“Do not,” he whispered.

“We should go inside,” she whispered back.

“I am very aware, most especially considering a conversation we had but hours ago, that you are aware of my intense desire to protect you.”

“You did not know all I was.”

He said nothing.

“Now you know, don’t you?” she asked.

He said nothing, but he nodded.

“How do you know?” she inquired hesitantly.

“That is not for you to know,” he returned.

“Aramus—” she began.

“I love you,” he stated.

She gazed up at him, eyes again wide.

“Do you not understand what that means?” he demanded.

“I—”

“You could fall in a vat of boiling oil, your skin melted off, and if you survived, I would love you. You could fail to give me children, and I am an only child, my father was as well, the current heir to the throne a distant cousin. A young boy I do not know the man he will become, but I would leave my realm to him and have only you for my life, and I would love you.”

“My husband,” she whispered.

“And you are as you are, and I love you.”

In the firelight of the torches that lit the courtyard and doors of the castle, Aramus saw the bright of tears hit her eyes.

“And I have told you that, I have shown you that, and you did not trust me with this part of you?” he asked.

“I wanted to, but the longer I delayed, the harder it was to tell you for this very reason,” she shared. “I did not know how to explain why I didn’t, and I knew the longer I didn’t, the more it would hurt you.” She paused and finished, “And worry you for you desire so to protect me against, well…everything.”

Aramus did not reply because he was hurt.

He was also angry.

However, he could understand, for his Ha-Lah, this was not easy.

His queen said nothing either, just studied him apprehensively.

“There are more of you,” he eventually stated.

“We—”

“Have legs,” he interrupted her to point out.

“We developed the ability to…yes, have legs.”

“And pass.”

“Pass?”

“Pass as human.”

She looked away.

“How many are there?” he demanded to know.

She turned again to him, but her gaze darted around the courtyard as she said, “We should speak of this inside.”

“No one will harm you,” he proclaimed, and watched her body twitch at his grand tone. “Not only because you are queen, but because if anyone harms a Mer, they will hang from a yardarm, their blood draining from their throats.”

And yet again, her yes grew round.

“You have the protection of the king, and when I say you, I mean you and all of your people,” he decreed. “I will speak with Cassius, Elena, Ophelia, Mars, True, and I will demand that the Mer have protections in their realms and any who hurt the Mer will be punished severely. I cannot decide that punishment for another ruler. But if I do not feel it is enough, I will renege on opening passage of the seas and binding their citizens if they should try.”