"I come in here only to see that you were gone. Where were you, young lady?" He asked making him sound almost like a father. She wondered if he had practice with Gemma sneaking out?

"What does it matter? I"m here as a guest and not one of your people. I can go where I want to." She returned the anger to him and it only made things worse. Even underwater she could see his face get red with rage.

"That"s not the point, Darya. If I don"t know where you are you could be in danger. Do you know the reason I was brought home early?" He asked her through the rage.

"No, I don"t! Because you don"t tell me anything! You didn"t tell me about the stares I would get, or the daughter you had hidden away. Why the h.e.l.l am I even here?!" She shouted through their link. She wasn"t playing around with him anymore. She wanted to know the reason Gemma was really here and she wouldn"t let him ignore the question.

His entire body language change at her words. He knew this would come up eventually and he still wasn"t ready for the answer.

"It"s complicated, Darya. I didn"t think I would have someone to take the crown if I died and after that war all those years ago I needed to train someone. I adopted Gemma into my family because I needed an heir. That"s it." He explained.

"You don"t just adopt someone into your family and not love them. You also don"t tell your other daughter about it right when she meets her. You did pick the perfect daughter, she"s tall, gorgeous, and knows more about being one of you than I do. So just give her the crown when it comes time. I"m only here for the summer anyway." She tried not to cry and show her father how much it affected her. But of course, that didn"t work.

"It can"t be like that now, not with you here. The crown must be pa.s.sed down to a blood heir. They had only made an exception in a time of war. I made the decision to adopt an heir after my father died and I knew I wouldn"t have the time to marry and have children. And to be honest, after leaving your mother I didn"t want to move on from her." He explained more of the story and it only made Darya feel worse.

"I had always planned on coming back to your mom. I even had someone to take the crown from me earlier than Gemma, they would have taken over five years after the war had started and I was going to leave and be with your mother but things change. The war was harder than any of us realized and my plans changed. I probably wouldn"t have gone back if I hadn"t gotten your call that day." Her father glided over to the bed and took a seat. He looked more defeated than she realized.

"What call? I didn"t realize there are phones down here." She asked him.

"It"s hard to explain. Basically, we had a link before I even knew about you. I kept feeling this pull to go back up there and it wasn"t for your mother. Then I heard a small voice in the back of my mind. Like someone trying to link with me, it was a child"s voice and when I listened to it her message came out as a wish. The voice said:

I wish I could meet my father.

I didn"t completely know it was you at the time but when I met your mother again I pulled the pieces together. The photos on the wall just proved it. I had a daughter and she linked me before she even knew what it was she was doing." His grin pulled across his face and it made Darya smile with him. She remembered the night she made her birthday wish. Those were her exact words when she blew out the candles.

"I can"t believe my birthday wish traveled all the way down here to you. What am I supposed to think about Gemma? The moment your mother told me about her my heart nearly broke." He couldn"t hear her sobs only the contorting of her face made him realize she was crying.

He stood up and pulled her arm until her body was in his arms. He hugged her like he wished he could have done her entire life. The water made her hair float around him like there was wind blowing through it. He ran his hand through her hair and comforted her as best he could. He didn"t know what to do about the Gemma situation either.

"Is there any possibility that you"ll want to take over the kingdom when you"re ready? That"s the only reason I would have to tell Gemma that she can"t have the throne. Otherwise, you"ll have to play nice when you visit and eventually she will be your queen just as I am your king." She pulled away from him slightly and tried to think about her future in the split moment he had given him.

"I"m not sure if I could do that. A summer is completely different than running a whole kingdom. I"ve only been here for a few days." She pulled out of his arms completely and glided over to her bed and took a seat.

"It"s a big task to ask of you, but you were calling home before you even knew about this place. You have to feel the connection pulling you to this place. Don"t you?" He asked with a nervous smile. It would almost be a stab in the heart if she were to say nothing.

"I do feel something, but I can"t just leave everything I"ve been working on up there. My mother is my home too and this is a big decision for a fifteen-year-old to make. Especially in a night."

She was right of course and he knew it. Maybe he should show her the ropes a little and then ask the question again before she goes back up to the human world.

"For now, I will just show you around and give you a summer that will make you want to come back next year, and the year after that and the year after that." He smiled when her body language softens and she seemed more relaxed.

"That sounds better. I"m sorry I snuck out. I was just bored, and I"ll try to bond with Gemma while I"m here. Maybe we have more in common than I think." She told him which made him grin even harder.

Their discussion was over for the time being, but the king couldn"t shake the feeling that they were in more danger than he could imagine. He didn"t need his kingdom to be nearly wiped out a second time. He wanted to hide how hard the first part of the war really hit them so she wouldn"t get scared or want to leave too soon.