Page 9

9

Claira

M y eyes shot open, my throat grappling with the realization that my lungs were filled with water instead of air.

Barren …

I pressed my eyes shut, but he was already gone.

Dammit. Why did it have to be a dream?

Just moments ago, I was back in Barren’s cozy bungalow, craving more than the delicious food he’d been preparing for us. He’d been all around me—his warmth, his comfort. All of it was ripped away the moment my eyes opened, though, rendering him nothing more than a distant blur.

I wrapped my arms in a self-embrace, desperate to cling to the fantasy. Sure, I might have been tormenting myself with what could have been, but it was a small price to pay for more precious moments with one of my mates, even if it was only in a dream.

The last vision I saw behind my eyelids was of his broad back as he stood over the stove. Soon, even that dissolved away, letting my harsh reality sink in.

He never got the chance to cook for me in his bungalow like he’d promised. There were so many things we’d missed out on.

I reopened my eyes, willing my breathing to slow. Water in, water out . I stared up at the brutal rocks above me, consciously tucking away thoughts of Barren and the others deep within my heart. Would I ever get used to waking up in this damned Undersea?

My head tilted. Strange , I thought as my gaze shifted to squint up at the ceiling. This wasn’t the chamber where I usually slept, was it? Had I drifted away from my seagrass bed, or…?

The memories of Aracos came rushing back—his panicked pleas as he slipped into my chamber. That’s right . He’d teleported me to the sea wizard’s side, and I’d sliced my hand to help him, letting Aracos use my blood so he could heal.

Then, thanks to my overenthusiastic handling of my seashell knife, I’d lost way too much blood. The sea wizard had whisked me over to his bed to recover, and here I was.

Lying on his rock bed.

I glanced to my left, and there the smoky wizard was, hunched over his desk, immersed in a chaotic heap of loose parchment and scrolls. He was almost unrecognizable from the pale and sickly version of himself I’d found face-planted on his desk when Aracos brought me to his chamber.

His strong jawline remained set in concentration as his pen moved swiftly across the parchment in front of him.

My lips quirked. Typical . Despite only just recovering, he was as hard at work as always—probably filling a scroll with glyphs he’d use to torture me with later.

The more time I spent with him, the more I wondered what drove him to be so diligent. Was it his own ambitions, or was he simply fulfilling his duties as the crown’s puppet?

My smile fell.

Did he enjoy taking time away from his work each day to teach me glyphs? Or was that another duty my grandmother had piled onto him?

Regardless, I was glad Aracos had thought to bring me here. He really loved his master. And despite the awkwardness of waking up in the wizard’s bed, I didn’t regret helping, even if he had betrayed me by going to see the guys behind my back. My lovers , as he called them.

The thought of the four of them meeting made my stomach sick, but perhaps calling it a betrayal was a tad dramatic.

The sea wizard didn’t owe me his loyalty—even if I was technically his princess. Even so, he’d taken it upon himself to protect me numerous times, and a part of me wondered if I owed him more payment than even the magic in my blood could provide.

And maybe he’d been right to speak to them. Wasn’t it good that they knew where I was?

Now they knew I was beyond their reach, confined to a place too deep for their fish curse to allow them to travel.

‘Had you been mine and some wicked merman stole you away from me the moment my back was turned...’

My body warmed at the memory of those bitter words, spoken with such an unexpected touch of protectiveness. The sea wizard had an undeniable way with words, and he twisted and wove them with the finesse of a puppeteer, not a puppet.

I wondered what it was he’d said to provoke Leander. To be fair, it probably hadn’t taken much to set him off.

The sea wizard continued his scribing, seemingly unaware of my gaze, pausing only to push the occasional dark strand of hair away from his forehead.

I adjusted my shoulders, settling into a comfortable spot in the dip in the middle of his bed.

The man clearly had a thing for work and also for seashells. His collection of both had grown since my last visit, with my seashell knife among the chaos of his desk. Hmm… I’d have to remember to grab it when he inevitably sent me away.

Until then, it was oddly calming, watching him work. Almost like the times when Dad and I sat together, mending nets in a slow, companionable silence.

But there was something else, something that nagged at me—a familiarity about watching him I couldn’t quite place.

Geez, way to make myself sound creepy.

Obviously, I’d never stopped to stare at him working like this before. Though I had been seeing him a lot lately, hadn’t I? Perhaps I was just getting familiar with how he carried himself?

That made sense. Like how it wasn’t surprising how neatly his tentacles were arranged, resting over the rocks that made up the wall behind his desk. And how I knew there was one particular tentacle, different from the others, that he always kept artfully coiled and held close to his body.

And sure enough, there it was, that tight coil evoking the same tension in my belly it always did whenever I laid eyes on it. So strange. I’d never seen him use it, but lately, I found my gaze drawn down to where he held it, waiting for it to unfurl.

As my thoughts lingered on that tentacle, the odd scoop at the end of it seemed to twitch.

“May I help you with something, princess?” came the wizard’s smoky voice, calm and measured.

I startled at the sound, immediately averting my gaze. He’d caught me staring, hadn’t he?

“Oh, um.” I pulled myself upright and bit back a groan, pressing a palm to my temple to keep myself steady. Whoa —I’d definitely lost a lot of blood earlier. “No, I was just...” I searched for an excuse, but sitting up had temporarily made me too light-headed to think.

The sea wizard raised an eyebrow, a faint smile playing on his lips. “Just observing my work, perhaps?”

“Yes, exactly,” I said, grateful to avoid having to explain why I’d been staring.

‘Oh, just admiring your tentacles. Did you know you always keep one of them curled up like you’re trying to hide it? I wonder why that is?’ Because that definitely wouldn’t have been awkward. Not at all.

Luckily, the dizziness was already subsiding, making it easier to think. “I was mostly wondering how long I’ve been asleep.”

“Half the day, at least,” he said, setting down his pen to stretch his arms high above his head. “I suspect you needed the rest after that foolish stunt you pulled.”

Yes, yes, saving him had been so foolish. Silly me.

I went to say as much, but my attention wandered as he continued to stretch. His arms rippled and flexed until the joints finally cracked, and the look of pure relief that washed over his face when the tension released had me swallowing on reflex.

How could Hari think he was scrawny?

A gasp caught in my throat as soon as I realized. Oh, crap . Hari!

She was no doubt seething right now, furious at me for allowing Aracos to teleport me away while she wasn’t paying attention. And after all the times I’d told her he was harmless. Disappearing with him without a word or warning wasn’t exactly the best way to prove my point.

My heart raced with guilt. “Hari has to be freaking out right now. She’s never going to let me out of my chamber again.”

“Let you?” The sea wizard chuckled. “Princess, there’s no need to concern yourself with a mere knight’s feelings,” he said, reminding me of my status. “I’ve already sent Aracos to provide her with an explanation.”

“Aracos?” I practically shrieked. “Why would you do that? You know how much Hari hates him!”

The sea wizard casually picked up his pen. “Consider it a punishment for his earlier actions.”

A punishment? “How could you?” I whispered, dread gripping my throat. That seemed extreme, even for him. Hari wanted nothing more than to slice Aracos through with her pike.

Those cold, white eyes lifted from the parchment before them, fixing entirely on me. “It’s curious how much concern you have for my familiar.”

“Of course I’m concerned,” I threw back. One of us had to be. Didn’t he care about his familiar at all? “Aracos is like a…” A rush of words came to my mind: companion, comfort, protector. “We’re friends.”

“Friends?” The sea wizard’s eyebrows lifted. Pushing away from his desk, he glided toward me, his gaze briefly flickering to the hand I’d injured. “How unexpected. And here I presumed you were nothing more to him than his latest meal.”

Ouch .

One of his tentacles slid out, its soft point tenderly exploring the bend of my wrist. “Tell me, do you think it wise to allow your friends to indulge in your flesh?”

So, we were back to this? He needed to get over it, even if his precious ego couldn’t accept that he hadn’t been able to save himself. No, he’d needed me. Without my blood, Aracos couldn’t have healed him, and he’d still be a pale, sickly heap on his desk.

My lips curled. “If it’s to save someone I care about, then yes. Of course.”

He went rigid down to his last tentacle, the water stilling around us. “Someone you… care about?” The corner of his mouth hitched like I’d proposed something completely foreign and unfamiliar to him.

“Yes, I do care about you,” I affirmed, my voice steady despite the quickened pace of my heart. I refused to back down, locking my hand with the end of the tentacle binding my wrist. “Just like how you care about your precious spells and secrets. I care more than you realize.”

Something dark crossed his features, and the tentacle capturing my wrist pulled taut. It wound up my arm, drawing me closer to him. “You know me so well,” he ground out, the tips of his teeth peeking out from behind his pale lips.

Oh, he was genuinely angry with me now. For telling him I cared?

Another tentacle swept around me, ensnaring the useless end of my tail. “My secrets, my spells,” he continued, the fury in his voice melting into something even darker still. “You cannot imagine how very precious each and every one of them are to me.”

My heart thrummed an erratic beat as that tentacle slithered, moving up the column of my tail, every individual suction cup leaving tingles in its wake. Another tentacle joined in, adding to the sensation, and my eyes went wide.

What—What was he doing?

This touch… It had nothing to do with studying my tail’s curse. In fact, that couldn’t have seemed further from his mind.

His presence closed in around me, and his eyes were overcome with a look I hadn’t seen before—an even more careful focus than when he pored over his scrolls. My eyes traced the sharp angles of his face in return, my body feeling paralyzed, unable to move closer or back.

But then his neck bent, bringing his face dangerously close to mine, and my heart dropped as I realized what he was about to do.

Poseidon help me .

Please, no .

I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t live with myself if I were to let him press his lips to mine.

“Wizard,” I breathed out, but my reluctance didn’t matter; he’d already let go of me before my name for him had fully left my lips.

His eyes widened as he quickly drew back from me, a look of surprise passing over his pale features as if he couldn’t believe what he’d done.

What he’d been about to do.

“I—” the sea wizard started only to stop himself, fumbling his words in a way he never had.

I didn’t move, didn’t even breathe. My skin tingled with the lingering sensation of his touch, and I was sure the lasting heat of it would sear through my scales for hours to come.

He drew back around his desk, a chilling whisper escaping his lips. “My apologies.”

If he hadn’t stopped himself, we would have?—

No . I didn’t want to think about that. I wouldn’t have let him. I wouldn’t .

Barren, Kai, Leander . They were all my heart would ever need, even if they could never be mine again.

The sea wizard didn’t dare look at me. He kept his eyes on his desk. He drew his dark hair back from his face and picked up his pen, holding it completely upside down.

“You should wear your crown, princess,” he said suddenly, although he didn’t lift his gaze.

I waited for my breathing to steady before murmuring, “Like I need a reminder of why I’m trapped down here.”

“Perhaps I’m in need of a reminder,” he countered, his voice drifting like the faintest wisp of smoke.

Oh.

I swiped a hand over my tail, where his tentacles’ touch still lingered. Although I hated wearing my crown, maybe it wasn’t a bad idea.

Heavy silence filled the chamber, and although the sea wizard was right there, it felt like our thoughts were oceans apart. I forced myself to the side of his bed, shoving my tail off the edge like that would be enough to erase the memory of how intimately he’d held it.

It wasn’t.

My gaze dropped to the scales covering my lap, and I released a slow sigh. Dammit . I didn’t think it was possible for my tail to disappoint me in more ways than just being useless, but here we were.

I stole a glance at the sea wizard, and even my lips betrayed me by softening as I observed his attempt at pretending to be engrossed in his work. His pen was still upside down.

Well, since he wasn’t really working…

“Is Aracos okay?” I murmured, effectively shattering the tension. It was worth it, though, to know if his familiar was safe. “I meant it when I said Hari doesn’t like him.”

The sea wizard paused, releasing a sigh as shaky as mine had been. “Harini doesn’t like anyone,” he corrected, although I knew that wasn’t true. She certainly was fond of our chef.

He pinched his eyes shut and braced a hand on his forehead, finally abandoning the facade of trying to work. “There’s no need to worry. Aracos is perfectly fine,” he said, his fingertips digging into his scalp like he wished he could start this entire day anew. “He’s currently sulking right outside this chamber, waiting for me to take pity on him and let him back in.”

“Really?” I craned my neck to look for him, but the overflowing shelves crowding every corner of the chamber disrupted my view of the entrance. “You’re going to let him in, right?”

The sea wizard’s eyes reopened. He lifted his head, finally meeting my gaze. “No.”

No? My lips pursed. “And why’s that?”

Instead of answering, he selected an ornately wrapped scroll from his desk and rose to full height.

“Look, I understand you’re angry with him,” I continued, my gaze trailing him as he circled to the front of his desk, picking up a woven sack along the way. Weird . It looked to be filled with spiral shells of every size and shape imaginable. “But I’m struggling to see why. He did save you, after all.”

“Because I’m preparing to depart,” he said simply, handing the scroll and the sack off to two of his tentacles.

“You’re… leaving?” The news brought a twinge of disappointment, probably because I’d be left stranded on his bed if he forgot me here before he took off. Would I need to ask him for help back to my chamber?

I shivered, imagining his steady touch guiding me back down to my seagrass bed.

Yeah, no… On second thought, I could wait until he left and pull myself over to Aracos. He would be happy to take me back.

The sea wizard picked my seashell knife up from his desk, and before I could object, it vanished into the tangle of limbs beneath him, along with everything else. Was it magic? Or did he have some sort of secret compartment hidden down there or something?

He turned to me and offered his hand, a robotic gesture. “ We are leaving, yes.”

My entire body tensed as I stared down at his outstretched hand. “ We? ” As in him and me?

“The crown has ordered me to take you to Lady Desmona,” he continued flatly. “We’re to set out at your earliest convenience.”

I forced down a gulp, unsure of what to think. By setting out, did he mean teleporting, or was he planning on carrying me somewhere? Because being pressed against his body after the moment that had just passed between us… Yeah, that wasn’t going to work for me.

“Lady Desmona,” I repeated, although I couldn’t place the name. I hadn’t been introduced to many new acquaintances since coming to the Undersea—probably because I still resembled the merfolk they despised.

“My mentor,” he replied in that same emotionless tone.

My eyebrows shot up. “You have a mentor?” It shouldn’t have been surprising, considering all the magic he possessed, yet I found it difficult to imagine him needing guidance in anything.

“Indeed. Queen Sagari has called for me to seek her counsel regarding your curse.” When I still didn’t accept his hand, his voice dropped, going uncharacteristically gruff. “I assure you, I will give you no further reason to fear me.”

He thought it was fear that kept me from taking his hand?

No, it was far more complicated than that. It was an ocean’s worth of confusion, accompanied by heart-clenching guilt.

It was realizing that I’d let myself grow comfortably close to him, and now also not knowing if I could ever allow myself to get close to him again.

And maybe there was some fear—not of him, but fear that a part of me needed him. How would I feel if I had to cut myself away from him completely?

His daily visits, grueling lessons, and the anticipation of Aracos appearing each morning with one of his master’s scrolls. Without those moments to cling to, what else did I have down here?

Nothing. Just a crown that I never wanted and the burden of a title that felt as much like a curse to me as my tail always had.

But how could I admit any of that to him? How could I put myself in an even more vulnerable position with a man who’d almost kissed me in a passionate rage only moments ago?

So, I did the smart thing. I said nothing at all.

Let him think I fear him . At least that way, he might maintain some distance.

The sea wizard accepted my silence with a nod as if that was all the answer he needed. “Tomorrow, then,” he said, lowering his hand. “ Aracos. ”

Aracos didn’t hesitate before darting into the chamber. He swam right up to me, delivering a loving nudge to my side, and my heart swelled as his quiet voice rasped in my mind. “Aracos’s friend.”

“Yes, we’re friends,” I whispered back, patting the side of his slender body.

The sea wizard turned away from us, his dark hair shielding his face from view. “Take the princess back to her chamber.” His voice was taut and strained. It was like he feared it might snap if he let any emotion slip through the cracks of his demand.

“Hold on,” I called out to his back, my voice wavering as I eyed his tentacles. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” He still had my seashell stashed up in his magical undercarriage.

I could feel his inner turmoil in the silence that followed.

“I still want it,” I added softly. It was a gift, after all.

His back muscles tensed, a subtle twitching of his shoulder blades, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure he would return it to me. Then he shifted to face me fully, fidgeting with the strands of hair covering his face before smoothing all of them back.

“Indeed,” he said, struggling with the word like it was too thick for his throat. “My apologies. I thought you wouldn’t want it.”

My lips fell into a frown. “Of course I want it.” Hadn’t he noticed I carried it with me at all times like I would a regular knife?

He swept closer, extending a tentacle. But as I stared down at the offering it carried, my frown only deepened. Instead of my shell, he’d presented me with a single scroll, neatly rolled and tied with a dark, streaming ribbon.

The sea wizard’s limbs shifted underneath him, his intense gaze momentarily veering from mine. “As promised,” he said, tapping a finger against where his hip melded into smooth tentacles. “A letter for you in return for the one you sent.”

“You… wrote this for me?” I stared at the scroll in utter awe. It looked so different from his usual scrolls, its delicate ribbon dancing in the water.

A swift tilt of his chin confirmed it. “I hope you haven’t lost so much blood that you don’t remember our agreement,” he murmured. Then he leaned down to glare at Aracos, his voice taking on a darker edge. “I’ll know if you help her.”

Why? Why was my stomach fluttering, my insides twisting into tiny little ribboned knots?

I tried to resist it, I really did, but there was no denying how damned happy I was.

Poseidon help me . All because of something as silly as a reply to a scrap of parchment I’d sent. Stupid, Claira. Incredibly stupid.

“Thank you,” I whispered, and there was another damned flutter as I accepted the scroll. It wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind, but I couldn’t pretend I didn’t want it.

As soon as I had the scroll, he seemed to visibly relax. I gazed up at him hesitantly, unsure of what to do with it, so I simply held it to my chest. “Can I have my seashell knife back, too?”

“Ah, that.” One of his tentacles conjured it up, instantly elevating it well beyond my reach. His eyes narrowed as he inspected it, his head tilting in contemplation. “Hmm…”

“Come on,” I pressed, leaning forward with an outstretched hand.

“Only if you swear?—”

“I make no promises,” I interrupted, cutting him off before he could propose another one of his deals. Because, really, who knew how I’d need to use it in the future?

“How interesting.” He raised an eyebrow, a sly grin forming. “You seem quite attached to my gift.”

My fingers absently traced the perfectly rolled edges of the scroll I held in my other hand. “I am.”

“Very well.” He studied me a long moment before passing the seashell back to me, his tentacle brushing against my hand for the briefest moment. “Aracos,” he said, his white eyes still fixed on the exact spot he’d touched, “it’s time to return the princess to her chamber.”

I wasn’t ready for Aracos to lunge at me, winding himself around my arm. In the span of a blink, black smoke poured around us, shrouding our surroundings in a magical haze.

“Rest well, princess.” The sea wizard’s parting words barely registered before the solid rock underneath me disintegrated into nothing.

The sensation of my stomach dropping accompanied the swift teleportation, and I wasn’t so sure I hadn’t left it behind completely when we reemerged onto the softness of my seagrass bed.

“YOU!”

I flinched, startled by the sudden shout—Hari’s. If my night vision could have seen color, I knew her face would be ablaze with red.

She stood at my entryway, squeezing her pike, her every knuckle white with rage. “OUT.”

Aracos wasted no time slithering off my arm, diving into another teleportation spell instead of his usual method of invisibility. It seemed he didn’t want to take chances by slipping past her. When the magic smoke had cleared, Hari’s jaw had unhinged.

Now that Aracos was gone, she redirected her anger, pointing both it and her pike directly at me .

Oh, crap .

“Hari, I’m so sorry.”

She was far too enraged to listen, and she interrupted me with a guttural growl. “It’s my sworn duty to guard this chamber!”

“I—I know,” I stammered, dropping my shell and the scroll to raise both of my hands. “I’m so?—”

“You think you can come to me with your excuses?” With furious force, she swung her weapon through the open water in front of her, ending the show by slinging it up onto her shoulder. “I don’t want to hear them,” she spat.

“N-no.” My voice cracked, and my hands were still raised well over my head in surrender. Goodness, she was scary. “Of course not.”

Hari’s tentacles began pacing, dragging her back and forth, back and forth. Her anger pulsated off her in waves. “Do you have any idea what the queen would have done to me if she showed up? ‘ And where is she? Where is the princess?’ I would have had no excuse, for blunder’s sake, no explanation to offer her! She would have my head. ”

She was right, of course. Those were very valid points, and I’d be sure not to do it again. But I soon realized that no amount of agreeing with her mattered. No, Hari just wanted to keep expressing her discontent.

She was still lecturing me as I pulled myself over to my desk to set the letter the sea wizard had written me on top of it.

“A princess should honor her duties,” Hari insisted, then continued with, “like a knight honors her weapon. Do you think I’ve ever left my pike without?—”

Oh, wow. The ribbon was beautiful, smooth as the finest ocean silk. If he’d wanted it to make the letter look elegant, like how wax seals worked on land, he’d definitely succeeded.

“—Because of that cursed puppet! Argh , I despise both him and his wretched eel . Never trust an eel?—”

I carefully removed the ribbon, wounding it up and tying the ends into a bow for safekeeping. Then I unraveled the scroll next, taking in the elegant, swirling script that filled the parchment. A smile tugged at my lips.

This would take me days to translate.

“—And frankly, my lady, it irks me to see you waste your time with someone as lowly as him. My blood boils every time I see his face at your door! That scum is not fit to tread the same halls as?—”

I scanned each line once. Then, because Hari’s yelling in the background was making it difficult to concentrate, I scanned them again.

He’d divided his letter into four parts, and most of the glyphs I didn’t recognize. But despite the chaos, a curious excitement built inside me as I wondered what it was he could have written to me.

I stopped myself right there, placing a hand over my heart like that would be enough to calm it. What exactly was I hoping for here?

This was the sea wizard, and he was my… instructor, I supposed. This letter was probably nothing more than him scolding me about how sloppy my scribing had been in the letter I’d sent to him. Telling me that I should improve it if I intended to send him a letter again.

Yeah, that was it. So stop being so damned excited.

With a quiet sigh, I pulled out an old scroll to use for notes and picked up my pen.

“—And because you took off, the feast never came! Vishmiel saw you weren’t here and turned right around, taking every last platter with him. I was already starving, and now?—”

Time to get to work. It wasn’t like I had anything better to do—except maybe hope that another feast would come soon and appease Hari. Vishmiel —was that the chef’s name? I should have known she was only this upset because she was hungry.

Either way, I was stuck down here, a prisoner in my chamber until tomorrow, when the sea wizard would take me to meet his mentor.

“Lady Desmona,” I muttered aloud. Were they close?

That thought lingered in the back of my mind as I nibbled at the end of my pen, reviewing the first line of glyphs in the letter again.