Silver Tides (Silver Tides Series) (39 page)

Epilogue

Trying to unite a warring city while preparing to graduate high school was more effort than I'd ever expected. Mum decided to stay on land with Dad; she would attend the most important meetings to sign treaties, but mostly she continued with her life on land.

I would rib her about getting off light, considering everything that was expected of me. Sometimes, I really did believe that Mum had an easier royal experience because I was doing all the work, but I understood how awkward things were with her and King Leo. Neither of them spoke to me about it, I didn’t know if they really talked about the relationship between themselves, but it was a strange situation, them being married, but not.

All my after-school time and weekends were spent in Atlantis, negotiating meetings with Daniel, King Leo, Charlie, and Cordulla. There were countless laws to vote on and living condition reports to read. Selkie and merfolk relations were strained; almost every day there were incident reports of fights breaking out. A century-old feud fueled by hatred, lies, and misunderstanding was not going to disappear quickly. I tried to stay optimistic but there were days when I wondered if living on a crappy rock wasn’t better than living in a potential war zone.

While we made small progresses, the workload was overwhelming.
  I was grateful for the opportunity to return to my house every night and pretend that I didn't have over two thousand people counting on me. School and enjoying my friends was the only thing that kept me grounded.

Cordulla invested vast amounts of her time into crafting fashion for the new empire. While I appreciated covering my love handles with the wispy sea born couture, Cordulla's taste left much to be desired. Often she would deliberately have dresses made in the most unflattering colors and designs, just to make me feel uncomfortable. During pity parties, I felt like she was my biggest burden, because she could have been nice to me, but she chose not to be.

Compared to the high-pressure decisions I had to make for the selkies and merfolk, high school was becoming a pleasant diversion. Jaimie, Tamara, Julia, and Tammy filled my life with laughter and the perfect amount of teen drama. Even Miranda had ceased her machinations to destroy me and treated me with indifference.

Things were by no means perfect, but I was starting to feel like life was working out.

***

Daniel and I sat in the octopus' garden having a ten-minute break from the newest unrest report. It was the first day that we had spent alone together in weeks. I’d imagined that we would spend the winter holidays attending meetings and making decisions together, with some spare time to enjoy each other. Mostly our time together had been spent in meetings, misunderstandings and arguments. I’d almost wished that I’d spent winter holidays on land, but these stolen moments together were making up for lost time.

We had retreated to our special place to get away from the endless decisions and just be together. My lavender dress fluttered around me as I ducked through coral arches and over decorative rock formations. Daniel caught me, easily swinging me into his arms for a kiss that cooled my lips. My heart burst with love for Daniel, his beautiful face filled me with joy. Our playful interlude was interrupted by the sound of heels clacking on the smooth black-stoned garden path.

I wasn’t ready to return to the meeting, but I knew that the decisions wouldn’t wait. Daniel and I turned simultaneously expecting Cordulla or the royal secretary.

Miranda Stevens stood before us in a stunning red gown, her dark hair pooling behind her like a Pantene commercial. She could have been a goddess she was so beautiful.

Miranda paused looking at us like Sylvester the cat if he ever caught Tweety bird. She fixed her eyes on Daniel whose mouth was hanging open in surprise, "Hi Honey, I'm home," Miranda purred.

coming soon

silver tides: submerge

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susan Fodor is the author of The Silver Tides Series.

A dreamer. Wife. Mother. Friend. Dessert enthusiast. Theologian/Pastor. Australian. Passionate.

Bi-lingual---English/Hungarian.

Overly involved with fictional characters.

Avid supporter of International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Has eclectic taste in music, food, and clothing.

Enjoys taking random photos of Tuvok her cat.

And always has time to look for the best in people.

For release dates, contests and random musings:-

Website:
www.susanfodor.com

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/susanfodorauthor

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/SusanFodorBooks

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to my husband, Steven, who freely leant me to Silver Tides for over a year, and didn’t bat an eyelid when I told him how much the cover was going to cost.

To my parents and brother who always believe in me, even when I thought I wanted to be a neurosurgeon, thank you.

Ella Schroder, you read my first draft and thought it was good.

You’re amazing and I can’t wait to read your masterpieces one day.

To my loyal friends, Brendan Knudson, Rebekah Asmussen, Clansi Rogers and Lori Peckham, you made this book better by your comments.

Thank you to my Facebook and Twitter family who encouraged me, even when I stopped believing that I would ever see this book finished!

To the reader, thank you for opening your home to my brain-baby.