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Raziel flexed his fingers. At least he hoped it was.

“Are you coming?”

He twisted to face her. “What?”

She wiggled her brows. “Isla is grilling fish by the fire tonight and she promised me a story. I don’t want to be late.”

“You want me to come with you?” he asked slowly, trying to see the trap.

Mer shrugged. “It’s for the whole village. You can come too if you want. You are the king.”

“And you’re my queen.” Raziel didn’t know why he said the words.

She held his gaze evenly. “So I am.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

MER

Mer snappedthe book shut and set the heavy medical tome on the table. She rested her elbows on the desk and massaged her temples. “There has to be something more.”

“There isn’t,” Joiakim answered gravely, running a hand through his long pale lavender hair. His gaze flicked to the books scattered across the table in front of Mer. “Do you really think those human texts are going to offer us any help?”

Mer ran her left hand over the weathered cover of the nearest book. Levay had sent it to them in the hopes it might help. It hadn’t but Mer was looking for a clue. They were all desperate.

“Perhaps the Methians missed something,” she mused.

Joiakim tossed his head, his face a mask of annoyance. “After thirty years of searching for a cure, I doubt it.” She narrowed her gaze at his snotty tone. He flinched and immediately dropped his head in apology. “Excuse me for speaking so informally, my queen.”

Mer waved a hand at him before pushing back the old rickety chair and getting to her feet. Everything about the village councilroom was old but clean. She sighed, running a hand down her face. The loss of life was getting to them all. While the Sirenidae were masters at healing, their people hadn’t suffered a deadly sickness in hundreds of years.

“We’re all under a tremendous amount of pressure,” she said softly, glancing at the other three Sirenidae healers. “We need to think outside the box.” Mer rested her palms on the table, eyes burning from the lack of sleep. “Yes, the Mirror Plague has been around for three decades, but the new strain started here in the village. What does that tell you?”

Avalon, the youngest of the Sirenidae, twirled a piece of coral hair around her finger, biting her bottom lip. “That it mutated here. Something about this village changed the sickness.”

“But what?” Reef cut in. He pushed away from the doorway and crossed his arms, standing next to his younger sister. The siblings could have been twins from their coloring. No one would know that there was over twenty years difference between the brother and sister. “From my inquiries, nothing has changed in this village. Their food and water sources have been checked and nothing seems to be contaminated.” He grimaced. “I swam as far as I could in the ocean before my body gave out. No pollutants ever filtered through my gills.”

“I agree that it’s not the water. I’ve noticed the same things in my swims,” Mer added.

Silence greeted her statement and she lifted her gaze to Alanis who seemed to speak loudly while saying nothing at all. The woman’s jaw was clenched tight and her eyes seemed to burn.

“Do you have something to add?” Mer drawled, uncoiling to her full height.

By law Mer shouldn’t be entering the ocean at all. She was a banished one, fated to be parted from the loving embrace of the sea.

Alanis unclenched her jaw and spoke. “If you wish for frankness, I will give it to you. I hate that you were branded as a traitor. You are a hero to our people.”

Mer’s jaw dropped. That was not what she was expecting from the gruff healer. “You are not upset that I’m disobeying the sea king?”

Alanis snorted. “No, my queen. I’m old enough to know when an old man’s pride is wounded and he’s taking his frustration out on everyone else.” Avalon gasped but the older healer ignored it. “From my point of view, you’ve always tried to help others to the best of your ability. You should not be punished for that.”

Mer’s eyes were suspiciously hot. “Thank you for your honesty,” she choked out.

Avalon dropped the lock of hair she fiddled with and gave Mer a blinding smile—one that spoke of hope and innocence. Had Mer ever looked like that? Had she ever been that innocent?

The answer scared her.

“We love you, my lady,” Avalon said brightly.