Page 12

Three more marks on the wall.

Six servings of sea sludge.

No answers.

With time on my hands, I practiced using my new tail, swimming from one end of the cell to the other. In any other circumstance, the experience would have been thrilling. But in my tiny recess of stone, it was barely enough to keep me from thinking the worst.

The nights were so cold. I shivered on the kelp curled into a ball, my body refusing to acclimate to the depths. The days were cast in shadow, silent in my wing except for the eerie hum of the currents.

From deeper in the prison, the coral bars groaned and slammed. Sometimes, shrieks of pain or deep, guttural roars of terror echoed through the tunnel.

I wasn’t alone then.

I shared their fear, even if I couldn’t see their faces.

But none of it made sense. Why me? What had I done to deserve this? I kept reliving the past week. The months. The years. Trying to figure out where I went wrong.

Where was the line in the sand?

The stories my father used to tell didn’t feel like fairy tales anymore. They felt like secrets, dark ones that had followed me around, waiting to spread their curse.

And I hadn’t listened closely enough.

I pushed off the wall, gliding with more ease when I felt the current change. A flow of icy water slipped through the bars, freezing my bare skin like frost coating a glass pane. I shuddered and peered beyond the coral as a figure emerged from the dark passage.

“It's you,” I whispered, recognizing the witch who painted our map. Her name didn't start with an E. I knew that now.

She was the sea witch, Tivara. The woman the guards whispered about, their voices riding the currents past my cell. A centuries-old sorceress, steeped in dark magic. They said she haunted the depths, moving from one underwater kingdom to the next, draining their magic to feed her own.

And now, she'd come for theirs.

Dread pooled in my stomach. “You did this to me, didn't you?”

Her lips curled into a crimson smile as she angled her head, black hair undulating like tentacles. Here, she had dark blue scales, not smooth, but coarse and coated in prickly barbs. But her amethyst eyes were the same, glittering like the rough-cut crystals.

She trailed a single finger down a coral bar. The tip of her nail was sharpened to a fine point. That same hand had painted the map on Gavin’s back and had clutched the compass around his neck in the night market.

Whatever she'd whispered in his ear that night had made jealousy burn bright in my chest.

And now, I felt like a fool.

“What have you done?” I asked, notching my chin up to hold her chilling gaze.

Her voice was smoother than water gliding over stone. “A better question to ask is, what have you done for me , Marin—of the sea. You’re my little protégé.”

She captured the length of purple hair floating around my shoulders and rubbed it between her fingers. I jerked my head back, pain pricking my scalp.

Tivara laughed softly. “I’ve waited a long time for this moment. You can’t imagine how patient I’ve been.” She opened her other hand, revealing the amethyst and pearl-encrusted comb. “But my patience was rewarded. You finally brought me the treasure I’ve been seeking.”

I backed away from the bars. Denial was a bitter taste in my mouth. Patient? She’d painted our map a week ago. Before that, we’d never crossed paths.

“You’re talking in riddles. What do you mean, you’ve waited? You have the comb. Let me out of here. Change me back.”

“It’s not that simple.” She clucked her tongue. “Poor thing. You don't recognize me like this.” Her eyes flared with purple fire. “How about if I ask you to bring me a relic? Will you hunt for me, Marin?”

I shivered at the intimate way she said my name, deepening her voice to a near rasp. That breathy whisper. I’d heard it before. Every time I returned to Ever with a relic. Every time I rushed to find Aggie, eager for her praise, and for the coins I’d put toward my debt.

My heart stopped.

“That’s right, child.”

Tivara's features began to distort, then sharpen into something familiar. Her black hair turned white. Her pale skin mottled with age spots and wrinkles. She wore a mask now. One I'd peered into for years. A mask that had used me and stolen my trust.

“Aggie?” My voice trembled.

The sea witch nodded once.

I recoiled, bending at the waist as my vision swam. Everything I knew about my life shattered. Aggie wasn’t real. I’d accepted her guidance, only to end up in this cage, following a map she’d painted with lies and betrayal. Not one leading home.

I gripped the bars, fingers digging painfully into the coral. “I don’t understand. If you wanted the comb, why didn’t you send me for it right away? Why waste all those years?”

“Because I didn't know where it was at first, and you were still too green.” She tilted her head. “Each hunt brought us closer. And eventually, I learned it was rumored to be hidden with Incantus.”

“So you sent me to join the crew searching for it,” I said, my voice flat.

“I needed you to find it. And you did.” She smiled. “I followed you, tracked your progress. When you were close enough, the comb finally sang to me, and I could scry the map.”

She tapped the comb lightly. “But this isn’t a treasure you can steal. It can only be given freely. And first, it had to be awakened with your blood. Until then, it was useless to me.”

I dropped my forehead against the bars. “My blood?”

The witch leaned in, her smile cruel. “You smell like the sea. Didn’t you ever question your father’s devotion to that manor?

Your so-called legacy?” Her voice dripped low.

“The stories about your family are real. Your bloodline is tainted with ours. It’s written in the archives of our kind, when a human fell in love with a mermaid who saved him from slipping beneath the waves. ”

“No. They're just stories. That's all they ever were.” But even as I said the words, I didn’t believe them. I'd been young when we lost our home, but deep down, I'd always known the truth.

I hung my head. A new coldness crept in, numbing my insides as her words took root.

“You said to activate the magic with my blood, the comb had to be given. I couldn't just take it.” My voice cracked. “What did you do? Who…?”

I swallowed thickly, unable to finish the question.

“Ah. You’re figuring it out. Thanks to your admirable, but ultimately predictable, moral code, I knew even if you found the comb, you wouldn’t take it for yourself. Which allowed me to convince your partner to gift it to you.”

My chest caved inward like I was sinking in quicksand.

Not Gavin.

He would never betray me like that.

We were partners.

We were—

I sucked in a pained breath. He’d spent the evening with her when she painted our map. He went back for the comb. Met with her in the market, then placed it on my pillow, along with that note. His actions were undeniable. But I refused to accept it.

“You’re lying. He would never.” I grasped for something, anything, to hold on to. “Not if he knew what you were planning. You tricked him, like you tricked me.”

Tivara's smile didn't falter. “He knew, Marin. And he didn’t hesitate when I made him my offer.” She laughed, the sound mocking.

“The information he's spent years searching for… wh ispered between tangled sheets.” Her eyes glittered with the truth.

“Men always cave when you give them everything they desire. Your friend was no different.”

I looked away, pressing my palm against my chest as if it could seal the crack in my heart.

The crest on the back of his compass. The answer he’d scoured kingdoms for. What wouldn’t he do to finally have peace?

A strangled laugh caught in my throat.

Gavin hadn’t lied completely. He’d said the night with the witch was just a transaction, letting me believe it was all about the map. But he hadn't just betrayed me.

He'd conspired to.

The map and their affair were just a bonus. That night in the alley, when he’d told me to stop searching for the crest, it wasn’t because of my reckless confession. It was because he already had the answers.

And the strange way he’d acted aboard the ship… His pained expression before I fell?

Nothing but wretched guilt.

Somehow, that made everything worse. I’d wanted to be the one to solve the mysteries of his past. To help him find his family. Instead, I’d fallen for him, and into the most dangerous trap of our trade.

I trusted a thief. And he gutted me for treasure.

The witch slipped the hair comb through the bars, pressing it against my chest until my fingers closed around it.

“Now that you know the truth… gift it to me, Marin. Give me the comb.”

“No.”

I swam back, retreating into the shadows of the cell .

Tivara's voice followed like a current. “Gift it to me, or the ship carrying your friends will never make it to land. That, I promise.”

I closed my eyes.

Deception had sliced me open like a dagger through cloth, ripping at the seams. First, Aggie, who’d taken me under her wing. And now Gavin.

My friend.

My partner.

The man I trusted most in this world. The one I would have shared my heart with, if he'd given me the chance.

I tried to still the ragged sob in my chest. Cass, Reid, and Bowen were innocent. Along with the crew aboard the ship. I couldn't let my mistake ruin them.

“If I give you the comb, you have to spare my friends.” I swallowed hard. “And you have to release me. Change me back.”

Tivara's brow wrinkled. “I can’t release you, Marin. That purple hair of yours carries my mark. I own you. But you’re not my prisoner.”

She lifted her bare shoulders in a shrug. “But I did turn you in, or Aggie did. Showing my true face around here would get me a matching cell, and not even a witch such as myself can break enchanted coral bars. You're accused of aiding me. And you're serving a life sentence for treason.”

“What?”

My mind reeled. A life sentence?

Panic climbed into my throat. “I could shout for the guards. They’ll arrest you.”

“And your friends will drown if you open your mouth. It’s really simple: your friends for the comb. Choose wisely. You won’t have another chance to save them.”

There wasn’t a choice. I couldn’t sentence them all to death.

“You can have it,” I said quietly, my tone laced with defeat.

“Say the words, so I know you mean it.”

“I’m giving you this comb freely.”

With shaking hands, I slid the comb through the bars into the witch’s waiting grasp. Magic surged when it touched her skin, still anchored in my grip.

The transfer of power was clear and terrifying.

“Good choice. Now rest. You have served me well.” Tivara's smile was razor-thin.

“And for that, I will return the gift.” She snapped a pearl from the comb and pressed it into my palm.

“You’ll be forgotten here, Marin. No one is coming for you.

But while others forget, I'm giving you the gift of memories.”

The pearl pulsed warm against my skin. My eyes slid closed. Visions slammed into me like merciless waves, each one salting my wounds with the sting of betrayal.

Her laughter echoed down the passage as she melted into the shadows. But the visions continued to swirl, slowly solidifying into a recent memory. I sank into the sand as my cell disappeared. The scent of the jungle, hot and sticky, filled my senses.

I moaned faintly, losing myself to the memory.

Gavin propped his head onto his hand and rolled to face me, firelight flickering over his features. He removed the compass from around his neck and passed it to me, our fingers brushing softly.

“It’s your turn to chart the course. Where do we go this time?”

I smiled and lay back, sifting through the tales in my mind, before settling on one of my favorites. I checked his compass, running my finger over the raised center, then pointed to a distant star.

“East, until we reach the twin mountains. Then down into the cave and—” I checked the compass again and moved my hand toward a different star. “we’ll go south underground until we find a mystical garden where there lies a hidden lamp.”

“I know this story. The magic lamp holds a genie waiting to grant a wish.”

I nodded.

Gavin shifted closer. “And when we find this lamp, what will you wish for? Riches beyond your wildest dreams? Wisdom to rival the greatest minds?” His gaze darkened, turning molten in the firelight. “Maybe a dark-haired traveler, handsome beyond compare. Who’ll fulfill your every desire?”

Even though I was bathed in heat, I shivered from his words. I leaned in, my voice almost a whisper. “Well, that’s easy.”

He swallowed, his throat working as he agreed. “Obviously. There’s only one sensible choice.”

The air thickened, and the night seemed to go still, holding its breath while waiting for my answer.

“Naturally. I’d pick… endless wishes.”

Gavin chuckled and dropped his head against his chest. “You’re brutal, Mare. But I can’t argue with that.”

I handed him back the compass, and he looped it over his neck. The jungle settled along with the rest of the camp. Reid snored on the other side of the campfire while Cass and Bowen grumbled in their sleep. And right before I drifted off, I asked Gavin the same question.

“What would you wish for?”

He was silent for so long; I didn’t think he’d answer. Our fingers were almost touching in the grass. His thumb moved—slow, almost imperceptible—toward my hand. I nearly missed it.

The sound of his voice was a husky rasp in the night air. “A feast of lamb, caramelized vegetables, and a loaf of freshly baked bread, still steaming from the oven. Bowen’s cooking is atrocious.”

I hid a small smile and inhaled a shaky breath, wondering if either of us was telling the truth. “It’s truly terrible. Goodnight, Gavin.”

“Goodnight, Mare.”

His voice faded.

The memory slipped away, and the cold rushed back in. The pearl dropped from my fingers as I collapsed against the coral bars. I didn't want to remember. I wanted to forget. That he existed. That I trusted a witch. That the stories I loved had led to my downfall.

But a life sentence was long.

And I had nothing but time.