Page 26 of Mermaid on Heels
“But how did you know about our prince if you came about the land just the other day for the very first time?”
The unexpected question startled Liriya and she rapidly searched her head for a believable answer—lie, excuse, whatever—that wouldn’t expose Luke’s secrecy. Why didn’t she foreseethisquestion?
To her ultimate surprise and relief, Ella jumped in and came to their rescue. “We did not, not until we heard the announcement about the coronation and the ball—at the market. It was a sudden decision.”
“Oh! Speak of the coronation ball! We have shopping and all to do!” Kitty gushed excitedly.
“And how many times do I have to tell you, young woman, that youcan’tattend any ball until you’re sixteen?”
The spark in Kitty’s eyes died as she pouted and leaned back on her chair. Sessa exclaimed, “What?”
Bianca laughed at the horror on her face and explained that, in Lectoria, girls under sixteen and boys under eighteen weren’t permitted to attend balls or any sort of parties—unless it was a family occasion. Ella said she remembered the royal herald saying so, while Sessa imitated Kitty’s post with the exact same scowl.
“What arewegoing to do when you three go to the ball and come back at who-knows-what time at night,alone?” Kitty complained.
Bianca rolled her eyes before a solemn expression took over her face. “And who saidIwas going?”
Liriya looked up from the delicious bread and stew. She had been so invested in them that she let the girls do the talking unless she was asked something, because—sweet dolphins!—who thought these could taste so delicious that even the worddeliciouswould be an understatement of the century?
Liriya had never tasted anything as delicious as this. Was this what humans ate every day?Lucky prawns!All these years, when she ate all the shrimps, oysters, prawns, small fish, sea vegetables, fruits, and even seaweeds, and thought thattheywere delicious, humans were the ones who had therealdelicious foods on their—what was it again?—plates?
“You are not going?” Liriya asked Bianca in disbelief.
Bianca looked rueful and shook her head sadly. “I don’t have a ball gown, and my mother’s old ones are faded and beyond repair—it was passed to her fromhermother, you know, so it’s very old. And I don’t have money to buy the fabrics and stuffs to make one, they’re costly. I have to pay the monthly portion of the debt to the earl as the deal I’ve struck with him. His finance manager would ravage me if I’m a day past the due.”
“What ismoney?”
A small smile broke onto Bianca’s solemn face and she rose from her chair, pushing it backward with a low screech. “I’ll show you.”
She exited the kitchen and came back in a few minutes with a gold coin in her hand, at which sight Liriya gasped.
“What?” Bianca asked, slightly incredulous, but her eyes alight. “Have you seen one before?”
“Not one, hundreds, even thousands of them perhaps,” Liriya replied, entranced, the treasure chest she discovered on the night of their dress hunt in the sunken ship surged to the forefront of her mind.
“Who would’ve guessed Merfolk using gold coins and not calling themmoney? What do you—”
“We do not, Bia. I am talking about what I saw in a treasure chest, in the sunken ship Sessa discovered a few days ago,” she said slowly. “It is where we got our coverings—what do you call them? Oh, dresses, right? That is where I found the gold coins, too, in another chest.”
“Goodness gracious!” Bianca let out a small gasp and clasped a hand over her mouth, her eyes watery. “I knew… I knew you would know…”
“What do you mean?” Liriya’s eyes softened seeing the tears sparkling in her friend’s green eyes.
“Mamma’s stories used to have sunken ships and treasure chests, too. Ever since our father’s debt fell on me, I’ve been dreaming and praying if I got one of those chests I could pay and be free. I couldn’t—I can’t believe…”
Liriya felt her own eyes turn damp—yet another odd feeling. Back in the sea, she could barely feel the tears when she cried. Scratch that, she didn’t even know there was a substance such as a tear until Mama once told her before.
“We did not cross paths accidentally, did we?”
“I don’t think so. It was fated—designed by the Creator, for all I believe.” Bianca choked on a half-sob half-laugh of happy tears. “Do you think you could get it? Or do you have it already? Oh—I’m sorry! I shouldn’t be asking—”
“Oh, Bia, it is your answered prayer more than it is mine.” Liriya sighed with a soft look in her eyes. “And no, I do not have it. But we are going to get it tonight. I promise this is going to be the end of your misery.” She stood and hugged her friend who returned the embrace tightly without a second of hesitation.
“Oh, Liriya, you’re an angel! You three are Creator-sent angels from the depths of the sea!” Bianca laughed tearfully at her own wit. Liriya joined her. “We could buy the gowns, we could go to the ball, and you could meet with the king! I will help you with every single silly thing, I promise!Oh, Creator,thank you!”
At her last words, Liriya found herself smiling genuinely. The Creator was truly watching over them, after all. He seemed to have designed their fate perfectly so far, and she hoped what the future held for them would be as perfect as this.
Chapter 7