The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe

Chapter 425: Sea-salt and stitches

I was officially a human pincushion.

The bunny midwife had done a ’masterpiece’ of a job stitching me up, but she’d also given me a list of rules that were basically a death sentence for my sanity.

Don’t walk too fast. Don’t lift anything heavier than a grape.

Maybe it’s because back then, we were in a cave for the winter that she did not worry about me moving around, so she did not give me these instructions.

She must’ve heard by now how much of an active queen I was, haha.

Don’t even think about sneezing.

"Come on! I’m the Queen," I grumbled, wincing as I tried to shift my hips on the silk-covered mattress. "I should be able to at least reach for my own water without four hands lunging for the cup."

"You are a Queen who just birthed the twins that are half sea, half land, Arinya," Thalor said, looking far too smug for a man who had been weeping like a fountain just days ago.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed, cradling our daughter, whose purple hair was already fluffing out like a sea anemone. "You will stay still and let us serve you."

Give me a break.

But nope, no break for this queen because aside from my husbands, there was the houseguest situation.

Since the news broke, the West Way’s indoor plumbing had been getting a workout.

The mer-folks didn’t just ’visit’—they arrived like waves. Because the palace was connected to the sea via the underground aqueducts, I’d look over from my bed and see shimmering heads popping out of the decorative basins and the nursery pool.

"Is that another one?" I asked, pointing a trembling finger at the marble bath where a female with bright pink fins was staring at my bed with wide, unblinking eyes.

"They just want to see the ’Land Mother’s’ miracles," Noah said, expertly dodging a stray toy as he brought me a tray of broth.

"They’re staring at me like I’m a rare exhibit at the zoo, Noah. It’s creepy," I whispered, feeling goosebumps crawl along my skin. "I’m currently stitched together. I am not at my most ’miraculous’ right now."

He chuckled.

And when you think that’s all I have to deal with, the real chaos wasn’t the fish-people. It was the original trio.

Lyra, Phina, and Raiden had apparently decided that the new twins were the most interesting toys they’d ever seen.

And don’t even get me started about how much they’ve grown in these few weeks.

Raiden was currently trying to climb the side of the bassinet, his little wolf-ears twitching.

"Scales?" he asked, his baby voice a mix of confusion and pure awe. It surprised me how they learned their words so fast, but since they were beast babies, I wasn’t even surprised anymore. "Will bite?"

"They will if you keep poking them, Raiden," I warned, though I didn’t have the strength to actually get up and stop him. It’s not like the babies can bite. If anything, I’m scared he’ll try to test his new set of teeth on them.

Phina was sitting on the floor, sucking her thumb and staring at the twins’ purple hair. I’m pretty sure she was wondering if it tasted like grapes. And Lyra? Lyra was being the self-appointed ’Big Sister General’.

She was standing in front of the bassinet, her little silver-and-gold striped tail swishing aggressively at any mer-folk who dared to get too close to the water’s edge.

"Shoo!" Lyra squeaked at a curious merman who had popped up in the nursery pool. "My babies! Shoo, fishy!"

"She’s definitely your daughter," Damar chuckled, leaning against the wall. I should be saying that to him. He was the most possessive out of all four of my husbands, and Lyra just learned to be possessive of her baby siblings.

But...

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

Damar looked tired, but the lethal edge he’d carried during Veyra’s labor had softened into a warm, paternal glow.

"Yes, I think I am merely lacking sleep."

"Ah, please do rest."

He was watching over me like a hawk all night and watching over the babies. He rarely gets the chance to sleep.

"It’s daytime now, so you can sleep. Everyone else will watch out, okay?" I suggested, and he nodded, snuggling by my side with his tails retracted and exposing his pale, lean legs.

Just then, the room temperature seemed to drop, and the water in the decorative fountains began to glow with a deep, bioluminescent blue.

King Nereus was making his grand entrance to finally see his grandchildren.

He rose from the central pool, his massive, regal presence making the high ceilings of the Sovereign Wing look small. He looked at me, his gaze moving from my tired face to the two bundles in the bassinet.

"Land Mother," he rumbled, his voice like the deep ocean currents. "You have brought honor to the tides."

"Thanks, King. I also brought a lot of stitches," I muttered, but I smiled. "I assume you’re here to help us with the naming dilemma? Because Thalor wants to name them something like ’Bioluminescent Current’ and I am strictly against having children named after weather patterns."

Thalor looked offended. "It’s a traditional name!"

"It’s a mouthful," I countered, rolling my eyes.

The Sea King chuckled, a sound that made the water ripple. He leaned over the bassinet, his glowing eyes reflecting in the golden-tiger eyes of the twins.

"The boy," the Sea King said, his finger grazing the boy’s silver-scaled forearm. "He carries the strength of the deep trenches. Call him Kaito. The light of the sea."

"Kaito..." I tested the word. It was short, snappy, and didn’t sound like a geography lesson. "I like it."

"And the girl?" Thalor asked, his eyes hopeful.

The Sea King looked at the little girl, who was currently staring up at him with those fierce tiger eyes, completely unfazed by his massive presence.

"She has the fire of the land and the depth of the ocean. Call her Marina. The lady of the sea."

"Kaito and Marina," I said, leaning back into the pillows as the exhaustion started to creep back in. "The tiger-eyed sea heirs. Sounds like a legend in the making."

"It is a legend, Arinya," Noah said, sitting beside me and taking my hand. "Look around. The land, the sea, the sky... all of it is gathered in this room because of you."

I looked at my four husbands, my three chaotic toddlers, my two scaled newborns, and the literal Sea King chilling in my bathtub.

The Stormhole tribe was lurking around my kingdom, but Veyra was a memory in the dirt. And I was sitting here, stitched up and sore, in the middle of a beautiful, purple-haired mess.

"You know," I whispered to the room, "for a girl who started out in a tiny cave, I think I’ve done alright."

"Shoo, fishy!" Lyra yelled again, her hands on her waist as she faced the sea king chilling in the tub, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

Yeah. I’d done more than all right.