Just after that announcement, Nerissa called for a joyous celebration for the coming of the young prince.
The Spires did not do things by half measures. So, when the Matriarch decreed a celebration, the ocean itself seemed to dress for the occasion.
The Great Plaza, usually a bustling marketplace, had been transformed into a ballroom of epic proportions. Massive, bioluminescent jellyfish were tethered to the coral spires, acting as living lanterns that cast a soft, shifting kaleidoscope of colors over the thousands of merfolk gathered below.
Musicians played instruments carved from hollow shells and whale bone, the sound vibrating through the water in deep, resonant hums that you could feel in your chest more than you could hear with your ears.
It was a party for the ages. A festival of life. A celebration of the miracle growing inside the Queen.
And Roxy wanted to be anywhere else.
She was the last person who wanted to be there.
