#Chapter 31: Live to Serve

Nicholas I had no idea why I decided to help Piper. She had betrayed me in the past. By all accounts, I should have been pleased to see her fail. Yet, when I stood outside the sitting room and heard Lena suggest the traditional punishment for Piper, I couldn’t stand idly by and do nothing. The thought of Piper kneeling out in a storm, soaked, chilled, and miserable sent an unfamiliar tremor of rage through me. I didn’t feel strong emotions like that anymore, not since I turned off my heart three years ago. But this hot anger had been enough to melt through my emotional freeze. I couldn’t be detached, not with this. Ambassador Zale had taught the royal family the secret Merfolk greeting only a few hours before. The timing had been peculiar, almost as if he had expected us to utilize this new knowledge to help the girls with the challenge, if we so wished. I hadn’t intended to teach the greeting to anyone. But that had been before the Queen threatened Piper over som