As she decided, she imdiately started her plans.
And soon her invitations were sent out, thanks to Nimue who didn’t suspect a single thing.
"A private gathering," the royal ssengers had announced to the eligible bachelorettes of the Pearl Caste. "The Queen wishes to bond with the future of the court."
In reality, it was an audition.
Roxy floated in the center of her private receiving chamber in the Pearl Wing, a manic smile plastered on her face. The room was filled with the scent of roasted shrimp and sweet tea. Music drifted from the corner where a hired musician played.
Scattered around the room were six of the most beautiful rmaids in the Spires. They were young, their scales vibrant, their hair grood into the soft waves Roxy had taught them.
They giggled and preened, stealing glances at the corner of the room.
There, hovering like a thundercloud in a clear sky, was King Caspian.
He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his golden tail still, his expression one of supre, stony indifference. He was only there because Roxy had claid she felt "anxious" and needed his mana nearby for the baby.
"See?" Roxy whispered loudly, swimming up to a rmaid nad Lena, who had scales the color of a sunset. "He’s very... attentive. He’s just shy. You should go talk to him."
Lena blushed, covering her mouth with a webbed hand. "Oh, Your Majesty, I couldn’t! The King is... he is with you."
"I’m tired," Roxy waved a hand dismissively, touching her forehead for dramatic effect. "Pregnancy is exhausting. I can’t entertain him all the ti. He needs stimulation. Intellectual conversation. Go ask him about... currents. He loves currents."
Lena hesitated, then floated over to Caspian.
Roxy watched like a hawk. Go on, she urged silently. Look at her. She’s gorgeous. She’s native. She won’t leave you.
"Your Majesty," Lena squeaked, bowing low. "The Queen ntioned you enjoy... the currents?"
Caspian looked down at her. He didn’t blink.
"The currents are wet," he said flatly. "And cold."
He turned his head away, terminating the conversation brutally. Lena wilted and swam back to the buffet table.
Roxy gritted her teeth. He is making this impossible.
She tried again. She pushed a bubbly rmaid nad Coral toward him. Coral tried to tell a joke. Caspian stared at her until she apologized and left.
She tried a third, a statuesque warrior-type nad Veda. Veda tried to complint his muscles. Caspian asked her if she was blind or just lacked depth perception.
It was a disaster. He wasn’t playing along. He wasn’t even looking at them. His eyes followed Roxy around the room, tracking her frantic movents with a mix of confusion and deepening hurt.
He’s too loyal, Roxy thought, panic rising in her chest. He’s too fixated. If I leave him like this, he’ll shatter.
She needed a nuclear option. She needed soone undeniable. Her eyes landed on the quietest rmaid in the room.
Sera. She was from the Crystal Trenches. She was ethereal. Her skin was pale blue, her hair was a cascade of white silk, and her tail was translucent like glass.
She was known for her kindness, her singing voice, and her absolute lack of ambition. She was pure. She was everything Roxy, with her sches and her Surface secrets, was not.
Roxy swam over and grabbed Seraphina’s hand.
"You," Roxy declared. "You are perfect."
Sera blinked, her large eyes widening. "My Queen?"
"Co with ," Roxy ordered.
She grabbed Caspian’s arm with her other hand.
"We are going to see your Mother," Roxy announced.
Caspian frowned, resisting her pull. "Roxy? Why? The party is—"
"The party is over," Roxy snapped, giggling suddenly. "We have important business."
***
The Throne Room was in the middle of a lull. Nerissa was reviewing tax reports carved onto stone tablets when the doors burst open.
Roxy swam in, towing a confused Caspian and a terrified Sera behind her.
"Mother!" Roxy called out, her voice echoing off the pillars.
Nerissa looked up, her tentacles twitching with irritation. "You enter with much noise, Daughter. Is the child coming?"
"No," Roxy stopped at the foot of the dais. She shoved Sera forward. "I have found a solution."
Nerissa raised an eyebrow. She looked at Sera, who was trembling so hard her glass-like scales were rattling. Then she looked at Caspian, who looked ready to explode. Finally, she looked at Roxy.
"A solution to what?" Nerissa asked slowly. "Has the kitchen run out of spice?"
"To the succession," Roxy said, the words tumbling out of her mouth in a rush. "To the King’s happiness. Look at her, Mother. Sera. She is of the Crystal Trenches. High lineage. Perfect health. Gentle disposition."
Roxy took a deep breath.
"I propose a Second Wife."
Silence slamd into the room like a physical blow.
The scribes stopped chiseling. The guards froze. Nerissa stared at Roxy. Her mouth opened slightly, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth, then closed again.
"A... what?" Nerissa asked, her voice dangerously quiet.
"A Second Wife," Roxy repeated, her desperation making her bold. "Emperors on the Surface do it all the ti! It ensures the line! It provides companionship! I am... I am fragile right now. I cannot fulfill all the duties of a Queen. Caspian needs support. Sera can be his... his concubine. His partner."
She turned to Caspian, forcing a bright, brittle smile.
"Isn’t she beautiful, Caspian? Look at her. She sings. You love music. She can sing to the baby. She can take care of you when I’m... tired."
Sera looked like she wanted to dissolve into sea foam. "Your Majesty, please, I—"
"We don’t do that here," Nerissa stated, her voice icy.
The Matriarch stood up, her shadow engulfing them.
"We are rfolk, Roxy. We are not surface savages who hoard mates like shiny stones. We bond once. We bond for life. To take another while the mate lives is an abomination. It is the way of the bottom-feeders."
Nerissa looked at Roxy with genuine confusion.
"Why would you insult your own bond? Why would you invite a rival into your bed? Have the hormones rotted your brain?"
"It’s not an insult!" Roxy argued, tears pricking her eyes. "It’s practical! I just want him to be happy! I want him to have options!"
"I do not want options!"
The roar ca from Caspian.
He looked furious.
"Is this a joke?" Caspian demanded, looming over Roxy. "Is this so twisted Surface ga? You drag this... stranger... into our Court and try to hand off like a used trident?"
"I am trying to help you!" Roxy shouted back, her voice cracking. "She is good! She is kind! She is better for you than I am!"
"ENOUGH!"
Caspian turned to Sera.
"Get out," he snarled.
Seraphina didn’t wait. She fled the throne room, weeping, swimming so fast she was a blur of white and blue.
Caspian turned back to his mother.
"Forgive us, Matriarch," he said, his voice shaking with suppressed emotion. "The Queen is... unwell. The pregnancy affects her mind."
Nerissa looked at Roxy. Her ancient eyes narrowed. She saw the panic, the fear, the desperate flailing of a trapped animal.
"Take her away, Caspian," Nerissa said softly. "Before she says sothing that cannot be unsaid."
Caspian grabbed Roxy’s wrist. His grip was iron.
"We are leaving," he stated.
"But—" Roxy started.
He didn’t listen. He dragged her out of the throne room. He didn’t swim gently this ti. He moved with purpose, pulling her through the corridors, ignoring the stares of the guards and the servants.
Roxy struggled, but against his strength, she was like a leaf in a hurricane.
They reached the Pearl Wing.
Caspian threw the doors open and pulled her inside. He released her wrist, spinning around to slam the doors shut and lock them with a heavy, final thud.
Roxy rubbed her wrist, floating near the bed. Her heart was hamring against her ribs.
"You’re hurting ," she whispered, though he hadn’t actually bruised her.
Caspian spun around.
He looked wrecked. His chest was heaving. His hair was wild. The pain in his eyes was so raw it was hard to look at.
"I am hurting you?" he laughed, a harsh, broken sound. "You bring a stranger to my mother. You try to marry off while you are carrying my child. You treat my devotion like it is a disease you are trying to cure."
He swam toward her, cornering her against the soft moss of the wall. He placed his hands on the wall on either side of her head, trapping her.
"I told myself it was fear. I told myself it was the change in your body. I told myself that if I just loved you enough, if I was just good enough, you would settle."
He leaned in, his face inches from hers. She could see the gold flecks in his irises, swimming with tears he refused to shed.
"But tonight... tonight you tried to give away."
He shook his head slowly, his expression crumbling from anger into a profound, devastating realization.
"You are not trying to help , Roxy. You are trying to absolve yourself."
Roxy’s breath hitched. He sees it. He sees everything.
"Caspian, I—"
"Don’t lie," he whispered harshy. "Not anymore."
He looked at her lips, then up to her eyes, searching for the woman who had once promised him her heart in this very room.
"So," Caspian asked, his voice dropping to a terrifyingly quiet pitch. "Is this your next tactic to reject my love for you? To make hate you so you can leave without guilt?"
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