Chapter 6

Where on Earth is Jed? Liliana saw him go in the direction of the beach, but when she went out to look for him after feeling sorry for herself, she saw that he was nowhere to be found on the beach. Where could he have gone? To the stables to hide from her? Was he feeling sorry for himself, as well? They both want to be together, but they can't because of the stupid rule regarding the royals and the palace workers. Maybe she'll just leave it all for now. She should go and lie down in her room, and stay in there until tomorrow. But then she'll see him and will remember how wonderful it felt to have his lips on hers, and the shiver that ran through her when he grabbed her waist. And she won't be able to feel that again for a while.

She took in and let out a large breath and walked up to the garden path leading back to the castle. She made it to the veranda when both Melody and Nathan walked through the back doors. Their eyes were big, bright, and filled with excitement. She had to smile at seeing her cousins so happy, even if she had a broken heart herself.

"Liliana, hi!" Melody exclaimed. "Have you seen Jed? Mother told us that he was out on the beach and we came to see if he's still there. We haven't been able to spend any time with him since he's been so busy with guard duty. Now he has his first day off and we can finally spend some time with him."

"So, have you seen him?" asked Nathan, and the salty sea wind whipped his stark red hair. Liliana bit her bottom lip and her cousins definitely noticed.

"What?" Melody asked. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Liliana was dying to say something about her feelings for Jed, feelings that started even before he came. She was so intrigued with the idea of having a half-alien person in the palace, and she knew that he was young, tall and toned. She didn't expect him to be so handsome and kind. "Um... it's nothing, just... I think Jed may have left somewhere to be alone... because of me. I mean, he went out to the beach, but he's not there."

"What are you talking about?" Nathan asked. "He left somewhere because of you? What happened?"

Melody, another woman, came up to her, observing her. "Something happened between the two of you, didn't it?"

Nathan's eyes widened and he looked between Liliana and his sister. "Wait, what? What about the rule about how royals and castle workers not being involved?"

"Yes, there's that rule, but you can't help who you fall in love with," Melody quipped, and she turned her attention to Lilliana again. "We all could see the sparks between you and Jed when you two first met."

Liliana didn't know what else to do. She nodded, and Nathan gasped, but Melody nodded, knowing that's what was going on. "Yes," Liliana said. "I fell in love with Jed, and I know now that he fell in love with me, too, but we can't be together."

Melody squealed and she hooked her arm with her cousin's. "You have to tell me what happened. And I promise, Nathan and myself will not say a thing." Right, Nathan?" She gave her younger brother a pointed look.

"But..." he started, but then sighed, giving in. "Alright."

The three young adults went walking back down into the garden, where Liliana and Jed had their special moment. They stopped and both Melody and Nathan faced Liliana, and she looked down at the grass. She knew that Melody was on her side, but Nathan didn't seem to thrilled that his cousin broke the rules. She gave him a glare.

"Will you stop looking at me like that, Nathan, like I did something horribly wrong?"

Nathan's features softened. "I'm sorry, it's just... we all know very well how important that rule is."

"I'm well aware, and we've already established that a person can't help who they fall in love with, and because Jed and I fell in love with each other, but can't be together, he ran away."

"I don't think he ran away, Liliana," Melody said gently and touched her arm. "He's probably off somewhere sulking and feelings sorry for himself because you two can't be together."

"I don't mean run away like that, I mean left somewhere to be away from me."

Melody nodded. "What happened between the two of you? Tell me everything!"

Liliana recalled watching Jed from her balcony and seeing him playing with his little nieces and nephew, and how her heart melted at the sight of seeing him so loving with them and they so loving with him. "I... saw him on the beach playing with the young ones in the tide pools, and I followed him after he left the beach. I followed him into the garden here, right in this exact spot, and we... well, we talked for a little bit, and he revealed his fears of not being accepted by the other guards here as well as the younger members of his family, just because he looks different and is different."

Melody's brows creased. "What? He was worried that we and the guards wouldn't like him? That absurd."

"Yeah, we think he's awesome," Nathan added. "He had nothing to worry about."

"I think he realized that, since the younger ones love him, and the guards thinks he's great—I've noticed."

"So... how did this lead to you to revealing your feelings for each other?" Melody asked as they stood by that rose bush.

Lilian's cheeks heated a bit at the memory. "Well... he was concerned about being different and... I let him know that I thought that he's handsome. Uniquely handsome. And we expressed how much we hated the no-royals-or-palace-workers-being-involved rule, especially him. He said so. I knew what he meant and... couldn't help myself. I leaned in a kissed him."

Melody gasped and Nathan's eyes widened. "You kissed him? You made the first move? Way to go!"

Liliana smiled. "Yeah... and he kissed me back. I could have melted in my shoes. But he said that we can't be because of that stupid rule, but he wants to. He wants to be with me, and I knew it, so... I kissed him again."

"You kissed him again?" Nathan asked, still not seeming happy about this. "Oh my gosh..."

"Yes, I did. We kissed a total of three times, actually, and I think the last one was more of a goodbye kiss, and a rather heated one. Oh, my legs turned to jelly when he strode over and kissed me when he was about to walk away. He kissed me to prove that he wants me, but he agreed to wait until he's done with his guardsman duties. After that, he left to the beach. I stayed here sulking in the garden for a bit, but then I decided to go and find him on the beach and convince him again to be in a secret relationship, but... he wasn't on the beach." Tears came to her eyes and a horrible thought came to her. "What if he jumped in the ocean because he was so depressed that he can't be with me?"

Melody came and rapped an arm around her shoulders and shook it a little. "Hey, hey, Jed's not like that. He wouldn't do something so reckless and dangerous." She brought Liliana out to face her, and Liliana's chest spasmed with a sob. "Like we thought before, he's probably in the stables or hiding somewhere in the castle, being away from everyone for a while. Just don't think too much about this, okay?"

Liliana nodded, wanting to believe her cousin and friend. "Okay. I just worry. A broken heart can do nasty things."

"I don't think the guy's heart is broken," Nathan said. "It may be hurting a little since you two can't be together, but I don't think it's broken. Honestly, you're being melodramatic, Liliana. Both you and Melody really need to stop reading those sappy romance novels."

Liliana smiled and wrapped her male cousin in a hug, and Melody joined in as well. "Thanks you two. Where would I be without you?"

"You'd be here in the garden crying your eyes out," Nathan said, and both Liliana and Melody chuckled.

"Let's go back into the castle and get something to eat," Melody said. "I think it'll help you feel better."

"Okay, let's do that."

The three started to walk through the garden and back up to the castle. As they were walking up the stairs to the back veranda, Liliana said, "Please, please promise me that neither of you will tell anyone about this. I don't want to be yelled at, and I don't Jed to get in trouble."

Melody put an arm around Liliana's shoulders. "I already promised. As did Adam." She gave her younger brother another pointed look."

"Okay, okay, I promise. Honestly, I don't want Jed to leave. I think he's my favorite cousin."

"Hey!" Liliana quipped and they all started laughing and Melody was happy for the lighter atmosphere. They all made it into the castle and headed to the kitchen. Hopefully Jed isn't too torn up about all this. When she sees him tomorrow, she can talk to him again and they can agree to be just friends until he's done with being a guard. She knows now that he won't risk getting kicked out by having a secret romance with her.

That will be the plan. She'll talk to him tomorrow when he's on a break. Or, she'll meet him while he's on his way to breakfast. Yes. She'll do that.

Jed and Flounder swam through the back door that led to the kitchen, according to Flounder. When they came in, Jed saw jars of little sea creatures that weren't fish, jars of what looked like seaweed, and other undersea plants. This must be the storage room for the kitchen.

"Through here," said Flounder and the two swam through a doorway into what very much looked like a kitchen, but not one that Jed has ever seen before. Of course there wasn't a stove since this is underwater, but there was a surface where food was cooking in a glass jar with a lid, maybe seaweed or some other aquatic plant. How it was being cooked, Jed had no idea.

Someone came through another doorway, a rather large merman that wore an apron and hat, and who had a dark green fin. The chef? Jed quickly hid behind a crate on impulse, as to not be seen, and so did Flounder. Jed watched the merman with a belly as he checked what was cooking. "The heat needs to be turned up," he muttered and turned a knob under the flat surface where the glass pot was. Jed saw bubbles and the plant in the jar noticeably changed color, like plants do when they're cooked. His eyes widened.

"How...?" he whispered, and Flounder came up next to his face.

"Things are cooked with underwater volcanoes. That knob there makes covers and uncovers the spout to the volcano. If it's fully open, the food will cook instantly since it's so hot. When it's opened partially, the food will cook slower."

"Huh, that's interesting." He paused. "But a volcano? Won't it erupt?"

"These ones are small, and won't erupt like a normal undersea volcano. No magma comes up, just really hot steam that enters the water. The kitchen was put in this spot for a reason—there are at least three of those little volcanoes in this room that can help cook the food."

Jed was beginning to understand. "Oh, okay."

"Now c'mon. We can escape when he's not looking."

They swam for it as the chef's back was turned and exited through a door. They came into a spacious room that looked like a dining room with a long granite table, and chairs made out of the same rock. Jed ogled at it for a moment, and then followed Flounder out of the room and into a hallway that had no ceiling. Ariel was right there—no ceiling in the less private rooms. He noticed that the dining room was covered, and even had a chandelier-like thing hanging from the ceiling.

"This way to the throne room," Flounder said, and they swam on and Jed took in his surroundings. This palace was certainly different than the palace above the surface, with no carpets, not suits of armor, not paintings… He looked up and saw straight to the tip of the building. His jaw dropped open.

"Whoa!"

"What?"

"You can see clear to the top! And... no stairs. How do people get up there to those top floors?"

"Swim," Flounder simply said and Jed wanted to face-palm himself. Duh. They can just swim up to those top floors.

"Oh, that makes sense."

They swam on, and someone suddenly came out from behind a corner and Jed rammed into them. Flounder gasped, and Jed felt fear shoot through him. Oh crap, they got caught. When Jed saw who he rammed into, his heart jumped. He was staring at a very pretty girl with brown hair, waving all around her head, and big green eyes that shined. His mouth opened slightly, attempted to apologize, but nothing came out.

"Hello," she said in a surprised voice.

"Hi..." was all he could manage to say.

She looked to Flounder, and Jed noticed that she batted her eyelashes. Batted. He thought girls only did that in films. And why would she be batting her eyelashes at him? He recalled Liliana saying that he was handsome in a unique way. Maybe this girl thought so?

"A new friend of yours, Flounder?" she asked in a voice that resembled Liliana's.

"Um... Flounder started, "Yeah, yeah, he is. I wanted to introduce him to King Triton."

"Why do you want to introduce him to Grandfather if he's just your friend?"

Jed started. He blurted out, "Grandfather?"

"Yes," she said to him and gave him a radiant smile. "I am Nadina, daughter of King Triton's oldest daughter Attina. What's your name?"

"I'm Jedediah, but most people just call me Jed."

"Well, it is very nice to meet you, Jed."

Jed had to make sure of something. "You're King Triton's granddaughter... that means you're Ariel's niece! And Liliana's cousin!" No wonder she sounds like her, and resembles her, for that matter. Wait, is she the girl he saw in that courtyard earlier?

"Why, yes... I haven't met my aunt before since she went off and married some human man. And I don't know who Liliana is."

Jed's heart pinch. He was going to say that that some human man is his amazing half-brother. Flounder slapped a fin over his mouth before he could say anything. "Well, we should be off, Nadina," he said and swam on. "C'mon, Jed!"

Jed glanced a Nadina one last time and he was off with Flounder. They swam down a long hallway and passed merpeople that could be servants, judging by their hair pieces, on the woman, and the men had little black bow ties at their neck and carried trays with one hand like a waiter. Jed and Flounder passed about five of them before they stopped a large opening.

"They all gave me funny looks. It's my ears." He started for a moment. Nadina didn't even mention his ears, or even looked at them.

"It's because you're a new face. Everyone knows everyone here."

"Okay, so… what's through there?"

"The throne room. You can hear King Triton's voice right now."

Jed's heart jumped and sped up at hearing the king's voice through the opening. He's really going to meet the King Triton, King of the Ocean, Ariel's father, as well as Adana's. And Liliana's and the rest of his cousins' grandfather."

"You ready?" asked Flounder.

"Yes. I think so. Maybe."

Flounder slapped a fin on his bare back. "It'll be fine. Once he finds out who you are, he'll be willing to listen to your story, and hopefully he can help. Actually, there's no doubt that he can. He had powers and can change your fin back to legs. Well, if he didn't do this to you, which I doubt he did. He's been here all day as far as I know."

Jed nodded, also doubting that King of the Ocean did this to him. Why would he, anyway? He doesn't even know him.

"In we go," Flounder said and Jed followed the fish in through the large opening, and he had to move some plant vines away. Once he entered, he gaped at the grand room, open, without a ceiling, and made all of smooth blue stone. There was a path that led up to the throne. Jed followed the path with his eyes, and there he was. King Triton himself."