Page 4

But my curiosity always gets the best of me. It burns beneath my pebbled skin as I press my nipples to the statue’s breasts.

My pulse picks up, and my gills flap open and shut, trying to accommodate my racing heart. I don’t know why I enjoy torturing myself with the building pressure in my low belly, but it’s a welcome distraction from what needs to be done this evening.

I jolt back an inch as vibrations buzz along the fine chain of my necklace. My glass pendant floats near my chin, and I snatch the vial as if I can stop what’s about to happen.

“No. Not tonight,” I plead.

But it’s too late. The aether is already active.

Long ago, my father conquered the six major seas and crowned himself the first official Mer-King of a united ocean. To protect his claim, he made it his mission to capture the strongest monsters who dared to defy him.

By the end of the realm-wide Queen’s War, he had five in his collection.

He sealed their wills inside cursed objects, keys that allowed him to call upon his enemies as weapons.

Four of these were buried beneath rune marks scattered across the seas. But the fifth…

Well, the fifth was bound to me.

Blue light glows through the translucent webbing between my fingers and breaks into glittering particles that whirl around my head and eddy into the crook of my neck.

I can’t see the faerie, but I can feel them all around me, their abstract energy running through the current.

They rarely take a physical form, and at this depth, the weight of the water would crush them. Zephyr is the only captive in my father’s collection who doesn’t belong to the ocean.

“Always somewhere you shouldn’t be,” they tsk, their words pouring directly into my ears even though they’re bodiless. “What are you doing here so early?”

“Nothing,” I reply in my Ocean Voice, infusing sound waves with my meaning.

They hum, low and deep. “Nothing?”

This is awkward. I unwrap my tail from the statue. “I’m heading to Crossbill Haven tonight, so I thought I’d stop in and kill some time.”

“You’re going to say goodbye to the sailor,” they surmise, and I catch their slurred speech, the telltale sign that they’ve been out drinking.

“Yes.” There’s no point in being coy about it when our situation gives Zephyr an upfront view of my most intimate moments. They know why I’m here and who I’m going to see.

I’ve summoned them by accident during many of our moonlit meetings.

The thought I’ve been avoiding for weeks finally hits me. After tonight, I’ll never see my sailor again. There’ll be no more whispered secrets or stolen kisses.

“There are no happy endings for mermaids who fall in love with humans,” Zephyr says, guessing the cause of my distress. “You’re doing the right thing.”

“Yes, I know.” I rub my temples and center myself. Zephyr can’t help sensing my strong emotions, but this heartache is mine.

I want to hold it close, keep it private.

“Good, then there’s no need to mope. You’ll find other ways to entertain yourself on land. I can teach you all about the gambling rooms and bawdy houses before you⁠—”

“That won’t be necessary.” I swim over to a set of chiseled stone tablets, desperate to change the subject. Normally I don’t mind their nonsense. Sometimes I even enjoy it. But tonight, I’m not in the mood for it. “Let’s focus on the ritual. Do you have any updates on Captain LaLocke?”

The current ripples around me. “Nothing has changed since yesterday. He’s still on track to pull into port on Daybreak Island tomorrow.”

I find the map I’m looking for and jab my nail into the stone to mark my approximate location, measuring how long it will take to swim to the port from here.

The timing is important. I have to catch the captain alone, and I can’t be too early.

“And you’re sure his soul will make a worthy offering?” I query.