Page 27

27

Claira

“ I t’s that simple.” The sea wizard drifted over to my seagrass bed long enough to retrieve my crown, coming back to place it on my head.

I furrowed my brow. Simple? He had to be joking.

“Just focus on the single point you wish to travel to, and once you add your intention , your magical instincts will kick in and snap you to your desired location.”

Magical instincts? Did I have that?

And if I did, what if it led me straight into a rock or halfway through the ceiling?

I’d wanted to learn how to teleport so badly, but I hadn’t thought it would come down to trusting my gut . It was following my gut that led me to the Undersea in the first place, and now I was trapped here as their princess.nj

Clearly, my instincts were broken.

The sea wizard leaned away, a hand motioning toward the empty area on the opposite side of my chamber as he shrugged. “There’s no need to be afraid. You’ve seen me do it numerous times.”

“I’m not afraid,” I said sharply, a lie as translucent as Aracos was, currently hidden under his invisibility spell right outside my chamber.

“Of course not.” The sea wizard’s answering smile was disarmingly charming and did absolutely nothing to calm my nerves. “But if you were feeling afraid, I would advise you that fear may serve to cloud your intention and make a teleportation spell that much more difficult to execute.”

Had I really just thought he was charming? Ugh . I took it all back. “Yep. Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Now, I was almost certain some part of me would get trapped inside a rock. If I was lucky, it would be my tail that got caught instead of one of my more vital parts—like my head.

His tone took a softer turn. “Princess…”

“ Shhh, ” I cut him off. My nerves couldn’t survive another one of his pep talks. “Let me focus, okay?”

I adjusted my grip on my seashell knife, securing my hand in the swirl that led to its hollow center. It was funny how having a knife with me always made me feel a little braver. Had the sea wizard somehow known that about me? Was that why he’d asked me to hold it?

I glanced down, my eyes immediately drawn to the impossibly thin threads of dark magic woven along the unassuming weapon’s surface. On the outside, the shell looked ordinary. Unremarkable. But on the inside, it held a power that no one would ever suspect.

Except the sea wizard had always known its worth. He’d seen my worth as well, long before I’d begun to understand it myself. If I couldn’t trust my magical instincts, maybe I could trust his. He wouldn’t be teaching me how to teleport unless he already knew I could do it, right?

“Right,” I muttered. I could do this.

I turned my focus on the spot on the other side of my chamber, reminding myself that the area was completely empty. No random rocks to get stuck inside. There was absolutely nothing to get caught on as long as I concentrated on the water in the center.

Teleport to that point, right there .

As soon as I added my intention , I felt the magic rising out of me swirl and surge like a storm brewing over the surface of my skin. The energy gathered, building to a crescendo, and I almost let myself panic when— snap .

Teleporting on my own was an entirely new type of disorientation. My mind seemed to catch up with my body a full second after I reappeared.

“Whoa—crap!” Arms scrambling, I sank hard, landing on the stone floor of my chamber in a face-first tumble instead of tail-first.

The sea wizard’s sharp voice whipped out behind me. “Are you all right?” I was half-expecting him to find humor in my clumsiness, but no. He sounded genuinely concerned.

My head spun as I took in my surroundings. Huh . Somehow, I’d landed in the exact spot I’d focused on. I swung around to confirm it, and there the sea wizard was, gazing at me from across my chamber. His muscles were tense as if he’d wanted to use them to catch me, and his tentacles coiled tight like they were ready to move.

“I’m fine,” I muttered, far more embarrassed than hurt. With a groan, I pushed myself up to sitting. “Just my usual clumsiness…” My voice trailed as I momentarily let go of my shell knife to rub the stinging side of my cheek. “Oh, great. Blood.”

Then it hit me all at once, and I gasped, almost unable to believe it. “I actually did it. I poofed! ”

The sea wizard’s tentacles seemed to bristle as he glided toward me. Wait —was one of them wrapped around my crown? I touched the top of my head before glancing around to see that the crown really hadn’t teleported with me. Strange.

Thankfully, my shell knife had, along with my ocean silks. Phew .

“Well done,” he said, his voice a smooth rumble of approval that sent flutters spreading through me. But his eyes told something very different.

Dammit —he’d noticed the blood, hadn’t he?

My embarrassment flared. He’d probably never hurt himself while teleporting, even his first time.

No sooner was he next to me did he reach out, a tentacle caressing the side of my wounded cheek. “May I?”

I found myself leaning into his touch as I nodded. “Thank you,” I said softly, imagining how it might feel if he’d chosen to extend his hand to me instead.

The sensation of his healing magic at work tickled my skin, and I couldn’t keep my smile from spreading. Magic was… incredible. Exhilarating.

And the sea wizard had been right. Teleportation was simple.

But even the simplicity of it didn’t stop it from feeling like an accomplishment. It almost matched the first time I’d taken Lady Ochre out to fish on my own.

Goodness, I was so happy that I was shaking .

With my emotions bubbling over, I couldn’t contain myself as I blurted, “This is even better than a double fisherman’s knot.”

“Pardon?” The sea wizard pulled away. He drew out the words as though I’d just spoken in some sort of code. “Better than a double fisherman’s knot? ” His white eyes held a spark of amusement as he studied me, one eyebrow quirking.

Excitement buzzed in my mind, making it hard to form a coherent thought. “You’re probably already an expert at tying one. You’re so good at everything,” I explained with a laugh. “Sadly, I can’t say the same for me.”

My laughter quickly faded as I noticed the seriously confused look on his face, and self-consciousness kicked in.

“Uh… Never mind.” Wow . To him, that must have sounded super random. Sure, he had a book about knots in his office, but he might not have even read it. “Just forget I said anything.”

My excitement must have thrown the sea wizard off balance as much as it had thrown me, because he lifted my crown as if remembering that he had something to say about it—which would have been the perfect distraction from this moment—but his voice seemed momentarily lost.

Just as I was about to ask about it, he suddenly said, “I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’m good at everything.”

“Oh, really?” I chuckled softly, my smile slowly returning. He hadn’t struck me as the modest type. “Then tell me, what’s one thing you struggle with?”

I supposed he needed a moment to think about it. His gaze turned distant as his hand drifted up to his chest, touching the center of his trident mark. “My limitations,” he finally decided with a chilling hint of darkness.

Oh, damn . I was expecting something like cooking or singing, not… that.

But then, as if shaking off the melancholy, the last hint of his vulnerability faded as he focused back on me with a smirk. “However, I’m always striving to overcome them.”

“That’s really inspiring,” I replied, trying to match his serious tone before breaking into a smirk of my own. “But seriously, I hope that one day, both of us can overcome our limitations.”

He nodded, his expression growing more solemn. “Indeed. And tonight, you are close to overcoming one of yours.”

“I know.” I bit my lip, anticipation prickling under my skin. Soon, it wouldn’t matter that I couldn’t swim, would it? Well, as long as no one saw me teleport. I couldn’t risk letting anyone else in the Undersea know that I was a sea witch. “Should I try teleporting again?”

“First—” He deftly twirled my crown around the end of a tentacle. “Can you tell me why you think you left this behind?”

“Um.” I paused, my mind searching for a logical explanation. “Could it be because I hate it?”

I felt my lungs squeeze as the sea wizard studied me. “And the shell?” he asked, sounding even more curious. “Why do you think it went with you?”

“Because,” I began slowly, that squeezing feeling shifting from my lungs to a spot suspiciously close to my heart. “I love it. I always want to have it with me.”

After I gave my answer, I could feel the sea wizard’s piercing-white gaze searching me, like he was peering deep into my soul.

Was he hoping for a hidden meaning there? There wasn’t one. Maybe. Either way, my face felt hotter now than it had when I’d face-planted on the chamber floor.

“That is correct,” he said, absentmindedly twirling the crown once more. “It’s how teleportation works. Your magical instincts choose what to take with you.”

“Oh.” That made sense. But then I remembered something that made me snort. “What about the time you brought a platter of octopus with us?” That might have been the real reason Hari had brought her pike to the sea wizard’s neck earlier today. I still hadn’t forgiven her for it.

“I’d been lost in my mind that morning,” he admitted with a stiff shrug. “By the time I came to retrieve you, I was famished.”

“But you didn’t even eat it?” I frowned, also pointing out, “You didn’t eat until like... so many hours later.”

“I’m aware.”

Well, damn.

“You know, being lost in your head isn’t a good enough excuse to skip meals,” I warned, snatching my crown back from his tentacle’s grasp. “Are you hungry right now? Should we stop? Don’t even think about lying to your princess.”

“My appetite can wait for a more suitable time to be sated,” he said smoothly, which didn’t really answer the question, did it?

I narrowed my gaze at him. Very suspicious . “Wizard?—”

“Hm. Fine,” he conceded before a lopsided smirk hinted at a devilish thought. “How about we make a deal? You practice your teleportation, and if you can evade me for, let’s say… one minute, then we both get to take a break and eat. Does that sound fair?”

One minute?

His piercing eyes bore into me, daring me to accept.

“Deal.” As soon as the word left my lips, the sea wizard slid backward, and without warning, he vanished.

“Oh, okay—I guess we’re starting,” I called out to my empty chamber, trying to keep calm while I scanned for where the sea wizard might reappear.

A sudden pull in the current whipped through my hair, and my heart leaped into my throat as I realized he’d materialized right behind me. Of course he did.

Instead of waiting for him to wrap around me, I focused ahead, picking the space in front of my chamber’s entryway.

Move , I urged, prodding at my magical instincts, and snap .

“Ugh.” I tumbled forward, head rattling, but I thankfully caught myself with my hands instead of my face. Only— dammit . Not only had I forgotten to grab my shell before teleporting, but I’d yet again left my crown behind.

“Excellent,” the sea wizard praised before holding up seven fingers with a taunting smile. “Seven seconds.” Then he vanished.

Oh, shit. Was he serious about keeping count? I pushed my chest off the rocky floor, my eyes still spinning as I frantically tried to pin down where to go next.

While I was still disoriented, he materialized directly above me, creating a looming shadow of dark limbs that was about to swallow me whole. I let out a yelp as his tentacles descended, a strong arm encircling my waist, and I made a split-second decision.

Snap.

I was gasping in desperate gulps when I reappeared, landing back at my original starting point. “That doesn’t count,” I argued before he even had a chance to say a word about winning. Because despite him holding onto me, I’d managed to teleport away without him. “I still evaded you—it doesn’t count!”

Okay, fine, it totally counted. But I wasn’t about to admit that it took him less than ten seconds to catch me.

There was a hint of pride in the way the sea wizard held his chin aloft as he gazed at me from across the chamber. “I suppose it doesn’t,” he said with a chuckle.

“Exactly,” I said, matching his grin. Now that I knew his game—teleport right behind the princess—I decided it was my turn to vanish first.

Snap.

But when I reappeared in the space above my desk, it was like I’d stumbled into an entirely different chamber. What the heck happened?

Apparently, in the half a second it took me to teleport, dark tendrils of magic had infiltrated my chamber. They reached across it at various heights and angles, giving the impression of a tangled web suspended in the water.

My skin flushed with recognition—it was the same seaweed-like magic the sea wizard had used to bind me during our first meeting. How could I have forgotten he could do that?

“Not fair,” I called out, glancing around for any sign of him through the chaos.

“Oh, now you’re worried about fairness?” His amused voice came from above me. “Twenty-four seconds, by the way.”

“I know you’re not really counting.” I huffed, mostly as a distraction, while I found a space free from magical seaweed where I could teleport.

Snap.

I landed with my tail on the ground this time. Holy crap —I was getting good at this. I didn’t even get my tail trapped in the stone.

The sea wizard was back in front of me before the sensation of using my magic had left my skin. “Impressive,” he remarked as if also surprised that half of me hadn’t ended up stuck in the floor. “But not yet impressive enough.”

He raised a hand, and the seaweed-like magic surged forward, casting out toward me like a living net. Panic seized me before the dark tendrils could, and for the first time, I willed my magic to teleport me without a clear intention in mind.

Snap.

When I materialized again, it was amidst a tangle of his freaking magic, and my body and tail were each caught on different strands. Ugh!

I wiggled my hips, trying to tug my tail loose, when the sea wizard appeared, perched on the strands above me. Tentacles twisting, he flipped upside down. Jet black locks dangling in front of me like drips of ink, his face just inches from mine as he flashed a sly grin. “In need of some assistance?”

The hand he offered me was so coordinated that I had to wonder if he often spent time hanging upside down.

“Yeah, sure,” I scoffed, pushing a disheveled section of my hair out of my face instead of taking his hand. “Like I’d fall for such an obviously dirty trick.”

He looked at his offered hand and then back at me with an arched eyebrow. “I think you mean cunning trick.”

Oh, yeah. So cunning. With a sharp tug, I freed my tail, only to flip forward on the strand supporting the rest of me. Before I could plummet to the floor, something snagged me, gently lifting me back up to the level where the sea wizard was still dangling.

He might have been trying to hold back laughter as he sat me back where I’d been. “See?” he said as he released me. “Not such a dirty trick, after all.”

I bit back a smile, not wanting to give him the satisfaction. “And how many seconds has it been now?”

He paused, considering. “Let’s go with… Forty-five. Fifteen seconds left.”

“You mean, fifteen seconds until I win.” I knew he wasn’t really keeping track, but I wouldn’t have minded if he’d kept the count lower. At this point, I was just enjoying the thrill of using my magic.

“Oh?” he asked with an inquisitive hum, his upside-down head looking absolutely ridiculous as it tilted. “I suppose then it’s time for me to get serious.”

I gestured to the strands of magic taking over my entire chamber. “And this wasn’t serious?”

“Far from it.” With a flick of his wrist, the strand of magic I was clinging to came to life, curling in on itself to twist around me.

“Oh, crap .” Snap .

I reappeared in the very corner of my chamber, realizing, to my horror, that every magic strand was now moving, creating a turbulent wave of disorder I could never fight my way through.

Unless…

Another quick snap , and I was back in the center of the chaos. My heart raced as I frantically scanned the floor for what I needed. And there it was—my seashell knife.

Relief seeped into me as soon as I had it in my hand. The next time one of those dark tangles snagged me, I could slice right through it.

“I must admit, I didn’t expect you to be so resourceful,” the sea wizard said from… somewhere. When he didn’t reveal himself, I realized he was letting his magic take a turn to toy with me instead.

I steadied my hand, holding the shell at the ready in front. The magic strands were moving so fast, writhing snakes that threatened to break free from the walls to wrap around me at any moment.

As suspected, here they came.

In a quick slash, I cut through the first strand that lashed at me, watching its magic dissolve and disappear before my eyes. It was a small victory, but I didn’t have time to revel in it before more strands closed in.

I feverishly drove my shell through the next one, then the next. All around me, the magical ribbons fell away. Until they didn’t.

Once one strand managed to catch the end of my tail, the rest of me followed. The magic ensnared me, looping around the back of my arms and dragging me down to the floor, pinning me on my back until the only things I could move were my neck and my lungs.

“You’re quite the fighter, I’ll give you that.”

I flinched in the direction of the sea wizard’s voice as he slid into view above me. There was a subtle movement of his hand, a sweeping gesture that seemed to guide even more strands to me, commanding them to trail up my body and join the others.

It took me back to the memory of the Atlantic kingdom’s dungeon, where he’d seen me at my most vulnerable—powerless and exposed. While I’d thought of him as my enemy then, he’d still handed me the tool that I needed to win my freedom.

One of the sea wizard’s tentacles tagged my tail, bringing me back to the present as he teased, “Shall I begin the countdown?”

But when I didn’t immediately teleport, his focus gradually seemed to shift further from our game and closer to the way his magic had restrained me. I could feel it. The exact moment his expression changed, something clicking inside him, a keen sense awakening that caused the tendrils running over me to slow to a languid crawl.

His gaze traced a thorough path across my body, finding every point where the dark strands tied together. The way he studied me, there was no more countdown, no minute. There was only darkness and control. It was cold calculation that, to me, felt like complete unpredictability.

He hovered above me, all predator and sea demon, and I found myself unable—and unwilling—to look away.

His voice sounded an entire octave lower as he asked, “Is this your surrender?”

I made no attempt to speak, teleport, or even fight against my bindings. I could only stare up at him with wide eyes. Even though I wasn’t exerting any energy, the simple act of being bound in front of him was causing my breath to quicken.

His expression hardened as he shifted, leaning over me. “Was that really all the magic you had in you?” His voice was as smooth as the stone against my back. He brought his body down without warning, more tentacles coming down on either side of my tail. His stomach almost followed, inching perilously closer.

“ Wizard, ” I murmured, head shaking, heart pounding. He thought he was pushing me to use my magic, but what he didn’t realize was that if I teleported away right now, there was absolutely zero chance that I wouldn’t bring him with me.

But maybe that’s what I needed.

I kept my gaze locked on his as my magic surged, my concentration sharpening on where to go next.

Snap.

Hard stone and bindings were replaced with soft grass as we landed together on top of my seagrass bed. The sea wizard’s eyes swept our surroundings, surprise etching lines between his dark eyebrows.

“You… brought me with you.” He said it like he never thought it was a possibility.

“I guess that means you caught me,” I whispered. When he didn’t say anything, I added, “Thank you for teaching me how to teleport.”

Arms propped on either side of me, his body loomed achingly close, the restless slide of tentacles causing each individual scale on my tail to shiver. “You’re quite welcome.”

The moment that deep murmur met my ears, the sound of his voice took an unexpected shift, doubling, tripling, into a harmony that wrapped around every one of my senses. I moved without thinking, my hand capturing the edge of his jaw.

He stopped suddenly, moving, breathing.

I gazed into those powerful white eyes, my hand trembling as it rested on his stone-cold jaw. “Say it again.”

His lips parted, a slow buildup of desire flaring in his gaze. “You’re quite welcome.”

Again, it was like magic, a spell being cast. His voice washed over me, a powerful, magnetic pull bringing me closer to him. “ The thrall ,” I realized with a soft gasp, recognizing it for what it was. I’d been hit with it three times already, and the fourth time had proven to be just as potent.

“ The thrall? ” It felt like a taut line had been pulled, abruptly causing all of the sea wizard’s limbs to rip away from me at once.

An unsettling shadow of panic darkened his eyes as he urgently pushed out of my bed. “ Aracos ,” he ordered. “Finish up here without me.”

“ What? Without you?” I gasped as he turned away, the last of his touch already fading. “Wizard, wait.”

The way he looked back at me, a tumultuous mix of longing and regret, sent a jolt to my heart, leaving me even more confused. Desperation was seeping in, and I needed to know if he’d felt what I’d felt, too.

But again, he was drawing a line. Maybe I would understand it one day, but right now, my thrall -crazed mind couldn’t fathom why .

“You know, you don’t keep your feelings hidden nearly as well as you think you do,” I called out as he made his retreat, my throat catching on almost every word.

He paused, dark hair swaying against the back of his neck. But instead of turning to me, instead of staying , he teleported away, and my chamber instantly grew colder without him.