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But the space between them, even now, with their skins vibrating against the touch of each other, was raw.

“Do you think she’s okay?” Kyree asked quietly.

“No,” Honour answered honestly. There was no way that Soulara was okay. She was in a prison, and she was a princess. If anything, she was being held for ransom, at worse she was being held to be beaten and raped before they tortured her to death. Honour was very aware of the tactics that so many other mersin the ocean used, and she had no doubts that the humans were worse.

“Are you still talking about Soulara?” Kyree asked with a slight quiver of her lips.

“Of course I am, who else …” Realization dawned, and Honour let out a huff of bubbles. “She made her choice. Just as you said.”

Honour took her hand from Kyree’s hip and moved her face away from the gentle touch of Kyree’s palm.

“Yes, she did. But that doesn’t answer my question.”

“Of course she’s okay,” Honour said. Because the idea of Hudson being anything else wasn’t something Honour could come to terms with.

“We shouldn’t have let her go.”

“Let her?” Honour scoffed and got up from the bed. She didn’t swim back and forth in front of Kyree as before. Instead, she moved farther away. But slowly, with the faintest flick of her fluke. When her back brushed against the coral wall, she gave her fluke another flick and shifted closer again. “Since when did we have any say over what Hudson does and doesn’t do?”

“Of course we do.” Kyree’s face crumpled as though her heart was breaking. The heat of anger rose in Honour’s chest, filling her body.

“No, we don’t,” Honour snapped again. This time she refused to even let herself feel bad about it. “She got everything she wanted from us. And when it mattered, she couldn’t give a shit about us. Either of us, to even want to stay. To even want to try.”

“You know that’s not what happened.” Kyree’s tone rubbed Honour in a way that made the anger burn hotter inside of her.

“Of course.” Bubbles flew faster in and out of Honour’s mouth as she jabbed a finger into her own chest. “The stupid muscle couldn’t possibly understand what really happened.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.” Kyree’s voice cracked, and Honour bit back words she wanted to lash out with, to hurt Kyree as much as she hurt right now.

“She’s selfish, and it was stupid for either of us to think a few orgasms would change that about her.”

“She was scared. She hasn’t had the benefit or privilege of your life.” Kyree’s words were as sharp as any sword Honour had battled against.

Notourlives, butyourlife.

“Do you think she’s really the only one scared, the only one whose life would change, the only one who could have everything they ever worked for taken away?”

“No.” Kyree nearly shouted. “But she has other people relying on her. Other people who have fought their way out of the Talons’ clutches. She wasn’t being selfish. Not like you are now.”

“Oh.” Honour pushed herself back away from Kyree once more. “I’mselfish. Of course. It must be so selfish to give my entire life to the kingdom and to the survival of my people.”

“Your people.” Kyree spoke in a flat dark tone that made Honour flinch and stop moving.

“What?”

“You said your people. Not our people.”

“You want to talk about Hudson so much?” Honour couldn’t deal with being called out, because she didn’t know what it meant. Was she the one being selfish? It didn’t matter, not now. “If Hudson was here, she’d agree with me, and you know it.”

“Agree with you about what exactly?” Kyree’s cold words made Honour’s chest ache, but she was too angry. With Hudson, with Kyree, with Pregtox, with the humans. With all of it. She was even angry with Soulara.

How could she have hidden Autumn from her all this time? How could she put herself in such danger? Honour had nearlydied, and still Soulara refused to focus on getting out of there, sending Pregtox tactical information through Nylah instead.

“She would understand the need to fight. That sitting around and waiting for the humans and their monsters to take more of our water, more of our people is futile. Hudson would’ve come with me to demand Pregtox listen.”

“And if he didn’t?”

“She would’ve been by my side, ready to fight for this world. Forallof us.”