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“I’m by your side, Honour,” Kyree’s tone shifted from anger to a softness that Honour wasn’t ready for.

“It doesn’t feel like it.” Honour shook her head “It doesn’t feel like you’ve been anywhere near my side since the moment we got back to Reine. In fact, it feels more like you’re making sure no one knows what happened out there. Almost as though, once this war is over, you have every intention of keeping what happened to yourself. From my people, but more importantly, from your own.”

Kyree’s small gasp as she sucked in water through her open mouth wasn’t enough to keep Honour there any longer. She turned quickly, making sure Kyree didn’t see the heartache that she’d no doubt telegraphed over her face along with her words.

The emotions pushed up from her chest, and the roar of blood in her ears sounded louder than the foam breaking itself against the rocks at the surface.

Just outside the door she hesitated. Had Kyree called out to her, begged her to stop? Or was it just her own stupid wishful thinking?

She’d been so stupid. She’d put herself on the line, her attraction to Kyree already forcing her in a tailspin, even before they’d run into Hudson and her men.

Honour had forgotten not only who she was, but who Hudson and Kyree were. They were mers of their own tribes.They understood each other far better, and no instinctual connection or attraction to either of them ended up making Honour worthy enough for them to stay.

Waving away the warm salty water that flowed from her eyes and filled the space in front of her, Honour squared her shoulders and reminded herself exactly who she was.

She was a warrior of Reine. She was the damned sea general. And she wouldn’t sit around and wait until the heir to the throne got herself killed before she did something about it.

With more strength in the flicks of her tail, Honour headed down the corridors toward the King’s chambers. She knew the way, even if she had traveled it far less in the past then others might assume.

20

Kyree leaned against the wall and watched Honour as she swirled and twisted, practicing strikes against clear water. It had taken Kyree some time to find Honour. Not because of searching for the warrior mer, but searching for herself.

Kyree could deny her attraction to Honour as much as she could deny her attraction to Hudson. They were both warriors, and while Kyree still found the contradiction between her own way of life and theirs hard to accept at times, she didn’t want to lose them. Either of them.

Her mind had already been made up before she searched for Honour. But now, she was even more determined than before—she had to go and find Hudson. She had to bridge the gap between them. And maybe, just maybe, Hudson could also help Kyree understand Honour’s perspective more. She might even be able to explain Kyree in ways Honour might understand.

They weren’t good when it was just one or two of them. They needed all three in order to understand and know each other. Kyree sighed heavily. This wasn’t going to be an easy conversation, but it was one that she needed to have. Anddespite Honour’s refusal to communicate, Kyree wasn’t going to fall into the same trap that Honour had set for herself.

She had wanted to say goodbye.

And she wanted to tell Honour exactly what she was going to do and where she was headed next.

Instead, Kyree pushed off of the wall, and with the smallest movement of her fluke she turned away. There was no way Honour would understand what Kyree wanted to tell her. They might speak the same language, but they didn’t understand each other enough to even have one conversation without Hudson there. At least not right now. They weren’t prepared for that.

“Kyree?” The water rippled around her as Honour approached at great speed.

“Honour.” The breath left with Kyree’s voice, her heart lodged in her throat. Her gaze dropped to Honour’s arms, to her chest, to the strength in her muscles—the arms and hands and chest that had once held Kyree so sacredly.

“What are you doing?” Honour’s voice was sharp, penetrating Kyree’s reverie.

Kyree dragged in a deep breath and blew it out slowly, bubbles rippling around her. She flicked her gaze up to meet Honour’s. It was now or never, and Honour was forcing her hand—the one that Kyree had been too chicken to push for. The words left her lips before she could stop them. “I’m leaving.”

A cold hardness set into Honour’s face, and Kyree’s fingers itched to reach up and smooth those edges away with her touch. She hated that she was hurting Honour by this. But there was no other way. They needed Hudson, and they shouldn’t have ever let Hudson go.

“You’re leaving?”

Was Kyree hearing an unspokenmeat the end of that? Did Honour think that Kyree was abandoning whatever was left oftheir broken and tumultuous relationship that had barely even started?

“I’m leaving to find Hudson. I’m leaving to bring her back.” Kyree stared directly at Honour, hoping and praying to the gods that she would understand, that some seed of knowledge would lodge its way into Honour’s brain and start to sprout.

“She won’t come here.” Honour’s voice came out as cold as her features. “You know that.”

“No, I don’t.” Kyree would keep that hope alive in the center of her chest for as long as she could. She couldn’t believe that what had happened between them was just sex. Because it was so much more than that. She wouldn’t have given up her life in the deep soundings for anything less than love.

This was why they needed Hudson. Hudson, the most unlikely interpreter between them, but the one that seemed to make their wheel spin. She missed Hudson. She also missed the ease and softness she had learned to see in Honour’s actions.

“Go find her then. See if a few more orgasms can change her mind.” Honour sneered, and the look was one of the ugliest that Kyree had ever seen—filled with self-loathing, anger, and oh so much pain.