Midnight Pearls by Debbie Viguié Page A

slender instrument topped with a feather. She stared at it, puzzled.
    With a laugh, he took it back from her. “Let me show you. You dip the pen in the ink, and draw upon the parchment like so.”
    She watched as he demonstrated. At last she grasped the pen and gave it a try, delighted as dark lines sprang to life on the parchment. The markings looked clearer and they required less effort than the manner of writing they had at home.
    “Excellent!” he encouraged her. “Now, where do you come from?”
    She thought for a moment and then drew the waves on top of the ocean. He studied it for a moment with a puzzled frown.
    “Ah! Your people are seafaring, like the Norse.”
    She wanted to tell him that she came from under the ocean, that she dwelt among the fish and other sea creatures. She bit her lip, debating whether to try to tell him. She looked into his eyes and believed in her heart of hearts that he would accept what she had to say.
    Still it would be better to wait , a voice told her. Better to let him truly know her before she burdened him with that story. She sighed.
    “I have a friend who looks a lot like you,” he commented as he touched her hair. “She was found at sea when she was a child. Her name is Pearl. I wonder if your people are hers?”
    Faye smiled weakly and shrugged her shoulders. She would have to tell him about Adriana eventually, but was less sure how to go about that than she was about how to tell him about her own ancestry.
    “What is your name?” he asked, breaking into her thoughts.
    She was at a loss as to what to draw and just looked at him helplessly. He seemed to sense her difficulty and hurried to ask, “What does it sound like?”
    She didn’t need pen and parchment for that one. She touched his face.
    “Face?” he asked, looking startled. “It sounds like ‘face’?”
    She nodded, then held her hands at shoulders’ width from each other and then brought them slowly together.
    “It’s shorter than face, it sounds like only part of face?”
    She nodded eagerly.
    “Ffffaa—”
    She nodded again.
    “Faye?”
    She clapped her hands together and smiled.
    “Faye,” he said again, beaming. “Well, that was simple. I am James, prince of Aster.”
    She laughed silently. Her mother would be so pleased to know that she had fallen in love with a prince. In her world, her family was also royalty. That was why Kale and Adriana had been betrothed since birth.
    Her smile faded as she thought of home and her family. She looked down at the skirt wrapped around her legs. Human legs. Sorrow weighed heavily upon her. Would she ever see her brother and parents again? She had left behind so much, was it worth it?
    James put a hand under her chin and lifted her eyes to meet his. As she stared into their depths, she knew that it was.
    “Do you miss your home?” he asked.
    She smiled, wondering if her thoughts had been that transparent. She nodded slightly.
    “Can I help you get back there?” he asked, his face anxious.
    She shook her head and a smile crept over his face.
    “Then I’m just going to have to make sure you’re happy here,” he said.
    He slid his hand from under her chin to touch her cheek and slowly bent toward her. Her breath caught in her throat, and her heart started to flutter excitedly in her chest.
    When his lips met hers they were soft and warm and held a promise that she scarcely dared believe. She lost herself in his kiss and knew that she could never again be found.
    At last he pulled away from her, but the spell still hovered in the air around them, binding them together. “I think I love you,” he breathed.
    She let her eyes speak for her.
    They sat for a long moment just staring at each other.
    “So, this must be the young lady you swept off her feet,” a voice boomed behind them.
    Startled, Faye turned around to see a tall man who looked like an older version of James grinning bemusedly at them.
    “Father,” James said, jumping to his feet. “Faye,