Chapter 194: Episode 194: Meeting Queen Nerissa.

“She has pretty scales,” the voice growled, dripping with disdain. “But she has the reflexes of a sea-slug.”

From the shadows, a massive shape uncoiled. Tentacles, thick, black, and covered in jewelry, slithered into the light.

Queen Nerissa descended.

The vibration of the black-iron trident hummed in Roxy’s teeth. It was embedded in the floor so deep that only the haft was visible, vibrating like a tuning fork less than an inch from her nose.

Before Roxy could even process the fact that she had almost been kebabbed, a wall of scales blocked her view.

“Mother!” Caspian roared, his voice cracking with a mix of fury and disbelief. He threw his arms out, shielding Roxy with his own body.

“How could you do that?!” Nimue shrieked, darting to Roxy’s other side, her trident raised defensively.

Roxy, sandwiched between the furious siblings, did the only rational thing a terrified person in her position could do: she peeked.

She peered through the gap between Caspian’s arm and his ribs to look at the woman, the entity, that had thrown the weapon.

And her breath hitched. Not from fear, but from awe.

Queen Nerissa was terrifying, yes. But she was also the most magnificent thing Roxy had ever seen.

She didn’t have a fish tail. From the waist down, she was a mass of powerful, undulating black tentacles, each one thick as a tree trunk and lined with suckers that glowed with a faint, violet bioluminescence. She was Cecaelia, an octopus queen.

It reminded her of the Kraken.

From the waist up, she was a giantess of pale, marble-white skin. She was draped in ropes of black pearls and two clam shells that covered her boobies. Her hair was a floating cloud of ink, moving with a life of its own, and her eyes were two pools of void-black darkness.

She was huge. She made Caspian look like a teenager.

“I greet strength with steel,” Nerissa’s voice boomed. “If she cannot dodge, she cannot rule.”

Roxy swallowed hard. Okay. So the mother-in-law is a giant, weapon-throwing octopus goddess.

Around them, the Court was buzzing.

The nobles, who had been silent a moment ago, were now whispering frantically. Roxy scanned the crowd and spotted familiar faces.

Vespera, the red-scaled warrior, was floating near a pillar, her jaw hanging open. Beside her was Thalassa, the pearl-draped gossip.

“Is that…” Thalassa whispered loud enough for half the room to hear. “Is that the Landwalker Pet?”

“It cannot be,” Vespera hissed back, squinting at Roxy’s tail. “Look at the scales. Pink. Iridescent. And the fins… they are silk. She evolved?”

“But the vibe,” Thalassa argued, pointing a manicured claw. “Smell the water, Vespera. It smells of vanilla. Her smell.”

Roxy realized then that her disguise was perfect, yet flawed. They didn’t recognize her as the helpless human Caspian had dragged in weeks ago. They recognized her as the source of the new trends.

To them, she wasn’t a former captive. She was the mysterious “Princess of the Sunrise” who had invented hair conditioner and garlic butter.

A murmur rippled through the female nobles.

“Look at her skin,” one whispered. “It glows. Does she use the thermal mud?”

“And the tail,” another sighed enviously. “It is the color of rare coral. My mate would kill for a female with such brightness.”

Roxy straightened her spine behind Caspian’s back. She realized something crucial. She couldn’t fight Nerissa with a trident. She couldn’t fight her with magic. But she had something these brutal, warlike people desperately craved: Style. Softness. Civilization.

“She is not weak,” Caspian argued, his fins flaring aggressively. “She killed the Kraken.”

“You killed the Kraken,” Nerissa corrected, descending slowly from the ceiling. Her tentacles writhed, gripping the pillars as she lowered herself. “She merely dragged your broken body home. A beast of burden is useful, Caspian, but it does not sit on the Throne.”

“She is my mate!” Caspian snarled.

“And where are the others?” Nerissa countered smoothly, her voice dropping to a dangerous purr. “The last three females you brought to me… what happened to them, my son?”

The court went deadly silent.

Roxy tugged on Caspian’s sash. “Caspian,” she whispered. “What happened to the last three?”

Caspian stiffened. He didn’t look at her. “They… failed the assessment.”

“She ate them,” Nimue whispered helpfully from the other side. “Well, she ate one. The other two ran away so fast their scales fell off.”

Roxy felt the blood drain from her face. She ate one.

Ahh fuck! Can I leave too?

“Caspian,” Nerissa commanded, hovering ten feet above them now. “Nimue. Come to my side.”

“No,” Caspian stated, planting his feet on the obsidian floor. “I stand with my Queen.”

“I said,” Nerissa’s voice changed. It was the Voice of the Matriarch, a command that bypassed the brain and hit the instinct. “Come.”

Caspian and Nimue flinched. Their bodies reacted before their minds could resist. The ancestral obedience to the Matriarch was hardwired into their DNA.

Caspian looked torn. He looked back at Roxy, his golden eyes filled with panic and apology.

“She… she will not hurt you,” Caspian stammered, though he didn’t sound convinced.

“Go,” Roxy said, forcing a brave smile. She patted his arm. “Go to your mom. I’ll be fine.”

I am going to die, she thought. Fuck! It was a bad idea to accept this goddamn tail!

“We are right here,” Nimue promised, squeezing Roxy’s hand. “If she tries to bite, I will scream. She hates it when I scream.”

Reluctantly, painfully, the two siblings swam upward, taking their places at the right and left hands of the massive Queen.

Roxy was left alone in the center of the amphitheater.

She felt very small. And very pink.

The Trident was still stuck on the floor next to her. The Nobles were watching with bated breath, waiting for the execution or the entertainment.

Roxy took a deep breath.

I am a Mother of Dragons, Roxy told herself. I am the Queen of the Iron-Wood. I have dealt with toddlers, diapers, and a brooding fox. An octopus grandmother is nothing.

[You scared?]

Who wouldn’t be scared in this fucking situation, mind you, we are 6,000 meters, if not 10,000 meters deep into the water.

She smoothed the silk of her robe. She swished her tail, trying to hide her trembling for. She clasped her hands in front of her, channeling every ounce of regal poise she had learned from watching Ren.

She looked up.

Nerissa descended.

Up close, the Queen was overwhelming. She smelled of crushed shells and deep-sea pressure. Her presence was heavy and suffocating.

She didn’t swim; she flowed. Her tentacles pulled her along the floor until she towered over Roxy.

Roxy didn’t flinch. She locked eyes with the void-black pools of the Queen’s gaze.

“So,” Nerissa rumbled, her voice vibrating in Roxy’s chest. “This is the creature that made my son forget his duty.”

She reached out a hand. Her fingers were long, pale, and tipped with nails as sharp and black as daggers.

The court held its breath. Caspian looked ready to launch himself from the dais.

Nerissa’s hand didn’t strike.

One cold, sharp nail slid under Roxy’s chin.

The Queen applied a tiny amount of pressure, just enough to be a threat, just enough to cut if Roxy moved the wrong way.

She tipped Roxy’s head up, forcing her to expose her throat. Roxy held her breath.

Nerissa leaned in. Her face was inches from Roxy’s. Roxy could see the pores in her marble skin, the ancient intelligence in her dark eyes.

It was like she already knew who Roxy was.

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