Sky is on edge, though he hides it so well I doubt anyone else notices. I only notice because I sense it through our mate-bond like a wire running a current of electricity.

Instinctively, I reach for his hand, and I'm more than a little hurt when he subtly shakes me off.

He must have a reason, I tell myself. Something has him on guard.

Probably his father.

I hate to admit it, but my first impression of my mate's family is not a good one. General Vargas has the sharklike smile of an unscrupulous businessman about to make a killer deal, and I don't like the calculating glint in his eye, not to mention the initial coolness with which he'd greeted me. I get the feeling if I'd been carrying anything, he'd have mistaken me for Sky's valet.

He leads us and the troop of guards through the grand hall and up a broad flight of marble steps to double doors twice the height of a standard room. I keep close to Sky, attuning myself to him and attempting to mirror his stance and attitude, and all the while thinking a quick lesson in Mer etiquette might have gone a long way.

General Vargas pauses before the doors and raps smartly upon a panel with the knuckle of his first finger. He calls out something in the Mer language, which I don't understand, but which I take to mean something along the lines of, 'open up.'

Voices issue from the other side, raised in question, and he says something more. Then, with the scrape of bolts being drawn back and barricades lifted, the doors open inward to reveal an opulent hall of white marble and gold, with a raised dais at one end beneath a clear dome, like a smaller version of the magic bubble enclosing the outer courtyard.

A pair of guards wearing the anxious looks of men who know they are expendable flank the doors, while a larger group stands in a close ring, shoulder to shoulder, upon the dais. All hold long spears or pronged tridents, and with their weapons extended, they resemble a spikey sea urchin covered in spines.

The general calls out to them, and while I still don't understand what he says, the words have a reassuring tone.

This guess proves correct as the distant group lowers their weapons and breaks formation, descending the dais and approaching, and revealing what they had been guarding at the same time: a figure, draped in cloth and seated upon an ornate throne.

"Is that...?"

"My mother," Sky whispers, with a barely perceptible nod of assent. "And my sisters, guarding her."

As they approach, I see that while half are male guards, half of those who had stood in the defensive ring are women. The one leading the way wears the same gold-scale armor as the general. Tall, with long black curls and an 'I will kill you if I have to' expression, she reminds me of 'Xena: Warrior Princess' but with more clothes.

I take it she's Sky's eldest sister, Natalis, and I hang back a pace as she launches into a heated and entirely incomprehensible conversation with her father and Sky.

After several minutes of this, some kind of understanding and accord is reached, and Sky finally says something I understand.

"English, please, Natalis. Martin does not speak our tongue."

"The language of barbarians," she scoffs.

"The language of science and literature, now," Sky amends.

"Only because the barbarians dominate such things. For now."

"For now," Sky agrees easily. "History is ever unfolding. But first things first." With a smile, he turns to me and takes my hands in his. "Allow me to introduce my chosen consort, Martin Hunter. Martin, please meet my sister, Princess Natalis of Thassos."

Doing my best to hide my surprise at the new term for my role, I remember the earlier lesson I'd received and execute what is no doubt a terrible mockery of a graceful bow.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Princess," I say.

"You may call me Natalis," she says, with a very uninviting frown.

Ignoring her, Sky introduces me to each of his remaining sisters in turn.

"And here we have the Princesses, in order of succession: Thalia, Saphia, Kalifa, Inara, Aster, and Anemone."

My brain makes a cursory effort to memorize names and match them to faces, but by the time he gets to the last sister, I've all but forgotten the rest. All I know is that Natalis is a dark brunette, Anemone is a flaming redhead, and the rest are as blonde as Sky. I'll have to pay careful attention in conversation and hopefully pick up their names as I go.

As he introduces me in turn, I notice that most eyes are not on my face, but on the half of the heart-shaped amulet I wear, and sense reservation in most of the smiles that reflect my own.

Anemone is the exception, and as she greets me with a warmth and deep curiosity that can't be faked I find myself reminded of my own youngest sister, Ingrid.

"But you are a land-walker, are you not?" she asks, in lightly accented tones. Her voice is soft and sweet, and easy to listen to, and I wonder if, like Sky's, there is magic in it.

"Yes, I suppose I am," I admit, unsure whether this is a good or a bad thing in her view.

My fears are at once laid to rest and reignited as her face lights with the enthusiasm of a nerd presented with an opening to discuss her favorite topic.

"Oh, you must tell me everything!" she exclaims. "I so long to visit the surface, but Natalis forbids it."

The muscular brunette shoots her a glare. "Your duty is here, guarding mother. Not frolicking among..." her gaze flicks from Anemone to Sky, and she says something in the Mer tongue that makes Anemone gasp.

"Nattie! That isn't nice! Sky had no choice but to leave us, and—"

"And your duty is here," Natalis snaps.

Anemone glares at her for a moment before turning back to me with a much kinder expression. "But you must be exhausted from your journey!" she exclaims. "Nattie seldom travels farther than the nearest edge of Europe, but she always comes back an absolute bitch."

"Ane!" General Vargas hisses, causing the red-haired girl to flinch. "Apologize immediately!"

Anemone's green eyes widen with shocked innocence. "Oh dear! Have I used the wrong term? I haven't much practiced my English of late."

"Ah..." I raise my hands, hoping to intervene. "It's no matter. Our journey was a short one, in fact. We traveled here by magic. It took almost no time at all."

Natalis turns her flint-sharp eyes on Sky. "Oh? Is this some new skill of yours, brother?"

Sky frowns. "No. A friend helped."

Natalis blinks as if attempting to solve an unsolvable problem.

"You shared the location of Thassos with a being capable of transporting you here instantly, by magic?" she asks, clearly aghast.

Sky frowns. "I shared the location with a friend, who helped us in a time of urgent need. She forbore to cross the barrier herself out of concern that she would damage it."

"Who else have you told?" Natalis asks, in the tone of someone making a mental list of people she might need to hunt down and kill.

"No one," Sky says, taken aback. "I give you my word, Nat. I do not take the sanctity or security of our home lightly."

"Nor do I, which is why I and my sisters have remained here, year after year, guarding our mother and the throne in the mere hope of your return, at which you have taken your damned time, by the way."

"Relax, Nattie," Anemone says, rolling her eyes with a very human expression of sisterly exasperation. "Mother is a statue. How much guarding does she need?"

"Mother's magic is the only thing holding this place together," Natalis snaps. "If something happens to her before Sky can take the throne, we are all doomed."

"Doomed is a bit of a stretch," Anemone counters. "Severely inconvenienced is more like it."

Natalis sneers. "If you can call losing our kingdom — the seat of our power, the heart of our magic, our collected art, history, and knowledge, and our entire way of life — an inconvenience, then certainly."

Anemone pales before her sister's ire, and I quail as well — my natural reaction before a threat of anger being to shrink in upon myself and yield.

I don't know where that instinct originated. My parents always taught me and all my siblings to be our best and truest selves; not to worry about what anyone else thought of us, to stand up for ourselves and others, and to follow our hearts wherever they might lead. And yet my heart had led me so astray that...

Countering this thought, images of my children rise in my mind: a whole slideshow of Flora, Miguel, Nico, and Rio — from birth to diaper changes; first smiles to first days at school. I love them with all my heart, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. In that, my heart has led me abso-fucking-lutely true. I suppose I could do worse than to trust it now.

"That's why we're here," I say, daring to speak up despite the tension. "We've come to break the curse."

"Mother told me to bring her a pure heart," Sky says, moving closer to me and slipping his arm around my back, "and Martin is most certainly that."

Natalis continues to frown, but Anemone makes an 'aww' sound, as if we're the most adorable thing she's ever seen. The rest of the sisters seem about evenly split between the two reactions, and their father remains unreadable.

"Will you free her now?" one of the blond sisters asks, glancing towards the shrouded statue.

"No — we must do things properly," General Vargas says, intervening before Sky can speak. "Our people have a right to witness their queen's return; and the more witnesses, the less room for conspiracies to take hold. There shall be a feast and a grand ball, and that will take a bit of time to arrange. Tomorrow evening is the soonest, I think. In the meantime, we all have some catching up to do, I'm sure."

Again, I sense a tingle of unease through my connection to Sky, and I wish I could speak to him alone, but from the look of things, I might not get such an opportunity for some time.