Fen

"My mother wants to have dinner with you," said a deep voice behind me just when I was about to enter my suite. I would know that sound anywhere, and I felt a flutter of nerves and excitement in my chest.

I waited a few seconds before turning around, but quickly accepted that there was no way I was going to be able to school my expression. This whole week had been kind of incredible. Every single day, Zale had sought me out if our paths didn't happen to cross. On Monday, he found me during lunch and we ate together. On Tuesday, I saw him in a staff meeting, and he sat with me instead of with that witch he usually hung out with at those things. Wednesday, he came and sat in on one of my lectures about the fae and even asked a question about what my home realm was like. Then, yesterday, he showed up at my classroom and walked me to my suite after the final period ended.

Most of those interactions were so small, but I had learned that Zale was a creature of habit. He didn't usually change his routines and he didn't usually let new people into his life. In fact, he largely ignored everyone outside of his classes except that mer boy, Adras. So seeing him like this without having to seek him out at all, it was surreal. It meant he was putting in the effort.

And I had been happy with that. Truly. I wasn't picky. I didn't need much, and just making any kind of progress had felt like enough. But there had been a lingering sadness anyway in the fact that, even though Zale sought me out and was actually spending time with me, I still felt like I was at a distance from him. I hadn't learned anything about the stern merman all week. Not really.

When I was with him, he was polite but still didn't seem to have much to say to me. If I didn't fill the silences, they could stretch out to encompass our whole time together. And sometimes when I asked questions about his past, he would completely shut down.

"Fen? Will you have dinner with my mother?" Zale asked, sounding annoyed.

Even though teasing Zale seemed like a colossally bad idea, the words slipped through my lips anyway. "Will you also be there, or just her?"

Based on everything I knew about Zale so far, I really thought he would react badly. He was so serious and stern all the time, and had so little patience for people. But instead of getting annoyed with me, his eyes warmed with what I would have sworn was amusement if it didn't look so foreign on him. "I might be," he said with a playful tone.

"Then I guess I could go," I said. Then it hit me that I had just agreed to meet his mother, and felt instantly anxious. I was still wrapping my mind around Zale being a prince. Now he wanted me to meet the queen. At least I would have some time to prepare. Maybe I could look up some video tutorials on etiquette, so I wouldn't make a fool of myself.

"Are you available tonight?" he asked.

No!

Only, I didn't say that. No, my pushover self said, "Sure."

A brief ray of hope that maybe we would have to put the dinner off came through when I asked, "How will I get there?" and Zale got a confused look on his face.

"What, can't you teleport?" he asked, frowning at me.

"Sure, but I have to know where I'm going. I have to teleport to something or someone," I explained, feeling like this was sort of obvious. How did he think my magic worked?

"Oh." I was just starting to feel an acute sense of relief when his expression brightened and he said, "Well, I'll go ahead and you can come to me."

"Okay," I agreed reluctantly, seeing no way out of it. Then I realized there was a flaw in his plan and bit my lip to keep from grinning. "Actually, I don't think that will work. I won't know when it's safe to come."

Zale was completely unfazed. "I'll send you an e-mail when it's safe," he said.

"You have e-mail in the ocean?" I asked dubiously.

"Sure. Our computers are actually kept and maintained topside, and our monitors and accessories underwater are enchanted to mirror the ones that are on land. We can't figure out how to get working phones yet, though."

I was definitely going to have some questions on that later, but for now, I needed to get ready for this dinner. It was already a little after four in the afternoon. I didn't know how long it would take Zale to get to his underwater home, but I figured I only had a few hours at most to get ready. I probably needed all the time I could get. "E-mail's fine," I told him.

"Okay. Expect my e-mail around five."

"What!" I screeched, and he frowned again. I had to figure out how to make him stop doing that. "It took you longer last time," I said in a quieter voice.

Zale looked perplexed for a minute before his furrowed brow smoothed and he sighed. "I suspected you had a way of tracking my location," he said. "I don't usually swim straight home, or at my top speed. I will this time."

The bands on anxiety wrapped around my chest tightened. No way could I be ready by five. It just wasn't possible. How could Zale expect me to –

Big, strong hands closed gently around my shoulders and Zale leaned down with a gentle expression I hadn't seen him wear yet. "Hey, calm down," he said softly. "There's nothing to worry about."

"But..." I struggled to find words that wouldn't make me sound completely ridiculous and settled for the plain truth. "This is scary."

He huffed a small laugh and his eyes stayed gentle. The complete lack of judgment I sensed from him did a lot to ease my nerves. "You have nothing to worry about. It'll just be you, me, and my mother. And I really think you'll like her. It's hard not to."

That wasn't exactly what I was worried about. "But what if she doesn't like me?"

Zale shrugged. "What would it change?" he asked.

I stared at him uncomprehendingly. She was the queen. She was his mother. If she didn't approve of me, couldn't she bar me from Zale's life?

"See? It's going to be alright," Zale said after I failed to respond to him. I nodded even though I didn't really believe him, and he backed away from me. "Watch your inbox," he said, and strode down the hallway.

I waited until he was gone to throw myself into my suite and slam the door shut behind me. I pressed my hands to my face and let out a high-pitched "Aaaaah!" that would have been embarrassing if anyone had been around to hear it. What had I just agreed to? And why hadn't Zale given me more warning?

We went from finally starting to casually talk to each other to meeting his mother in the span of a few days. Who does that to someone?

I ran into the bedroom and started sorting through my limited wardrobe. There was nothing here, nothing at all, that looked remotely appropriate for meeting Queen Undine. I needed clothes more like what Luin had.

Luin... my best friend who was about my size and who was usually available this time of day.

Acutely aware of my scant time trickling away, I quickly pulled out my phone and called him.

"Hello?"

"Luin! Can I come over?"

"Sure-"

I teleported in front of him in time to hear the rest of his sentence in person. "- you can."

He laughed a little and gave me a wry smile.

"Sorry! I'm just in a hurry." I looked around his neat little house for any sign of Arrowan, his bond mate, but saw no one.

"Arrowan's out in the garage sculpting," Luin said before I could ask. Well, it's not like I was here to see him anyway. I just hadn't wanted to be completely rude since it would be best all around if he and I could get along for Luin's sake.

"What brings you here?" he asked.

"I need to borrow something to wear," I said, and checked the time on my phone. "I've got maybe twenty minutes." Better to guess low, I thought. That e-mail could come any time, and I didn't want to screw thing up right off the bat by making them wait for me.

Luin's brows shot up. "Okay. What kind of clothes?"

I explained my predicament and was tempted to take a picture of the surprise on Luin's face, which was comically pronounced by the end. It was the sort of expression that belonged in a caricature or a cartoon, but I didn't have the luxury of basking in such frivolities now.

Still, I couldn't help but giggle when he said, "Damn."

Luin wasn't the type to swear often. Either Arrowan was rubbing off on him, or I had just surprised him that much with my my-bond-mate-is-a-prince-and-I'm-having-dinner-with-the-queen story.

Luin ushered me down the hall and into his bedroom, where he started rifling through his closet and muttering to himself. A couple of times, he pulled out an article of clothing and held it up toward me, squinting between myself and the garment until he would either shake his head and shove it back into the closet or throw it onto the bed into what I guessed was a rapidly-growing "maybe" pile.

All in all, Luin took up all of my remaining time as he carefully sifted through clothes until finally, he handed me a stack and said, "Try this."

I had been watching the time as much as I watched him, and was so relieved he had finally made up his mind that I almost didn't care what he was trying to dress me in. Luin left the bedroom so I could change and I put on a charcoal grey three-piece suit with shiny gold buttons I knew would match my eyes and hair. The fabric of the pants was supple, and the suit itself fit like it had been tailored to me. Fey folk tended to have very similar body types, so it shouldn't have surprised me. There was a tie, as well, though I would need Luin to help me with it.

His eyes swept over me when I joined him in the living room before he gave an approving nod. He stuck his hand out for the tie and I felt like a child while I stood there as he put it on me, though it really wasn't my fault I didn't know how to tie one. We didn't have these back home in Alterra.

When Luin was finished, he appraised me again, then smiled. "You're ready," he said. And I trusted him enough that my nerves calmed even more, to the point where I no longer worried I would ruin my first impression with Zale's mother by throwing up.

My nerves didn't stay tame for long. It was only a couple of minutes later that my phone chimed, letting me know I had an e-mail. Though I didn't expect to hear from anyone else on a Friday evening, I still sort of hoped it would be from a student with a question about homework or something else equally innocuous. No such luck, of course. It was from Zale, and the entire message was in the subject line: "Come here."

I shoved my phone back in my pocket and looked to my friend, whose eyes were sympathetic. "Wish me luck," I breathed.

"Good luck. And let me know how it goes, okay?" I nodded and followed the bond connecting myself and Zale, teleporting a couple of feet away from where I could feel him.

I landed on something, and teleported again a foot over before I had even finished falling, just to make sure I didn't break anything. Still, I landed on my butt with my feet sprawled out in front of me and looked up into the wide eyes of my bond mate.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

I had no idea how to answer that. I was massively embarrassed, but otherwise unharmed. I nodded, biting my lip and wondering how mad Zale would be if I went home and we tried this another time. But then the sound of his rich laughter filled the room and I couldn't regret the circumstances that had caused it. I'd heard him laugh before, but not this hard. Not so hard his eyes squeezed shut and the corners of his eyes crinkled with mirth. Those eyes fixed on me again when they opened and they were filled with a warmth that sent all thoughts of fleeing right out of my head... especially when he reached out a hand to help me up.

In the past when I held Zale's hand, it had always been to teleport with him, and he had let go as soon as he could. Now, his hand lingered on mine long enough to gently squeeze it. I'm not sure what he was trying to convey, but it made me feel warm and seen. Tentatively, I smiled at him and he even smiled back.

"So, you made it," he said, still smiling a little. His eyes swept over me and I swear he raised his brows a bit. "You look good."

Thank goodness for Luin. "Thanks."

I finally took in our surroundings and realized we were in a bedroom. It must have been Zale's, since where else would he bring me? The thing I had knocked over was an armchair in front of a fireplace (how and why was there a fireplace in an underwater castle?). I quickly picked up the chair and said, "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it. You'll have to explain how your teleportation works sometime."

"Sure," I agreed, though I was sure it wasn't as complicated as Zale must be thinking.

I would have been happy to linger with Zale and chat all evening, but of course that wasn't in the cards. Before my eyes, Zale transformed. His whole posture shifted so it was perfectly squared and upright, and I thought there was something different in his eyes, something guarded. He offered me an arm and said, "We should get going."

The words sent nerves skittering through me again, and I gratefully looped my arm through his, feeling like it was a lifeline. I tried to square my shoulders and lengthen my spine like Zale had, but it just made me feel foolish and anyway, Zale was already leading me out the door.

My time was up.