Page 23 of Cruel Tides (Queen of Tridents #2)

23

Claira

“O h, come on!” Kai drew a hand over his face in frustration, his other hand relentlessly tugging at the passenger door. Impatient fingers strummed over the steering wheel. Barren released a gruff sigh before moving to flick the unlock button for the hundredth time. As soon as the posts on the doors popped up, Laverne’s snout poked hers right back down.

Outside, the handle jostled wildly. “Be a good girl, Laverne,” Kai’s muffled voice pleaded. Laverne’s nostrils flared with a sharp intake of breath. The doors unlocked again, and down her nose tapped.

A battle of wills. They were an amusing pair to watch, and considering their struggle was eating up the time I would have spent “learning to swim,” I hoped it lasted several more hours.

Kai shifted his strategy. He was putting his entire body weight into it now, desperate to pry open the door. He made a good show of it—complete with exaggerated grunting and straining. That is, until his hands slipped and his back found gravel.

To his credit, he wasn’t down long. Kai sprung to his feet, his cheeks puffing. A sternly pointed index finger wagged at Laverne through the glass. “ Bad —bad girl!” Oh, she didn’t like that tone at all. The sea lion shrieked at the affront, the rapid rolling of her tongue sending a barrage of spit across the window.

Okay—now it was getting painful to watch. Even if Kai got the door open, it was obvious Laverne wasn’t moving. Leaning over, I rolled my window down. “I mean, like I said, it really doesn’t bother me if she comes along. You don’t mind either, do you, Barren?”

I cut a glance over to the back of Barren’s neck, but the bulk of his shoulders drew my eyes like a magnet. Man, I really needed to stop that . He’d already caught me looking at his shoulders once, and although I hadn’t meant to hurt him, the pained look he gave me after our first meeting made it clear I had. I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

Barren’s thumb flicked over the button— click —and Laverne continued her game of whack-a-mole. Two more failed clicks later, Barren shrugged. “It’ll be fine.”

Surprise jolted me upright in my seat. The way he spoke fascinated me, his voice thick with an accent I couldn’t quite place. He’d barely let out more than a grunt of affirmation or two all morning, even when I’d praised him for the breakfast he’d made. Honestly, I’d been wondering if he was ever going to acknowledge me at all. Now that he had, I felt strangely eager to hear more.

My arms tightened around the bags in my lap. Shopping for clothes with a couple of mermen had been an experience. Especially with one of them ignoring me the entire time. Barren had remained at the entrance of every storefront, standing around like a bouncer guarding the doorway.

At least Kai had been there. He was the complete opposite of Barren and acted thrilled to take me around, tugging me from shop to shop like looking at ladies’ clothing was the most fun he’d ever had.

I sucked in my bottom lip as I surveyed my haul. Maybe if I hadn’t been originally abducted, I would have worried more about the sum of money I’d let them throw down for me today. But I knew every kindness had an ulterior motive, and they were also looking to use my tail for their gain, so as far as I was concerned, they owed me. Land money would be useless once they went back to their kingdoms anyway.

Price tags poked out of the folds of new shirts, pants, and underwear. I’d even found a swimsuit on clearance that had a wrap that would hopefully keep me from exposing my ass before and after my transformations. Everything I’d chosen was practical, and there wasn’t a single crab or crazy cartoon printed on any of it. I snuggled my hands into the sleeves of my new jacket—bright pink with a woolen lining—and decided it was my favorite purchase of all.

Finally giving up, Kai leaned into my window. “You sure? She’s… spirited.” He panted out a dry laugh while scratching at the back of his neck.

“Yeah, no worries. We’ll take good care of your girl.” I threw him a thumbs-up, and his cheeks pinked. He hesitated before cutting a glance over to Barren.

“Well, if you’re sure.”

Laverne’s chin jerked in triumph, and her throat opened up to the roof of the car to let out a round of celebratory barks. Ah, the beautiful song of her people. I never knew sea lions were so animated. Or stubborn. Kai had done his best, but there was nothing that could have tempted her to leave Barren alone with me.

My eyes darted between the driver and passenger seats. I knew Laverne had the hots for Barren, but damn, did she have her work cut out for her. Poor girl. Barren was as fortified as a warship—and not just his body, but his lips, too. It just seemed like it would make a relationship between them difficult. Oh, and they were also different species. But both of them mainly communicated with me in a series of grunts and grumbles, so at least they had that in common.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” At least with Kai out of the car, I finally had room to breathe. “So, what are you gonna do now?” I asked, setting the bag of clothes in the open seat next to me.

“Hm, wander around, make some friends?” He rubbed his hands together as he thought, which looked kind of endearing until his tongue lolled out the side of his mouth like he was really wracking his brain. Then he paused, and his lips pulled into a bright smile. “Checkers! I’ve gotta get good enough to beat you next time, don’t I?”

Oh no— anything but checkers. I laughed nervously. “It might be hard finding someone else around here who knows how to play.”

“Don’t worry.” Kai pulled away from my window, his grin still going strong. He thumped the side of the car, and the engine revved. “I’ll catch up with you guys later! You be good, Laverne. Claira will tell me if you’re not.” Kai waved as the car U-turned. “Don’t have too much fun without me!”

With Kai gone, it wasn’t long before silence filled the car. Which definitely wasn’t awkward at all. My hands went to fiddle with the handle of my shopping bag when I caught a movement in the passenger visor.

I looked up to find a black eye fixed on me. Uh, that probably wasn’t good . I moved my head to the left and to the right, but Laverne’s enormous eye tracked me through the mirror with a concentration that made me uneasy. Her focus was so intense that the lashes lining her round eye had nearly flattened against the mirror.

Presenting my hands, I tried shaking them in the universal “you win” signal to calm her down. The dark eye didn’t even blink. Well, okay. I tried sporting my best “I’m not interested in stealing your man” look next, and her eyelids shrank down to the size of a pinhead. A low warning rumbled out from the depths of her long neck. Crap.

With the way she was glaring now, there was a distinct possibility I’d just unknowingly thrown down a gauntlet. Things would have been so much easier if she’d communicate with me.

Then hot breath steamed the mirror, and she turned away with an abrupt snort. Her head bobbed side to side in excitement, and I followed the line of her snout out to the ocean outside.

We’d driven up to an inlet, and before the engine cut, Laverne had already freed herself from her seat belt. Her head danced to a beat I couldn’t hear, and when Barren turned the key, she wasted no time opening the passenger door with a flick of her snout.

“ART, ART, ART,” Laverne chanted, her flippers kicking up a cloud of sand that had blown over the parking lot. She headed straight for the shore.

Something in my chest tightened, and for a moment, I felt like I finally understood her. Laverne was homesick. The pier back at the warehouse might have given her access to the ocean, but the long stretch of sand here looked perfect for a sea lion to play around in.

Barren’s door opened, and I began working my way down my mental checklist. First, I needed to change—that was obvious. Second, no matter what happened in the water, I couldn’t let Barren touch me. Laverne would be fine, though, so maybe her tagging along wasn’t so bad. She wouldn’t let me drown if I needed her help, would she?

I shook the idea from my head. Probably best not test it.

The car leaned as Barren stood out of it, and I could hear his back pop as he unfolded to full height. His chest expanded as he took a deep breath of ocean air. “Better get changed.”

That was the only warning I got before he started unbuckling the strap over his chest. A second later, the heavy buckle rattled as he dropped the entire strip of leather into the driver’s seat. Giant fingers went for the buttons of his dress shirt, and I forced my eyes away. It was a small mercy that Barren was too tall to see into the car. My face burned as he shrugged his shirt off with a breathy grunt, his neck popping from the movement.

Then his hand landed on the belt around his waist, and I decided it was time to worry about getting myself ready. I dove into my shopping bag for my new wrap. Snapping the tag off, I fixed it around my hips and knotted it snug around my waist. Then I doubled the knot. And tripled it.

I wasn’t like Leander. I actually cared about my ass hanging out for everyone to see. The twin dimples sitting high on Leander’s backside came to mind, and I hummed lightly, thinking about how cute they’d looked peeking over the weave of the net he’d pulled around his waist.

I pulled my pants down while lingering on the memory and took my panties down next. Folding them into the center of my pants, I placed them safely next to my bag. With any luck, I’d be able to keep this set for longer than a day. A pair of dress pants dropped onto Barren’s seat, folded neatly along its pleats, and I took a quick breath.

Unzipping my jacket, I gave myself a silent pep talk. Okay, okay. Get out there, Claira, but no looking, no staring. No matter what happens, eyes on the ocean!

Ready to head out, I went for the door. The wind outside was freaking cold, and my arms drew around me like a shield, the tank top over my bikini top doing little to keep me warm. Water crashed along the shore in the distance, and I caught sight of Laverne gliding along the barrel of a wave. When the wave finally crashed, barely a moment passed before her head popped up in a new one.

Sand worked its way in my new flip-flops as I walked through the parking lot. The retail workers in Brightleaf probably thought I was crazy, rummaging through their summer clearance items on a day like today, but oh well. At least no one was around to see us here. Just me, Laverne, and—

Barren’s footsteps came up behind me from around the car, and I sucked in a breath. Eyes on the ocean, Claira.

Still, a question I’d been wondering about all day prickled at the back of my mind. Mermen did actually know about underwear, didn’t they? Bras and panties were the one thing I wouldn’t let Kai watch me pick out, and I hadn’t felt comfortable asking him then. But Barren had picked out a bathing suit for me, so even if he didn’t know about underwear, he’d at least have some swim trunks on, right?

My thoughts trailed as I watched Laverne do a corkscrew out of a wave. After shaking off water, she started down the shore, her long neck joggling excited circles as she darted back toward us through the sand.

The energy in her movements was so joyful, like she finally felt free. My chest warmed, thinking about how great it was that she could go back to acting like a sea lion for a while. Kai had taken her so far from her natural habitat, even putting her up in a hotel room. The way she was running over to us was just so adorable, and I bent down to greet her, a part of me hoping that one day she’d let me scratch at the whiskers under her chin the way Kai liked to do.

Laverne came straight to me, and my heart fluttered. I’d thought for sure she’d pass me over for Barren. My arms opened up for her arrival just as her jaw dropped, releasing a colossal spray of salt water that soaked me from my head to my flip-flops.

“Fu—” I couldn’t even get the curse out.

Pop.

“ART, ART.” The chanting started up again, and Laverne swerved around me, letting me crash face-first in the sand alone.

Would I ever learn?

I spat out a mouthful of dry sand and used my elbows to roll onto my back. Feeling defeated, I dropped my arms in the sand with a loud sigh. Laverne wasn’t ever going to let this jealousy thing go, was she?

Barren’s head came into view, and I cast my eyes downward, searching for where Laverne was probably celebrating at his feet. And there she was, urging him to leave me behind with an insistent nuzzle to the back of his knees, but I hardly noticed her. Fascination widened my gaze.

Oh.

Mermen didn’t know about underwear after all.

“Laverne, she’s, uh… ha…” My voice broke into shaky laughter. What was I even trying to say?

At least my new wrap had survived the transformation. Fine grit blew across my shoulders as my spine squirmed over the sand. Even if I could pull myself up without looking foolish, Barren’s dark eyes had me pinned. A heavy gaze examined the glimmering scales of my tail, fixed on the most vulnerable part of me, and lines of doubt formed over his usually expressionless face. Like he hadn’t expected me to actually turn out to be a mermaid.

Yeah, well, relatable.

He took a step forward, and the movement drew my eyes down a tour of his body.

The scarred barrel of his chest. The muscles practically swallowing up his kneecaps. Back to his face. Legs again, but this time a little higher. A quick breath whistled through my teeth.

“Sorry,” I blurted, and covered my face with the crook of my elbow. I wasn’t supposed to stare, dammit. It was on the checklist!

Before a few months ago, I barely even knew what a man looked like below the belt, and now I seemed to be bombarded with nakedness at every turn. And these guys didn’t even have the decency to look like normal men. No, they had to be perfection personified. Freaking mermen!

A dreadful sinking feeling settled in my belly, sending my head rocking into the sand. These mermen were going to ruin me. After this trident business was over with, and I went back to my old life… How could a normal human ever live up to what was in front of me now?

Barren’s heavy steps came closer, and I locked my elbow over my eyes. Why was he even naked? I was supposed to be the one learning how to swim, not him, and it wasn’t like he could even go into the ocean.

“You, uh, can wait for me down by the water.” Anything to get him away from me now. He wasn’t mine to look at, but with that dangly eel of his hanging out there, just tempting me to look it in the eye, how could I not? “I’ll catch up. As soon as I get my legs back.”

The ground shifted, sending my shoulder sinking into the sand. Was he crouching over me? My body seemed to think so. The uncanny feeling of his body hovering over mine sent a shiver of anticipation running through me. Anticipation for what, exactly? Nope . I immediately took that question back; I didn’t need to know what wicked perversion my body was ramping up for. Whatever it was, it was not happening. But seconds passed as he stood over me, making it clear he wasn’t interested in heading down to the water alone.

The sound of waves crashing over the shore mixed with Barren’s relaxed breaths. He was so close I could picture his chest rising and falling. Was he going to torture me like this until my legs came back?

The sand shifted again, and when he opened his mouth, his voice had a raw edge to it. “Some help?” It was shocking how strained those words sounded, like just uttering them had been enough to cause him physical pain.

Help? Help with what?

I dropped my elbow and found his face over mine, his eyes focused on his great palm resting beside my shoulder. He wanted to lift me? But the way his thick brows knit together as he glowered down at his arm told me he was wrestling with the question of how .

“Um…” I drew up my arms and tentatively hovered them over the thick muscles framing his neck. “Like this?”

There was a hint of dark stubble lining the harsh curve of his jaw, trailing down his neck. I wondered why I hadn’t noticed it before, but then again, this was the first time we’d been this close. His jaw tightened in a nod, and a shiver ran over my arms as I hooked them around his neck.

“Could you…?” he asked in that heavy accent of his, his voice warming me more than his body heat. His arm stretched, reaching for my tail.

“No.” I pulled myself up along his shoulders, helping him out in the only way I could. “I can’t move it at all. Sorry.” Shame reddened my face, but Barren acted like I hadn’t said a word. His palm found its balance under my tail, and suddenly I was weightless.

He stood, and my body fell against his chest. The arm cradling me tightened, drawing me closer to his titanesque form than I ever imagined possible. It was the first time I’d seen Barren without his brace on, and I couldn’t stop myself from inspecting the angry constellation of scars trailing along the permanent groove the leather had worn into his skin. I followed them up to the place where his shoulder sank into a pit and felt my chest tighten.

Whatever had happened to his right arm had been violent. By the look of his scars, whoever or whatever had claimed his arm had done so by ripping, boring, or biting, and if he knew how focused I was on his shoulder right now, the wounded look he’d give me would kill me. I jerked my chin away, forcing my eyes to any other part of him, and my shame quickly shifted into mortification.

Had I really consented to letting a naked man bridal carry me across the beach?

A pathetic sound threatened to slide up my throat—a whimper mixed with a groan of pure agony—and it took everything I had in me to swallow it back down.

Laverne looked like she was in just as much agony. She circled Barren’s feet, her neck downcast in disappointment and tail carving out a pattern of corkscrews in the sand as Barren carried me toward the ocean.

The ocean. We got closer to the water with each long step, and it was almost impossible to be touching someone more than I was touching Barren now. Dammit. Was there a single check mark on my mental list I could actually keep?

“Wait, wait!” My arms fell off his shoulders, frantically pushing against his chest like it would somehow slow him down. “P-put me down. I—”

Pop.

My tail split, the force sending me flailing out of Barren’s arm like a fish bouncing off the side of a great barge in search of its freedom. I braced myself for a sandy landing, but a hand locked around my ankles, and I crashed against a steeled wall of chest muscles. “Oh,” I groaned, rubbing a sore shoulder. “Th-thanks for catching me.” Though I was grateful for the save, I couldn’t help but think that sand might have hurt a little less.

Wait—the sand . We were close enough to the shoreline now that it was turning damp. I scrambled in his arm, pushing off his chest again.

“Let me down,” I squeaked, fighting to jerk an ankle out of his grip. “I—I’m good, see?” I flexed my ankles and wiggled my toes, gesturing pathetically at my feet. If he transformed into a merman now, what would happen? Would he want to use me to get his own kingdom’s trident back first? Would he even take me back to Leander? My voice cracked. “Let me down!”

His hold over me slackened with a shrug of his arm, sending me sliding down his body.

And I… definitely hadn’t thought this through.

The apex of my legs nearly caught itself an eel, and when my feet hit the sand, my chin was level with Barren’s navel. Holy— Why was he such a freaking titan ? I jerked back with a groan, swirling around on my heels.

Eyes on the ocean, Claira! The ocean!

I focused out on the water and immediately found Laverne. She was definitely sulking now and had taken to playing dead on her back in the water’s path, dramatically letting wave after wave drape over her.

I buried my face in my hands, thinking about how close I’d come to breaking the promise I’d made to Leander already.

Pop.

The sound caught me completely off guard, and I looked up to a trail of oversized footprints leading to the ocean in the sand. My neck searched to the left, then to the right, but Barren was gone. Had he transformed into a betta fish?

A flood of panic worked through me as I sprung down the beach, following the craters his feet had left in the sand. If the undertow got him, there was no way I’d be able to save him. “Laverne!” I called out, though my focus never left the spot where Barren’s footprints abruptly ended. “Laverne, help me! Barren went out into the ocean, and I need you to—”

“Focus on your tail and come into the water.”

Words knocked around in my head, and the feeling of impatience that accompanied them nearly turned my legs into jelly. Barren could project his words into my head just like other sea life could?

“Where are you?” I called, frantically scanning over each wave that rolled in. “You can’t breathe in the water, can you? If you get sucked out there, I—I won’t be able to reach you.”

The next step was the one that did it, and I fell to the shore with a pop but kept moving. Maybe he hadn’t gone far yet. Maybe I still had time to pull him out.

Pull him out? What was I thinking? No, no, I couldn’t touch him. That just left Laverne, and she was infatuated with Barren, so surely she’d jump at the chance to save him.

My tail felt like lead behind me, but I clawed my way into the waves until the sand was saturated enough to suction my palms.

“Further. You cannot swim without a tail in the water.”

Did he think I was an idiot? Barren sure was uncharacteristically talkative as a fish. Was he unaware of the danger he was in, or did he regularly venture into the ocean as a betta? His voice sounded too steady in my head, too calm.

Waves rolled past my elbows, and I braced my lungs before plunging my head under. A few yards in front of me, a red fish swam near the surface, bobbing along with the overhead tide. He was huge—looking more like a seasoned koi than a betta fish—with a fancy tail that wiggled so fast behind him it looked like it was vibrating. A lone fin steered in the front, paddling just enough to keep one of his bubble eyes focused on me.

“Barren,” I gasped out, and my lungs filled with salt water. “You look—”

“Focus,” he repeated, and my lips sealed. And I thought Leander looked ridiculous as a betta.

I lunged forward, using my arms when the waves ebbed, letting the force help pull me into the ocean. It wasn’t fast, but it worked, and soon my tail slipped underwater. I gulped, silently hoping I’d be able to use the same trick to get back to dry land.

A flash of red zipped past me, and I rested my belly over the sand as I watched him zigzag around. Show off .

“How are you breathing?” I asked, remembering how Leander had struggled as a betta.

“Carefully.”

Well, that sure answered that. Maybe the size of his gills was the difference?

“It’s not the size of the gills. It’s how you use them.”

My mouth gaped, completely mortified. “Did you just—?”

“Focus on your tail. The end of your fin, can you move it?”

No—oh no. I knew fish could project their thoughts, but I never even considered the possibility that they could hear mine as well. What was he even saying? Something about my tail, but my face felt like it was hot enough to boil the water around me.

In the middle of that thought, a torpedo of gray spun through the water, approaching the red betta fish from behind.

Oh great. Now I had Laverne to deal with, too. With the way Barren moved underwater, it was obvious he didn’t need her help, but of course she’d want to come play in the water.

Then her jaw unhinged. Wider and wider, Laverne’s mouth spread, her whiskers pulling back, readying to swallow the red fish down whole.

“Laverne,” I gasped, lunging to stop their collision. Did she even know what she was doing? Who the fish was? “Stop!”

My hands clapped over the betta, and my heart pounded with relief. That is, until a vortex of water erupted around us, sucking me down into a cloud of sand. Shards of coral and shells abraded every inch of my human half like sandpaper, the force of the vortex holding me against the ocean floor until something wrapped around me, yanking me out of the cloud of sand and over the line of water.

The haze cleared from my eyes as Barren came into focus. Or rather, his chest. His grip around me was so tight he’d smashed my cheek between his pecs. I felt the end of my tail skim over the sand, and I realized we were moving.

And not in the good direction, either. We were moving out to the ocean .

“Barren,” I said, pleading with him using just his name. Was he angry? Did he think I had something to do with the curse?

He dove underwater, dragging me down with him, and I struggled against his chest. “No, please! ” But down we drifted, his tail beating against the water in long strokes. It was the bright red of fresh blood, his scales wider and smoother than the ones I remembered seeing in the Atlantic. Long frills followed behind us, streaming off the end of his tail in an elegant way mine didn’t.

I opened my mouth to plead again, but a hand came around my neck. Fingertips pressed against me, his grip just firm enough to keep me from drifting off. Three fingers were all it took to collar the entirety of my neck, the fourth resting heavy on my collarbone.

“Are you a sea witch?”

My body bristled at the pointed warning that came with his words. His dark eyes smoldered like hot coals, staring down at me like I was some undersea monstrosity. The grip around my neck strained like he was holding back from crushing my windpipe before I’d even given my answer.

This wasn’t just a question. I was on trial, and he was the executioner.

I had no clue what a sea witch was, but I knew for certain I wasn’t a witch in any capacity. A witch would have magic in spades, and I—Well, I was me .

“N-no,” I stammered, praying I sounded sincere. Here, underwater, I could clearly see he was more titan than anything else, and I wondered how many lives the hand around my throat had taken before being cursed to come on land. “I d-don’t even know wh-what a sea witch i-is.”

Seconds passed as he studied me, his lips hard and muscles straining like he was fighting through a barrage of conflicting emotions. He’d believe me, right? He had to believe me.

I shut my eyes and let out a sob. Leander told me I could trust Barren. He’d said I’d be safe as long as Barren was around, but now…

“Mmh,” was all he said, and his fingertips retreated. My hands shook as I reached for my neck.

“You—you almost…” I said aloud, terror making my teeth chatter.

“Sea witches must perish. That is one of my duties,” he intoned. His tail pivoted, propelling us back to the shore. “I am… relieved you are not one of them.”

My hands rubbed at my collarbone. I could still feel the phantom touch of his hand around my neck.

You and me both, I answered silently. “You’ll still let me go back to the warehouse, right?”

“Mmh,” he rumbled, but his arm pinned me to his chest like he wasn’t about to let go.