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39

Claira

A s it turned out, Barren had warned me for a reason. I really should have closed my eyes.

Blinding light burst around me, and I let out an agonized scream, joining the deafening chorus of others who were also caught off guard by the sudden light. It penetrated Jagati’s ink like it was nothing, searing everything in its path, including my unprotected eyes.

“Shit!” Panic clawed at me as I tore my hands from the pillar, slapping them over my face, but I was far too late. Pain stabbed through my skull, and I could feel the damage like white-hot tendrils digging into my skin.

My eyes…

That was it. That was the last light I’d ever see because surely my eyes had been burned to nothing. Disintegrated. Gaping sockets, empty and ready to be inhabited by hermit cra?—

Something small and darting nudged at my side. Before I could fully register it, something else bumped into me from the opposite direction, as light as the flick of a fin. Then, a third came.

The water shivered with the pull of magic, and the light touches vanished, replaced by something larger, more defined.

Hands.

One grasped my arm, another encompassed my shoulder, and the last one wrapped around my waist. Suddenly, the water gave way to a jumble of tails and bodies, pressing close and tight around me from all sides.

“Mmh.” It was Barren’s deep voice, rumbling softly against the chaos I couldn’t see. “You didn’t close your eyes,” he murmured, a thread of worry woven into his usual stoic calm.

“Don’t panic.” Warm and confident, I recognized Leander’s voice at the same time as I did his hand. It curled around my waist, pulling him closer against me. “Claira, we’ve got you.”

He sounded so impassioned and sure of himself that I clung desperately to the hope that this wasn’t some type of sick fever dream.

“Guys…” My throat constricted, and for a moment, the sting of my blinded eyes was eclipsed by a surge of overwhelming emotions.

This was real .

Every touch pulled upward, lifting me off the seafloor. A brief, cold brush against my side set off a fresh wave of panic, and my mind immediately jumped to Jagati’s spears. But the hand that squeezed my shoulder was far more comforting than Jagati could ever be.

“Claira.” Kai’s voice broke, raw with what I knew was relief. “Just hang on, okay? We’ll get you out of here.”

It didn’t make sense. With all the cecaelia swarming Malkeevo, how had they even found me in the middle of it?

Oh, no — Malkeevo. The thought hit me like a jolt, and I stiffened against their grip. “Barren, your kingdom. The ceca— eugh! ”

My tongue nearly choked me as Abyssal’s magic burst over my mouth.

Dammit! That spell seemed so pointless now. But, apparently, I wouldn’t be able to mention cecaelia around merfolk for a while yet.

Barren’s hold on my arm was light but unbreakable. “Doesn’t matter,” he murmured in a way that had me easily picturing him shaking his head. “Only you do.”

“Barren,” I whispered. A surge of warmth filled me because I could feel in my soul he meant it. I wrapped my hand around his arm, mirroring the way he was holding mine.

It was impossible, but they’d done the impossible. They were here.

I tried to focus on the distinct feel of their hands and the sound of their voices. Each familiar detail painted a clearer picture in my mind—Barren’s steadfast presence, Leander’s unflinching courage, and Kai’s warm encouragement.

Had Cyre led them to me? But he couldn’t have delivered the message that quickly, could he? Even if he had, there was the fish curse, and the cecaelia…

“Beautiful.” Leander’s voice coaxed me toward him. An achingly tender hand slid to my face, cupping my cheek. If my eye sockets truly were charred and empty, surely this would be the time for him to mention it. “We thought we’d lost you. But we’re here now. We’re saving you.”

Saving me . The words felt like a warm current lifting me from the coldest, darkest abyss.

Just like that, my stomach rolled, sinking all the way into my tail.

Abyssal . Even if I was saved, he was still trapped in the Undersea, under my grandmother’s will. Leaving now would mean leaving him behind.

Or, maybe it didn’t.

As the Undersea’s princess, they wouldn’t just let me leave. The moment Queen Sagari realized I was gone, she would send him after me. Abyssal would find me. He always found me. It would never end.

“Wait, wait—I want to be with you guys more than anything,” I choked out, partially grateful that my blinded eyes kept me from seeing their reactions to my plea. “But you don’t understand. They won’t let you take me away.”

“Let us?” Leander vented a laugh. “You think we’ll let those dark spawn fuckers keep us from saving our mate?”

My stomach rolled again at the absolute revulsion in Leander’s voice. Of course, he hated the cecaelia now more than ever. All three of them must have. They had no idea their mate was also a ‘dark spawn fucker.’

“We came with a plan,” Kai added, his voice unexpectedly bright even as it shook from adrenaline. “So don’t worry, Claira. We’ll get you away from them.”

“A plan?” My mind raced. Well, whatever plan they came up with seemed to be working. But even if they did save me, they didn’t know the whole truth. They didn’t know that I belonged even less with the merfolk— with them —than any of us had ever realized.

But my thrall -crazed soul yearned to let them take me with them regardless, to escape, even if it was only a matter of time before the Undersea reclaimed me again. “There’s a knight—he knows I’m here,” I managed to stammer.

“All right, beautiful. Hang on.” Leander led me forward. Fins suddenly surrounded my tail, brushing against it as they rhythmically took off.

We were moving . Away from the cecaelia, away from the suffocating darkness of the Undersea. As long as they made it past Jagati and the fish army, for a moment, I’d be free.

A hand combed through my hair from above—a gentle, loving hand. Kai.

I found myself desperately hoping he wouldn’t notice my crown, but how could he not? If my arms had been free, I would have yanked it from my hair and tossed it. I’d still have to explain everything to him. To all three of them. I just needed to figure out how to do it.

Kai’s tail brushed the back of mine, his body pressing closer. “We were so worried about you,” he murmured. His voice was thick with emotion as he nuzzled me, practically burying his face in my hair. “I’m just so relieved… so glad you’re safe.”

My face grew hot, and a tingle ran down the back of my neck under his attention. But just as I started to process the depth of the affection Kai was showing me, Leander’s tone cut sharply through the moment.

“Not now, Kaius. That’ll have to wait,” he chimed in, and from where his voice came from below me, I could tell he was swimming on his back.

Kai let out the cutest whimper as he reluctantly pulled his face from my hair. “Hey, weren’t you the one who said you couldn’t possibly wait until we got back to land to kiss her?” I could hear the frown in his voice.

“Yeah, I did say that, didn’t I?” Leander’s voice went smooth, almost soothing, like ocean silk sliding across skin. “It looks like the pearls are keeping them busy enough,” he murmured, then, without warning, he pulled up to me. His mouth was immediately on mine.

“Leander.” Barren grunted the warning, but Leander was too busy gripping my hips, pulling me flush against him. It was a wonder we were still moving through the water at all.

He deepened our kiss, and I melted into him, forgetting everything else.

I’d miss this—so much, I’d missed this. Leander tended to my lips in a way that only he could, pouring all the longing, the pent-up emotions of the past weeks, into a single searing kiss. Yet, as our tongues moved together, a rogue thought crept in.

Could he taste the traces of Abyssal’s kiss on my lips?

Guilt twisted like a cold knot in my chest, Leander’s heart beating against it. His one, singular heart.

Just as the guilt became unbearable, Leander’s lips broke from mine. “You’re right,” he said, sounding supremely satisfied as his tail resumed its rhythm. “We need to move. Your fish won’t hold them off for long.”

“Uh—‘your’ fish?” I frowned, still a bit dazed from the kiss. “You guys have something to do with that giant fish army?”

The sound of Kai’s awkward laugh bubbled like a soft ripple above me. “Well, about that…”

Barren’s fingers flexed against my arm, although his tone was as steady as ever as he said, “Mostly illusions.”

Illusions? That was new. They were using magic to rescue me? “But how?”

The silence that followed stretched uncomfortably long, the only sound the steady thrum of water beating against my ears as we moved.

“Your sister’s helping?” I reasoned, turning blindly toward Barren as the current rushed through my hair. The pain in my eyes was already fading, and I was thankfully starting to think I’d been a bit dramatic about the damage the light had caused. But if my vision was recovering, it meant the rest of the cecaelia’s eyes were too.

“It’s… complicated.” I could tell Barren’s jaw was tight, even tighter than it had been when he’d warned Leander that now wasn’t the time for kissing.

“Complicated?” My eyebrows drew tighter. “How complicated can it be? Either she’s helping, or she isn’t.” Or, that brush of metal I felt earlier …

“Barren,” I gasped. “You have your sister’s trident?”

“Mmh.” His voice was a low, steady murmur as he corrected, “ My trident.”

“ Your trident?” I tilted my head. Now, that was puzzling. He sounded oddly possessive of it, which didn’t make sense. “But, Barren. You hate magic.”

The reminder made my stomach lurch, and I had to tighten my grip on his arm to steady myself. Magic . Thanks to Cyre, I was practically a fountain of it now, wasn’t I?

Barren must have sensed my distress because I felt his massive body turn, swimming alongside me. “I did what I had to,” he said gently. Then his voice shifted, addressing the others. “I’ll cover us.”

A discordant shiver vibrated through my bones. Even though I couldn’t see the magic he was using, I felt its energy clash with my own as it charged the surrounding water.

“Whoa, so they can’t see us?” Kai asked, his voice filled with genuine awe.

Can’t see us?

“Mmh. Or the sea of stars trailing behind us,” Barren confirmed. “Another illusion.”

An illusion —oh, god. Barren was using trident magic, something he deeply despised, to help me get away from the cecaelia. Meanwhile, I’d been happily embracing all the magic I was learning in the Undersea, oblivious to what my guys were going through and what personal sacrifices they might have been making in order to reach me.

Kai, however, didn’t share my unease. “Dude! That’s amazing. ”

He wasn’t wrong. Barren was amazing. But I hated that he had to rely on something he never wanted to use, all for my sake.

Huh. Turning us invisible with an illusion, though… That sounded a lot like my invisibility spell. Was my magic really all that different from his trident’s?

“Yeah, it’s great.” Leander’s tone was gruff. “But they can still hear us, Kaius.”

That’s right . I swallowed hard, noticing that the shrieks of the cecaelia had grown faint enough to fade completely. Was Jagati among them? Had he realized that the fish were illusions?

If so, he would head straight for the pillar to collect me. The pillar I prayed was far, far behind us by now.

“Are we out of the kingdom yet?” I whispered, watching the sparkles of light beating against my closed eyelids. Was it the same light that had initially blinded me, or maybe the glow from Kai’s eyes or the bioluminescent algae? My eyes were so sensitive to light right now that I couldn’t tell.

Barren’s voice remained steady. “Almost out.”

“Thank goodness,” I breathed. It seemed too good to be true—like it was impossible to believe they could just swoop in and rescue me. But as they’d mentioned, they had a plan. Whatever that plan was, it seemed to be working.

“Was that sudden light an illusion, too?” I whispered, curious about how they pulled it off as betta fish. If it was an illusion, it was definitely the most painfully realistic illusion I’d ever experienced.

Kai was the one to answer. “No, that part’s real.” He sounded a bit nervous as he added, “It was my idea, actually. Mega pearls.”

“ Mega pearls?” As a merfry, I’d collected hundreds of pearls, but I’d never heard of those. Were they even real? Now, I had to find out. I squinted as hard as I could, bracing myself, and then forced my eyelids to part.

“Yeah, we lit them before we jumped in,” Kai admitted with a sheepish chuckle while I fought against the intense light. “Then we had the fish—uh, the real ones—release them when we were ready. Well, maybe they aren’t technically real, but they’re as real as I could make them, anyway.”

His words had already trailed off in my mind because the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Leander’s blurry face, and the color threw me, making me want to shutter my eyelids again. That sparkle of golden hair and radiant skin. It was like my eyes had forgotten everything they could see outside of my night vision.

But then he smiled, a dazzling, pretty boy prince smile, and I couldn’t look away.

“Hey, beautiful,” he said, his voice warm and teasing.

My cheeks soaked up all that warmth until I couldn’t resist smiling back. “Good to see you, too, Lee,” I said, my mouth feeling oddly dry despite being underwater.

Yet, as my vision cleared, the tired lines beneath his eyes and the weariness of his face became apparent. How much had he gone through while I was away?

“Good?” Leander’s laugh was low, almost seductive. “I won’t settle for good , beautiful. Once we get you safely to Barren’s place, I promise you, it’ll be more than good—it’ll be the best you’ve ever felt.”

If I’d thought my throat felt dry before, it was nothing compared to now. His stormy gaze held mine, promising everything I’d missed, everything I didn’t even know I needed.

“You’re taking me back to Barren’s?” I whispered, and his smirk was enough to confirm it. Back to Barren’s. All four of us together. What a wild thought .

If I was being honest with myself, I thought I’d never go back. That maybe it was my punishment for ever leaving it in the first place.

How stupid I’d been, both in trusting and pursuing the cecaelia. But I’d had countless hours in my chamber to reflect on my choices, and it had become painfully clear that they would have caught me eventually. Whether it was when I willingly went to them or when my spells inevitably broke, it was only a matter of time before the Undersea found its princess.

But, for now, I had the chance of a brief escape from my new reality.

I dared to look back to see how far we’d made it away from the cecaelia, and my jaw dropped.

Behind the trail of stars glittering in our wake, Malkeevo was still aglow, dotted with massive orbs of light. “How did you guys ever find pearls that huge?” I asked, marveling at the sight.

Above me, Kai cleared his throat. “I, uh, made them.”

“You made them?” My chin snapped upward in surprise. The sight of him above me was almost overwhelming—his lavender hair, his gleaming eyes, and the soft pink blush creeping across his cheeks. “How?”

While waiting for his answer, my gaze fell on what he was carrying.

… Was that Barren’s trident?

Kai shifted uncomfortably, his tail momentarily shimmying out of sync with the others. “Magic,” he admitted, his blush turning crimson.

It all clicked. Barren had trusted Kai with holding his trident so he could hold on to me. Of course he had. But when I turned to Barren for confirmation, something inside me broke. One look at him—devastation.

Because a dark, jagged mark cut across his chest and arm.

My hand recoiled, letting go of his arm, not wanting to touch it, not wanting it to be real.

Barren met my gaze, and he looked like he’d fared far worse than Leander had. His dark, weary eyes were heavy with sadness, though not regret.

“Had to,” he murmured softly. He didn’t look down—didn’t need to. He already knew I’d seen the trident mark etched over his skin.

“ Had to?” I choked. Why… Why would he have had to stab himself with what he was now referring to as ‘his’ trident?

Was it because he thought he needed to in order to get me back? Oh god —was that it? Because I’d left him?

Even after I let go, Barren’s grip on my arm remained steady. “It was always my trident.”

There he went again. His trident. Barren hated tridents .

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, struggling to believe it. My eyes traced over the darkened mark again, then Leander’s. It was a permanent part of them now. A slow draw on their energy. Killing them, unless we somehow managed the impossible and figured out how to remove them.

“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I—this is all my fault.” My voice trembled with guilt. I could feel Barren’s gaze still on me, but I couldn’t bear to look him in the eyes.

The pain he must have endured while I was gone.

“No,” Kai interrupted, giving my shoulder a comforting squeeze. “None of this is your fault, Claira. It’s the dark spawn who caused this.”

I nodded, grasping onto Kai’s words, even if they were a knife driving my point deeper into my hearts. The dark spawn had caused this. Me. I was the dark spawn. The thing that they hated. My mates hated me, and they didn’t even know it.

Panic coiled around my lungs, constricting further with every salty breath. I couldn’t take it. Couldn’t stand another moment of pretending I was something I was not. “I-I’m ceca— ugh,” I stuttered, helplessly stumbling over the magic coating my tongue. “Da-dark spa ? —”

Leander let out a startled growl as Barren shoved closer. He brushed both Leander and Kai aside, leaving them to cling to whatever part of me they could keep hold of as he took me into his arm.

My titan’s enormous chest enveloped me, a tender yet protective shield of muscle. “ Shh, ” he whispered, that impossibly low rumble soothing me as it vibrated through him. “I know, and it’s all right. Just breathe.” His voice was steady and calming, but all I could do was shake my head.

“You don’t know,” I assured him. My voice cracked on every word. Whatever he thought he knew, he didn’t really?—

“I do know.” Barren planted a kiss on the top of my head, right next to my crown, and I sucked in a gasp. As his lips lifted away, I tilted my face up, meeting his warm brown eyes, filled with quiet compassion and understanding.

“You… you know?” I mouthed, unsure if I’d even spoken aloud. With a soft squeeze of his arm around me, he gave a measured nod.

What did he know? That I was a cecaelia? A princess? A sea witch? All three?

“I know, and I’m here with you.” He bent down, but this time, his lips brushed against my forehead. “No matter what.”

“Sorry, but—” Kai chimed in, and his hand almost slipped off my shoulder until Leander swung around, pulling him back up. “What are we talking about? What is it that you know?”

Barren’s jaw clenched. When he looked down at me, his dark eyes conveyed more than words ever could.

Kai and Leander still didn’t know. Only he did.

“I know she loves us,” Barren said, his mouth curving gently. “And we love her.”

My face must have mirrored my shock. Love? Yes, I loved them. All three of them. But hearing him say that they loved me?—

“Damn right, we love her,” Leander cut in, and it surprised me when he didn’t try to steal more of me back from Barren. Instead, his mouth found my arm and grazed it, one kiss after another.

It was an overwhelming outpouring of affection I hadn’t been prepared for. That is until Leander paused his barrage of kisses to add, “And one day, those fuckers are going to pay for touching our girl.”

“Forget them for now,” Barren said, his hand sliding up to tuck my head under his chin.

“Right! We’re almost home,” Kai said brightly. “Just wait until you see Laverne.”

Oh, right. Laverne. Now that I thought about it, it was weird she wasn’t already with them. Maybe they thought it would be too dangerous to bring her along? But that didn’t seem like something that would usually stop her.

“You won’t even recognize her,” Leander muttered.

“Yeah? What, did she change up her hair?” I said with a weak snort, but not a single one of them laughed.

“Um?” Kai looked like he was really thinking it over. “Actually, yeah. She did.”

“Okay…” Well, sea lions had fur, not hair, but I was still suddenly interested in seeing what she’d done with it while I was away.

Leander threw a glance behind us. “Anyone else feeling eyes on their back? Barren, is someone following us?”

The muscles in Barren’s arm tensed. “Hard to say,” he muttered. “The fish Kai made to track her…” He paused before letting out a dissatisfied hum. “… have some very noisy thoughts.”

My attention snapped to Kai. “You made fish track me?”

Kai blinked, looking startled. “I—um, yes.”

Then I remembered the trident in his hand. It wasn’t Barren’s, so how had he ended up with it?

“Whose trident is that?” I asked.

A streak of red flashed across Kai’s cheeks. “It’s mine,” he said, his knuckles going white over the shaft. “The Trident of Creation. Laverne and Leander helped me get it.”

His trident? Was this possessive obsession with tridents spreading or something?

Leander scoffed. “I didn’t do a damn thing, and you know it. Laverne’s the one who got you that trident.”

What? I glanced between them both, my mind spinning. Who were these two, and what had they done with my mates?

“Praising Laverne now?” I raised an eyebrow at Leander. “That’s new.”

A smirk tugged at his lips. “This time she earned it. Just don’t tell her I said it.”

“Oh, trust me, I won’t. So, creation…” My voice trailed as I looked back at Kai. “That sounds like useful magic. You can make anything you want?” Like those mega pearls he’d mentioned.

“Yep!” He gave me a beaming smile, then blinked, his brow creasing. “At least, I think so? I haven’t really tested its limits yet. We just thought it would be a good way to reach you underwater since swimming to you ourselves is a bit tricky for us right now.”

His face was so adorably flushed that I wanted to reach out and press my fingertips to his cheeks. “But you did swim to me,” I reminded him, and his smile drooped.

“Er—well, not exactly.”

Leander let out a low curse, grumbling, “That fucking fish’s mouth is going to haunt me.”

Even Barren grunted his agreement.

“A fish’s mouth?” I echoed, staring at them like they’d lost their minds. “That’s how you reached me? Seriously? What, you weren’t worried about getting swallowed alive?”

Kai’s shoulders lifted. “I thought it was a solid plan at the time. And look, we made it, didn’t we?”

A grin tugged at my lips as I pictured betta fish Kai, Leander, and Barren all riding in a bigger fish’s mouth. “Yep, you made it. Good job, guys. And what’s the next phase of this brilliant plan?”

“Well,” Kai began slowly, “now that you’re here, I think the next phase is to keep you close. Always.”

That idea got a rush of warmth coursing through me.

Leander let out a snort. “Keeping her close is a given.”

“Always,” Barren agreed with a firm nod.

‘Always’ was about to begin because we were nearing the surface, leaving me to squint against the glare of the sun coming through the water.

“I think the next step after that should be figuring out what to do about your tridents,” I reminded them, my voice firm.

They must have felt extra guilty because no one said a word during the time it took us to break through the surface. Barren hoisted me up first. This time, he was extra mindful of my head.

Air hit my lungs, and I fought back a cough, letting my arms trail in the water to keep contact with them as they pulled up on the wooden planks beside me. When all four of us had finally made it out of the water, I let my gaze roam our surroundings.

One half-dead plant graced the property’s deck. This definitely wasn’t Barren’s bungalow.

“Where are we?” I asked, squinting at the neighboring homes. None of them looked familiar, not that I’d ever paid close attention to Barren’s neighbors.

Barren’s chest was still heaving from the effort of pulling himself beside me. “No idea,” he muttered. “I sensed others in the water. This was the closest.”

“Well,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt, “I hope you guys don’t mind walking around naked while we figure it out.”

“Oh!” Kai chirped as he pushed his torso off the deck, his trident still in hand. “I could make us some clothes?—!”

“Clothes would be fantastic, Kai,” I said, fighting to brush the wet hair out of my face. “Thank you.”

Oh, shoot . My hair was even more tangled than usual, completely caught on my crown.

Kai reached over to help but paused, his eyes going wide. “Claira—I wasn’t sure what was all over you, but it looks like it’s not coming off.”

“What?” My stomach lurched as I looked down, immediately seeing the streaks of black staining my skin. “... Shit.”

“It’s all in your hair, too,” Kai said, gently working his fingers into the tangles. “I was hoping the water would wash it out while we moved.”

Leander leaned in, sniffing my shoulder. “It smells really fucking terrible, whatever it is.”

“Cecaelia ink,” Barren supplied with a grunt. “One of them must have marked her.”

Freaking Jagati!

“Yeah, I don’t think he marked me,” I said, trying to use my scales to rub off an inky streak on my arm to no avail. “He saw the fish army coming, and he was using it to hide me.” I was pretty sure, at least.

Leander’s pretty boy face popped in front of mine, one of his eyebrows rising. “He?”

I gulped, leaning away. “Yes, he . Just one of the ceca— eugh. ” The spell on my tongue had me gagging. “ Ugh . I mean, he’s a knight.”

Leander’s eyes narrowed. “He didn’t hurt you, did he? Did any of those fuckers hurt you?”

“Look, I’m fine, Lee. No one hurt me.” It was mostly the truth. The only time I could remember bleeding in the Undersea, after all, was when I’d cut myself to help heal Abyssal.

Leander’s hand shot out, catching the shell around my neck. “And what’s this?”

“Don’t—it-it’s fragile,” I said, wanting to take it back from him but knowing that Kai and Barren needed to keep contact with my arms until all of us got our legs back.

Leander’s hand lingered, wrapped over my necklace, but then he released it without another word.

“Do you think the ink will wash out?” Kai asked, gently working out a few more tangles. He touched my crown, and I flinched. “This is an interesting hair ornament.”

Hair ornament. Maybe Kai’s innocence had momentarily saved me from having to explain.

“Yeah, I sure hope the ink washes out.” My voice was shaking slightly. I certainly didn’t want a reminder of Jagati clinging to me forever.

Kai nodded. “We’ll find a way to get it off. Promise?—”

His voice cut off as the water began to churn, a deep, ominous ripple spreading across its surface.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as a hulking shadow rose beneath the waves. A dark, slick tentacle broke through first, curling and uncurling over the side of the deck as the massive form emerged, water pouring off its skin like oil.

Then came the rest—the towering torso, the shoulders rolling with the weight of the sea, followed by keen, warrior eyes that swept through where we were resting, looking straight past us.

“There you are.” That scarred lip lifted as he took in a deep, savoring sniff of the air. “Princess Just Claira .”