran were my favourite. It's like flying over the water. Very Peter Pan-ish."

"Peter who?"

"A fairytale for kids. Tell me true, are your parents happy for me to be coming here?"

"I have no sisters. My father has petitioned your mother many times to bring you home. Just because she chose self-imposed exile, doesn't mean you did. No one away from the Ice Mer or our Shoal even know you exist, so this is going to send shockwaves across the ocean floor. Nowhere more than the King's Isle. Not that they are to be told you are home, you understand?"

"Not really. Prince Bolt already knows I exist."

"Yes, hence why your mother has finally agreed to send you home. Hiding you in plain sight, if you will." Observing my pout at his confirmation of my suspicions, Lax chuckled. "If you think it's awkward for you, feel for me. Bolt and I are good friends away from our respective duties, and I'm expected to protect your presence here from him."

"How are you friends away from your duties?"

With a lift of his shoulder, Lax looked out the window. "There are many places forbidden to those who are not of royal blood, for young princes to get up to mischief without their respective parents seeing. You form bonds. Much like King Rai and our parents did. For sure, that childhood friendship is the only reason King Rai still holds his crown. Still, Bolt was not even born when all that mess happened, he shouldn't be held accountable for it, but the clans have made it clear he will be."

"A lot of pressure for a young prince to surface under."

"Aye, but be careful voicing any sympathy for the prince within the islands. The queen made some eternal enemies with her tactics, and the Mer do not easily forget or forgive."

"The green in his eyes, I've never seen that in a Mer before."

Lifting a brow in my direction, Lax studied me with a cheeky grin. "Looked that closely, did we?"