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Harry's tail swayed slowly in the water beneath him as voices droned around him. When he felt his head tilt forward and his eyelids start to droop, he shifted and clenched the hand in his lap painfully tight.
The Advisor next to him didn't even twitch, despite the fact that Harry used almost crushing force on his hand. He simply continued to take his notes with his other hand.
Knowing he wouldn't get a reaction out of the Merrow, Harry turned his glower on Alcandor, where his Alpha sat on the other end of the room, resplendent on his throne. Killigan sat demurely next to him, though they'd at least broken a tiny bit of protocol by pulling their feet up and tucked neatly under them on their own throne.
Several of their other Bonded were scattered around the room. In the space sectioned off for part-Merrow, his Beta and one of their Pareya sat front and center, faces carefully blank to avoid revealing their thoughts. Krym looked bored in the blood-red seat that marked them as Blood Title holder. Alec drifted behind his mentor Kieran who was among the row of official Royal Advisors. And against the wall, Cassian leaned, his presence masked by his usual sea of invisibility spells.
Harry once again wondered how he'd ended up next to his Advisor. Kieran had made some comments about the representatives of the Lost Children and the off-realm pods being stationed next to each other, to reflect how far-flung Merrow were in the realms and because the off-realm pods were a big factor in the continued efforts to identify and locate more of the Lost Children. Harry wasn't entirely convinced because he was sure that it was just another one of Kieran and Alcandor's schemes to ensure he sat through the entire meeting and was around to greet the Royals from some of the other elemental courts.
If anyone could keep him from escaping the torture that was this meeting, it would be his Advisor. And unfortunately for Harry, his Advisor wasn't above colluding with Alcandor.
A pout started to form on his lips. It was his own fault, really. He'd had the chance to say no when Alcandor had brought the Advisor to him, introducing the Merrow as a prospective Intended. As Submissive of the Circle, Harry technically had veto powers over potential Bonded, but at the time, he hadn't had the heart to say no when Alcandor was so obviously pleased to have found someone he liked enough to put in such a sensitive position. Besides, it had taken Harry only one look to tell that their Advisor would be at home in the bloody waters they called the Merrow Courts, in a way that Harry himself would never be.
His pout grew as his blue-green eyes wandered around the large room. He hated it when Alcandor got it into his head that his Submissive should take a more active role in the Courts. Usually those ideas didn't last too long, because Harry made sure to do something big and bold enough to remind his Alpha why he wasn’t suited for politics.. But until he could come up with another such scheme, Harry would suffer.
He still wasn’t sure why he needed to officially greet the visiting Royals. That seemed more like something for Killigan. Not to mention, Harry had already met most of the other Royals. One introduction should be enough, in his mind.
He perked up when a Gheyo dressed as one of the palace guards slipped into the room, silently moving among the crowd of Merrow to whisper something in Krym's ear. After a minute, Krym got to their feet and followed the palace guard out of the room.
Harry silently pleaded for. Krym to come fetch him as well, but the ACE ignored the looks sent in their direction.
His shoulders slumped.
In the wake of the minor disturbance, the hand in Harry's lap twisted and broke free of his tight grip. Frowning, he started to turn towards his Advisor, but he'd barely moved when he felt someone on his other side, someone who hadn't been there before. It took less than a heartbeat for him to be yanked out of his seat, an invisibility spell cast over him at the exact same time. Blue-green eyes widened as Harry saw a ripple in his peripheral, forming into a clone of himself sitting in his seat, identical right down to the pout on his face.
It was all so quick and so subtle that whoever who had been looking in his direction probably thought they'd only blinked.
And then Harry was whisked away, out of the large throne room, with only time to think that Alcandor was going to be a special kind of furious that his Submissive had gotten himself kidnapped in front of the entire Merrow Courts.
They were several corridors away when he was able to get a good look at his kidnapper. He gave a delighted laugh when he realized who it was and was able to alter their course just enough that he could bundle the Pareya into the nearest secluded alcove.
"My hero!" he proclaimed, wrapping his arms around Landry's waist and letting the Pareya turn them so Harry's back was to the alcove wall and not the exposed corridor. "And here I was thinking that Lean was colluding with Alcandor, not you."
"Oh, they definitely colluded," Landry said. "But all I had to do was give Lean a few reminders and a well thought-out bribe for him to decide Alcandor shouldn't get his way today."
Harry frowned. "Lean can't be bribed. It's part of his whole—thing."
There was a smug look on Landry's face. "He can't be bribed by you," he replied, reaching a hand up to scratch at the scales under Harry's chin, sending a ripple of pleasure throughout the smaller Merrow's body. "I'm always the exception to his rules."
That was true enough, Harry recalled. He'd even briefly considered going to Landry that morning when Alcandor told him their plans for the day and he'd realized who he’d been sitting with, but he’d dismissed the idea as a lost cause. Landry was hard to predict at the best of times and he rarely indulged Harry's requests. Any indulgences were his own ideas and on his own terms.
"How much time do you think we have?" he asked. If anyone had noticed his disappearance, it would be Cassian, but the Joker wouldn’t be able to leave the throne room to track him down until Krym returned.
"Only a few minutes, if I'm to take your place like planned," Landry replied, giving his chin another scratch. “So choose quickly—do you want a nap or can you entertain some guests?"
Harry flicked his tail as he debated. A nap was tempting, but Landry wouldn't save him from one misery only to subject him to another, so the guests had to be Harry's in some way. "Who are the guests?"
"A certain Earth spymaster and his Submissive."
Harry brightened and he let out a happy squeak. He was definitely willing to entertain if it meant a surprise visit from some old friends. Plus, between the "kidnapping" and a private meeting with another court's spymaster, Alcandor certainly wouldn't want him to be around the Courts for at least the rest of the season.
"My hero," he repeated, tilting his head up to expose his chin and neck for some more scratches. "You're the best."
Landry rolled his eyes. "Yes," he agreed. "You owe both me and Lean, though. I'll collect mine in a few days. They're in the study at the end of the corridor."
Harry calculated his chances as the Pareya started to turn to let him out of the alcove. Liking the minimal risk, he darted in for a quick kiss, then swam as fast as he could for the end of the corridor, grinning to himself as he left a sputtering Landry behind.