The heavy coral doors clicked shut behind the Queen Dowager, sealing the silence back inside the room. But the air still vibrated with the echoes of Caspian's scream.
So that's what happened, I thought, my heart aching in my chest until it felt like it might bruise.
It wasn't a tragic romance. It wasn't a poetic "Beauty and the Beast" curse where the King lost his true love. It was a crime. A violation.
I looked at Caspian. The terrifying Merman King was floating with his back to us, his broad shoulders hunched, his hands gripping the edge of a stone table so hard I heard the rock fracturing under his claws. He wasn't shaking with rage anymore. He was shaking with shame.
I looked down at Orion. The little Prince was wide-eyed, clutching his tail, confused and frightened by the adult fury he had just witnessed.
