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Her eyes burned, and tears slipped free, sparkling lavender drops mixing with the seawater. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m sorry for it, but I don’t regret it.” Blood gathered at the corners of his lips and drifted away like smoke vapor.

She wasn’t a healer, but she knew the signs of internal bleeding.

His grip on her face slackened, and she pressed it harder against her cheek. “Don’t do it. Stay with me!”

“Forgive me.”

Mer shook harder when he gave her one more sad smile. She couldn’t get her lips to work, could only release soul-crushing sobs.

“Find my daughter,” he whispered.

Then the life drained from his eyes.

Chapter One

MER

Six Months Later

“Tell me what you know!”Mer growled at the Scythian warrior.

The bulky man clenched his perfect jawline and continued to glare up at her with utter hatred. Silent as the grave even when his life was at stake. In her peripheral vision, the tip of a fin sliced through the water. It would be so easy to feed him to the leviathans. But he had information she desperately needed.

Mer tempered her emotions as a drop of blood ran down his cheek. Soon enough, he’d pay for his crimes. Her gaze dropped to the coral knuckle cover on her right hand. It was a beautiful weapon—smooth on the inside so it didn’t damage her own hand, and sharp on the outside. The cream coral held scarlet stains that tugged at her conscience .

What are you becoming?

Mer brushed away the unwanted thought and stood from her crouch, the algae on the wet rock squishing between her toes.The warrior pulled at the chains that tethered him to the large stone, muscles straining. The iron seemed to groan, but it held. Even if he did manage to escape them, there was nowhere for the fiend to go. The tide was rising, and the leviathans were hungry.

Even now, their hunting song grew in excitement.

Time for a different tactic.

Mer caught the warrior’s eye. “Your Warlord is gone. Scythia has retreated. What are you fighting for?”

A spark lit in his dark eyes. “Our lord will never die.”

Now she was getting somewhere.

She smirked. “He looked pretty dead to me when my friend slayed him.” The man bared his bloody teeth at her, and Mer leaned closer to run the tip of her coral brace along the warrior’s cheek. “It turns out your leader was nothing more than acommonman. A dead man who will be forgotten.”

“Our Warlord will live on, you abomination.” His chest heaved with the declaration. “Your seas will fill with blood until you choke on it, but before your last breath Ceto will find you and destroy everything you hold dear.”

Ceto.That was the second time she’d heard that name whispered.

A flurry of excitement danced in her chest. Maybe this was the lead she’d been looking for. “I’m not worried about dear old Ceto.” Mer leaned into the warrior’s space. “I have nothing left to lose.”

The Scythian smiled through chapped lips, and it sent a chill down her spine. A tendril of fear wound around her chest as he tipped his chin up to her until they shared the same breath. Her fingers clenched the coral, and she fought not to take a step back.

You hold the power here. Not him.

“Ceto is creative.” A manic grin warped his features. “Your fear is delicious. Run, little siren. The depths are coming for you.” He snapped his mouth closed so hard that somethingcracked. The warrior’s body began to convulse, his chains rattling so violently that the leviathans began thrashing in the water.

Mer screamed, grabbing his face with both hands to pry his teeth apart. A black liquid slipped from the corner of his mouth. “You cannot die!” she hissed. “You will tell me the truth. Where are they? Where are the women? Where is Lysa?”

The Scythian’s eyes rolled back into his head, and all at once, his body went slack, feet slipping off the narrow ledge until he hung limply over the water. Mer’s hands shook as she placed her fingers at the warrior’s pulse point.