Chapter 4

BO

Mei giggled and leaned into Chiguo, whispering something to him. I rolled my eyes. Here really wasn't the place for the two of them to be acting so sickeningly in love. Though from what I'd seen of them over the past two days, they never stopped. I was almost glad she'd started sorting out her own accommodation because I didn't want to have to see that all the time.

I cleared my throat. "You're needed on stage for the sound check," I said to Mei. "And if you're planning on performing too, then it would be good if you got up there too, Your Eminence."

Chiguo nodded. "Still not necessary to call me that."

"I disagree."

He sighed.

"Next you'll be saying you've learned all of the proper addresses for all of the gods on the ship," Mei said.

"If I knew who all the gods were, then I'd have done that already," I responded. "We're here to ensure you can keep performing as Mimi once you can no longer perform for humans," I reminded her.

"I know. But I don't think you accidentally addressing a god badly is going to affect that."

I gave her a look that I hoped she managed to read as disbelief. "Somehow, I doubt that. I've read the stories."

"I can assure you, the stories are only half right," Chiguo said.

"And that's the half I don't want to mess with," I responded. "We have an hour to get this check done, then they need the room back to prepare for something happening tomorrow."

"Won't that ruin the sound check?" Mei asked as she made her way over to the stage.

"Shouldn't do, I think it's a murder mystery game of some kind. Tonight we're stopping at a Greek island, I forget which one. There's a cocktail party at The Phoke Hotel . I've gotten you both tickets, they're back in the room." I looked down at my tablet, and checked off a few things.

"Thanks, Bo," Mei said as she climbed onto the stage.

I nodded and headed into position so I could make sure everything was going to plan. I didn't actually have to do the sound check itself, which was a good thing considering that I had no idea how to actually do one.

Mei took her place on stage and cleared her throat. "Good afternoon, everyone," she said in almost flawless English, switching languages never took her much effort. "I'm going to sing you a song," she said, already lost in her world of music. It always amazed me how quickly she was able to sink into a performance.

The melodic sound of her voice filled the air and she launched into one of her most popular songs. Even without the backing track, she sounded amazing, though the sound team were still making tweaks here and there to perfect it.

I made my way to the back of the room, checking that it sounded good everywhere. I wasn't an expert when it came to this part of preparing for a performance, but I'd stood by while Mei did a sound check enough times to be pretty sure about how it was going.

"She has a beautiful voice," a familiar voice said.

I turned to find the handsome face of the dolphin shifter I'd run into a few times standing beside me.

"You!" I blurted without meaning to.

He chuckled. "Me."

"Are you following me around the ship?"

"I do believe it was you who was watching me swim yesterday," he mused. "I looked for you this morning."

My heart skipped a beat even though I knew it was ridiculous to be flattered by a line like that. "I had work to do."

"Who comes on a cruise to work?"

"Managers," I responded, nodding towards the stage where Mei was singing one of her favourite songs. "And her voice is excellent, that's why she was hired."

"Ah." He fell into silence while he watched Mei on the stage. "I heard that there was supposed to be a big act performing here this week. Something about a fae who is big with the humans."

"Xian," I corrected.

"What?"

"She's xian. Fae is a catch-all term, there are lots of different kinds within it."

"Then I'll make sure I tell people that when they use fae with me."

"Is that a common occurrence?" I asked.

"The ship is small."

"Mmm."

Mei finished her song and Chiguo went to join her on the stage. The opening notes of their song together filled the air. I was sure it wouldn't be the last duet they sang either. Currently, Chiguo was only joining her on stage for this one, and sometimes when she sang the song she had with Erik Nilsen, if he wasn't available.

Despite sometimes being a bit frustrated by how much of her time and focus Chiguo was taking up of Mei's, there was no doubt that their performances together were captivating. Their voices complemented one another in a way that transcended music. It was magical.

"Is that Chiguo?" the dolphin shifter asked.

I nodded.

"I didn't realise he left the Meru Palace much these days."

"You know the Meru Palace?" I asked.

"I mean, it's a palace," he responded. "It's pretty hard to miss."

"It's in the god realm."

"A lot of things are," he said. "I wonder what brought him out of the palace."

"You're looking at it." I nodded to the stage.

The dolphin shifter chuckled, a surprisingly pleasant sound that I wanted to hear more of. "How cliché. And not just love, but a musician too."

"It makes sense to me." I crossed my arms, having the intense urge to protect Mei and Chiguo's relationship from someone who didn't even know them. "They both live for music, so they found a lot in common."

"A fair point. And what do you live for?" he asked.

"Managing musicians," I muttered under my breath.

The song came to an end and the technicians dismissed Mei and Chiguo from the stage.

"That's my cue to get back to work," I said.

He nodded and gave me a thoughtful look. "Maybe we'll see each other later?"

"As you said, it's a small ship."

His lips quirked up into a smile, causing a crinkle in his nose that made him a little less handsome but more attractive at the same time. "Then I'll see you soon." He waved and headed away from me.

I sighed and turned my attention to my client and her boyfriend. Not that boyfriend quite felt like the right word for an immortal god who lived in a palace, but it was the one I had.

"Great sound check," I said to them both.

Mei nodded as she uncapped her water bottle and drank some down.

"I knew you weren't going to be formal with every god," Chiguo said, grinning widely.

"What do you mean?" I had to resist the urge to call him eminence again.

"You were just chatting casually with Neptune, weren't you?" He nodded to where I'd been standing.

"That wasn't Neptune, that was..." I trailed off, realising I didn't know the dolphin shifter's name. I blinked a couple of times. "Neptune?"

"Roman god of the sea," he answered.

"That wasn't what I was questioning." I looked over at the door where he'd disappeared, trying not to panic about my lack of decorum too much. " That's Neptune?"

"You didn't know?" Mei asked curiously.

I shook my head. "I was just thinking of him as the dolphin shifter I was watching swimming."

Mei's amusement was impossible to ignore, she was having way too much fun at my expense.

"He must be so insulted." I groaned and ran a hand over my face.

"He didn't look insulted," Chiguo assured me.

"He's Neptune, have you heard the stories?" How had this happened? I was supposed to be making a good impression on the gods here, not insulting them by not even recognising major gods.

"Vaguely, I was busy for most of the time," he responded.

"I've gone and annoyed a sea god. While on a cruise ship. He's going to push me overboard and I'm going to drown."

For a moment, I thought Chiguo was going to argue with me, but he must have either thought better of it, or decided that he wasn't going to be able to convince me otherwise.

"It'll be fine," Mei said, clearly not privy to the thoughts in my head. "The gods come here so they can mix with the rest of us, he's not going to expect everyone to recognise him."

"That doesn't mean he's not going to be annoyed at me for it," I pointed out. "And I was taking photos of him as a dolphin." This was getting worse and worse.

"You did what?" Mei asked.

I ran a hand over my face. "He was swimming and I thought he was just a normal dolphin, so I took photos. But now he's not. He said he was a shifter."

"All gods were something else before they became immortal," Chiguo pointed out. "He might still feel like a shifter."

"Uh-huh." None of that changed how much of a disaster this now was. I'd potentially insulted a powerful god and I needed to fix it. The only solution I could actually come up with for the situation I'd found myself in was to find Neptune and grovel, hoping he'd take pity on me and decide not to smite me where I stood.