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Kai

M y heart pounded, begging to dance right out of my chest. We were beyond drained, exhausted from struggling to breathe underwater with our betta fish gills, but I couldn’t stop smiling.

Claira’s safe. She’s with us.

Barren looked the worst out of all of us—either from everything he’d endured while we were away or from the magic he’d used to execute our plan. I wasn’t sure which.

As soon as he pulled up on the dock, he sprawled out, his chest heaving like he’d just swum across the entire ocean. After this, he would probably sleep for a week straight. But I knew he’d agree it was worth it.

Weeks of non-stop stress and worry, and all of it had vanished the moment I held her. My wonderful mate.

Now, if only the physical reminders of her time with the dark spawn would also fade, everything would be perfect. Back to how things were.

“Do you think the ink will wash out?” I asked, my voice soft but hopeful as my fingers threaded through her hair. Whoa. It was even softer than I remembered.

I’d always thought she was beautiful, but now she was just... Wow . Not even dark ink and gloomy black ocean silks could dull her radiance.

Amazingly, not everything the dark spawn had given her was entirely unpleasant. The sharp points and intricate design of the crown tangled up in her hair caught my attention, and I reached for it. “This is an interesting hair ornament.”

It looked like a piece that my mother might wear—for a moment, at least, until she changed her mind and exchanged it for something more extravagant.

As soon as my fingers brushed against it, Claira’s shoulders bunched and withered, her eyes darting away like she couldn’t bear my gaze. Oh .

“Yeah, I sure hope the ink washes out,” she muttered.

Now that she’d recoiled at my touch, I wished I’d never reached for it. Not only was her voice shaking, but she’d deliberately avoided acknowledging my comment about her crown.

What was I thinking? Of course, she wouldn’t want me to mention it. The memories attached to anything the cecaelia had given her couldn’t have been pleasant ones.

Had they used it to mock her? Because the three of us, her mates, were princes? My smile fell as that thought sent a cold shift through me. It turned the warmth in my chest into a slow, simmering rage that had me clenching my teeth.

I’ll never forgive them for taking her.

I wasn’t strong like Barren or as skilled with a weapon as Leander, but I’d do whatever I could to protect her. To make her feel safe again. I’d help her get rid of the crown, the ink, the black ocean silks—every last reminder of those dark days—until she was free from it all.

“We’ll find a way to get it off,” I said with a nod. “Promise?—”

The rest of my words stuck in my throat as the water’s surface rippled, a sign of movement underneath. A massive, dark tentacle broke through the water, stretching upward. Another followed, then another—thick, scarred, and searching.

My stomach clenched as the rest of the dark spawn’s body emerged, awe mingling with dread. So much dread.

The four of us froze.

… Dude.

He was a living mountain, more solid than any creature I’d ever seen. His chest and arms bulged while water glistened off the deep ridges of scars that never seemed to end. My mind tried to wrap around the sheer size of him with all of those dark appendages, but it was impossible. His biceps alone had to be the size of my head!

Claira’s hand clenched around mine, her fingers pressing anxiously into my palm as the cecaelia’s eyes took focus. But he looked through us, not at us. Phew.

Barren’s illusion was still holding. As long as we didn’t move or make a sound, then we’d be perfectly?—

“There you are,” the colossal dark spawn rumbled, and I forced down a gulp. Oh. That wasn’t good.

His crooked nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply, sniffing the air.

Time seemed to slow as we collectively realized that Barren’s illusion didn’t matter. Even if the cecaelia couldn’t see us, he could still smell us—or he could at least sniff out Claira.

It must have been the ink smeared all over her because his nose angled right for her as he added, “Princess Just Claira .”

His voice seemed to pierce right through her, and Claira’s mouth opened, but only a broken gasp came out.

Leander was the first to react, throwing himself in front of her with a low growl that made her flinch. I wasn’t far behind because, princess? The way the cecaelia said it, all smug and taunting… he was mocking her.

He thought he could belittle her, but the real joke was on him. Claira looked breathtaking in a crown, almost as if she was born to wear one.

And one day, when Leander became the king of the Atlantic, she would shine as their beloved queen. I sometimes daydreamed of those wonderful mornings together, hoping that when the time came, I’d have the honor of placing her crown on her head.

Above us, clouds gathered. They quickly thickened into angry puffs that blotted out the sun, casting foreboding shadows over the sea. “Fucking dark spawn,” Leander snarled as thin crackles of lightning jumped between clouds, electrifying the air with his heightening rage.

One look at the lightning, and Claira finally found her voice. “Please, just let me go,” she pleaded, each word breaking more than the last.

The cecaelia’s heavy brows lifted, his eyes sharp on where her voice had come from as he growled, “Yes. It is time to let her go.” Then, his dark appendages slammed against the dock, shaking the boards beneath us.

In a blinding flash, lightning split the sky. It struck between us with a deafening crack that had tentacles thrashing and all of us, even the dark spawn, rearing back.

… Whoa. It was the closest I’d ever been to lightning. So close, it could have just as easily struck us.

“Lee!” His name ripped from my throat as another lightning bolt erupted right in front of our noses, driving the cecaelia back even further.

What was he thinking? I had to stop him, to try to calm him, to at least do something!

Worry rushed through me as I turned to face him, but Leander’s eyes weren’t the fierce, angered ones I expected. Instead, they were wide, filled with a storm of confusion, like he had no more control over the lightning than I did. And then I caught sight of Barren, utterly still, his attention fixed on the sky.

An illusion . He was playing on the storm Leander had summoned, using what was already there to drive the cecaelia back.

Barren’s gruff voice rose above the next clap of thunder. “You won’t take her from us again.”

Without warning, a spear of metal hurled through the air, aimed straight at him. Neither Barren nor Leander hesitated. Barren’s hand popped off of Claira as Leander’s arm vaulted high.

It happened so fast. The deck shuddered underneath the sudden change in Barren’s weight as he transformed back into a fish. Leander let out a sharp hiss as the spear whizzed past his outstretched hand in a deadly blur.

A spray of red splattered the deck as it struck where Barren had been less than a breath ago, embedding itself into the wood with a sickening crack .

“You thought you could catch that? ” I blurted as Leander doubled over.

“ Mmmph! ” He pressed a tight fist against his stomach, a crimson line seeping between his fingers. “ Fuck! ”

Claira’s focus was on the blood-splattered wood. “Barren!” she cried out, scrambling for him as if she thought the blood had been his instead of Leander’s.

But instead of reassuring her, my focus went straight to my palm as a sharp sting pierced it, more than just her nails digging in. The force jolted me so abruptly that I almost let her fingers slip from mine.

I stared down at where our hands connected, then looked to Leander, my palm still aching. Was this what they called… sympathy pains? Like what happened when one mer talked about getting grazed by a spiny urchin, so another felt a prickling sensation in their own side?

“Did you say, Barren? ” the cecaelia muttered, and my focus snapped back to the present as one of his tentacles shot out. It caught Claira by the wrist, lifting it just before she could reach Barren.

Then I saw it—the smile curling the dark spawn’s mouth as his predatory eyes swept over us, pausing on where Barren’s fish form lay helpless on the deck.

Oh, no. Maybe the blood had been Barren’s because his illusion hiding us had fallen. The cecaelia could see us, and he looked way too happy about it.

He leaned in, his voice dropping to a near hiss as he asked Claira, “Is that him right there?”

A breathless gasp tore from her. Her answering whisper came out shakily, coated in fear. “ No .”

While the cecaelia’s attention was elsewhere, I covertly tucked my trident beneath the line of my tail to hide it. Now that he could see us, I had to think of something—something to create, something that would stop him.

Pearls? No, his eyes had already adjusted. Weapons? Did I know of one that a tentacle couldn’t easily overtake?

My mind raced with ideas, none of them good enough.

Despite his injury, Leander had no trouble knowing what to do. “Fuck off.” His tail thrashed, striking the tentacle holding onto our mate with a resounding thwack.

Claira cried out as she was yanked sideways, still trapped in its hold, and I caught her in my arms before she hit the deck.

“I’ve got you,” I choked out, pulling her back upright.

A swirling vortex of water slammed into the dark spawn’s back, throwing him off balance, and Leander didn’t waste the opening. He lunged for the fallen spear, ripping it free from the wood, and whirled, driving it straight into the tentacle that held Claira.

While the cecaelia didn’t scream, he did recoil, and a furious splash of salt water drenched us as he released her.

“Where—where’s Barren?” Claira choked out as soon as the water fell away.

Panic gripped me as I scanned the deck. I couldn’t see him. No, no, no . Had the water swept him away?

Leander’s voice came in deep, ragged heaves as he yanked the spear free from the tentacle’s flesh. “Stay the fuck away from our mate.”

Not even a flicker of pain registered on the dark spawn’s face, and that’s when I knew he wasn’t just a living mountain. He was a demon.

“ Your mate?” His chuckle was chilling. One of those dark, coiling whips swung out from underneath him. Swift and brutal, it caught Leander by the tail. The sickening scrape of scales against wood sliced through the air as the demon roared, dragging Leander down into the water with a violent thrash.

Claira and I let out a synchronized cry.

A final crack of lightning arced across the sky, but it struck wide, completely missing its target as Leander fell to the waves.

… No.

“These are the best warriors the merfolk could send?” The cecaelia’s brutal laugh kept rolling as his dark appendages climbed, drawing him onto the dock with us.

One temporarily caught my attention, as thin as a jellyfish’s streamer, but I didn’t let it distract me for long. Magic buzzed through my palm, surging up my arm as I silently called on my trident’s power.

Help us. With one thought, a scoop of brown pelicans appeared high in the sky, five in total. They circled above with their wings spread wide against the rapidly fading storm.

Boy, was this going to make Leander grumpy. But at least it wasn’t a fish’s mouth.

Find Leander. Find Barren. Bring them back.

As soon as I gave them their tasks, I turned my focus to the dark spawn. Now that I was all Claira had to rely on, it was up to me to protect her. I had to .

A grin twisted the dark spawn’s scarred features as his eyes pinned me. I recognized that look from my brothers—eyes that thought they could easily pick out all of my weaknesses, my inadequacies. But I wouldn’t let him intimidate me. I couldn’t.

But he’d already made his judgment, and from what he did next, it was clear he didn’t see me as a threat. One heavy eyebrow arched as he reached out, his knuckles brushing the tip of Claira’s tail. “Princess.”

My stomach cramped and rolled. I didn’t like how he was looking at her. And I definitely didn’t appreciate how he was touching her .

“I see now that it is just as Rini says.” A slow grin spread across his lips, and my jaws felt a fierce urge to clamp around his throat. “You do have trouble listening to reason and staying where you are put.”

Claira’s voice was weak, barely even a whisper. “Jagati, please.” But then I felt it again—a sharp, electric jolt shooting from her fingertips into my hand.

She shook her head, a sudden defiance flaring in her eyes as she lifted her chin toward the towering mountain looming above us. “Forget the please. Go back without me, Jagati. That’s an order.”

She knew him by name? Was giving him orders? And most astonishing, it hadn’t been sympathy pains at all. My mate was channeling some sort of magic in her hands.

“You wish to… stay here?” Surprise flickered in his fierce eyes. Was that a hint of hurt in the voice of a ruthless demon?

He shook his head. “I cannot obey that order,” he rumbled. “You know I cannot. It is my duty to do what is best for the Undersea. You are what is best for the Undersea.”

I didn’t know how they knew each other. But I did know that, just like the crown tangled in her hair, my mate didn’t like this dark spawn.

Creation magic wasn’t meant to be wielded as a weapon. I’d learned that from watching my father try to use it to bend his kingdom to his will, forcing his creations to subdue and control the Pacific. Yet my heart pounded like a war horn as my hand tightened around my trident.

I needed something vicious, something that could take down a cecaelia. Something that could bite .

Teeth as sharp as knives. Make them hungry for ? —

“What is this?” The cecaelia cocked his head, and then his eyes lit.

Panic spiked through me as one of his tentacles shot out, coiling around the end of my trident with unnerving strength.

Oh, no, no, no!

I barely had time to brace myself before he yanked up, pulling it out from under me. He was trying to pry it from my grip already!

I gritted my teeth, my hand sliding across the metal as I fought back against his strength. Hard jerks nearly knocked the breath out of me, their angle changing with every attempt. But I couldn’t—I couldn’t let it go!

“The merfolk’s trident.” The tentacle kept tugging, but his gaze swung to Claira. A crack of something desperate, almost hopeful, broke through his hardened expression. “Is this why you chose to go with them? To claim this trident as a spoil of war for the Undersea?”

I barely had time to register the streak of gray shooting up from the water, a flash of muscle and speed, its gaping maw lined with razor-sharp teeth.

A shark? Whoa, wait… what? I hadn’t even finished creating them, and now one was right here.

The dark spawn didn’t see it coming. The shark’s teeth sank into the thick flesh at the base of his tentacles, and this time, the pain on his face was unmistakable.

A startled roar erupted from the cecaelia as he jerked, his agony rippling through each thrashing tentacle as he let go.

…. He let go .

I was still fighting him for my trident. But one moment, I was struggling against his strength, and the next, there was nothing.

The tension in my muscles snapped, drawing the prongs right to my center.

Oh.

White, hot light flashed over my eyes as I fell back.

There was a scream. Claira’s scream. “Cyre!” But with the pain, the rapid buzz in my ears, I couldn’t understand what she’d said. But I was pretty sure I knew why she’d said it.

I… I can’t breathe.

The lights in my eyes shifted long enough for me to see the dark spawn fall back off the dock and into the water. The shine of a weapon. A glistening spray of red.

The shrill pierce of another scream.

My chin lowered to my chest. Huh . It looked like bands of ocean silks were wrapping around my torso. Deep crimson ocean silks. It was comforting, in a way, being covered. But my trident… it looked so odd, with its sharp spikes buried in my chest.

Had Leander bled when he took in his trident? Had Barren?

My head swam, my eyes feeling oddly heavy as I worked through what had happened to them. What was happening to me.

Oh . They’d done it on purpose. Right. And this… this had been a mistake. My biggest failure to date. Laverne, she… she wouldn’t hold back her disappointment in me, seeing her big brother like this, would she?

“KAI!”

There it was. Claira’s lovely voice. I mustered up my best smile for my mate, desperate to hide my mistake. But there was no hiding this.

My fingers shook as my hand climbed back up the trident’s pole. I hadn’t let it go, but I might as well have. I’d failed her. And not only her, but Barren and Leander. I couldn’t keep our mate safe.

I didn’t deserve a second chance, but boy, did I want it. Another chance. To be stronger. To fight harder. To never fail her again.

A second chance.

With a final, desperate push, I drove the trident the rest of the way in.