Chapter 66: Concubine?!

Unfortunately, Talori didn't have as much time as she would have anticipated to tell her brother about everything that she had learned. He was far busier now than he had been before since he was dealing with all of the handover problems still. 

On top of that, he had to deal with planning his wedding. Since when was he getting married?!

"I may not like it but I do need an heir, Tali," Zale sighed when she confronted him about it. "Aila played a vital role in deposing Nerida and Merrick and I figured this was the best way to take care of two problems at once."

That was so clinical. Which was, admittedly, a very Zale thing to do but still…

"You really couldn't think of a better way to reward her than making her your wife? Do you even know her?" Talori demanded. 

"I don't 'know' anyone aside from you and my mermen," Zale pointed out. "Not truly. She is like any other noble with one major difference: the fact that she was willing to help me out. Lying to the court for me wasn't the only way she did that." 

"What else did she do then?"

"Whether it was intentional or not, she did help the pollution jewelry trend take off to the point that it caught the attention of several influential nobles. That helped put all of this into motion."

Talori blinked in surprise. This mermaid had really helped get his plans rolling, hadn't she? No wonder he wanted to make her his merqueen. 

Zale never kept anyone around if they weren't useful. She was the only exception to that rule that she was aware of. He may seem cold but he was actually very loyal to his merfolk once they were in his inner circle. 

She had no doubt that he would take very good care of his new wife…even if it was from a distance. She could only hope that they would come to love each other in time. 

Talori knew that arranged marriages were a standard part of being royalty but had spent most of her life avoiding one. 

Her brother wasn't the same. He knew his duty and there was no avoiding it. She didn't have the same pressure on her to have children as he did. If she never fell in love, she would never have to marry. She would be perfectly well taken care of right here in the palace as long as he was the merking. 

"When am I going to meet her?" Talori asked. 

Zale shrugged. "I believe she is coming over today to learn from the head maid about how to manage palace affairs. You will likely see her at some point."

Good! She wanted to get a read on her brother's future wife. If he thought she wasn't like other nobles that was probably a good sign. Maybe she would want to be friends. She could certainly use more of those around here since he was so busy. 

"I look forward to it. In the meantime, what do you want me to do?"

"Talk to Gar about the tear collection system. You'll be in charge of that from here on out since you're the new surface liaison. From what I gather, it's rather extensive since there is coordination throughout the entire kingdom to maximize the amount of tears we can hand over," he told her. 

Talori nodded. "I can do that! Are we still on for lunch?"

Zale smiled and tapped her back with his tail. "Absolutely. I need to hear more about your exploits on the surface."

"Alright. Send someone to come find me then so we can eat together. Love you!" 

"Love you too."

Talori swam off in a good mood though she was still undeniably worried about the whole merqueen business. It seemed rushed to her and she didn't know what kind of fae this Lady Aila was.

She managed to put that out of mind once she located Gar because there was so much to learn. She had to take extensive mental notes and asked plenty of questions the whole time he was explaining things. 

Eventually Cyreus came looking for her because it was time for her to meet with Zale for lunch as planned. This time she told him about the job she had on the surface and that ended up branching off into several different tangents. Computers, hospitals, elves, how the fae community helped each other out…

Zale smiled proudly at her. "You have learned a lot about our surface-dwelling counterparts. Well done, Tali." 

Talori beamed back. She had always wanted to be useful to her brother and now she finally had the chance. "Thank you! I tried at least. I'm sure there is still much to know since I didn't get to interact with a couple of the fae races much.

You are reading story MerMade For Each Other at novel35.com

"I only met a werewolf once when they happened to come into the witch coven while Brennan and I were there and I never got to meet any vampires since they tend to live further north. I've met at least one of each type of fairy though because he knows all of the fairies in the area and there are some from all four elements there.

"Mostly I hung out with water fairies, witches, and elves though. Water fairies are actually a lot of fun. We hung out with Brennan's friends who live in the Everglades several times and…"

Talori told him an amusing story involving Kyle, Wade, and Dew that had him laughing so hard he ended up leaning against her so he didn't fall over. He didn't stop until the voice of the head maid came from the entrance to the gardens where they were eating. 

"Forgive me, Your Majesty, but Lady Aila wished to speak with you regarding wedding plans."

Zale straightened and cleared his throat, immediately assuming a regal air about him despite the slight blush in his cheeks. "Ah. Yes, of course. Do join us, Aila."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Lady Aila said softly, bowing her head respectfully before swimming over. "I apologize for intruding upon your time with your concubine. I will do my best to keep this brief."

Talori had taken the chance to eat a bit more kelp since her story had been interrupted and at the word 'concubine' she began choking on it. Zale frantically pounded her on the back until it dislodged from her throat. She blinked at the mermaid with teary eyes. 

"Concubine?!" 

"Are you not then? I had not heard of any other mermaids affiliated with King Zale so I thought—"

"No!" Talori cried. "I'm his sister!" 

Shock flitted across Aila's pretty face. Her skin was a lighter blue than Brennan's and she had a blue-and-pink tail and fins with hair that had blue, pink, and yellow sections. According to surface-dweller terminology, she was a princess parrotfish. 

"But I thought his sister was dead!" Aila exclaimed in disbelief. 

Zale sighed. "That was what I wanted everyone to think. I sent her away for her own safety. She has been living on the surface with other fae until recently when I sent for her. The danger had passed so there was no reason for her not to come home." 

"I've gotten that reaction a lot," Talori said a bit sheepishly. "I suppose that is what I get for coming back after Zale faked my death. But I learned so much on the surface! I was actually just telling him about it when you arrived."

Aila recovered from her shock and was immediately penitent. "Forgive me, Your Highness. I did not mean any offense. Or to interrupt something so important."

"It isn't that important."

Talori had been trying to reassure her but Zale didn't get the memo and disagreed. "It is too important! Any knowledge you gained from the surface-dwellers will help us deal with the human scourge threatening our ocean. You're going to make all the difference in the world around here as new the liaison."

"Okay, it's important, but not important enough to get bent out of shape for. We have time. Wedding planning in far more urgent than my stories about water fairies."

This seemed to placate him. "I suppose. Tali, do you want to help or—"

"Sure! I've never planned anything before but I'll gladly do whatever you need me to," Talori agreed cheerfully, clapping her hands together.

She had already made a rather strange impression on her future sister-in-law and she would like to change that if possible. What better way to do that than by helping her with whatever she needed taken care of during a likely stressful time?

"I would not want to be a bother," Aila hedged. 

"You aren't a bother! I'd love to help."

"Tali likes keeping busy. She'll be of far more use to you than I will, I'm afraid," Zale said with a sigh as he noticed someone had come looking for him and was floating in the doorway. "Tell her whatever you were planning to tell me and she'll pass it on." 

He nodded his farewells to both of them and Aila looked over at Talori hesitantly. "Your name is Tali?" 

"Talori, actually. Only my mother and Zale have ever called me Tali." 

"I see. Forgive me for misunderstanding you earlier, Princess Talori. I appreciate your willingness to help. Primarily, I am concerned about the coronation that will occur after the wedding.. And what all will be occurring that day in terms of scheduling."

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