Cruel Tides (Queen of Tridents #2)

31

Claira

B oth of them really thought I was their mate?

And not even by their own choosing, but because of ancient magic cast by some dead guy?

Sea god or not, Poseidon would never have that kind of control over me. I’d rather die alone.

But Kai and Leander both seemed ready and willing to go along with it. Didn’t they realize how insane it was? How delusional they sounded?

I veered along the side of the hotel until the walkway twisted into a boardwalk, pausing at the first step to look out at the ocean view. Lazy waves and untouched sand rolled out before me, its beauty making me yearn for home all the more.

Leander “needed” me? No. Dad and Gram. They were the ones who needed me. Truly needed me—just as much as I needed them.

With his bad back and her arthritis, they were too old to be doing the work I knew they would push themselves to do while I was gone. But when had I stopped worrying about getting home to them? Stopped thinking about taking Lady Ochre out on the water?

It baffled me how quickly I’d pushed those thoughts aside. Going back home should have been all I thought about, and yet…

I leaned against the boardwalk’s railing, feeling more foolish than ever. I’d let myself get so wrapped up in a world where I didn’t even belong.

“There you are,” a voice called from behind me, nearly breathless, like they’d just completed the last leg of a track meet. Ugh . Was it too much to ask for a minute alone to think?

“You won’t change my mind,” I sighed, my eyes absently tracing lines of waves as they rolled up the shore until Kai rounded in front of me, obstructing my view.

“I’m not trying to change your mind.” He held up a palm, and I stared at it, not sure what it meant.

His fingers sure were long, though, the surface of his palm calloused where I had expected the skin to be smooth.

What was he, a warrior? A champion of undersea tug-of-war? Honestly, neither seemed very believable, but it just seemed like a would-be mate should know why their would-be partner had calluses on his hands.

Suddenly, it was like I was seeing Kai for what he truly was: a stranger.

I’d always felt myself relaxing next to him, like I was cozying up to an old friend, but why ? I knew nothing about him other than his name, and apparently, I hadn’t even really known that.

Leander had called him Kaius, right? I didn’t know a Kaius. I—

“I want to apologize,” Kai said softly, and I felt flustered when he placed his calloused palm on my shoulder. “I was just so excited. I didn’t think about how you would feel or—or if you would even want to be my mate.” He swallowed hard, a daze misting his eyes. “Or if you had already found someone else before me.”

My lips parted, but all words fled from thought. What was I supposed to say to that?

“It’s okay, Claira. You don’t have to worry about me bringing it up again.” His grip on my shoulder tightened briefly, and then his hand dropped, plunging to his side like he was letting go of me altogether.

“All right.” I nodded, the sharp tang of sea air burning down my dry throat. “Good.”

I stared at the sand, unable to look him in the eyes. Not while my heart was throbbing so wildly, the panicky feeling of loss welling inside me, beating against my chest like a drum.

Was I crazy? This was a loss of something I never even had. Kai and I were only friends—nothing more. That was all there ever was between us.

My body seemed overly aware of his movements as he shifted on his feet, facing down the boardwalk.

“Barren must have been an excellent teacher,” he said lightly, slowly easing back into his normal cheerful lilt. “Or you were a better swimmer than you thought? You made it all the way to King Eamon’s kingdom and back in one morning. That’s pretty amazing.”

I focused in on the shell fragments littering the sand next to the boardwalk, feeling uneasy. “Oh, that.” What could I say that wasn’t a lie? The last thing I wanted was more undeserved praise.

“But I still don’t like the idea of you going back in the water alone,” he mumbled, his hands settling on the wooden rail beside me. “How about you take me with you next time?”

“E-excuse me?” Shocked, I jerked up to look at him, only to find a broad smile waiting for me.

“Just think, you could tie me up in a bag or something! Wear me on your hip like those belts we saw when we went shopping.”

I let out a slow breath of relief, cracking a small smile at the thought of a miniature Kai trapped in one of those fish bags I’d seen in pet stores. “Wear a fish like a belt? Now I know you’re teasing me.”

“I’m completely serious!” He nudged my elbow, looking a little too excited at the thought of me dragging him around in a little baggie. “I guess Laverne could carry me, if you think I might slow you down.”

I pictured Leander in his betta fish form, trapped in his own shirt, and let out a snort. “Sure, okay. And as my betta fish warrior, what do you plan to do if we swim into more of those octopus creatures?”

Kai paused, scratching at the short hairs on the nape of his neck. “Flare up and blow bubbles in their eyes, I guess?”

Now that would be a sight. “I appreciate your courage, but I think I’m better off going…” The word alone felt like a knot in my tongue, and I found my mouth clamping shut before I could say it.

I couldn’t do it—couldn’t bring myself to lie to Kai, who had been so honest and genuine with me.

“Come here,” I said, seizing him by the wrist before I could reason myself out of it. “There’s something I should show you.”

“Oh?” He fell in line behind me easily, following at my heels like a trusting puppy seeking approval from its master.

Kai barely knew me and yet still offered his trust as easily as he offered a smile. Well, enough to proclaim that we were mates, but what had I done to deserve his trust? My chest ached as I led him down the boardwalk.

“Somewhere where no one can see us,” I mumbled, scanning down the shoreline. There were more boardwalks to our right, their steps and walkways leading up to the back of restaurants and hotels. It might have been the off-season for tourists, but I still didn’t want to risk either of us being seen.

An arm stretched past my ear, and I realized just how close I’d pulled Kai behind me. “Maybe underneath that pier?”

“Mmh, good call,” I said, releasing his arm. The pier looked like it was built for fishing, with ample room underneath to slip into the water unseen. Waves licked up the sides of its supports, the length of it jutting into the water, ending in a circular deck well above sea level. It had probably seen its fair share of anglers earlier this morning, but it was probably too late in the day to see any now.

The wind was sharp, and my boots added more grit to the breeze with each clunky step through the dry sand.

“You’re going to show me your swimming, right?” Kai asked, his teeth clenching against the barrage of sand. “I’m actually really excited. I was hoping I’d get to see your tail again.”

He wanted to see my tail? Heat prickled across my face. I’d thought about his tail, too, but mostly because I had a hard time picturing what a merman would look like with a shark’s tail. “Something like that.”

When we crossed under the shadow of the pier, I took one last look around, surveying to see if anyone was nearby.

This was crazy, wasn’t it? Not we’re mates crazy, but still crazy.

Kai didn’t need to know about my secret, but if he saw what I could do, maybe he would realize that he didn’t really know me, either. That I wasn’t what he thought I was. And maybe when I saw all the questions my secret would bring into his eyes, I wouldn’t feel so terrible about rejecting him.

Kai would understand why I’d dismissed him, but Leander… How could I ever look Leander in the face after the things I’d said?

“I can hold on to your clothes so they don’t blow away,” Kai offered, his hand already moving to cover his eyes.

I cringed. I wasn’t wearing a bathing suit underneath my clothes, but oh well, it was too late to turn back now. Stepping out of my boots, I pulled my shirt off and straightened out my bra straps. I checked to make sure Kai’s eyes were still covered before going for the button of my jeans. With a deep breath, I slid them down.

“They’ll be fine if I put my boots over them,” I mumbled, shivering as my panties dropped around my ankles.

At least the cold wouldn’t bother me when I got into the water. I sat my boots over my pile of clothes and huddled my arms close, tiptoeing down to the tide. I stepped into the first swell I came to, and the water didn’t even make it up to my ankle before—

Pop.

I smacked down into the sand just as the water retreated, my bones still crunching into their new configuration. “Why isn’t there a way to do this without looking like an idiot?” I groaned, spitting a salty wet glob of sand from my teeth.

An astonished gasp came from behind me. “ Wow. You look… beautiful.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled, feeling the weight of more sand stuck to my chin. Maybe Poseidon’s spell had turned him blind, too.

My elbows sank into the muck as I tried to lift off my stomach. Another tide swelled up the shore, and I used it to draw myself a few inches closer to the water. “Okay,” I exhaled, setting myself upright. “I know this is going to sound weird, but do you think you can trust me?”

His eyebrows lifted. “Of course.”

“Good.” I reached out a hand. “Your turn.”

“My turn?” Kai looked at me, then my tail, then the water, scrubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“Come on, I know you don’t have a problem with taking your pants off,” I joked, but nervousness coated my laugh. My curse breaking would still work on shark-tailed mer, right?

His pants dropped before I could turn my eyes away, and of course he had nothing on underneath them. Why was I still expecting underwear?

“I’m leaving my shirt on, though,” he said firmly, his face flaming as he kicked his pants aside. “At least until I’m a fish. You’ll make sure it doesn’t float away, right?”

“I’ll try my best.” I gulped, hoping it wouldn’t come to that. If his shirt did start floating away, I’d be useless getting it back.

What was with him and shirts anyway? Was he hiding something underneath it?

“Here, take my hand.”

He started down the shore, and I held my breath, stretching my arm out further.

“Uh, okay,” he said and tentatively reached for me. Our fingers locked just as the tide swelled, and I pressed my eyes shut as I felt a rush of water race up the shore.

Pop .

Solid and steady, his hand was still fixed in mine when my eyes opened again. Thank goodness .

Kai’s body lurched forward, plunging right into the sand in front of me. “ Oof, ” he groaned when he managed to yank his face out of the sludge. “ Dude! ”

I started pulling him up when his fins caught my eye.

What the heck?

Two dorsal fins jutted straight out of the center of his back like sails on a ship, way higher than where a normal tail should have started. I gulped, realizing what they’d done to his shirt. The fabric was split, sliced and diced from where their sharp edges had poked through during his transformation.

But that wasn’t all. A blue-gray tail trailed behind him like a bony whip, narrowing into an angled fin at the end sporting sharpened blades of bony flesh rivaling the ones crowning his back.

“I don’t understand,” he gasped, pulling himself closer to me. And neither did I. He was nothing like I’d expected. Why did he have so many sharpened points and edges? “How are you doing this?”

Kai’s body seemed to shake with energy, his eyes flicking between me and his tail.

“Honestly?” I whispered, feeling bewildered myself. “I have no idea.”

He watched his tail thrash through the wet sand like a cat watching its tail flick back and forth, then turned to me, all smiles and polished teeth.

So many teeth.

“Does anyone else know?” His tail wiggled happily, moving us into deeper water.

“I actually still don’t know how to swim,” I confessed, my arms clamping around his as the waves sucked us in further. “Leander took me down to the palace. I didn’t swim there at all.”

I took a breath, feeling the water beat against my shoulders. “You’ve been so nice to me since you got here, like you were the only one who actually cared. It didn’t feel right that you were the only one left who didn’t know.”

His smile drooped, but he recovered quickly. “Everyone else knows?”

“Well, not everyone. But Barren and Leander know,” I said, hating the thought of making him feel left out. “Er, Laverne, too, I guess.”

“Laverne knew? ” he groaned, and I shrugged, gritting my teeth.

“She talks to you, right? I didn’t even think about her telling you before, but I’m actually kind of surprised she kept it a secret.”

“Hmm,” he grumbled, the short movements of his tail keeping us parallel to the shoreline. “She probably didn’t want, well, this to happen.” His chin cocked, gesturing down at the arm I was currently wrapped around.

“Oh—right. Good point,” I breathed out, keeping my fingers tangled up in his but loosening my hold on his arm. I didn’t hate having him so close—but was that how I really felt, or was it just some illusion?

“Do you really believe in the thrall? ” I asked, and his body stiffened next to mine.

“Yes,” he confessed, wincing like it had hurt him to admit it. “But whether it’s a love thing or a nature thing, I’m not sure. Some scribes think it’s just a way to keep us reproducing.” He coughed suddenly, nearly choking on his own tongue. “N-not that I was trying to reproduce with you earlier!”

“Don’t worry,” I said, hoping the waves distracted from my reddening face. “I know you were just trying to keep me safe. You’ve been so sweet to me. Thanks for that.”

“It would be nice, though, wouldn’t it?” he whispered, our tails brushing together as his body leaned into mine. Kai looked at me tenderly, his smile equally boyish and broken. “To have someone you’re bound to, even if it is with magic?”

A hand hovered in the water behind me like it was too afraid to touch. Kai’s lips hardened, his throat bobbing in a dry gulp as his hand finally landed on the small of my back.

“Kai,” I gasped, bracing a hand on his shoulder as his fingers pressed into my back, drawing me up against him. Unspoken feelings surged in his gaze, more numerous than the bubbles frothing in the water around us. “It would be nice, Kai, but I promise you, it isn’t real.”

His lips parted slowly, his voice low and breathless. “What if it could be?”

I felt myself shudder in his arms. It was the “what if” that terrified me.

With him, with Leander. What if this, what if that, but they were looking at me all wrong, more focused on what they thought I could be and not what I wasn’t.

I wasn’t a mermaid. Even with magic, even if I wished with every bit of strength I had in me, I couldn’t make them happy.

“I—I just…”

The arm I was clinging to moved, drawing up to my chin. Our connected fingers brushed along my jaw, easing my hair out of my face. He shifted against me like he was uncomfortable—or rather, like he was worried about my comfort.

“Sorry,” he said, a shy smile setting off his blushing cheeks. “All I can think about is kissing you.”

He wanted to kiss me?

Kai leaned in before I could react, his forehead suddenly barely a hair from mine. Lean muscles peeked out from under the crisp collar of his button down, and it was an unexpected lure. His neck was close enough I could breathe in his scent—the soft vanilla of hotel soap mingling with a playful swirl of warm cinnamon—and it nearly disarmed me as much as his smile first had.

It was energy and comfort and everything that was Kai.

I took in a slow breath, letting it fill me.

There was also something familiar in that breath. A temptation. Like one of Gram’s pies hot from the oven, the most delicious aroma of apples and spice steaming up from a woven lattice crust, begging for me to sneak a slice.

I licked my lips despite the clear note of danger singing in my mind.

Sure, I could let him kiss me. I might even enjoy it. But would a sweet taste be worth the risk of getting burned?

And no one ever really snuck a slice of pie—not really. There was always a wedge gone that was easily spotted as soon as the next person entered the room.

Leander would take one look at us and know. And what would he think? He hated Kai. Though with how I’d just dismissed both their declarations, did it even matter? I’d made it clear that neither of them had any claim over me. And yet—

As if to answer my mind’s struggle, Kai’s lips parted in the barest ghost of a whisper. “ Just once… ”

The vulnerability in that one wish nearly broke me. Like he was a drowning man bargaining for his very next breath.

Kai pressed his eyes shut, and the cool skin of his forehead landed against mine, our joined bodies rocking with each slow wave that swelled over our shoulders.

Just once …

But would once really be enough?

Could one kiss give him—give me— some sort of closure or revelation? To learn if there truly was some spark, some magical bond , between us?

He might have been desperate for it, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

What if we kissed and there wasn’t any magic?

What if there was?

Kai inhaled slowly, and it was like he was breathing me in, too. A smile crept up the corner of his mouth as he held in that breath. Gleaming white teeth tips flashed.

My neck prickled at the memory of those teeth, their points raking down my neck, over my shoulder. It had been strange and unexpected, sure, but I couldn’t deny I’d enjoyed it.

“Mouthy,” he’d called himself.

Looking at his passionate smile now, the rows of teeth hiding behind his sweeping lips, I wanted nothing more than to learn for myself what “mouthy” could mean.

The hand on my back tightened when Kai finally exhaled, and I immediately knew what he had decided.

Just once .

Even the sounds of the ocean seemed to kick up around us, the water churning like the fluttering nerves knocking around my insides.

Then all rational thought left me as the side of his angular jaw tightened, his chin daring to dip to meet mine. I felt my body relax into his arms. Just once. The words hummed through me, a beautiful spell or a terrible curse. A promise I wasn’t sure either of us could keep. Just once .

“You dare touch Big Brother!”

Words speared into my mind, dropping like ice cubes into the hot muddled mess lust had left of my brain. Shocked and confused, I instantly pushed away.

I didn’t even recover when a whoosh of gray and a spray of water came across my vision and—

Slap.

I heard the brisk clap of skin striking against skin before I felt the sting of a wet flipper smacking right across my cheek.

The force of the blow turned my face, and by the time my head rolled back, a gaping jaw full of dark teeth and whiskers was waiting.

“Rrrrrrraw!” The open throat keened, my eardrums vibrating as a pungent puff of hot fish-breath flared over my face.

“What the—” Kai’s arm fell from around me, his body wedging between me and the angry sea lion. “Laverne!”

I felt my mouth drop open, the dull throbbing on the side of my face stinging more with each second that passed.

Laverne… she’d actually slapped me.

Kai lifted his hands, his mouth opening to reprimand her, and… Oh no .

I reached out, desperate to grab hold of Kai’s back before the contact between our bodies was severed completely, but—

Pop .

Kai’s shirt, dampened and empty, landed over my arm, and my heart nearly burst from terror.

I plunged into the shallow water, frantically peeling back the layers of fabric to find him trapped inside. Only, he wasn’t inside. He wasn’t in his shirt. Not anymore. My fingers splayed and reached, searching all over for any sign of where he went, desperately hoping a hand might collide with him in the water so he might turn back before the ocean took him. Before he was lost to me forever.

My eye caught a shimmer of royal blue in a thick spume of sea-foam. It was bobbing over a wave, and I scrambled toward it the best I could without a tail or legs to help.

But I was too late. I stared in horror, completely helpless, as Laverne’s wide mouth clamped around the glob of sea-foam, devouring it in full, flailing betta fish and all.

“No!” The sound of my shriek pierced even my own ears, but it wasn’t enough to stop Laverne. She tossed her long neck back in triumph, and her flippers kicked into a gallop, furiously heading for the shore before my arms could circle around and catch her. “Laverne!”

I followed after her, pulling and raking through sand and not getting anywhere fast. She made it back to the sand, and I clawed even harder.

I needed to get to her. To grab hold of her jaws and wrestle Kai out of her mouth before it was too late .

“Drop him!” I pleaded, my voice shuddering with anguish as I fought my way up the shore. I dragged Kai’s shirt back with me, not ready to let go of it because that would feel too much like letting go of him.

“It’s Kai! I know he looks like a fish, but it’s Kai in there, Laverne. Your Kai! Please just listen to me and drop him!”

Laverne’s neck twisted, and I was taken aback by the scathing look she gave that somehow screamed, Of course I know it’s Kai, you idiot , without her projecting a single word.

She turned back and spat the sickening glob of green foam out on the dry sand, her snout gently rooting through the mess until a tiny fish popped free from the bubbles.

Kai .

He was okay. Well, maybe not okay , but his little blue fins were still moving, and that was infinitely better than becoming sea lion chow.

“Thank Poseidon! ” The words slipped out, and even though I’d promised I would stop praising Poseidon, the relief I felt was great enough to let this one slide.

My heart was still pounding, slowly piecing itself back together little by little with each new beat as I slid up the sand. When I finally pulled the end of my tail from the water, emotions swelled up inside of me like warring tempests, and I couldn’t decide whether to explode with fury or burst into tears.

Cold black eyes found mine, and Laverne shuffled sideways with a snort, blocking the little blue fish from view like she was trying to protect him from me . Like I’d been the one to gobble him up and spit him out, not her.

“Shameless.”

The word shot in my mind like she was hocking another wad of spit between my eyes.

My teeth gritted, my fingers digging deep pits in the sand. Fury it was, then. “ Me? You think I’m shameless?”

Laverne’s head snapped forward, and she raised her nose high in the air. Oh, so she’d said what she’d said, and now she thought she could ignore me?

“You act like I wanted to come here,” I shot back, but she kept her back to me, her tail planting itself in the sand. “Wanted to be forced away from my home just so I can perform little curse-breaking tricks for these kingdoms. So they can use me and use me and use me some more and then toss me back to the humans when they’re finally done with me! I didn’t choose this. I would never choose this. You think I’m shameless, but I’m not the one who flew across an entire freaking country just to try to pick up some men!”

It was petty, so petty, throwing the words Kai had said to me back at Laverne, but I couldn’t stop the words from falling out.

Laverne hated me. She’d hated me before she’d even met me, before I’d even had the chance to know her, so why not give her a reason?

“You—You want to talk about shameless…” I felt the weight of more venom resting on my tongue, ready to throw out, but my breath became ragged, my anger suddenly dimming.

Though it was true Laverne wasn’t just some animal, I was still arguing with a sea lion. Sure, she had more personality than some humans, but she was like a sister to Kai.

My mouth clamped shut. She’d been rejected by her kind, too. Whether I wanted to admit it, that made us kindred.

Rejection was a feeling I knew all too well, and although it had affected us differently, at least Laverne had the courage to fight for what she wanted—even if what she wanted seemed impossible.

“I’m sorry, Laverne. I really shouldn’t have—”

Pop.

Laverne bounced on her belly as Kai’s naked form appeared, sprawled out on the sand like an overturned horseshoe crab.

Then she jumped a little too high in her excitement, and I caught more of Kai than I’d ever seen before, his thighs parting wide as he scrambled to get his limbs back under control.

Wow. He was smooth, too, just like Leander. Were all mermen hairless down there?

Wait—Barren had a shadowy patch, didn’t he? I’d tried so hard not to notice, but I seemed to recall feeling short hairs scraping against my belly when I slid free from his arm…

“Y-you got my sh-shirt.” Kai had brought himself upright during my daydream and was trembling from the cold. My eyes snapped up to his, and a bright pink flushed his face.

He hugged his arms around his body, and it instantly reminded me of the awkwardness of changing for gym class in high school. Because although we were all taking our shirts off, heaven forbid someone else noticed you had boobs.

Only Kai didn’t have boobs. He had pale skin and tight pink nipples and, oh , the look of pure horror on his face said he really didn’t want me looking.

I covered my eyes and tossed the shirt as it was, ripped from his fins and covered in brown mush from being dragged through the sand.

Pop .

My tail split, and I squeaked as the cold wind hit me. “Don’t look!” I cried out, scrambling to my feet. Kai was too focused on covering up his chest and trying to make heads or tails of his shirt to notice, so I ran for the cover of the pier.

Diving into my pile of clothes, I barely remembered to put my panties on first. My skin was still salty and damp enough that everything clung, and jerking my pants up my thighs nearly sent me tumbling backward in the sand.

Kai’s voice rumbled down the beach, and I looked up as I turned my shirt around, wondering what it was he was saying to Laverne.

From his dark tone and clipped body language, it was safe to say he was pretty mad. Not Leander-mad, but madder than I’d expected from Kai.

Was it because she’d nearly swallowed him up trying to get him away from me? Or because she’d interrupted us when we were about to…

I paused to touch my lips, then shook my head.

Gathering up my boots and Kai’s pants, I walked back to them just as Laverne stormed off. Whether it was because of something he’d said to her or my approach, who could tell?

“I brought your pants,” I said softly, dropping my boots in the sand.

Kai’s face was red-hot when he looked up—and not the cute pink blush he sometimes got, no. This was seriously pissed-off shark-man red.

He took a measured breath and yanked the pants up. “Thanks.”

I plopped down on the sand to pull on my boots while he jerked them up his legs. Silence stretched through the air. And then stretched some more. Damn , even the gulls were uncharacteristically quiet.

Laverne had succeeded in her mission, it seemed.

The mood was thoroughly killed, and now we were both damp and freezing, fully clothed yet lingering in the sand without reason.

A splash in the distance caught my attention, and I looked up to see Laverne’s snout driving into the water like she was a bear trying to snatch salmon from a stream. Maybe that was how sea lions normally hunted, or maybe she was taking her frustrations out on the poor fish.

“So, she calls you Big Brother? That’s kind of cute.”

“Yeah,” Kai said after a pause, his voice still rough with emotion. “Freechia called me that since she was little. She and Laverne used to be inseparable.”

“Freechia’s your sister, right?” Had Laverne wanted her harem bad enough to leave her best friend behind? “She didn’t want to come here with you?”

Kai’s mouth clamped shut. Lines of pain furrowed his face, and I knew at once I’d asked something I shouldn’t have.

“I’m so sorry. It’s none of my business. I don’t know why I—”

“It’s just hard to say it out loud.” His head shook, his chin casting down to the sand. “After the curse, Freechia, she—Well, I was supposed to be watching over her. I was the only brother she ever listened to. She was my responsibility, my father always said, and he was right. He’s always right. She didn’t listen to anyone else. But when the curse hit…”

Kai was breaking, tearing apart just by saying the words. All his energy and joy for life was crumbling in front of me, and there was nothing I could do or say to take his pain away. I leapt up to put an arm around his shoulders, and he fell into my embrace. “I should have been with her, but I’d let her go off on her own, and—” He stared down, haunted. “We never found her.”

“I’m so, so sorry, Kai. That’s horrible.”

“That’s why I came here,” he whispered, his lilac eyes clamping shut like he was desperately trying to hold all the pieces of himself together. “When I heard the Atlantic had captured a mermaid who could still use her tail, well, the rest of my family thought it was crazy of me to come here. That it couldn’t possibly be Freechia. But who wouldn’t do something crazy for their family? I’d go anywhere to get her back, do anything to find her.”

My heart broke for him. He’d come here looking for his sister and found me instead. Yet somehow, he’d still managed to smile for me on that first day we’d met.

Even though I wasn’t what he was looking for, he still fed me and laughed with me, and actually, truly cared. “You have to know it isn’t your fault. You didn’t cause the curse, and even if you had been there, you would have been a fish, too.”

Kai pulled away, silencing me with a firm shake of his head. “It would have been different. If I was there, I could have protected her.”

My lips fell into a frown. He truly believed it was his fault Freechia was missing? He had no way of knowing when the curse would happen or even that the curse would happen, yet here he was, torturing himself.

Kai took a breath and looked up, his eyes landing on the spot where Laverne was still chasing down unseen fish in the water. “Laverne would never admit it, but that’s why she came along, too. She’s always been like a sister to me, but Freechia and Laverne… They meant the world to each other.”

I looked out at the ocean and nodded, too, seeing Laverne in a new light. “I’m so sorry, Kai. About all of it.”

If I’d thought his smile had been honest, his frown was more so. Stripped down and brittle, he looked vulnerable enough that one careless touch, one wrong word, might just destroy him.

“I wanted to tell you, but I just didn’t know how.” He eased in another breath, and then all his pain, his hurt, was gone. His hand shot up in the air, and it was like a switch had forced itself back on. Kai’s voice carried across the beach, loud and excited, his lips wobbling as they curled at their corners. “Yo, Barren! Hey, man, we’re down here!”