049: The Sleeping Lovers

[Ona]

Kora leads me down a hall made of polished shells grown in the shape of rooms and corridors. You can see the natural spiral pattern repeated on the walls and between some of the spaces within the pattern, there are bits of sea glass that were melted and reformed to create stained-glass windows. Large picture windows from floor to ceiling show the beautiful natural wonders of life deep undersea.

"I've always loved this palace," Kora smiles. "It is a fine place to be exiled."

"Exiled?" I am confused. "The last time I heard anything was that after your father..."

"Died," she finished, her words neither harsh nor judgmental. "I knew who Orion was the moment I met him, despite his game of pretending to be someone else," she shook her head. "I do not blame him for my father's death, even though it was his hand who slayed him. In many ways, my father died years before he stood on the deck of that ship." her voice is cold and sharp enough to cut. "The man I called father died yea