“When you lost your legs,” I finished for him, and he nodded, the gesture something I felt rather than saw. I ran a gentle hand through his golden blond hair, relishing in the way he shuddered beneath my touch.
Once more, I felt a pair of eyes on me, but when I glanced in Tavvy’s direction, he was facing straight ahead. I wondered if I had imagined it, though my sixth sense warned me I hadn’t.
And I always trusted my sixth sense.
Unease unfurled in my gut, but I shoved it away. I would worry about Tavvy at a different time.
“Is your mom there now?” I asked, still stroking Dair’s soft hair. It slid through my fingers like fine silk, the texture addicting.
A dopey smile appeared on Dair’s face as he glanced up at me through his fringe of lashes.
“Yes, with my sister.”
“You have a sister?” I gasped in disbelief. It was times like that when I remembered I didn’t know everything about these men. I knew the big stuff, the life-altering stuff, but little details eluded me. With time, I would learn it all.
Start with the big, end with the small.
Dair went rigid beside me, eyes pleading with me to remain quiet. I glanced anxiously from the twins, whispering amongst themselves, to Tavvy.
I nodded to tell Dair I understood while mentally recalling what I knew of his family. His mother had a mate, but she had been forced to leave him after being coveted by Dair’s father. His sister must’ve been his half-sister.
Filing the information away for later, I glanced once more out the window just as we parked in front of a magnificent building.
No, not a building. Not even a house.
A castle.
It was a tan color, the sun bleaching it white in more places than one. Tall pinnacles brushed the sky from various locations, each one a swirling point. Seashells bedecked the sides and roof. Somehow, it came across as more elegant than cheesy.
“Shit,” I whispered, awe filling me.
Ignoring my outburst, Tavvy swiveled in his seat to face me. “You’ll have your base of operations in here. Come.”
Without waiting for my response, he slid out of the car and marched towards the front entrance. I exchanged an amused look with Dair at his brother’s pissy behavior before following him out.
The front entrance was two large white doors, jewel-studded shells making up the handles. I almost didn’t want to touch something so beautiful, afraid that my own darkness would tarnish it.
Fortunately, I didn’t need to touch anything. A guard rushed forward - where the fuck did he come from? - and gestured us through with a dramatic swooping motion. I nodded at him in response, stepping into what would serve as my home until I completed the mind numbing mission assigned by the Mermaid King.
The inside was just as beautiful as the outside. The color combination, no surprise, was azure and white, heightened only by darker blue brush strokes. Numerous paintings of seashells and seahorses, fishes and starfish, lined the front entrance, creating an aperture towards a white-trimmed spiral staircase. The opulence of the room was startling but not surprising.
If I had to wager a guess, half of these items didn’t initially belong to the royal family.
“There’s not as much security as I would’ve expected,” I whispered to Dair, surveying a pair of guards rushing forward to converse with Tavvy. They, too, wore blue clothing with white crests just above their hearts. I would have to ask Dair if that was the symbol of the royal family.
Dair chuckled at my question, grabbing my elbow to steer me towards the staircase. I had been shamelessly standing in the foyer, gaping at everything like a toddler.
“This isn’t our main home,” he admitted. “It’s...how would you say it? A summer home.”
“A summer home,” I repeated blandly. Before he could respond, a guard hurried towards him and said a few words in a language I didn’t recognize. Dair replied back in the same language. It was a beautiful sound, all soft vowels and smooth consonants. I waited until the guard had disappeared with a brisk nod before raising an inquiring eyebrow at my Mermaid Prince.
“It’s Mer,” he explained, hand on the small of my back. He guided me past the staircase and down a long hall. “It’s the official language here. We only speak English at the Capital.”
“Does every race have their own language?” I asked, peering through each room as we passed. One was what looked like a billiards room. Another, a bathroom. And a...was that an indoor beach?
Before I could gawk further, Dair led me to a room at the end of the hall. The door was already open to reveal a large bed, easily twice as large as the one back in the Capital, with golden trim and a teal canopy overhead. There were at least a dozen drawers separated between three dressers, and a single desk sat in the center of the room, not against the wall as I would expect.
“I instructed the servants to set up this room for us,” he admitted, unbuttoning his white shirt. My eyes latched onto the blond chest hair peeking through, and his eyes heated.
There was the sound of glass shattering followed immediately by, “Mother fucking ass wipe.” Moments later, Bash entered the room, suitcase slung over his shoulder and eyes brewing with irritation.
Behind him, Lupe sauntered into the room with a smug, satisfied smile on his handsome face.
“What did you do?” I asked, cocking a brow up.
Ignoring me, Lupe turned towards Dair with a devious smile. “Hopefully those vases in the hall aren’t expensive.”
“Oh, they’re just gifts from the Genie royal family hundreds of years ago,” replied Dair dryly.
Lupe chuckled, the sound sending delightful shivers up and down my body. “Good. You can just ask Dev for
