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“I don’t know what the future holds. I wish I did.”

Autumn swallowed hard. “You’re going to war, aren’t you?”

Soulara tensed, her shoulders tightening, her face pinching. “We’re already at war.”

Autumn hated it. But Soulara was a princess, she did have a people to fight for, and Autumn wanted to do anything within her power—which wasn’t much—to help her. As much as Soulara’s comment solidified that fact, it also shattered her.

Autumn would never be one of them.

She’d never be able to swim under the water, live there.

What kind of life could they actually have?

“I understand,” Autumn mumbled. “Hear me when I say this, Soulara, as someone who has been to war before, as someone who has experienced a ravaged planet—war isn’t worth it if there’s nothing left to fight for.”

Soulara’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Don’t lose your people while trying to save them.” Autumn moved in swiftly, kissing Soulara. She held on tightly, lacing her fingers in Soulara’s still-damp hair and sliding her tongue along Soulara’s. Autumn closed her eyes.

This was their last kiss.

She was sure of it.

24

The meetings were endless.

Soulara yawned as she left the last one, not because she was physically tired, but because her brain was flat out done with thinking for a while.

Too bad she wouldn’t get a break.

Reaching up, Soulara went to touch the necklace and realized too late that it wasn’t there anymore. Nylah swam next to her though, flipping on their back and then their front again, as if they were having a blast in all these meetings. If Nylah had been paired with Kyree, what kind of meetings and decisions would they have been present for?

Soulara could only guess.

Because the deep sounding mermaids were such a mystery to everyone.

Even Kaelin didn’t have much to say about them, choosing to keep quiet rather than to share. Was that a latent effect of the abuses she’d faced there? Soulara wasn’t sure, but information would have been helpful when they were talking with Kyree.

Anything would be helpful with that mer. She was a closed book, and no matter how many times Soulara had tried to get information from her, she couldn’t. Honour hadn’t even tried to talk to her though. Something was definitely going on there, but Soulara didn’t have time to pry like she wanted to.

She hadn’t seen Autumn in over a week, but Autumn frequently used Nylah to send messages. It had taken them a lot of trial and error to figure it out, though, because Soulara had to learn how to communicate with Nylah in a brand-new way—which had managed to frustrate both Soulara and Nylah to the point of sleeping in separate rooms one night until they could come back and try again.

Soulara lifted her hand, brushing her fingers over Nylah’s back.

“Are you ready for this, Nylah?” Soulara asked as she bypassed her rooms and went straight for the beach. She was an integral part of this mission, and no one knew what was going to happen. If she’d told them, they wouldn’t have let her continue.

Nylah rubbed their head against Soulara’s hand.

“Good, because I’m going to need you to stay behind in case there’s trouble.”

Nylah tensed.

“I know. But we need a good distraction, and I’m amazing at distractions.” Soulara winked at the ray and swam past the city limits. She triple-checked to make sure that Honour wasn’t following her, but she’d made sure to leave when no one else was paying attention.

The swim to the surface wasn’t long, and Soulara was getting so used to making it. She rolled her shoulders as she watched the water break over the edge of the beach.

“Nylah, stay close. If I don’t return by dark, go find Kyree and Honour.” Soulara scratched Nylah’s head, loving the corporeal form of her friend far more than the spiritual one.