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At least she had the decency to lower her eyes beneath his inquiry, which didn’t bode well for the reason behind her presence. He doubted she had forgotten the results of showing her true form to the now king of these lands, and the consequences of her actions.

“There is upheaval underwater and your presence is requested.”

Caspian narrowed his eyes, rapping his fingers against his forearm. He hadn’t acquired the title Forgotten Prince through chance. After his parents died and their kingdom was destroyed, he escaped to a life as an average merperson living peacefully under Queen Taelyss’s rule.

The only person he’d confided his past to was the very woman who shunned him. The same one who stood before him, requesting his return to the sea.

He huffed. “Not likely. Sorry. My responsibilities here are great.”

Aria twisted her hands beneath the cloak more furtively. A familiar expression crossed her face, tight-lipped and nostrils flaring. The stubborn princess crested a wave of emotion before the pitiful human form drowned it again.

“It’s my mother. And sisters.”

Well, that was a joke.

Caspian waved a hand carelessly and moved back to his chair, and the daunting ledger he really needed to attend to. “Little princes, your mother is a goddess. There’s little to nothing that can pose a threat to her.”

“The witch…”

His head shot up and he froze, his body caught in a partially crouched position. His ass hadn’t reached his cushioned seat when those two words spilled from her lips with haunting speed and cold resonance.

Aria continued to fidget, a characteristic that seemed as much beyond her awareness as the impact of the damaging words that could so thoughtlessly fall from her mouth. The grey tint of her skin paled until he worried she might pass out on his office floor.

“She has my mother and my sisters. They need your help.”

He managed a grunt before forcing his body to relax, to sit. “Dima has nothing but ill intent, and I won’t return to the waters to feed her ego while she destroys innocents. My apologies, princess. This is one battle I willnotentertain.”

Aria rushed to his desk as he threw open the ledger he had been working on before her unexpected interruption. She snatched the pen he picked up and braced herself on locked arms over his ledger. Without missing a beat, he opened his drawer and retrieved another pen, earning a frustrated growl from his unwanted visitor.

“I don’t ever recall you being selfish. Foolish, perhaps, but never selfish. You are aprince. That comes with responsibilities that arenothere, in this warehouse on these human docks, Casp.”

Caspian spared her a short glance before lifting one of her balled fists off his ledger and placing it on his desk beside the tome. Her accusations made him bristle, her barbed tongue a threat to his carefully woven control.

Despite the heat of his blood, he managed a rakish smile, winked, and began scribbling in the journal.

“Ahh, we change over years, princess. Perhaps I am foolish. And selfish. Raucous. Careless.” He tapped the length of the pen against his chin. “Oh, right, not careless. Carefree. But while we’re throwing insults, I don’t ever recall you to be a woman to barter one person for another. Yet here you are.”

He caught her furious gaze and watched the short-lived fire in her eyes snuff out beneath a veil of shame. His smile stretched, though it felt brittle. “And as you may have forgotten, my title was lost many years ago, along with my parents and my kingdom and my people. I have no responsibilities to a royal position I don’t possess and, honestly, have no interest in reinstating.”

“Bastard!”

Caspian chuckled, the cool edge of the sound wiping the last of her fury away. He sat back in his chair and lifted his hands, palms up. “Nowthatis a title I adore.” He cocked his head to the side and lowered his hands to flatten them on his desk. “Especially after a romp in a woman’s warm bed.”

Aria’s eyes widened and her white lips parted on a gasp. He had never spoken to her so crudely. She shoved herself off the desk, tossed the pen down, and stormed to the door. Caspian laughed at her back. Laughed until the door slammed shut, rattling the single window in its pane.

Alone, his laughter ceased instantly. He sank down in his chair and pinched his forehead, the ache growing behind his eyes triggered by the sting of guilt. He really didn’t need to dig his point in with that last comment, but he couldn’t help himself. Not when he finally had the upper hand after so long. Seeing Aria after all these years sparked that old flame, and the bitterness she sowed with her caustic words as she ended their friendship.

Ten years since he’d left the haven of Queen Taelyss’s kingdom that fateful night, and traipsed onto forbidden soil.

He’d drowned himself in work, building his fortune, building his name and reputation, both with businessmen and lovely ladies. He’d earned the reckless King Jethro’s respect after salvaging a royal ship that had been damaged in a wicked storm. Apparently, the cargo was worth more than the lives lost to the sea.

Anything to keep Caspian in the villagers’ good graces and hold suspicions at bay. He rather liked his place among the humans. His own little piece.

And, in a matter of minutes, that piece he cherished so dearly had been breached by the very person he once fled. Never in all these years had he expected Aria to come back to land, and certainly not to ask for his return to the sea.

She wasn’t asking for you to return, fool. She wants you to sacrifice yourself to Dima in exchange for her family.

Damn him if that sense of responsibility didn’t niggle at his conscience.

Smacking his hand down on the arm of the chair, he groaned. “You still have no clue, do you, princess?”

He shoved up to his feet. Maybe he needed some female entertainment after all.