Page 57

57

Claira

I hadn’t thought. I’d just acted. And now, here we were, standing at the front door of Barren’s bungalow.

As soon as we came out of the teleport, the merfolk erupted into gasps, flailing as if they thought I’d dragged them straight back to hell.

“Wh-where are we?” the merman sputtered, his wide, frantic eyes darting around. Freechia was already clawing at the pier, tugging him along in her frantic attempt to escape.

“ Shit … it’s okay,” I said, my hand trembling over the book I’d grabbed on impulse—one that, in hindsight, might not have been the smartest choice. Now Abyssal had even more of a reason to hunt me down.

I reached out, trying to calm them while I was anything but. “You’ll be safe here,” I panted, swallowing the bitter taste of betrayal sitting in the back of my throat.

Would they be? The thought of them not being safe twisted my anger into fear, tightening my lungs as my gaze swept over our surroundings. I had no idea how long it would take Abyssal to find us.

Chest pounding, I slammed my fist against the door.

“Barren!” I called out, knocking hard enough for my hand to go numb from the force. “Kai! Leander!”

Freechia’s head snapped up. “Did you say Kai? ”

My pulse thundered in my ears. How the hell was I supposed to explain any of this? I was so angry right now—so consumed by it—I wasn’t sure I could even say what had happened aloud.

And now that they knew what I was, would they even want to hear it?

The doorknob turned with a click, and my hearts seized.

No —I wasn’t ready.

I jumped back, clutching the book tighter, and threw up an invisibility shield. Everything in front of me distorted, the shapes and colors blurring just as a sharp voice rang out from the other side of the door.

“Claira?”

Leander . My lips trembled, but I couldn’t bring myself to respond to him. Not yet. Not without knowing how he’d react to seeing me.

“Did you say Claira? ” Kai’s voice followed, thick with confusion, as the door creaked open.

Freechia’s voice answered, shrill with disbelief. “Big brother?”

For a split second, I could hear him inhale sharply, trying to steady himself, and then?—

“Free… Freechia?”

I couldn’t see it, not completely, but I could feel it. The cracking and mending of Kai’s heart—as if it were coming back together again, piece by painful piece.

In the next breath, he was holding her, pulling her off Barren’s doorstep and into an embrace so full of emotion that it seemed to tighten with every new heartbeat.

“What are you doing here?” Freechia gasped, her voice trembling with a fresh wave of fear. “Did the dark spawn take you, too?”

“You’re alive,” Kai whispered against her hair, the tremor in his voice shaking even myself. “It was all my fault. I thought I… I thought I lost you.” His words broke, and I could hear the sniffle, the desperation, all the agony he’d kept buried now unraveling, clearing a path for relief to flood in. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

My sweet Kai… I wanted to hold him, to tell him that none of this was his fault, that it wasn’t him who’d caused this pain. It was Abyssal. Only him.

But then I remembered Kai’s face when he’d seen my tentacles, the way he’d tensed and pulled away. My fingers drifted to my arm, ghosting over the spot where Poseidon’s will had driven him to bite me.

Kai might have been right here, but the distance between us was insurmountable. He hated cecaelia, and looking at him and Freechia now, it was painfully easy to understand why.

Leander stepped out the door, and I held my breath as his head turned, searching. “You’re Captain Maris’s son,” he said suddenly, his voice thick with recognition. Then, with a slight, almost affectionate shake of his golden head, he leaned down to clap the merman on the shoulder. “What the hell are you doing all the way out here?”

Captain Maris’s son...? Could this merman really be little Echinea’s brother?

“My—my prince!” The merman’s voice cracked, his shock unmistakable. “I was taken c-captive by the dark spawn.”

Then, a third figure filled the doorway. I couldn’t see him clearly, but I didn’t need to—I knew that imposing presence anywhere.

“Claira?” Barren’s deep rumble cut through the air. Even though he shouldn’t have been able to see through my invisibility shield, his head turned, landing exactly where I was hidden.

Barren… It didn’t make sense. He hadn’t visited my dreams, yet his voice now carried such a desperate, aching pull—one that seemed to reach straight into my soul.

He’d let our last interaction end with his hand around my throat. But seeing how he held his shoulders, the tension there, it hit me. He was ashamed. Maybe even afraid that I might fear him now because of what had happened in my dream.

It was enough to push me into breaking apart my shield.

“He might come for them. I think the fish curse might be broken,” I said as the magic dissolved into curling shadows. My eyes locked onto Barren’s, and I took a step forward, one that I hoped would let him know that I could never fear him. “So, be ready. I know you’ll do whatever you can to protect them.”

Kai’s mouth fell open as his head lifted from Freechia’s hair. Leander’s brows furrowed, surprise and concern warring on his face.

Barren was the first to speak. “ Stay .”

My chest ached at the sound of that plea wrapped in iron. It shouldn’t have surprised me that Barren already knew I was leaving, but I didn’t have time to explain why I had to go. Not now. Not when Abyssal could appear at any moment.

“I’ll be back,” I rasped, the words more than a promise. A vow. “Right back. I swear it.”

There was one last thing I needed to do. One last choice to make that could mean the end of all of this.

Leander took a step forward, his lips parting as he reached for me. “Wait, beautiful?—!”

But I already had my next destination in mind.

Snap.

I reappeared on the beach, my feet sinking into the sand as I stumbled forward. Damn heels. My eyes burned—not from tears, but from how utterly, ridiculously foolish I’d been. That foolishness, though? It ended now. Now that I knew the truth about the cecaelia. Now that I knew without a doubt that I wanted nothing to do with the Undersea.

Snap.

“So freaking stupid,” I hissed under my breath as I landed somewhere new, somewhere harder to track. Ripping off a heel, I hurled it into the sand. Magic crackled to life in my palms, and I let it surge, dissolving the shoe into a smoldering mass of dark goo.

I grabbed the second heel, a bitter snarl curling my lips, and did the same, letting my power tear it apart.

Snap.

Wet sand engulfed my feet as soon as I landed at the shore. Palm leaves on either side of me offered some cover, keeping me hidden for a moment while my tentacles burst free. I had no idea it was possible, but I hated them more now than when I’d first seen them.

Abyssal had called them lovely .

Lovely. Ha.

They curled beneath me, and I hated every sensation their movements caused. This might have been how I was born, but it wasn’t who I was. Abyssal had stolen that from me the moment he cursed me with a useless mermaid’s tail, hadn’t he?

I still could barely believe he was the one who’d done it…

“So. Fucking. Stupid.” My hand tangled in my hair, fingers working through the braid until I could rip the ribbon free. I tossed it into the wet sand—the beautiful ribbon I’d clung to for days.

How could love twist so violently?

How was it possible to feel so much affection for someone one moment, only for it to be replaced by this dark, bitter ache the next?

And yet, even now, I was still the fool. I still owed him a payment for concealing my sea witch eyes, and worst of all, I had no idea what I’d bargained away when I’d made that deal.

I looked down at my dress, now ruined. Blood stained it, dark against the sparkling emerald fabric I couldn’t wait to show off. My palms were the same. Bloodied and oozing. If I hadn’t gone searching for Abyssal, would I still be getting ready for the party right now? Would I have let them officially crown me?

What a fucking mess I was.

But I knew one thing for sure—even if I was a dark spawn, I wasn’t heartless. Not like the rest of the cecaelia were.

This power inside me—this darkness—it wasn’t just rage. It was love, too. If it came down to it, I could kill. Not out of cruelty, no, but to protect the ones who gave me a reason to fight.

That was what set me apart. I had to believe that.

With a heavy breath, I dropped to the sand. My tentacles writhed beneath the confines of my dress as I pulled the book I’d been carrying in front of me, smearing blood over the cover as I cracked it open. The pages of glyphs blurred as I skimmed through, stopping only when my eyes landed on the illustrations I sought.

Tentacles. A tail.

The Undersea wanted a princess. If they were set on it being me, then I would take away the one thing that made me ‘presentable’ to them.

My tentacles curled in front of me, restless.

Abyssal wasn’t the only one with power. I’d learned every spell he’d taught me, and if our magic was truly the same, then I could do this. At the very least, I had to try.

No. I would do it.

I had no contracts or knowledge of how to transform one thing into another, but I did have blood. Lots of it.

With crimson-slicked hands, I ripped the bottom of my dress, freeing my tentacles. Droplets of blood slid down my fingers as I extended them, focusing on their tips. The magic stirred inside me, thrumming eagerly as I willed it to gather.

I didn’t know how to carve a spell into the air, but I would make this work. I had to.

Gritting my teeth, I pressed my blood-soaked fingertip to the spot where my tentacles converged. Those terrible limbs squirmed in the sand, digging, hiding, as if they knew what I was about to do. It didn’t matter. Soon, I wouldn’t have to listen to their noise cluttering my mind, their sensations making me shudder.

First, a circle.

Blood mingled with magic as I traced it over the smooth flesh where my tentacles began, my gaze occasionally flickering back to the book where glyphs I couldn’t even comprehend stared up at me.

My hand stayed steady as I drew the first symbol, then the next. With each new mark, my tentacles curled tighter, but I didn’t stop.

The magic poured out of me, fueled by my growing intention .

I wanted this.

I wanted to be rid of these eight nightmares.

Even though I knew having a tail wouldn’t make me a real mermaid, it would be mine. Something I’d created, something the Undersea couldn’t take from me without a fight.

It felt strange to be so sure of something when so much of my life had been uncertain—fleeting moments of time as a mermaid, a human, a cecaelia, and a sea witch. I was tired of relying on labels to define me. It was time to be strong as Claira. Just Claira.

When this was over, the only thing that would matter was how those who loved me saw me.

With a blood-drenched finger, I drew the final symbol, feeling it settle deep within my bones.

For the first time, I was the one in control of my future.

The world narrowed to a single vibrating point. I felt it. My body stretched, pulling and shifting beneath me. The magic wound around me like a tightening knot, and my tentacles shuddered, transforming before my eyes.

My breath caught.

A tail stretched out before me, sleek and glistening, each scale as dark and smooth as ink. Even the frills at the end of it poured down like a dark wave of silk, soft and fluid—black, just like the illustration in the book.

I hadn’t thought about color, only the spell, and this was what it had given me.

It was beautiful. Unexpectedly, impossibly beautiful. But that wasn’t what stole my breath.

As the magic settled, something I’d never dared to hope for happened.

That darkly elegant tail flicked. It flicked .

Holy crap.

This tail… I could move it.