Page 11

11

Claira

“ N o—no, she’s here. She’s awake!”

I awoke to Hari’s desperate glare hovering over me. “ Aren’t you , my lady?” She urged me up with a sharp jerk of her chin.

“Wha…?” I sputtered, jolting upright. Eyes peered at me from the entryway, prompting me to snap my arms across my chest to cover myself.

Oh. Thank Poseidon I was still wearing my new Undersea ocean silks. Why had I thought I hadn’t been wearing anything at all?

A shiver ran through me as I sank back into the cover of seagrass. It was deeply unsettling, waking up to the stare of multiple sets of eyes at my doorstep.

Impatiently, the head chef cleared his throat. He clearly felt he was the one being inconvenienced instead of me.

“You’re awake, yeah?” Hari’s voice jumped a whole octave, as if she feared he might turn around and leave before I answered.

“Oh. Uh, yes.” I scrunched up my nose, stifling a yawn. “Wide awake and not at all bothered by this unexpected invasion of my sleeping space. Not one bit.”

Unfazed by my tone, the chef gave a brisk clap of his hands. “Then we shall promptly bring forth your feast.” His upturned nose exuded an unmistakable air of superiority as he added, “Your Highness.”

The beady eyes of his minions pinned me down as if to say, and what a sorry excuse for a princess you are . Yeah, well, they could take my crown and shove it up their boss’s meaty— wait, feast time? Already?

Frowning, I turned to Hari. “How long was I asleep?”

“Too long,” she said absently, her warrior’s gaze already honing in on the first platter to enter the chamber. I could practically see the drool oozing from her mouth.

That meant Aracos must not have come by with a scroll for me this morning. My heart sank, and it continued to do so even as one of Hari’s tentacles hooked me by the arm, jerking me upright.

“See, here we are. Perfectly awake—and hungry by the looks of her!” Her voice cracked like a madwoman, enough to make both of us cringe. “I mean, who wouldn’t be hungry with you here to serve them? Your presence alone is enough to whet my, uh, a-appetite.”

Wow, that wasn’t awkward at all.

She forced a grimacing smile that told me part of her was certainly dying on the inside. Her tentacle curled around me like a vice, a silent plea for help. At least she had some self-awareness about how the chef’s presence turned her into an erratic mess. Love seemed to have that effect on her.

My chest tightened with an unexpected squeeze. Love?

“Yeah, thanks for the food,” I chimed in, although my mind was drifting back to when I’d been asleep moments ago. What had I been dreaming about?

There was something—a peculiar sensation that lingered, making me feel like I was forgetting something important. Love, love, love… For whatever reason, that word kept crossing my mind.

A sense of safety bubbled up next, accompanied by a happiness that, now that I recognized it, I wasn’t ready to let go of.

… Barren?

A flush spread across my face as memories from last night returned. My belly fluttered with a nervous thrum that wouldn’t settle.

“ I love you.” I could hear his deep voice saying it, loud and clear.

Oh, goodness. I’d dreamt about him again, and it had been a good dream. Too good. And now that I was awake, I knew well that it was only a matter of time before the emptiness returned.

Dammit. There my heart went again, aching with longing, torturing me more with every new beat.

The entire recollection shattered like a bursting bubble the moment Hari dropped me. As soon as the last platter was set out, she abandoned me, racing to get to them first. Thanks a lot, Hari.

I was still righting myself as the chef departed, his voice stiff with forced politeness. “Enjoy your feast.”

I’d try, but—despite Hari’s praise—his feasts were usually as tasteless as his manners. “Uh-huh, thanks,” I muttered. Raw fish, oh joy .

It looked painful how his tentacles bulged and stretched, struggling to pull his plump body back into the hall. As soon as he was out of earshot, Hari couldn’t help but comment, “I hate to see him leave, but mmmm ,” she purred, “watching him go.”

Feast times were obviously the highlights of her day.

“Yeah, he’s something, all right.” Sure, he wasn’t my type, but who was I to judge when I was supposedly bound to my mates thanks to a gift from a long-dead ancient deity? I showed my lackluster support with a nod before adding, “Don’t you think he’s kind of rude, though?”

Too bad my question fell on deaf ears. Now that food was here, it was her sole focus. Using her tentacles, she tore into all three platters at once, emitting an appreciative moan as she dug right in.

“You’re not very hungry, are you?” she said around a mouthful of… was that octopus? “After all the trouble you caused yesterday—” Chew, chew, chew. “—I’m sure you won’t mind if I eat most of this, right?”

“Knock yourself out.” I pulled myself closer to get a better look at the feast, raising an eyebrow. “Octopus. Seriously? ”

Her dark eyes narrowed as she slurped up a curling tentacle that looked like it was trying to escape her mouth. “Don’t pretend like you don’t guzzle down fish, mermaid .”

“Yeah, well, that’s different.” Okay, maybe I didn’t have a good comeback for that. While I knew mertails were biologically nothing like fish, that probably wasn’t obvious to a cecaelia.

“Uh-huh,” she said, smacking her lips.

“For the record, I prefer the term ‘ex-mermaid,’” I grumbled, frowning at all the octopus. “You know, I used to love the taste of octopus until I met a live one. I didn’t realize how emotionally intelligent they are.”

“Emotionally intelligent?” She snorted, her usual gruff demeanor returning now that we were alone. “Whatever you say, my lady.”

“It’s true,” I said, grabbing one of the few fish hidden among the chunks of octopus. Better to get it now before Hari found it and devoured it, too. I took a sensible bite, chewed, then swallowed. “But still, I didn’t mean to imply that cecaelia are cannibals or whatever. So, sorry about that. I guess I just didn’t expect to see octopus on the menu.”

“Well, I can’t speak for everyone.” Hari’s jaw worked rapidly between almost every word. “But, personally, I wouldn’t mind taking a bite out of Vishmiel.”

Yeah, that was obvious to pretty much everyone. “Thanks for that,” I muttered, trying hard not to picture it. “Seriously, though, I hope you’re prepared to choke. He looks like quite the mouthful, even for?—”

The sound of a throat being cleared in my entryway caused my heart to jump to my throat.

The sea wizard stood there, his presence a dark shadow that seemed to fill my entire chamber. Magic from his recent teleportation radiated off his shoulders, dense and smoky, like waves rolling up a shore. His arms were crossed over his bare chest, one eyebrow raised.

“Wizard. Hi.” My voice came out high-pitched and slightly deranged, much like Hari’s had when I’d thought of her as a madwoman. “How long have you been here?”

“I arrived just in time to learn how much you love the taste of octopus.” His lips barely hinted at a smirk before he leaned forward in a bow. “I trust you rested well, princess.”

Hari, to her credit, didn’t show any signs of being caught off guard by his presence. She continued to devour the meal in front of her like he was nothing more than an insignificant speck of algae drifting by.

“Great job guarding my chamber this morning,” I muttered.

Her mouth was full as she garbled back, “It’s hardly morning.”

“That is quite the feast,” the sea wizard commented, and the feral growl Hari emitted told me that now she regretted not stopping his entry.

I rolled my eyes as Hari’s limbs curled over the platters, drawing them underneath her like she was protecting her hoard. She wiped her mouth with the back of a tentacle while reaching for her weapon with another. With a flick, her pike cut through the water, its sharp tip pointed directly at the sea wizard’s neck.

“Cut the sharkshit,” she snarled, low and on edge. “Why are you here, puppet?”

His expression remained unchanged, the danger of Hari’s pike not even registering on his face. “I have business with the princess,” he said simply, smoothly maneuvering around the weapon to address me directly. “That is, if it is convenient .”

That’s right—he’d spoken of taking me to see his mentor today.

My bottom lip caught between my teeth as I glanced back at where my crown lay next to my seagrass bed. “Will I need to wear my crown?”

His attention briefly shifted toward the crown as well. “I believe it would be wise to leave it behind for now. We wouldn’t want it to attract any unnecessary attention on our journey.”

Journey? Now, that sounded a bit more extreme than a visit. How long was this going to take?

“Hold on,” Hari interrupted. “You expect me to just lean back and let you take her? Without protection or explanation?”

I yelped in surprise, my eyes widening as she snatched me by the waist. She yanked me close, stuffing me underneath her like I was another one of the platters she wanted to keep away from him.

There it was—that puppet persona, slipping seamlessly back into place. The sea wizard’s eyes went hollow, his posture stiff as he clearly articulated, “Rest assured, Harini, I operate under the crown’s command. I harbor no ill intentions toward our princess. She is perfectly safe with me.”

“Is she?” Hari’s top lip curled, her protectiveness nearly smothering me. Holy crap , she was incredibly strong . As her anger mounted, it felt less like protection and more like choking. “Because after spending a day alone with you, she returned to me a shaking, miserable mess! She cried all night .”

“Ha—Hari!” I practically screamed. Prying one of her tentacles from around my neck, I violently shook my head. “No, I—I didn’t, I wasn’t.” Poseidon help me . This was what betrayal felt like. “Seriously, it was nothing!”

No, no, no. This was so wrong, all of it. How was I going to get through another day with him now?

The sea wizard’s mouth opened. Then shut. A muscle in his jaw ticked, and for a moment, I saw a flicker of something dark cross his eyes before that disappeared behind his mask as well. “I understand your concerns, Harini.” He kept his voice remarkably steady. “But the queen’s orders are clear, and I must obey them.”

He offered his hand, replicating yesterday’s gesture that I hadn’t accepted. “I will ensure her safety and bring her back as soon as I can,” he said carefully. “Though I cannot guarantee the state of her mind upon our return.”

What was that supposed to mean?

Hari snorted. “There’s no way she’ll—my lady!”

The platters slid under my belly, my muscles screaming as I dragged myself out from underneath the suffocating tangle of Hari’s limbs.

“It’s fine,” I huffed, reaching for the sea wizard’s hand. It wasn’t like I was any safer here with Hari. My neck still hurt from where she’d nearly snapped it off. “It’s like he said—if my grandmother wants me to go with him, I don’t really have a choice, now do I? At least you’ll know what to tell her if she comes looking for me this time.”

With a firm and chilling grasp, the sea wizard’s hand closed around mine. Before I could even say my goodbyes, magic smoke erupted, whisking us away.

When the haze cleared, I realized that a platter of octopus had come along with us, still stuck under the weight of my tail.

“Oh, no.” I cringed, seeing that it was still mostly full. “You’ve really done it now, wizard. Hari’s not going to forgive you for this.”

Now that we were alone, the sea wizard didn’t look amused. In fact, he looked like he was already regretting taking me on this journey. He wasn’t thinking about how I’d cried all night, was he?

Dammit, Hari. I couldn’t believe she’d told him that. She didn’t even know if he was the reason for my tears. It could have just as well been her hours of lecturing that triggered my breakdown.

“About what Hari said…” I started, and— oh no —what excuse was I supposed to give him? Think fast, brain ?—

“There’s no need to explain yourself.” His gaze was fixed on the ocean ahead. He kept me at a distance, his tentacles carefully tamed and well away from even my tail, our hands the only point in which we touched.

He smoothed back his hair with his free hand as if he were attempting to gather his thoughts. “Now, if I remember correctly, you’re eager to use a portal?”

The question took me by surprise, throwing me more off balance than the teleportation had. “A portal?” A quick sweep of our surroundings showed no obvious giant monoliths. It was just crumbling shale beds and an eerily empty ocean. “Well, yeah. You blew up the last one I was hoping to use.”

He nodded thoughtfully, knuckles tightening under his chin as if he were recalling just how he’d done it. His voice deepened, pouring out like thick smoke. “A decision I still stand by.”

“I’m sure you do,” I muttered back, looking around again. How strange. There was literally nothing nearby. Had he blown up a portal here, too? “Where are we exactly?”

“The great abyssal plain, also known as the mouth of the Undersea,” he said, his eyes scanning the same path mine had taken. “Whenever I need to reflect, this is where I like to go.”

“Really?” I asked, taking in the desolate landscape. It looked… bleak. Depressing. “So, is this where your mentor lives?”

“No,” he said tightly. “This isn’t a place for the living. In fact, it’s where many come to meet their end.”

Then why had he— hold on . The mouth of the Undersea? Wasn’t that where he’d been cast out to when his powers awakened, back when he was a spawnling?

A shiver of dread compelled the question from my lips. “Is this where they abandoned you?”

The sea wizard froze—it was apparently my turn to take him by surprise. “Indeed,” he said, his voice lacking the bitterness I’d expected. Instead, there was a sense of exhaustion that seemed bone-deep, weighing down his broad shoulders. “I didn’t expect you to remember that.”

My heart clenched as I took in our surroundings with newfound understanding. There were no sea creatures in sight, just miles and miles of inhospitable ocean. How could anyone leave a child alone in such a place?

There was one reason, too grim to even fathom.

‘I was tossed out in the ocean to rot.’

Yet despite that, he still came here to reflect?

“It’s not something easy for me to forget,” I whispered through a lump tightening my throat. “I was abandoned, too, so…”

I often stood at the edge of the pier where I’d been abandoned. But that wasn’t the same. That pier was my sanctuary, my rescue—this was an empty void, dead and hollow.

“Consider it a mercy that you were too young to remember what it was like,” he said, causing me to pause.

“But, I do remember. I was nine .”

“Nine?” His lip curled as he stared at me, his white gaze suddenly piercing. “You said you were abandoned? How? ”

All I could do was blink at him. “On land? My father tossed me up on a pier and left me there when I was a merfry. Told me I was a burden because of my tail,” I said, feeling like it should have been obvious. A smile softened my voice as I added, “And here I thought you already knew everything there was to know about me.”

His brow furrowed, and I could sense his tension, but I wasn’t sure how to analyze it. “That surprises me.” His mouth opened like he had even more to say, but whatever it was, he kept it to himself.

“Surprised me, too,” I mumbled, my gaze falling to the odd platter of octopus sitting on an otherwise empty ocean floor. “But it actually turned out to be a really good thing. Nothing like being abandoned in a place like this.”

He swallowed, looking around like he’d suddenly remembered where we were. “Yes, well, if you’re finished sight-seeing, there’s a reason I brought us here.” His words were casual, but my heart still ached for him. “There’s a portal underneath us, not unlike those clunky monstrosities the merfolk use for teleportation.”

“Underneath us?” I gawked down at the shale bed, only to see a faint ripple of shadows emanating in a ring next to the platter.

He swiped a tentacle over the surface, revealing a swirling vortex of darkness underneath.

“Uh…” My eyes widened as I stared into the deep, infinite hole in the ocean floor that seemed to defy all laws of nature. “That’s a portal? It looks… sinister.”

“Sinister?” He seemed genuinely surprised by my reaction, a hint of amusement playing on his face. “It’s just magic, no different from yours or mine. You don’t believe my magic is sinister. Or do you?”

“Let’s be real here,” I said dryly. “Your magic definitely gives off some ominous vibes. Smoke and shadows? They’re not exactly cupcakes and unicorns, you know.”

The sea wizard bent forward, doubling over. For a second, I wasn’t sure if I’d somehow wounded him by words alone. But then his head flew back, and he erupted into genuine laughter, startling and new and unlike anything I’d heard from him before. The sound of it grew deeper with every salty exhale. “And I suppose you think Poseidon’s magic is cupcakes and unicorns?”

I tapped my chin, unsure of how to respond to that. “I don’t know the first thing about Poseidon’s magic. For all I know, his could be worse.”

That seemed to bring him back to his senses. “Indeed,” he said, straightening upright. “Poseidon’s magic is not to be underestimated. But all magic has its light and dark aspects. Light can be used for evil just as easily as dark can be used for good.”

He was as cryptic as always. It was strange, though—when he spoke of magic, there was a wisdom in his eyes that seemed to far exceed his age. It was enough to make me hesitate, reminding me of how convinced Echinea was that he was Poseidon.

He, uh, wasn’t … was he?

His smooth chuckle brought me up from my thoughts. “Aracos did heal your hand with my dark, sinister magic, didn’t he?”

“Yes, he did,” I admitted, squeezing my hand shut. If it weren’t for Aracos, the cut would have left a permanent scar. “But I know he isn’t evil.”

“Ah,” the sea wizard said with a good-humored nod. “And you’re still undecided about me, I see.” His fingers lightly massaged the base of his throat as if trying to make the words come up easier. “It’s probably for the best. Trust is such a delicate thing—easily shattered in a single moment of weakness, and even magic can’t restore it once it’s gone.”

“I never said I thought you were evil,” I quickly interjected, feeling an odd desire to defend him.

“True, you did not,” he acknowledged with a subtle grin. His eyes fixed on where our hands connected, making the gap between us feel even wider. “Now, duty calls. Lady Desmona is waiting.”

He spread his fingers, his body shifting before me. “May I?” he asked, his arms opening up for me. “I’ve never traveled through the portal with another. I’m afraid it might be a tight fit.” There was a hint of hesitation in each movement, almost like he already knew what I was thinking. A single moment of weakness .

My heart raced as I gazed at his outstretched arms and that invitingly smooth chest. The thought of being so close to him right now was overwhelming. “Is there a reason you can’t just poof us there?”

His lips twitched at my use of the word poof . “Unfortunately, even my magic has its limits.”

“The portal must lead pretty far away, then,” I muttered, staring down into the dark void. I had always wanted to use a portal.

After a moment’s thought, I nodded slowly, my curiosity outweighing my caution. Here goes nothing . I pulled myself closer, and he wasted no time welcoming me. My skin tingled as his tentacles joined in, too, wrapping around my tail in a soft embrace.

Oh, no. I needed something—anything—to help me ignore the sensation of his pale chest rising and falling against me. I resorted to conversation, blurting out the first thing that came to mind. “It’s weird how your tentacles are always so much gentler with me than other cecaelia have been, isn’t it?”

Instant regret. That… totally wasn’t something I should have said out loud.

A low rumble vibrated through the very chest I was currently attempting to ignore—unsuccessfully, I might add. “Weird, indeed.” He hummed, looking like he was pondering how best to respond to that thought. “Although I would love to say my tentacles act of their own accord, I must confess it’s actually my control that dictates how they touch you. If it feels gentle, that’s because I intend it to.”

Poseidon help me , why had I thought conversation would somehow make this better? What did he expect me to say to that? “Oh—I see.”

If that were true, then all this time, he’d been making an effort while others didn’t give a damn about how they handled me, even if I was their ‘princess.’

It was a terrifying realization, knowing that I only had one ally in the Undersea. Just one other who cared enough not to yank me around and strangle me with their overabundance of limbs.

Without the sea wizard’s support, I would be utterly defenseless down here. Alone and at the mercy of the queen and her pawns.

I wrapped around him, pulling my body flush against his, and felt him go completely still under my arms.

“Princess…?”

“Do you think we’ll fit now?” My face was burning so hot I prayed he couldn’t feel it through the water.

“Hmm.” Arms coiled tighter around me, gliding up the back of my shoulder blades. “I believe we can make this work.” His voice was a gentle hum in my ear, a rich song I could easily become entranced by.

Hold up —entranced by?

Whatever that terrifying split-second almost-feeling was, it vanished as soon as we plunged through the portal.