Lilophea-2: Consort of the Sea King. Natalia Yacobson

morgens? Have you ever seen them attack a morgen floating to the surface?”

      “Why does that bother you so much? Are you on the morgen’s side now?”

      She didn’t know herself, so she gave a diplomatic answer:

      “I’m a sea queen.”

      “Well, yes, a princess from earth who was forcibly kidnapped and forced to marry an underwater king,” commented the all-knowing spirit.

      “Were you peeping when I was kidnapped?”

      “There are a lot of us here. Someone is always an observer, and then we all meet at general gatherings at the central bridge and share the news.”

      “There’s even a central bridge? Where does it go?”

      “Oh, you can’t get anywhere from there, except the heavenly realm, but it’s not always open. But the bridge is made of white gold. All the bridges go to it, and the bridge itself is a sort of circle.”

      “Is it a platinum bridge?” She raised her eyebrows in surprise. She had not yet reached it.

      But the spirit had already led her across the jasper bridge to the bay window of the white marble palace, where a noisy masquerade ball was in progress.

      “What kind of country is this?”

      “What difference does it make? It’s so far from here to Aquilania that you wouldn’t make it in six months by ship, and we made it over the bridge in no time. So there’s nowhere to go back but to the bridge. Have fun for an hour.”

      Lilophea willingly stepped over the bay window frame. Good thing the bay window was a human-size window, or she would have had to climb over the window sill. She was afraid of ruining her dress. But a sea-foam dress was not supposed to spoil. The train draped behind her, leaving no wet prints on the marble floor. How amazing!

      It was beautiful all around. There were lambrequins on the walls and tapestries woven with unicorns. Probably the unicorn with a horn twined with white roses was the emblem of the country. Its image was repeated everywhere: in draperies, on walls, and even on ceilings. All around there were many floor vases with lush bouquets of roses and camellias. The lingering scent of the flowers made her dizzy.

      All the guests wore masks, some even wearing masks of elves and fairies. Lilophea suddenly remembered that she wasn’t wearing a mask. Without it, she felt unprotected. She needed something to cover her face. It was bad form to go to a masquerade without a mask. Everyone would know at once that she was a stranger who had come uninvited. Thankfully, the bay window leading to the bridge is close by. Lilophea turned around and didn’t see the window behind her. How could it be? It had just been there. And now there were only so many windows leading out into gardens of paradise, full of camellias and magnolias.

      The lace of foam vibrated against her body as if sensing her fright. God forbid the dress would melt and she’d be naked in the middle of the ball. But the foamy fabric only slightly transformed. A single ruffle detached from the sleeve, flowed down to her neck, then to her face, and suddenly froze on it with an exquisite half-mask.

      “Did you come dressed as an underwater lady?” Someone in a dark elf mask unceremoniously pulled Lilophea to dance. “How original is it! None of the locals decide to dress up as a water maid or a mermaid. And all because the sea is near. They are afraid.”

      “And they’re right,” Lilophea remarked, remembering her forays from the sea to Aquilania.

      “You must be from far away, dressed as a lady of the ocean.”

      “Am I an ocean lady? I’ve never been near an ocean,” she nearly said, “Never sailed,” but she was quick to realize it.

      “You look like an ocean lady!”

      Fragments of a dream came to mind at once: the mermaid ship, the glow from the hold, the two joined maidens. Lilophea felt dizzy.

      “Home calls to you,” her dance partner admonished. “Your home is definitely in the ocean.”

      “You’re confused about something.”

      “I never get confused, that’s why I was made mentor to the local heir. I have the gift of knowing everything about everyone. I catch all enemies in my net.”

      Lilophea has only now noticed that his fingernails, sharp as black blades, are not fake, but very natural.

      “I am like a spider, entangling the states in nets of darkness, catching all attackers and even ambassadors in them. To a strong power, everyone is an enemy.”

      Who has she become entangled with? She should have found a less aggressive partner to dance with. But did she have a choice? She doesn’t know anyone here, and everyone around her is wearing masks.

      Lilophea noticed a long wet trail following one guest in a long garment of astrologer. So beneath the cap and mask hides the ugly head of a morgen.

      “Shall I tell you in confidence?” The partner put his arm around Lilophea’s waist and pulled her toward him. “I’m going to take over soon. You want to keep me company on the throne. I am not the king of Aquilania. Oceanids are welcome. I find oceanids much better than capricious elves, proud fairies, or ordinary earth women who grow old with time. You oceanids are the standard of beauty for me.

      And what makes him think she’s from the ocean? Well, let him think what he wants. Lilophea wasn’t going to tell him about herself. She was only here for an hour. She needed to entertain herself, dance, and then go back to the bridge. Her legs were tired from dancing. This had never happened to her before. Apparently, being underwater had taken its toll on her earthly abilities. It was easy to be frisky on land when she hadn’t yet gotten used to the ease and freedom of floating in the underwater realm. You don’t have to move your feet there at all, the water current carries you forward by itself. In general, both walking and dancing had become unaccustomed to her. Lilophea considered herself almost crippled by it.

      “It is wine!” Lilophea noticed decanters and goblets on the tables and, forgetting all manners, she rushed to pour herself some wine.

      “Be careful, it’s strong!” Shouted after the black elf, but she did not care. No wine on the seafloor, and such a variety of vintages here. She’d had three glasses in a row before she spotted the crystal decanter of water. It hadn’t been here a minute ago. Or was she seeing double after drinking it?

      In the carafe floated a small turquoise fish with a puffy tail overgrown with small pearls. It looked from behind the crystal wall with amber-colored eyes, and then suddenly surfaced and clearly said:

      “Come back, fugitive! They are waiting for you at home!”

      Lilophea backed away. You have to get to the point of hearing a fish talking to you. But on the other hand, in the underwater kingdom she had not yet seen fish that can speak in human language?

      There were several more morgens among the guests. Lilophea only now noticed them, and it didn’t even take a wet trail for that to happen. The morgens arrived in their usual form. Though their creepy faces, heads with patterned blue outgrowths, and long spiky tails could well be mistaken for elaborate masquerade costume. The tridents in their webbed paws gave them away as guards. They had most likely come to look for the king’s runaway wife.

      And such guards could have been sent after her to every corner of the world. Not to mention her native Aquilania. Lilophea felt sick to her stomach. What had she done by running away? What if her father was already in trouble because of her?

      The hour must have expired, for the spirit called to her from the bay window, which was visible again. Lilophea rushed over there.

      The spirit sighed in relief and stopped gesticulating. The hourglass in his hands, on a stand of two water snakes, showed that time was running out. The blue sand in them was already almost all the way down into the lower compartment.

      The