Page 13

LUCY

I stretched in the silk sheets, reaching for Thalassar’s warmth.

My fingers found only empty space.

Pushing up on my elbows, I blinked sleep from my eyes.

Sunlight streamed through the high windows, dancing on the waves carved into the stone walls.

The massive bed felt too big without him.

A soft tap drew my attention.

The door cracked open, and Naia peeked in, a bundle of fabric in her arms.

She smiled and gestured for me to follow her.

Right.

Getting dressed.

In clothes I couldn’t even begin to figure out by myself.

I wrapped one of the sheets around me and padded after her to the dressing area.

The fabric she held shimmered like moonlight on water, flowing between shades of blue and green.

Naia held up the first layer---what looked like a slip made of something gossamer-thin.

She mimed lifting my arms.

“This would be so much easier if we could actually talk to each other,” I muttered, but complied.

The fabric settled over my skin like a whisper.

Naia circled me, adjusting the drape with practiced movements.

She hummed as she worked, the melody hauntingly beautiful.

Layer after layer followed, each more intricate than the last.

The outermost robe wrapped around me like flowing water, secured with delicate clasps that looked like shells.

Naia stepped back, beaming with pride.

She gestured to the mirror.

I hardly recognized myself.

The gown transformed me into something ethereal, otherworldly.

Like I belonged in this strange palace.

“Thank you,” I said, touching the elaborate braids she’d woven my hair into.

She squeezed my hand, then shooed me toward the door.

The halls were quieter than usual as I walked, my borrowed finery whispering against the stone floors.

Guards nodded as I passed, but their eyes followed me longer than normal.

I needed air.

Space to think.

The gardens welcomed me with their strange beauty.

Flowers that looked like sea anemones swayed in a nonexistent breeze.

Vines with leaves like mother-of-pearl climbed crystal trellises.

I trailed my fingers over a bloom.

Just days ago, I’d been aboard the generation ship, preparing for first contact.

Now.

.

.

Now I was in love with their king.

Stop being dramatic, I told myself.

You have a job to do.

But that was the problem, wasn’t it?

I hadn’t just been sent to make contact.

I’d been sent to negotiate.

To convince these people to share their world, their resources.

Looking around at the careful balance they’d built, I wasn’t sure that was the right path anymore.

Something scraped against stone behind me.

I turned, frowning, but the path was empty.

Still, a prickle of unease traced its way up my spine.

There.

A shadow moved where it shouldn’t.

Someone was watching me.

My body tensed as I caught the hint of movement again---then a figure stepped into view from behind a twisted column of coral-like stone.

Not one of Thalassar’s people.

This creature was something else entirely---thick-limbed, broad-shouldered, its skin a dull, mottled gray-blue.

Where Thalassar’s kind moved like flowing water, this thing was all harsh angles and coiled aggression.

A shark given humanoid form.

His solid black eyes locked onto me, unblinking.

I took an instinctive step back.

“Well,” I muttered.

“You’re new.”

His lips peeled back in a grin, revealing rows of serrated teeth.

A knife gleamed in his hand.

No mistaking that.

I didn’t wait for him to attack.

I moved.

Instinct kicked in as I spun, driving my elbow toward his face.

He caught my arm, but I was already shifting my weight, using his hold as leverage to slam my knee into his side.

The impact was solid---too solid.

Like hitting a wall of muscle and cartilage.

He grunted but didn’t go down.

I wrenched free, twisting out of his grip just in time to avoid the downward arc of his knife.

“That the best you got?” I taunted, though my heart pounded.

He lunged again, faster this time.

I dodged, but my dress tangled at my feet, the flowing fabric suddenly a liability.

His claws raked down my arm as I twisted away, pain flaring hot and sharp.

“Okay, now I’m mad.”

I grabbed a decorative vase from a nearby pedestal and smashed it across his face.

The pottery shattered, cutting deep into the flesh around his eyes.

The shark-man staggered, black blood oozing from the wounds.

I pressed my advantage, dropping low to sweep his legs out from under him.

He hit the ground hard, snarling.

I rolled, coming up in a crouch, ready for his next move---

Too late.

Arms like iron clamped around me from behind.

A second attacker.

Stupid.

I’d been so focused on the fight, I hadn’t checked for more.

Clawed hands wrenched my arms back, pinning me.

I thrashed, but his grip only tightened.

The first attacker climbed to his feet, wiping blood from his eyes.

He bared his teeth in something too cruel to be a smile.

“Let me go!” I snarled, struggling harder.

The one holding me let out a low, guttural laugh.

The first attacker lifted his knife.

I sucked in a breath, preparing to kick out, to do something---

A roar split the air.

The temperature around us plummeted.

A dark shape crashed into the shark-man with the knife, sending him flying into a stone pillar with a sickening crack.

Thalassar.

But not the composed, regal warrior I knew.

This was something else.

His claws were extended, his fangs bared, his black eyes glowing with fury.

His body rippled, shifting---half-shifted into his dragon form, scales spreading across his arms and shoulders in jagged, gleaming patterns.

The shark-man groaned, trying to push himself up.

Thalassar didn’t hesitate.

He struck with terrifying, predatory precision, his claws raking across the enemy’s throat.

Blood sprayed across the stone path.

The shark-man gurgled, grasping at his ruined neck---then collapsed, unmoving.

The one holding me stiffened.

That was his mistake.

I drove my heel down on his foot, hard.

He loosened his hold just enough for me to tear free---

Thalassar was already there.

He grabbed the attacker by the throat and lifted him off the ground.

The attacker clawed at Thalassar’s grip, his feet kicking wildly.

Thalassar’s lips curled back, revealing elongated fangs.

His voice was a growl, low and deadly.

“You dare touch what is mine?”

The shark-man made a strangled sound.

Thalassar’s claws dug deeper.

I should have stopped him.

Should have told him we needed answers, that we needed to question at least one of them---

But I didn’t.

Because when I looked into Thalassar’s face, I saw something raw.

Something primal.

This wasn’t just about me.

This was about her.

His mother.

The one he hadn’t been able to save.

He wasn’t going to let me be another loss.

With a final snarl, Thalassar clenched his fist---

And snapped the shark-man’s neck.

The body crumpled to the ground.

Silence fell over the garden.

Thalassar turned to me, his breathing ragged, his claws still dripping with blood.

His attention fixed on me with an intensity that staggered me.

And just like that, his rage broke.

“.” His voice was hoarse, wrecked.

Thalassar reached for me, his claws still sharp, his chest heaving with ragged breaths.

Blood smeared his hands, dark against his bronze skin.

But I didn’t flinch.

I stepped into his arms without hesitation, leaning my forehead against his.

His skin was fever-hot, his body still trembling with the remnants of his rage.

“I’m here,” I murmured, sliding my hands up his arms, feeling the tension coiled beneath his scales.

“I’m safe.”

His breath shuddered out against my cheek, and then his arms wrapped around me, crushing me against him.

He buried his face in my hair, his whole body shaking with something too raw to name.

I tightened my hold.

This was a man who had lost too much.

A king who had spent his whole life shielding his people from the outside world---only to nearly lose the one person he’d let inside.

And I knew, with bone-deep certainty, that after today, Thalassar would never let me out of his sight again.

I just didn’t know if that was a promise or a problem.