Cruel Tides (Queen of Tridents #2)

5

Claira

“I ’m going to move my hand, but only if you agree to shut up and listen first.”

I paused, giving him adequate time to accept with a nod, but no signal came. His eyes were vacant, a fine mist collecting at their corners as he stared off at the wall beside us. Hoping to knock him out of his stupor, I leaned in and pressed more of my weight against his jaw.

“Are you listening? Nod or something so I know you’ll keep your mouth shut.”

One blink, and he jerked back to life, his eyes suddenly scanning my face as if he was seeing me for the very first time. A fervent gaze flickered from my forehead to my nose, then onward to my lips, where it unexpectedly lingered.

What was he staring at? I licked at the corner of my mouth, wondering if it was still dried out from the ocean air. Following the movement of my tongue, his pupils dilated, and my heart nearly gave out. Too shaken to wait for a nod, I yanked myself away.

“He said you were dead.” The words fell like a hailstorm the moment my weight left his jaw.

“He, uh, what?” I leaned back, clenching my hand to my chest. For some reason, I found it hard to focus while the moisture from his breath evaporated from my palm. “He—he told you I was dead ?”

Slumping forward, I let out a bitter sort of laugh-snort. That sounded about right. Not like my birth father would have confessed to what he’d actually done. Death was easier than the truth, and honestly, he’d been right to abandon me. I’d never belonged in the ocean in the first place. Papa had just been the first one to see it.

“You think this is funny?” Muscles pulled taut, tensing the sharp curve of Leander’s jaw. “That for over ten years I thought my friend was murdered right outside the palace walls while I slept?”

He drew closer and shook his head, then dragged a hand through the bedraggled mess of his hair, twisting the strands tightly in his knuckles as if the little act of self-inflicted pain could somehow numb his grief.

“I—Well, I don’t think it’s funny, ” I said, confused by the intense anguish cast over his eyes. “But it doesn’t surprise me he told everyone I died that night.”

I looked down at the carpet, wrestling my own torrent of emotions. “Honestly, I never thought about what happened after he… after he…”

The pain of abandonment and memories of my old life under the waves came rushing back, but I didn’t want to—I couldn’t —dwell in the past. I was on land now, and whatever my birth father had told everyone else had nothing to do with me. I certainly shouldn’t feel guilty because of it. That was all on him.

My fingers gripped at the carpet fibers, and I looked up in disbelief. “Wait, you said, your friend? We were never friends.”

“We were definitely friends, Nera.”

Nera , ugh. That horrible nickname he used to call me. If I still had my boots on, I would have chucked one right at his handsome face.

“No, we were not, Leander. You must have hit your head on the side of my boat when I fished you up.”

“You used to call me Lee,” he corrected. “And yes, we were. You were the only friend I had back then.”

“We were not!”

Disappointment draped over his lips. The miserable look tugged at my conscience, but I deadened my heart. He was wrong. We really hadn’t been friends at all.

“You reminded me every day that the other mermaids laughed at me and wouldn’t play with me because of my… my tail.”

If that was his idea of friendship, well, he was sorely lacking in good company. He’d teased and picked on me just like the others had, and that was the truth. I would beg to be left at home some mornings, but I’d been completely useless on my own back then, so of course Papa never listened.

“Yeah, they wouldn’t play with me either, remember? Because they knew I’d be their king one day. We were the same back then, you and I. Outcasts. We were friends.”

I stared at him, dumbstruck. Was he freaking serious?

“You thought we were the same? Prince Leander, who had everyone swimming at his beck and call? You thought that just because a few young mermaids ignored you, it made you an outcast? And somehow I was your friend because I couldn’t escape you like they could?”

Seriously, the nerve of this dude.

“Well, I’m sure you play with them as much as you like now.” I snorted, but Leander didn’t look amused.

“So that’s how it was,” he said, his words clipped and toneless. “My mistake.”

A pang of guilt shot through me. He acted like I’d filleted him just by speaking the truth. But it didn’t matter. He didn’t matter.

Nerida really had died that night. I was Claira now, with a cute little i in the middle. Dad had told me he’d chosen the unusual spelling because air had breathed a new life into me. A better life. One with him and Gram and the freedom to sail the seas or roam on land wherever I pleased, all while using my own strength to take me wherever I went.

“I don’t know how you ended up caught in my net,” I said, getting to my feet. “But you look well enough now, so it’s time to swim on back to your palace.”

His shoulders shook as a dry laugh rumbled his bare chest. “Yeah, go back to the palace, sure. I’ll get right on that.”

He’d better if he knew what was good for him. Moving to my pants drawer, I scoured the bottom for something that might fit him. I held up a pair of gym shorts that were too big for me and considered their length. Way, way too short. There was no way I was going to lend him a pair of my underwear to go along with it, and I didn’t need to see the tip of his sea cucumber peeking out at me from below the hem.

“Just give me a second, and I’ll find you something to wear back to shore. I can’t have anyone seeing you leaving my house like that. ”

Another dry laugh, but he remained silent otherwise.

“Ah ha!” I pulled out a pair of stiff flannel pajama pants—turquoise and black. They were terribly uncomfortable but had thankfully been too baggy to wear the last time I’d tried them on. Sure, they might prove to be itchy to vulnerable, tender bits, but that’s exactly what he deserved for being an ass and ruining my morning.

“Here, put these on.”

I tossed them to him, the pants landing on the blankets resting over his knees. “And don’t worry about returning them. I don’t want them back.”

When he didn’t move, I took it as a cue to head for the door. I’d already seen all there was to see, but now that we were both awake, well, the thought of glimpsing all of him again made my stomach do a cartwheel.

My hand barely touched the doorknob when a thought occurred to me, and I glanced back over my shoulder. “Do, uh, you want me to help you?”

His ears practically perked up. “Do you want to help me?” An arrogant smirk played about his lips, but the emotion didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“You know what I mean, ass.” My hand left the doorknob as I stepped back to his side. “I can help move your legs if you need me to.”

Crouching down, I took hold of the pajama pants and started unfolding them. “And no need to be shy. I already saw all there was to see this morning.”

A wide palm landed on my forearm, and I bristled at the unexpected touch.

“Trust me, Nera, you haven’t seen everything.” His entrancing timbre was so velvety he’d practically purred out the words. I had to bite down on my tongue just to keep myself from drawing in my lower lip.

His hand slid down and stole the flannel back from me. “I appreciate the offer, but I assure you my legs work well enough when I need them to. Feel free to stick around to verify for yourself, though.” He paused, his lips flicking up to a genuine grin. “On second thought, it might work out better for me if I pretend they didn’t. I think I might enjoy lying back and watching you slide them up for me…”

Gold flecks swirled around the deep blue of his eyes, their intensity drawing me in like a raging whirlpool. If I let myself dive into their depths, there would be no escape—but luckily for me, I didn’t plan on drowning today.

“Mmh,” I breathed out, the sound more air than anything else. It was difficult, but I resisted the unnatural magnetism whirling between us.

It wasn’t real—the sensation drawing me toward him, demanding that I call his bluff and snatch the pants right back to ease them up his bare legs myself. Not real . Leander was probably so used to using his merman charm to his advantage that he couldn’t turn it off even if he wanted to. “I think I’ll let you figure it out.”

With that, I fled for the door, shutting it softly behind me as soon as I stepped in the hall. My face was an inferno, and I pressed my palms to my cheeks, feeling their coolness.

Just for that last remark of his, I wouldn’t go back in there even if he had to drag himself all the way to the door! He’d work it out somehow, just like I had my first time. But he’d said his legs worked, so maybe that was the truth. I’d never heard of merfolk going up on land, but maybe things were different when you were royalty?

Two strikes rapped against the door behind me, and I practically jumped a foot in the air. Damn, he was fast.

The living room was empty, so I cracked open my bedroom door behind me.

“Okay,” I whispered, keeping watch down the hallway. “Now be fast, and be quiet—both, not one. Gram is a light napper. We’re gonna make it down to the shore without being seen, even if I have to drag you all the way there myself.”