What does that an?
Roxy scread internally.
Treat the key as life? It IS life! It’s a baby! But it’s also the only way I can stop being a prisoner! How do I separate the two?
What is the old squid talking about? Is this a hint about the Quest chanics? Does "priorities" an I need to grind more Influence points?
[Wisdom is not Data, Roxy.]
Roxy twitched. Excuse ?
[The Matriarch speaks of the nature of Intent. Do not try to parse the syntax. Listen to the vibration.]
Listen to the vibration?
Roxy felt a vein throb in her temple.
I am not a tuning fork! I am a stressed-out pregnant woman trying to plan an inter-dinsional heist! I need clear instructions, not fortune cookie nonsense!
[ ...]
The System went silent. It actually ghosted her.
"Unbelievable," Roxy muttered, rubbing her temples.
"Roxy?" Caspian’s voice broke through her frustration. He was leaning close, his golden eyes wide with concern. "You look pale again. Did Mother upset you?"
Roxy looked at him. He looked so ready to defend her, even against his own mother. He looked so... devoted.
It made her stomach turn. Not with nausea, but with guilt.
"No," Roxy lied, her voice thin. "I’m just... tired, Caspian. The lights. The noise. I think the baby is... restless."
It was the perfect excuse. The mont she ntioned the baby, Caspian’s face softened into pure adoration.
"Of course," he whispered. "The Heir needs rest. We will depart imdiately."
He uncoiled his powerful tail, and signaled the guards.
"The Queen retires!" Caspian announced to the court. "Continue the celebration in her honor! Drink! Dance until the currents shift!"
The crowd cheered, their voices a roar of approval.
Caspian didn’t wait. He scooped Roxy up into his arms, shielding her from the noise with his broad chest, and swam toward the exit.
As they passed the mountain of gifts, Caspian gestured to a squad of hamrhead guards.
"Move these to the West Wing," he commanded.
"Yes, Your Majesty," the guards saluted.
Roxy rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. She felt the powerful strokes of his tail propelling them through the water. She felt the warmth of his skin.
He’s so good, she thought, a lump forming in her throat. He’s doing everything right. And I’m about to ruin him.
***
The Pearl Wing was quiet.
Caspian had dimd the bioluminescence to a soft, barely-there indigo. He placed Roxy gently onto the moss bed, but she imdiately floated upward.
"I can’t," she whispered, looking at the water-filled bed with a sudden, irrational aversion. "It feels heavy tonight, Caspian. My skin... it feels like it’s dissolving."
Caspian frowned, confused. "But you are in your aquatic form, my Pearl. The water sustains you."
"I know," Roxy snapped, then softened her tone. "I know. It’s just... the hormones. The Healer said I might be moody. I want the Dry Lounge."
She pointed to the air-pocket sanctuary separated by the magic mbrane.
Caspian looked hurt, but he nodded. "As you wish."
He helped her swim through the barrier. Roxy tumbled onto the velvet chaise lounge, gasping as her lungs switched to air. She lay there, shivering slightly as the water sluiced off her scales.
"Will you... do you want to join you?" Caspian asked, hovering on the wet side of the barrier. "I can drag myself up. I can hold you."
Roxy looked at him. He looked like a puppy waiting to be invited onto the couch.
"No," Roxy whispered, turning her back to him. "I need space. Please, Caspian. Just... let sleep."
There was a long silence.
"Goodnight, my Queen," Caspian said softly.
She heard the faint splash as he retreated to the clam bed.
Roxy lay in the dark, staring at the rock ceiling of the air pocket.
She wasn’t sleepy. The exhaustion she had feigned at the party had vanished, replaced by a frantic energy.
Her mind began to race, playing out scenarios like a chess ga where every move ended in disaster.
Scenario A: I tell him the truth. Result: He locks up "for my own safety." He never lets near the Gate. I die of old age in a fish tank.
Scenario B: I sneak away. Result: I use the baby to open the Gate. I disappear. Caspian wakes up to an empty room and a missing child. He destroys the ocean in his grief.
Scenario C: I stay. Result: I will never see my sweet husbands again. I never see the children. I lose my mind.
She rolled over, clutching a velvet pillow to her chest.
Then, a thought struck her. A desperate, hopeful thought.
Wait. Why am I assuming I have to leave the baby?
She sat up.
I’m the mother. It’s MY child. If I open the Gate... why can’t I just take him with ?
She imagined it. Showing up at the Iron-Wood Manor with a bundle in her arms. Her husbands would be confused, sure, but they loved her.
They would accept the child. They could raise him on the surface. He could play in the river. He could have the best of both worlds.
It was perfect. She wouldn’t have to abandon her baby. She wouldn’t have to be a monster.
[The Heir is a Hybrid (Human/r). While the Heir will possess lungs, the skeletal structure of a r infant is cartilage-based and adapted for extre deep-sea pressure (400 atmospheres).]
[If the Heir is removed from the Deep Spires before reaching Maturity, the sudden drop in pressure on the Surface will cause catastrophic biological failure. The bones will not support the body mass. The mana core will shatter.]
[Survival Probability on Surface: 0%.]
The hope that had flared in her chest was extinguished instantly, replaced by a cold, crushing void.
She couldn’t take him.
If she took him, she killed him.
She had to leave him here. She had to leave a newborn baby at the bottom of the ocean, thousands of miles away from her, knowing she might never see him grow up.
"Oh god," Roxy whimpered, burying her face in the pillow to stifle a sob.
She was trapped. She looked through the translucent barrier at the water-filled room.
Caspian was floating above the clam bed, asleep. Even in sleep, he looked lonely. He was curled around a pillow, his arm draped over empty space where she should have been.
He loved her so much. He had waited centuries for a mate. And in four weeks, she was going to shatter his heart into a million pieces.
Roxy’s mind flashed back to the party. A twisted, painful, brilliant plan began to form in Roxy’s mind.
It was cruel. It was manipulative. It was the hardest thing she would ever have to do.
Roxy stared at her husband through the barrier, her heart breaking with every breath.
"What if..." Roxy murmured, the words tasting like poison. "What if I get him to fall for soone else now, so he won’t be hurt when I vanish?"
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