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“I can, with permission from the elders when my time in exile is complete.” Kyree moved her fingers against Honour’s jaw. “It’s been so hard to keep myself separate.”

“Separate?”

“I mustn’t break any more rules.” Kyree’s voice was a whisper, and her fingers stopped on Honour’s lips. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to, or that I’m immune to my feelings.”

“Your feelings?” Honour’s heart hammered. What was going on?

Kyree shook her head side to side. “We should get going. You need to rest after we return. Finish your healing.”

Honour blinked as Kyree started to move away. She tightened her grasp around Kyree’s waist and in a sudden moment of energy, flipped them over so she was crowding into Kyree’s space. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Because I’m not saying anything,” Kyree answered. “To say something would be an admission of something, and to do that would prevent me from ever returning home.”

“What do you want, Kyree?” Honour had to know. The tension between them couldn’t be stronger than it was now. And Honour wasn’t sure she could let that go, not without knowing why she had to loosen her grasp first.

Kyree shook her head, a tear forming in each of her eyes. “I don’t know what I want. Well, that’s a lie. I do know. But I don’t know what the right answer is.”

Honour kept quiet, not sure what to say.

“If you and Hudson could be together, would you?”

“No,” Honour answered confidently. That had been pure sexual tension, lacking in emotional connection, and Honour wouldn’t be with another mer only for the sex—well, not one as psychotic as Hudson. “No, that was sex and nothing more.”

“Are you sure?” Kyree was touching Honour’s body again, exploring her muscles, her curves, the lines from one side to the other.

It was mesmerizing.

“No,” Honour whispered.

Kyree nodded. “Let’s get back to Reine. We can talk more later.”

Now Kyree wanted to avoid talking? Honour dropped her head to Kyree’s shoulder and steadied her breathing. What was going on with her? She needed to get control of herself.

“Yeah. We need to make a plan to rescue Soulara.” Honour pulled away and snagged Kyree’s hand. They swam the rest of the way to Reine holding onto each other, but as soon as they reached the city limits, Kyree slipped her fingers from Honour’s.

Honour said nothing, she just led the way to the King’s throne room. This was never the conversation that she wanted to have with him. She’d been there several times to tell him that Soulara had slipped out into the night but that she was being watched, but never before had she needed to tell him that Soulara was missing.

Bowing low as soon as she entered the room, Honour barely raised her gaze to meet King Pregtox’s eyes. He looked exhausted, as exhausted as Honour felt. And he looked worried. She’d never seen him like this before—a wild worry that threatened to consume.

“They took her,” Honour’s voice cracked. “Her and Autumn, the human. I tried to stop them, but I failed.”

“Where are they?” Pregtox’s voice wavered.

Honour shook her head. “I don’t know. I suspect they’re not in the water. They took them into the air.”

Pregtox slammed his fist onto the table. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

Honour spent the next hour explaining in detail all that had happened. Kyree filled in some of the blanks from after Honour had been injured and fallen unconscious. They both left out the drama with Hudson. Honour wasn’t even sure how to begin to explain that one and since Hudson seemed to be an outlier to the Talon, it wouldn’t matter in the long run, anyway.

Pregtox sent them on their way with orders for Honour to visit the healers. Instead, she swam to the coral where Kyree was staying, making sure Kyree returned to rest herself. Honour couldn’t imagine how exhausted she must be after going through everything in the last two days.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Honour said, staying near the entrance to the small coral cove that Kyree had been assigned.

“Honour?” Kyree touched Honour’s arm lightly, but it wasn’t with the same gusto that she’d touched when they’d been outside of Reine. “We need to find Nylah.”

“The ray?” Honour frowned sharply. “They were taken with Soulara, I’m sure of it.”

“I’m not, and it’s very important that we find them.”