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“Where’s Kaelin?”

The healer shook his head in confusion.

“Kaelin. She’s Zendalia’s bonded.”

“We weren’t aware.”

Like hell they weren’t. Soulara pursed her lips together hard. “Send someone. Now.”

“Soulara.” She heard her name called, but the rage continued to boil. This wasn’t right. Her father was letting this spin out of control. “Soulara.”

Swimming over to where Zendalia lay on a bed of moss, her once orange skin turning a sickly dark purple and blue from bruises, Soulara’s heart broke. This needed to stop. This war, battle, this massacre. They needed to fight back and win.

“What is going on?” Zendalia’s chest rose and fell too quickly, as if she was struggling.

“You were injured in the last attack. Do you remember?” Soulara slid her fingers gently over Zendalia’s cheek.

“No. Where’s Kaelin?”

“I sent someone to get her.”

“You should have gone.”

“I wasn’t going to leave you alone.” Soulara was nearly in tears. “It was the Kraken, Z. We have to find an end to this. I have to go get irrefutable proof.”

“Soulara.” Zendalia’s fingers wrapped around her biceps. “We are fighting.”

“But we don’t know who we’re fighting or why.” The words caught in Soulara’s throat. But she had to say them. Zendalia had to know that the past few seasons weren’t in vain. “I don’t know how to convince him that the water levels are dropping.”

And to tell her father how she knew would also force her to admit that she’d been to the surface.

Which was forbidden.

She was left with the same conundrum now as she was with her father. How could she explain everything without telling them anything. She knew her friend had been through far too much. The deaths of her parents and the kidnapping, and now this? Sure, the kidnapping ended up being one of the best things that had ever happened to her in the end. She had Kaelin now, and the calm that had come over her was transformative. But Soulara didn’t believe in that kind of thing. She would never have someone care for her the way Kaelin cared for Zendalia, and she didn’t think she would even want to. She wouldn’t be a kept mer.

“I’ve seen it, Z.” Soulara’s face crumpled in apology mixed with a hope of being believed. “I went to the surface. It’s dropping. In two weeks it’s dropped considerably. I didn’t have a chance or the equipment to measure it.”

“You’ve been to the surface? Why?” Zendalia’s shoulders relaxed slightly, but there was tension in her face as if the pain was too much. Soulara shouldn’t be worrying her with this. “How did you breathe above the water?”

Soulara’s cheeks heated uncontrollably. She rarely blushed and never in front of Zendalia. They were best friends, they had been through so much together, and even after their ill-fated relationship that simply added sex to their friendship, they each remained a rock and a resting place for the other. “I’ve been seeing someone.”

“You?” Zendalia’s spluttered a cough. “I find that impossible to believe.”

“Oh.” Soulara’s cheeks grew hotter, and she shook her head. “Oh, not like that.”

“Really?” Zendalia’s smirk, even through the pain, told Soulara how much she didn’t believe a word of it.

“Really.”

“Then why the blush?” Zendalia nudged Soulara’s hand with her own.

“It’s nothing like that. She’s—she’s from a different tribe, and she seems nice. But as a friend. Nothing more.” Soulara had seen Autumn Walton just a handful of times, and only spoken to her once. But that had been why Soulara had gone to the shore that day, to see if she could catch another glimpse of the odd land creature. Whenever Soulara saw Autumn Walton, a peace came over her. A sense of being able to focus on just the two of them, who they were in those moments. Which was ridiculous because they had only said all of ten words together, and Autumn Walton had never relaxed.

“And who is she?” Zendalia’s tone no longer held the teasing quality of earlier.

“We shouldn’t be talking about this. You’re injured.” Soulara raked her gaze over Zendalia’s broken body.

“Don’t hide now. Besides, it’s a good distraction.” Zendalia gave a half-assed wink. “Who is she?”