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ARIA

I woke up to the smell of spices and saltwater.

No part of me thought I was still on Earth.

It would’ve been impossible not to remember Triton walking me through a portal, declaring me his bride, turning his lower half into a monster, and putting on that stupidly-attractive skirt.

There was no forgetting the rest of it, either.

He expected me to pop out babies for the good of all mermonster-kind.

We were going to have to screw to seal our bond.

I was in danger because of the selkies and kelpies, for unknown reasons.

And I still had no idea exactly what a kelpie was, outside of the fact that their magic was weirdly seductive.

Oh, and I couldn’t possibly forget—I was turning into one of the mermonsters myself.

Physically, mentally, and emotionally, if my husband’s sister was to be believed.

Yeah, it was a mess.

My hair was tangled all around my face.

I always tossed and turned in my sleep, so that was normal.

I tried to push the strands away from my nose so I could breathe easier, but most of them clung to my skin.

The texture of my hair felt different, so I eventually opened my eyes to look at the strands.

When I saw them, I sucked in a sharp breath and sat up quickly.

“Sweetheart?” Triton’s voice was gritty with sleep, and the sound of it sent a shiver down my spine.

No, I was not going to be affected by my sexy-as-sin husband.

Not even a little.

I ignored his pet name for me and all but jumped out of bed, crossing the king’s room quickly.

There was no door to the main bathroom, only to the small toilet room, so I couldn’t lock him out.

Stepping in front of the mirror, I stared at my reflection for a long moment.

Hot damn, I looked like an alt.

My skin had smoothed, my pores basically vanishing.

My eyes looked a little bigger and a lot brighter, framed by eyelashes that were much longer than they had ever been before.

I didn’t look any taller, but something about me looked stronger anyway.

And my hair?

It was blue.

Multiple shades of it.

At the roots, it was dark enough to nearly resemble my natural black, but it lightened on its way down to a pale blue at the ends.

There were brighter streaks and darker streaks, almost making it look like a hairdresser had created a masterpiece with the strands.

Alterrae was the hairdresser.

Or Triton’s magical freaking mate bond was.

Honestly, the blue looked stunning against my new and improved pale skin, but it still freaked me out.

The white tattoo on my shoulder looked awesome too, but I wasn’t any more comfortable with it than I was with the hair.

Triton stepped into the doorway, leaning against it as he took me in from behind.

I hadn’t put on any extra clothes when I woke up, so there was plenty to see.

All I was wearing was a bralette and panties.

“The magic suits you,” he said.

“I liked the way I looked before.” I didn’t meet his gaze.

The last thing I needed was to feel more attraction toward him.

I needed space.

So much space.

I was still drooling over the mental image of his naked body I had seen when he was getting dressed, which was just messed up.

I shouldn’t have even been looking at him.

“So did I,” he said.

I scowled.

“You don’t believe me?” he sounded surprised.

“I’m the king.”

“You’re not my king. And everyone knows politicians lie.”

“A king is not a politician in Alterrae.” He covered the distance between us in two large steps, and placed his hands on my hips.

My gaze immediately went to the place he was touching me.

Something about the sight of his hands on my body made me warm.

I bit my lip to stop myself from reacting.

“You seemed like a politician when that kelpie guy was being weird on the beach.”

His grip tightened.

“The alternative was to kill him for using his magic on you and ignite the war that’s been brewing between merrae and selkies for the last few months.”

“Another war?” Guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that a bunch of monsters were on the verge of fighting.

“The selkies outnumber us by miles. They refused to fight against the dragons’ monster, so he spared them from his plague. They decided a few months ago that they deserve half the throne now. We’re still trying to figure out why, but they’ve been trying to persuade us ever since. Things have gotten progressively more tense.”

“Assholes.”

“Indeed.” The king combed my hair away from my ear, and I took in the earrings that had appeared in my skin.

They scaled the length of my ear.

I’d been afraid of piercings since one of my lobes got crazy infected when I was a teenager, so I hadn’t worn any earrings since.

The new ones were on the side opposite from my magical tattoo.

While Triton’s were small hoops, mine looked like tiny studs.

“The crown won’t be yours entirely until our bond is sealed,” he said.

“That’s definitely not a crown.”

He ran his finger down the studs along the side of my ear, and I shuddered as the tiniest zap of electric magic rolled through me, warming my body.

A white crown appeared on my head.

It was short and small, with a few loops, and looked like it had been made out of bone or shell or something similar.

It was the same material as the earrings, though.

The crown lingered when Triton let my hair fall back into place and lifted his hand to his own ear.

His own appeared the same way mine had, but it was clearly the larger, more elegant version.

“The earrings hide the crown?” I asked.

“They hold the crown. Creatures of the sea swim too much for something like this to stay in place.” He gestured toward his crown, then brushed a hand over his ear again.

The crown vanished, though my gaze lingered where it had been.

“We can’t be married,” I finally said.

“We already are, Sweetheart.”

“You need to stop calling me that. You don’t know me.”

“I know enough.”

“Well, I don’t.”

He ran his finger over my ear, and another small zap of his magic made me flush.

“You’ve got to stop doing that, too.”

“What?”

“The zapping thing. Your electricity makes me feel weird.”

“It’s your body responding to my magic. When we seal the bond, the effects will be far stronger.”

My forehead creased.

“Why?”

“Mates are meant to pleasure each other. Our magic simplifies that.”

He lowered his hand from my ear to my shoulder, and his thumb trailed lightly over the back of my neck.

It took everything I had not to shiver.

“I don’t have magic,” I said.

“You do. You just haven’t learned how to access it.”

“And it will affect you the same way yours affects me?”

“More, probably.”

I eyed him in the mirror, looking for any evidence that he was lying to me.

I didn’t see it, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.

“How do I access my magic?”

“You feel it. Here.” He tapped the center of my chest lightly.

“Rayna is waiting outside our room to measure you for clothing. After that’s done, I’ll help you shift. That needs to happen before I teach you how to control your magic.”

“I’ll pass.”

He chuckled.

“If you don’t learn how to shift, your body will eventually force it, and you’ll end up stuck on the tile with a tail for a few hours. If you shift back in these clothes, you’ll end up mostly naked and sprawled out on the floor like a feast created just for me.”

My flush returned.

“Fine, I’ll let them measure me.”

“Probably a good call.”

“And you can teach me,” I said grudgingly.

“You’ll enjoy it more than you think.”

“That’s highly unlikely.”

Triton lowered his lips to my shoulder and kissed me there, lightly.

He lingered, and warmth flooded my lower belly.

I shouldn’t have been so attracted to him.

I really shouldn’t.

The man wanted to breed me , for crying out loud.

I stepped away from Triton, and he left the bathroom to give me privacy.

I used the facilities, then took a few minutes to breathe through my overwhelm before I slipped outside.

He was waiting on the bed, his weight resting on his palms as he leaned back casually.

Like he wasn’t a gigantic, gorgeous mermonster king.

Like he was just a normal guy.

I averted my eyes quickly, going to the door and tugging it open.

Rayna stood on the doorstep with another woman beside her.

Both of them lifted their eyebrows when they saw me.

“Your hair is already so blue,” the stranger said.

She was just as tall and strong as Triton’s sister, but her skin was dark and her hair was platinum blonde.

Their facial shapes were so different, they obviously weren’t related.

“I thought your world did this to me.” I gestured to my hair.

“Do merrae not have blue hair?” I’d seen a few people with wild-colored hair when we walked through the castle the day before, so I assumed it was an alt thing.

“Oh, no.” Rayna stepped past me, coming just inside the room.

The other woman followed her, closing the door when she was through it.

“Humans soak up much more of Alterrae’s magic than those born here. You’re the only ones with colorful hair. Ours is about the same as most humans.”

“Wow.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“It’ll only take a minute to measure you,” the woman with the white hair said.

She gave a respectful nod in Triton’s direction before pulling out something that vaguely resembled a measuring tape.

“The numbers don’t need to be exact. Sea silk adapts to its wearer. But you’re much smaller than any adult female merrae, so we don’t have much that fits you. And we definitely don’t have it in blue.”

“I don’t think I need more blue in my life at this point.” I lifted my arms at her instruction.

“Merrae always wear clothing in the color of their scales. It’s tradition,” Rayna explained.

“Until we get yours done, this should work.” She put a small bundle of light green silk in my hand before she started measuring me.

“I don’t have scales.”

“Sure you do.” The woman measuring me tapped a spot on my lower back.

Though I did feel her touch me, it felt slightly different than usual.

“Your first one already showed up right here. It’s the same color as your mate’s.”

I bit my tongue on a response that Triton wasn’t my mate.

Repeating that hadn’t done me any good yet.

It just made my situation seem less controllable and more certain than I wanted it to be.

“Blue-scaled merrae are considered a blessing from the sky goddess,” the woman measuring me added.

“They’re a sign of power. A king and queen with blue scales is the best omen we could possibly ask for.”

“Isn’t it Triton’s fault they’re blue?” I checked.

“Probably,” Rayna agreed.

“But because you’re sitting on the throne with him, you’ll be just as strong as he is.”

I wasn’t against the idea of being powerful, if just so my lovely new husband couldn’t control me.

But I still wasn’t in favor of being a mermonster.

“Done.” The woman whose name I didn’t know stepped back and flashed me a smile.

“Welcome to the sea kingdom, Aria. Ovah ven raren .”

I had no idea what that last sentence meant, but managed a small smile anyway.

“Thanks.”

She and Rayna left the room.

I closed the door behind them—and locked it, too.

I didn’t know if there was anyone who might try to break into our room or something, but at the moment, I felt slightly safer with Triton than I did with any strangers outside.

“What does ovah ven raren mean?” I asked the king, who was still relaxing on the bed like he had no worries at all.

“It doesn’t have a direct translation in your language. It’s an ancient vow of respect. The basic idea is along the lines of promising to stand with you, fight at your side, and shield you with their body.”

My eyebrows shot upward.

“She doesn’t even know me.”

“Your soul is compatible with mine, and you have become my mate. That’s all she needs to know.”

“What do you mean, our souls were compatible?”

“A mate bond can’t be created by just anyone. The sky goddess, the being that all of Alterrae answers to, must approve the pairing. It’s not something that can be forced. That’s why I spent so long looking for you—my soul and magic weren’t compatible with any of the other women I saw on Earth.”

“What if you hadn’t found anyone?”

“The demons would find another batch of humans for me. Yours was the tenth.”

“The tenth ?”

“Yes. I went through more than one hundred thousand women to find you.”

“Holy shit.” I shoved a hand through my hair.

My very blue, very weird-feeling hair.

“Why are we compatible?”

“I don’t know. I’m not the goddess.”

I scoffed.

“Clearly.”

The king’s lips twitched, almost like he was fighting a smile.

“Come here. I want to see your scale.”

“Fuck off.”

He laughed.

The sound was low, rich, and melodic.

I liked it far more than I should’ve.

Triton crossed the room in a few steps and kneeled down at my back.

He captured the green silk from my hand before placing his own on my hip again.

His touch was so hot, I nearly shivered.

“You seem to have a thing for touching me, Your Highness,” I drawled.

“It’s more like an all-consuming obsession.” He didn’t bother denying it.

His thumb dragged over the same place the other woman had pressed, and a shiver rolled down my spine.

Why did it feel so good when he touched me?

”

“And for the record, I did like the way you looked before you started to change. I was attracted to you the first moment I saw you. Have you forgotten the part where we made out on the beach when a simple kiss would’ve worked just as well to seal the bond.”

My face burned, but I could clearly remember his reaction.

“Evve tah.” You’re perfect.

“That was your fault,” I said.

“I’ll take credit for you getting lost in our kiss any day.”

I swatted his hand away from my scale, and he finally stood up again.

His hand was still on my hip, his body only a breath away from mine as he lingered at my back.

“If all it takes to seal a mate bond is a kiss, do people in your world not do it casually?” I asked.

“No, kissing is not a casual thing here. It’s not possible to kiss just for pleasure. Even if it was, it’s considered sacred to us. A man or woman’s mouth does not touch the body of someone who isn’t their mate.”

My eyebrows jumped up again.

“You don’t do oral sex?”

“Not without a bond. It would be considered disrespectful to both parties’ future mates.”

“Wow. You know I’ve kissed other people, right?”

“I’m aware of the culture around it on Earth, yes. I was with other women before I became king, so it would be unrealistic to expect otherwise from you.”

“But none of them ever kissed you?”

“No.”

“Wow.”

His lips met my shoulder like they had in the mirror earlier.

Suddenly, the gesture meant more than it did before.

“You already said that, Sweetheart.”

“I’m still not your sweetheart.” The words sounded a little weaker.

A little less certain.

“Would you rather I call you mate? Or wife?”

My throat constricted.

“Sweetheart is great.”

He chuckled again.

“I figured.”

“I’m not going to breed with you, Triton,” I said.

“I don’t exist just to have your babies. I?—”

He cut me off.

“I didn’t marry you just so you could have my children, and I wouldn’t force you to get pregnant. You are my queen, before anything else. I’ll even show you where the plants that block fertility are if you’d like. My people are the ones who will push you, because we’re still struggling to rebuild our population. We’re at less than one percent of what we were before the war.”

He paused for a moment before adding, “And for what it’s worth, merrae females only have one fertile period every year, so it’ll likely be at least a few months before you could even possibly get pregnant. The birth control plant is only needed during that time of the year.”

“That does make me feel better, actually. How hard is it to get to those plants?”

“Not hard. After you learn how to shift and we seal our bond, I can take you to them.”

My eyes narrowed.

“We have to have sex to seal the bond.”

“Correct.”

“I’m not having sex without protection. I was on the pill back on Earth, but it’s been long enough since I took the last dose that it’s worn off by now.”

“Sweetheart,” he said, turning me to face him and cupping my cheeks between his hands.

I glared at him as he tilted my head back, tipping his own downward so our eyes met.

The man was stupidly tall.

“The selkies are clever creatures. They want you dead so they can control the sea alongside me. There are only a few kelpies, but they work with the selkies, and they are beings of seduction and death. If they can separate us long enough to take advantage of you and twist our bond, they will. I will not take you into the ocean again until our bond is sealed. I waited centuries to make you mine, and I’m not going to risk our mate bond.”

“Unprotected sex is a risk,” I said, though my anger had deflated significantly.

Being attacked by a kelpie obviously sounded worse than having consensual sex with a man I actually wanted.

“It’s not a risk right now. A female merrae’s scales fall out when she can get pregnant. Your scale is nowhere near that point.”

My head whipped backward, and I tried to see my single scale.

I couldn’t see it—obviously—but the woman earlier said it was blue.

So it couldn’t have fallen out.

“Why should I believe you?”

“Because I’m the man who’s going to spend immortality with you. Lying to you now doesn’t exactly seem like a good way to set myself up for a peaceful and happy life, does it?”

He had a point, even if I didn’t like it.

“You can ask Rayna or anyone else if you’d like to confirm I’m telling the truth, but I will warn you that they all want you to get pregnant. And we can all communicate mentally, so I could technically tell them to lie for me.”

I huffed out a laugh, shaking my head.

“This situation is such bullshit.”

“For now.” Triton’s hand slid from my hip to my ribs, and I fought a shiver.

“What does this tattoo say?” he tapped the one on my ribcage.

“I know a small amount of your language, but this looks like gibberish to me.”

It was in cursive, so that didn’t surprise me.

And there were so many languages on Earth, I hadn’t expected him to know mine.

We always used his.

“If we make it through sealing our mate bond without you knocking me up, I’ll tell you.”

He snorted.

“Deal.”

“Alright, teach me how to shift.”

He released me long enough to capture my hand, and led me across the room.

When we reached the pool in the corner, I expected him to make me sit down beside it.

Instead, he pulled my body flush against his and dove headfirst into the water.