17 Death Glares (1/2)
If there was a word better than spectacularly beautiful, then Darya didn't know it and didn't care. Her eyes were wide as they both swam down towards the buildings of the kingdoms. The closer she got the better she could see that the walls of the buildings were made out of coral and for it to grow as large as the buildings she was seeing now it would have to take hundreds, maybe even millions of years to grow by itself.
”Before you ask, there was a bit of magic that went into creating the coral walls for the buildings.”
Her silent question had been answered making her smile knowing she was right about the walls being made of coral and she loved that they were. She dreamt of a day where she would see this much sea life in one place. But as she looked around and watched the small fish swim around like they weren't apart of something completely bigger than themselves.
She swam up to a small school of fish and watched them swim around her like they wanted to play. They weren't scared of her and she was intrigued by that fact. Usually, when she scuba dived they would scatter away from her. When Raj swam up to her he broke the focus on the school of fish. He waved his arm for her to follow him down to the main part of the city.
”When we get to my part of the castle I can give you a tour. I will have to warn you of something. I do not live alone. I was right in saying that I did not take a wife after I left you so I did not have any other children.” He gave her a side glance when he said the word children. He wanted more than anything to make sure she knew how special she was to him.
”Who else lives with you? If you're not married or have any other children....Do you have a mother that lives with you? You told me your father passed away so...” She inquired gently so she didn't come off as rude or intrusive.
”It's true that he passed away the day I left your mother and you. You're correct in thinking that my mother lives with me. I am very excited for you to meet her, she's always wanted a grandchild regardless of how you came to me. I haven't told her of you yet so she may be more shocked than I'm predicting. But that isn't the only person that lives in the castle with me.” He was being more cryptic than usual and it worried her. Maybe there was some weirdo that wouldn't like her living with him?
She thought wildly about who else would be in the castle with them. She wanted to imagine who else it could be but they arrived at the entrance of the city.
She looked up at the gate that separated them and the building beyond it. She was brimming with excitement and something else she couldn't put her finger on.
The gates opened without Raj or her touching it. She wanted to ask how that worked but her attention was fixated on the people she was about to swim past. There were guards on either side of them as they swam past the entrance. Raj paid them no mind but Darya's eyes couldn't stop wondering.
She was nervous, to say the least, but she didn't want everyone to know that. She swam as close to her father as she could without bumping into him. She didn't want to get lost in a city under the sea that she had never been to, or even knew existed before a few days ago.
She was having a bit of trouble swimming so slowly as they strolled down the road that leads to the middle of the town. The closer to the buildings they got the more people - merpeople - there were lining the street. She was overwhelmed by a number of people that had shown up to welcome them back. Well, to welcome Raj their king back. They didn't know about her.
She bit back the nerves that were making their presence known quickly. She looked over to her father and saw his winning smile, the one her mother spoke about fondly, he used it on the people around them as if he did it all the time.