Claimed by the Mer-Shifter Prince I Made Cry novel · Chapter 24 of 24

Chapter 24: Husband

"Land," I said.

I said it before the Speaker had finished the word.

The scales on my wrists were already fading, going pale and then clear.

Soren's arms tightened around me in the black water.

"Minnie."

"I'm not leaving my house. I'm not leaving Gus. I'm not leaving my father's boat on the slip with nobody to run her in spring."

"I know."

"And I'm not leaving you, either." I put my forehead against his. "So you'll have to work something out, Your Majesty."

He looked at me for a long moment.

Then he turned his head toward the old woman floating in the swell.

"Speaker. The law says my mate cannot be both land and sea."

"It does."

"It says nothing of her king."

The Speaker was quiet.

All around us the court had begun to rise again from the deep, silver heads and lit eyes, listening.

"A king who walks on land," she said slowly. "Four days in seven. The Moot has never allowed it."

"Then the Moot will allow it now," said Neris.

She stood on the rock with her mother's arm in hers.

She had her chin up, and a hint of a smile, the first I had ever seen on her.

"I will hold the hall in his absence. I know it better than anyone alive, and I have a great deal to put right. The prince will come to the Gate each spring tide to sit the Moot. He will come when he is needed. And I will sit in the high seat when he is not."

"You would take the regency?" Soren said.

"I would take it honestly."

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