Page 35

35

Claira

S o much for secretly leaving under the cover of darkness.

I dragged my boots through the sand, watching purple and orange seep into the clouds above the ocean’s horizon. It was morning already. Fantastic.

“Maybe I should have waited,” I mumbled, shielding my eyes from a glint reflecting off the water’s surface. Chosen a time when it would actually stay dark. But now that I’d disappeared on them once already at the casino, there was no telling when or if the guys would ever leave me alone again.

No—this was my best chance, and I had to take it.

“You’ve got this, Claira,” I whispered to the wind and took in a long breath, letting the island air fill me. The ocean here was nothing like it was back home. Even the air smelled different, with a sweetness akin to vanilla hanging in the breeze.

Well, with any luck, I wouldn’t be gone long. And if I was, at least I’d left a note—a strange note, sure, but enough to let the guys know I’d be back with them soon.

And magic worked quickly, didn’t it? Like lighting a pearl, it could change things in an instant. Perhaps it wouldn’t take long for the cecaelia to discover why the betta fish curse hadn’t affected me and why my touch seemed to break it. Then, maybe, once they figured out how to use that knowledge to help the merfolk, the narrow mindset of Barren’s kingdom might begin to shift.

Even a slight improvement—just a hint of gratitude toward the cecaelia—would be better than how things were now, wouldn’t it?

My heart seemed to drag me down with every step across the beach as I thought of Barren’s peacefully sleeping face back at the bungalow. I hated leaving him like this. Especially after I’d lulled him to sleep with my promise to stay awake. I guess I hadn’t lied, had I? But now that I knew the idiotic reason behind all the injustices he’d endured, how could I sit around knowing my strange gift might be able to help him?

I’d been checking over my shoulder constantly since I’d left, making sure no one had noticed me leaving. Laverne was my leading concern. I cast the ocean a weary glance, half-expecting her to pop up with a jaw full of spit and insults, ready to stop me.

But so far—thank Poseidon—the beach had been empty.

“Just me and the sand crabs,” I said with a sigh, watching a generously sized crab dig out a burrow. It seemed just as upset about the sun coming up as I was, and its willowy legs worked furiously, fighting to make a place to retreat for the day.

“Ghost crab,” a tiny, jittery voice squeaked into my head. The suddenness of it nearly knocked me off my boots.

“Ghost crab, right, sorry.” In its defense, it was paler than the ghost crabs back home. Perhaps I should have known. I gave it an appraising glance and tipped my chin. “Very spooky.”

While the crab’s legs kept working, its beady black eye stalks swiveled, following me as I passed. Okay—maybe it was more unnerving than spooky. “Uh, please excuse me,” I muttered, kicking up into a jog as I scurried off down the beach.

That was just one more witness for Laverne and the guys to question if they did go looking for me. Hopefully, it would be long tucked away in its burrow by then.

Switching my focus, I eyed the palm trees further up the shore. They’d been my target for the past ten minutes or so, and now I was getting close.

I rubbed my thumb over the abalone’s pearly finish as I jogged, wondering where the cecaelia had expected me to use it. Under the cover of palm fronds seemed as good a place as any. It wasn’t like I knew of a more secretive location—or any other location on the island.

Shadows cast over me as I slipped between two leaning trees. Centering the abalone in my hand, I steadied myself with a breath. “Here goes nothing.”

The abalone was almost too pretty to break. Almost.

My fist clenched, and the shell snapped, splintering in my hand with the structural integrity of an off-brand potato chip. Black smoke streamed out from between my fingers, and when I opened them, I discovered that the shell had dissolved away. The black wisps of magic thinned, curling up around my arm, and my heart raced with anticipation.

I knew this magic. Dark and cold, like the sea wizard it belonged to.

“Using the shell already,” a smoky voice called from behind me.

As usual, he had excellent timing.

I whirled around, expecting him to have materialized at my back. But there he was, at the edge of the ocean, all dark limbs and pale skin. The perfect depiction of a treacherous sea demon emerging from the waves.

A resounding tsk surfaced from his lips as he rose from the water, his tentacles hauling him up to where the waves rippled against the shoreline. I must have caught him while he was underwater—maybe even asleep, by the state of his face. Disheveled black hair obscured it, and when he slicked it back to its usual style, his irritation at being summoned was clear.

“Oh. I—I was hoping you wouldn’t be in the water,” I called out to him, huddling with the palm fronds.

“No?” Wet sand squelched with every movement of his tentacles. His pale skin glistened with salt water as he dragged closer, no markings visible on his bare arms or chest. I surveyed his sprawling limbs, and sure enough, a front tentacle secured his trident—a fact that distracted me from noticing just how high one of his dark eyebrows had lifted.

“You wished for me to appear before you in the nude?”

Uh, what?

I came out from underneath the palm trees sputtering. “N-no! I wanted you clothed , under these palm fronds,” I asserted, pointing back at the bowed trees behind me.

The way his pale lips slid into a suggestive smirk had me tripping over my boots. “Well, you caught me while I was trying to sleep,” he said, rolling out his neck. “So unless you have the desire to become familiar with my human flesh, you’ll have me in the water, or not at all.”

“Absolutely zero desire. It’s just”—My eyes cut to the left, then to the right—“if anyone saw you here. Like this,” I said, motioning to his tentacles. My voice grew quiet, the thought of Barren’s painful past causing a lump to form in my throat. “I realize now how much your kind… isn’t trusted.”

Is hated, had been what I wanted to say. But even if it was the truth, it somehow seemed cruel to say it aloud.

The sea wizard’s shoulders straightened. Every lithe muscle, every curved limb went stiff, as if my chosen words had offended him regardless.

“My kind ,” he repeated through tight lips pitched so different from the smirk he’d shown me only moments before.

Now he looked awake, with wet hair dripping down his neck and sharp eyes filled with irritation fixed on me. “You know this, and yet, here you are.”

With a sudden lash, his tentacles worked around him. The lump in my throat only grew with his approach. Out of the water, the height added on by his lower half seemed to amplify his already imposing stature. I understood now why a child might have believed he was Poseidon. His height, his trident—those inhumanely white irises that looked like they belonged to a nightmare.

One deep purple tendril came close, curling just below my chin, and I shuddered, immediately reminded of how Barren had lost his arm.

The sea wizard’s eyes narrowed to perilous slits. “Clearly, my warnings were not enough,” he said, all of his amorous charm long forgotten.

Forget irritated, he looked furious that I was standing here before him.

The tentacle lingered, slowly twisting like it was toying with the idea of slipping into the space between my hair and my neck. “You know what they say about curiosity.”

“Something about cats and satisfaction.” I lifted my chin. Regardless of his warnings, this was my only way forward. Something only I could do for Barren and Leander. For all of the merfolk. “But I think that saying underestimates mermaids.”

“Mermaids?” The tentacle underneath my chin flicked, and dammit, I flinched. The sea wizard’s scowl dissolved into a deep rumbling laugh. “You look far more like a mouse to me, little captive.”

Ugh —this exchange was giving me whiplash. Nothing was turning out how I’d planned it.

“Look, can you just… poof us somewhere?” I asked, trying to mask my annoyance as I glanced up and down the beach. The sun was basically up now, and it felt like sheer luck that someone hadn’t come across us already. “Somewhere far away from here, so we can talk for a minute?”

The sea wizard’s glaring white eyes betrayed no emotion as he crossed his arms over his pale chest. “You want me to ‘poof’ us somewhere.”

“Yes, exactly.” I took the end of the tentacle waving closest to me, taking care to touch it as little as possible by grasping the firm flesh between two fingers. “Let’s go.”

He didn’t move.

His lips remained tightly together as he took a long, hard look at me. “Enlighten me. Where, exactly, do you think we’re going?”

“Somewhere private, I guess. A place where we can talk before you take me to your queen.”

“ Private .” His sigh was heavy and laced with somehow even more irritation. “My only purpose here is to escort you to a certain location. A location that happens to be underwater.”

“Underwater? But your queen is?—”

“Currently holding court deep in the bowels of the Undersea,” he finished for me.

Bowels of the Undersea . Now that conjured a lovely image.

“Okay, well, I have one problem with that,” I said, casting a glance back in the direction of the bungalow. Naturally, it and my suitcase were both well out of sight. “I didn’t bring a bathing suit.”

“That hardly seems like a problem to me.” Although his eyes steadily rested on mine, one of his tentacles wrapped around me from behind. Then another. Gentle pressure reeled me closer to him, closer to the water.

“Wait—! Let’s… let’s talk first,” I squeaked. Despite holding my magical switchblade shell out in defense, I couldn’t shake the feeling I might actually look like the small, timid mouse he’d teased me of being.

His pale shoulders rolled with amusement. “Fine. We’ll talk first, if that is what you wish.”

A dark tentacle rose like a whip, and with a smooth motion, he snatched his trident from it. Black smoke exploded, and we were suddenly surrounded by a thick, impenetrable haze. Darkness drew around us like a cloak, letting only the overhead dawn through.

“You can stop worrying about being found,” he said simply. His front tentacles retreated, coiling neatly underneath him while his back ones flicked lazily over the waves. “Nobody can see beyond this veil.”

Mesmerized, I held a palm out to the wall of smoke, surprised by the haze’s icy temperature. “You can make yourself invisible?” Now that seemed like a useful trick.

His eyes were as cold as the magical mist that surrounded us. “My magic can do many things.”

Realizing I was still poking at the veil he’d conjured, I dropped my hand, trying to play my admiration off as indifference. “So it seems.” I didn’t know why I kept letting him surprise me. Wizard was right there in his title. Of course he could do all sorts of strange magic.

“I have a question,” I said, stepping closer to him. The sand squishing under my boots made me anxious, but I couldn’t afford to show any more weakness. “How are you able to remove your trident from inside of you?”

His lips peeled back from his teeth, a deadly blade of a look that raised every hair on the back of my neck. “Excuse me?”

Well… I could already tell this wasn’t going to go well.

Although my intuition was screaming, I persisted. “Don’t deny it.” I pointed a finger right up against his porcelain smooth, freakishly unblemished chest. “I know that trident was inside you.”

“Hm.” His eyes cast down where my finger prodded. With his slicked-back hair and lips canting into a calculating smirk, he looked ready to devour this mouse in one bite.

Wait—why was he suddenly smirking?

“And if I tell you,” he said, each softly spoken word wrapped in velvet, “what will you give me in return?”

“In… return?” Warning bells rang inside me, too loud to ignore. I stumbled back a step, but he was already there, catching me by the waist. His tentacles cinched, sweeping me close enough for far more than just my finger to press against him.

Worst of all, he didn’t seem to care about the magical switchblade I held. The shell’s ribbed ridges pressed against my thigh, caught between us, leading me to believe it somehow hadn’t filleted him.

Damp, suction-cupped flesh brushed against my shoulders and my forehead, teasing back my hair. I shivered when one tendril seemed to find the bump hidden underneath.

To call his look amused would be an understatement. No, he looked thrilled to have caught this little mouse. Dammit .

“I cannot give away that kind of knowledge for free, can I?” His white eyes bore into me, a sharp focus that should have made my skin crawl. But instead, my body grew hot, igniting a cascade of flutters that stirred from the depths of my belly.

Double dammit .

He leaned in, close enough for me to taste the salt water in his cool breath. “And since you’re such a curious creature … You should have no problem striking a deal with me.”

“I—” My throat choked up.

A deal? What kind of deal?

“Uh…” My brain stalled. This wasn’t what I had in mind. He was too close, his expression all cunning and slyness, his cool skin causing goosebumps to form over my arms.

Shit . And my clothes were soaking up enough salt water from off his body there was a good chance I might transform right here and now.

As if to coax me into agreement, his hand holding the trident opened, and the weapon vanished, dissolving into smoke. The tattoo-like mark took shape before my eyes, a dark slash that worked up his arm, branching out over his chest in three broad deadly-tipped lines. “Well?” he asked. The muscles surrounding his neck tightened, as if maybe the bonding hurt him, but he gave no other indication of pain.

Wait—

My gaze snapped to his neck, the place where the gash had been only hours before. The skin there was as perfectly smooth as the rest of him. Did cecaelia heal even faster than merfolk, or was this another thing his magic could do?

While awaiting my response, he lifted a strand of my hair, toying with it between his fingers. “If you don’t wish to part with more of your blood, there are other ways,” he said gently. “A lock of your hair, perhaps.”

More blood? My hair? I took a steadying breath, recognizing I didn’t feel anywhere near as threatened as I should have. While the sea wizard communicated in riddles, he’d yet to hurt me. Well—other than dropping me into a tank of water, but that had hurt my ego more than anything else.

The corner of my mouth tilted. “I’ve watched too many crime shows to ever let you have my hair.”

A chuckle rippled from the base of his chest. “No?” He let my hair slip from his fingers. “There are other things I could take. Your voice. A kiss.”

“A kiss? ” I breathed out. What the heck kind of deal was this?

He leaned in, the angular slope of his nostrils flaring. His gaze slid to my lips. “So that’s your chosen offering? A kiss?”

“No, I—” It was too late for me to move away; he’d already caught me. “I wasn’t choosing that one,” I threw back, tugging at his tentacles, attempting to untangle them from around me. “It just… surprised me. That’s all.”

He released some of them, but held his ground, leaving me little room to maneuver in his grasp. “Do you wish to know how I control my trident or not?” he asked.

I shifted my focus from his tentacles to shoot him an annoyed look. “Of course I do. Just give me a second,” I snapped. “Let me think.”

Well, I certainly wasn’t going to give up my voice. That left my hair or maybe more blood? Ugh. The most disturbing part was not knowing what he would do with any of these things if he got them. Unsettled, my face contorted into a grimace. “What would you even want with my voice?”

“Perhaps I’ll start a business,” he said smoothly, his arms crossing back over his salt-stained chest. “Use that sweet voice of yours to become an erotic audio performer.” A momentary pause, then a smirk crept across his face. “Or maybe I’ll keep it for myself.”

My mouth dropped open, and I—well, I certainly didn’t know what to say to that.

“No?” He looked as if he was trying to stifle a laugh. His eyes crinkled with dark amusement. “Well, how about I counter your request with one of my own?”

This was a bad idea, wasn’t it? I swallowed hard, holding back my uncertainty. “What kind of request?”

His smirk broadened. “While you’re down there, there’s a chance the queen may ask you to look into her mirror.” It was chilling how quickly his tone turned serious. “She’s obscenely fixated on it at the moment. If she does happen to show it to you, I ask for you not to speak of the first thing you see when you look into it. Reveal it to no one—except for me.”

For a moment, I just stared at him, surveying from his white eyes down to the dark mark of his trident. It seemed a simple enough deal—a trade of knowledge—but why would his queen show me her mirror? Then I recalled her desk and how trinkets covered every inch of it. Could she be proud of her collection?

“Accept this deal, and I will enlighten you on all my trident’s many secrets.”

“Is there something special about this mirror?” I asked, thinking over every angle. “Or is it like the other knick-knacks she keeps in her office?”

He gave a small snort. “I’ll let you judge that for yourself. The second thing you notice when you look at it, the third, and so on—those you may speak of if she does inquire about your thoughts.”

“So, you’re seriously going to spend your half of our deal hoping that your queen will show me a mirror? ”

“You needn’t worry about me, little captive. I’ve never made a deal that wasn’t in my favor.” Slicking back his dark hair, the sea wizard held out a hand. “Do you accept?” he asked, his voice a dark riddle all of its own.

So I just couldn’t mention the first thing I noticed about the mirror to anyone but him? What a strange request. “This sort of feels like I’m signing over my firstborn,” I mumbled, my eyes narrowing on his outstretched hand. “I’m not, am I?”

The corner of his lips twitched. “That sounds like quite the hassle for me. I would much prefer not to be hunted down by your ever-increasing assortment of lovers.”

My cheeks flushed, but I refused to be ashamed of the bond I shared with my guys. Most probably wouldn’t understand it, but that was fine with me. Our happiness was the only thing that mattered.

The sea wizard leaned in close, as if sharing a secret. “I’m quite elusive, but with a noisy babe in tow, I worry one of them might succeed in catching me.”

“Not an aspiring father, are we?” I asked with a snort.

“My kind isn’t as paternal as the merfolk, I’m afraid,” he said, straightening back up. “I have no recollection of my father. I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

As his long body shifted with the incoming tides, I realized that, despite our banter, I knew nothing about this cecaelian man. Not even his name.

His hand hovered in front of me, an open invitation to accept his bargain.

“Are you sure this isn’t a trap?” I asked.

The sea wizard’s dark eyebrows lifted. “Why would I need to trap someone I’ve already caught?” His tentacles cinched again, pulling me snugly against him.

“Ugh, very funny,” I muttered. “I came to you willingly. You did not catch me.”

“Whatever you say.” He chuckled, his grin spreading as I took his hand.

When my fingers wrapped around his, I consciously chose to believe the cunning look in his eyes concealed good intentions. Well, good intentions when it came to me , at least. I didn’t care what his intentions were toward his queen, as long as we could all still come up with a cure for the merfolk together.

“Speaking of catching, I never caught your name,” I said, suddenly surprised at how much not knowing it bothered me.

The sea wizard’s piercing gaze aligned with our hands. His lips compressed into a pale line, as if my words had stripped away some of his victory in our deal.

“Names hold little significance in the Undersea. It’s what we are that defines us, be it a pawn or a sea wizard.” His hand unceremoniously dropped from mine. “The deal is struck. We’re tethered to our vows, you and I. Now, it’s time to go.”

Although I felt no different than before, I couldn’t help shaking out my hand.

“Wait, please,” I said, confused by his reluctance to give up his name. “Names might not be important in the Undersea, but they’re important to me. I can’t keep calling you wizard . I’m Claira.”

The sea wizard stared down at me, lips taut, giving me nothing.

I blinked. He blinked. Nothing.

“You’re really not going to tell me?” My mouth fell into a frown. “You do have a name, right?”

“Yes.” One word. That was all he said. A simple yes , nothing more.

My molars ground. “Okay… Well, forget the name thing. Tell me about your trident before we go. How you’re able to remove it. That’s your end of our bargain, after all.”

“Ah, that.” Fingers flexing, he looked down at his arm as if perhaps he could see the magic marks there, too. “I didn’t specify when I would tell you. Only that I would tell you.”

I gawked at him. “You’re joking.”

“Not in the slightest.”

Immediately, I took back wanting to know his name. “So you could just, oh, I don’t know, tell me after I’m dead and buried? And that would still count as you upholding your end of our deal?” My voice rose in pitch as I spoke, my outrage impossible to contain.

The sea wizard laughed. He laughed . “I knew it wouldn’t take long for you to catch on, little captive. Regrettably, the vow has been made. There’s no going back on it now.”

I couldn’t believe it—okay, maybe I could. So what if he gave me a magic shell? He was a stranger to me. A cecaelia. Dark spawn . Someone who didn’t even have the decency to tell me his name.

“You know, you’re right about your name being unimportant. I should just keep referring to you as what you are.” Crossing my arms, I scowled as I asked, “Which do you prefer—puppet or creep?”

Judging by the way his muscles contracted, the comment had hit its mark. “Time to go,” he said coldly, his tentacles closing back around me tighter than they’d ever been. “And watch where you stick that seashell.”

“Why does it matter?” I retorted, frustration boiling within me that he’d made himself immune to the shell’s slicing. “It’s not as though it could cut you.”

“It can and it will.” As he spoke, his tentacles wedged between us, creating a subtle separation between the shell and his chest.

“Earlier, you didn’t seem afraid of it.”

“That knife has been enchanted to sever only that which you intend to sever. One of my more clever fabrications, or so I thought,” he said darkly. “Earlier, you had no intention of harming me. Now, I fear you might carve out my heart.”

“Fine, I’ll watch where I stick it,” I said, and although I tucked the shell safely in my arms, a faint smile played over my lips at my newfound knowledge of its power. “I’ll also enjoy watching it slice through your heart, should the mood strike me.”

“Fair enough,” he said, a shiver running through his tentacles, as if he found a thrill in my threat. “Shall I take you now, or do you wish to remove your clothing first?”

My jaw tightened. “Now I know you’re trying to get me to stab you.”

He chuckled as he shook his head. “I thought that might get you in a carving mood. But no, we’ve already delayed our departure too long.” Leaning down, his fingers grazed the side of my hair. “If you’re worried about me looking, don’t be.”

After everything, there was no way I trusted him enough to believe that. I’d rather have my pants explode off my legs with my transformation than strip in front of him. “Go ahead and drag me.”

He threw his head back, venting a smoky laugh. “As you wish.”