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“Of course you can.” He’d only brought a small dinghy—an emergency craft that had been stored in the interior palace docks and wouldn’t be needed by the rest of his forces as they patrolled—but it was big enough for two.

It wasn’t fast by any means, but he’d urged it on at twice its normal clip with the help of a current he called up.

Frankly, he’d almost brought his favorite surfboard but had thought better of it for just this reason.

They had no idea yet what Ora would or could do.

It had seemed quite likely in his mind that Arden would need a ride back to the mainland.

“I already put your things in there. Are you sure that’s all you’ll need? ”

“I can come back and get anything I find I’m lacking.” Her face contorted as they neared the too-quiet house. “I wish there was something I could do. For Mama, I mean.”

“You’re looking for Jade. I have a feeling that’s the thing she most wants.

” He regretted it the moment the words were out of his mouth.

Not because they were untrue, but because he could see from the twist of her features that she thought they were the only words that were true.

That in her mind, her only value was in finding her stepsister.

He reached over and caught her fingers in his.

That, at least, brought her gaze flying to his face.

He offered her a smile. “And if you were the one missing, the only thing your parents would want would be your return. It’s how parenting works. Or so I’ve observed.”

Her breath leaked out slowly, her gaze tracking back to her house. “It would be better for everyone if it had been me. But of course, they had no reason to kidnap me.”

The words could have sounded like an invitation for reassurance, even for flattery. They didn’t, not the way she said them. They sounded certain. In her own mind, at least. Like simple fact. That of course no one would miss her like they did Jade, but that was why she hadn’t been the one taken.

It was always Jade. Jade who had all the island boys wrapped around her finger. Jade who had a hawk circling her every day, trying to keep her safe. Jade who had somehow inspired the Black Tails to kidnap her before they launched their rebellion.

Jade whose blood had called to his?

A knife twisted in his stomach at the very thought. From all accounts, Jade was a wonderful young woman. Deserving of the affection and admiration poured on her. He couldn’t imagine she’d have won the heart of a stalwart young man like Storm otherwise.

Still. What about this young woman? Why did no one see how remarkable she was? Why did she not see it?

How could he possibly be one more person to choose her sister over her? Rebellion heated his blood. Which was ironic, really, given that it was his blood that would require the betrayal.

Perhaps he gripped her hand too tightly, because she shot a questioning look up at him seconds before the weathered screen door swung open. Rico, of course, didn’t miss their entwined hands. Yet even he dismissed it in the next second, his smile softening with the haze of memory.

No doubt he was remembering the many times Seidon had taken a young person’s hand after an Awakening Ceremony—to reassure them that their future was exactly what the Triada intended it to be, whichever way their blood had reacted to the Blade.

“Your heart is as soft as the sand in the surf,” Rico had chided him with a laugh more than once.

“If you’re not careful, you’re going to get sucked down. ”

Of course, Mother had always laughed and wrapped an arm around him and said, “That’s what makes my boy such a good king, Rico. It isn’t the strength of his magic—it’s the strength of his love.”

Geysers, he missed her. Missed the days when she and the head of his Guard would banter.

Missed when Rico was the head of his Guard.

Missed having companions at his side who knew him and loved him enough to argue, enough to challenge, enough to push him to do the hard things.

Lee was a good Master of the Guard, and she didn’t hesitate to question him…

but they’d never crossed that bridge to true friendship.

When Arden tugged her fingers free upon stepping inside, he felt the lack like a winter wind. His gaze sought out Rico’s. “I don’t suppose you still intend to come to the cathedral this evening?”

Rico’s face crumpled. “I…don’t know if I can. I want to—you know I do.”

“I know.” He wished he’d been strong enough to keep from asking.

To keep from wishing for his old friend’s companionship when there was something far more pressing holding him where he was.

But the first Firstday back, when all the eyes of the kingdom would be upon him…

was it so much to ask to have a friend by his side, praying for him as he knelt to receive the thanksgiving?

As he waited to see if the Triada still poured out his blessing upon him?

At least Enoch would be there. He’d be the celebrant, not in the pew beside him, but even so. He’d be there.

Seidon summoned up a smile. “Forget I mentioned it. I’ll find someone else to take the place of honor I’d reserved for your family in my pew.” He sent his old friend a wink.

Rico frowned. “I hate to miss it. I could probably have Sapphire’s sister sit with her, but…it would mean hours away—”

“You should stay here. Really, pretend I didn’t say anything. Perhaps Arden and Storm will still join me?” He turned to her, flashing her a smile he prayed she couldn’t see the vulnerability in.

How pathetic was it, after all, that her two-hundred-seventy-five-year-old king still needed a friend beside him before he was brave enough to submit himself to the Triada?

Arden’s eyes had gone wide. “Wait. We were all going to be in your pew?” She looked to her father. “And you didn’t even mention this? You were going to let me pack my old blue dress to wear to missa!”

Rico chuckled. “Did I not try to convince you to get something new?”

“Did you bother telling me why?”

“Would telling you have convinced you to go shopping with your mother and sister, or would you instead have devised a reason to stay at home altogether?”

Arden humphed and folded her arms over her chest.

Seidon let the amusement wash over him again, drowning out all his own age-old insecurities. “You can borrow something from the palace,” he said with as much innocence as he could muster. “I’m sure the seamstress—”

“Oh, I’m not falling for that again.” But her frown sparkled with laughter too. “Who knows what you’d approve this time?”

Rico’s gaze flashed between them. “What am I missing?”

“He had me in a mostly white gown at the ball.”

The amusement in Rico’s eyes felt like victory, given the lines of exhaustion around them. “Something you need to tell me, there, Si? Shouldn’t you at least ask permission first?”

“Apparently he was sending a message to the mer, who were trying to arrange a marriage.” She punched him in the arm. “Idiot.”

Seidon grinned. Shrugged. And made a show of rubbing his arm. “Say what you will, but it worked.”

Rico’s brows rose. “Does the whole kingdom now think you’re engaged to my daughter?”

That gave him pause. Momentarily. “Maybe, had they not been a bit distracted by the attack. Now that you mention it. That a problem?”

Arden rolled her eyes and strode down the hall. “As if anyone would have believed it. I’m going to say goodbye to Mama.”

Rico, rather than following her, turned to face Seidon, his brows furrowed. “Someone will remember. You know that, right?”

Seidon’s gaze tracked her down the hallway until she vanished into the master suite.

He decided to ignore that rather cogent point—he should have thought through the consequences of his little deception more fully.

But he didn’t quite have the capacity for the question right now.

“Why does she always talk like that? Like she can’t understand why anybody would look twice at her? ”

Naturally, Rico heard more than the question. He blustered out a breath. “Do I need to have a conversation with you about your intentions toward my daughter?”

Seidon considered that for a moment, pursed his lips. Blustered out his own breath. “Possibly. But let me get a full night’s sleep first. Enoch thinks I’m just overtaxed.”

Rico pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’ve only known her a day.”

“Uh huh. And you knew Angelica how long before you married her?”

He’d expected the question to earn a roll of the eyes or even a sheepish smile. Instead, his friend looked even more anxious. “You’re really likening this to that?”

Was he? He couldn’t be. That would be madness. “No. Of course not. I just—it’s been a crazy day and a half. Enoch’s right. I’m overtaxed.”

That didn’t ease Rico’s expression at all. “Si.”

He squeezed his eyes shut. Pitched his voice even lower. “All right. I’ll be honest with you, because you deserve that. I like her. A lot.”

Rico’s hand landed on his shoulder, gripped. Tight, but not painful. “Seidon, you know I love you like a brother. I can think of no one more deserving of my girl—but you said yourself that your next wife had to be Awakened.”

That was before he’d met Arden. “I know.” And if it was just his old friend Rico he was talking to, he might admit that he’d been questioning that in the last few hours.

But it was Arden’s father. He could admit he liked her—even that he found her attractive.

But confessing that he’d caught himself thinking about kissing her would be stretching the weirdness of the situation too far.

So he gave a tight smile. “And you know I wouldn’t—that I’m not the type…

I’d never hurt her, Rico. Or disrespect her. ”

“I know.” Another squeeze of the meaty hand. “That said, if you could find a way to convince her that she’s more than just my daughter, more than Jade’s sister…maybe she’ll listen to you.”

Seidon snorted a laugh. “You know, I may have only met her yesterday, but already I know that challenge will be harder than holding back a hurricane.”

Rico’s grin looked sad around the edges. “Which you’ve been managing better and better each year. Give it a try.”

He might have said more, but Arden was exiting the bedroom again, her eyes glistening. She quickly palmed away the tears, though she had to know neither of them would judge her for them. Skies knew he’d shed his fair share of them as his mother grew ill and weak.

“All right,” she said with a gust of breath as she rejoined them. “I’m ready.”

Her father frowned at her. “Maybe you should borrow one of Jade’s dresses for missa.”

“Papa—”

“Sit with Seidon, Ar. You and Storm. He always needs a friend nearby for his first service back in a cathedral.” Rico nudged him with an elbow.

So much for being strong and mysterious. Seidon sent him a scowl. “Must you reveal all my secrets?”

Arden’s expression crossed a smile with a confused frown. “Don’t tell me you doubt that the Mercy of Waters will come.”

Bands tightened around his chest. “The favor of the Triada ought never to be taken for granted. I won’t assume I remain his chosen just because I was granted that privilege before. This kingdom is his to give and his to take away.”

The smile won, and it was soft enough to ease its way between those bands and soothe him where it shouldn’t. “And that’s why you’re entrusted with it week after week and year after year. But if you need friends to be there, Storm and I can certainly play the part.”

“Thanks.”

“Go borrow one of your sister’s dresses.

” This time, Rico issued it as a command instead of a suggestion, nudging her toward the stairs.

And when she started to object again, he sent her a hard look.

“You know Jade would be foisting a dozen options at you. It would make her happy to see you wearing something other than that old blue thing. And a pretty dress will draw less attention in the king’s pew than a worn-out one will. ”

She stomped up the stairs muttering something about playing dirty.