"You know you could never keep secrets from me?" Marina asked as Proteus approached her.
Proteus' smile was forced as he rested against the balcony. "I think I must have a few." he said quietly. It was his turn now to watch the sea, though Marina thought he saw the man who loved it as much as she did, rather than the ocean's waves themselves.
The sun was rising now, casting the dark waves a shade of pink. "Why do you think Sinbad came to the party?" Marina asked, though she knew the answer. "It's not as if he robbed us. I've had word that he's at the docks now."
Proteus gave a laugh. "Sinbad is a wild creature, Marina. No one but the Gods know why he does what he does."
Marina gave a quiet smile. "And yet I wonder if I do," she murmured, thinking of the light that had entered Proteus' eyes as he had flung his arm around his old friend. Though she had been talking to another party guest, she had been watching Sinbad's arrival with an inquisitive, yet surreptitious gaze. She had never seen Proteus eyes light up like that in her direction. It made her stomach ache, wondering how the man who had run away had garnered the love of her Prince Charming.
"Do you lay claim to be a God Marina?" Proteus asked, a thread of bitter humour in his voice she had never heard before. "A dangerous profession."
"No. I just claim to know love when I see it."
The silence from Proteus was enough to convince her she was right. For a long moment she was quiet, gripping the stone of the balcony until her knuckles were white. She knew Sinbad had returned with no knowledge of her, and she knew Sinbad loved Proteus as much as he loved him.
What she was about to say she could never take back. What she was about to say may plunge the kingdom into chaos.
"Never in good conscience could I tell a prince to abandon his people to take after the man he loves." Marina said, watching the colours bleed from the sky. She risked a peek at Proteus. The crestfallen look on his face broke something inside her. "But I would tell him not to let the love of his life run away for another ten years."