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“Cordelia,” they say, and I remember I have a name.

I look over my shoulder. Zephyr is frowning at something on my leg.

I drop my hip to the side and move onto my back, lifting my foot to see what’s causing their concern. Scales have erupted through a stripe of skin running from my ankle to my knee.

“No, we can’t let ourselves turn.” They tug on the shirttails hanging over their toned thighs. “I don’t know what will happen if you do. The sea witch told me your mermaid form will break through if you’re not married by the full moon.”

“You went to see her again?”

“Yes.”

I try to pat my torn skin over my emerald scales. “What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know.” Zephyr kneels between my knees. “I have to get you out of here. I have to take you to someone who can help.”

They can’t. There’s no time for that. The sun will rise, and we’ll be stuck like this.

Maybe I’ll turn into a blood-thirsty mermaid haunting the stream.

Another wave of heat flares through me. My throat burns. My body hungers to be touched.

I’m overcome with the need to throw my head back and give myself to the night, so I do. It feels good to come undone after working so hard to control myself.

Float away, little tempest. Push the storm back.

No, I don’t think I will.

I run my hands over Zephyr’s shoulders, licking the column of their neck.

“Cordelia,” they caution, trembling with restraint. “We can’t.”

I can’t see past the next few hours. The concept of dawn is nauseating. I don’t know how they’re holding back. “Let’s live beneath the moon forever.”

“No, darling.” They pull me in tightly, too tightly for me to climb them. “Hold on to me, and don’t let go no matter what.”

They press their forehead to mine, and a thin layer of mist settles over me like a second skin. It feels just like Zephyr, like I’m wrapped up in them.

When I open my eyes, theirs are silver moons staring back at me. They’ve drawn me into their aura, enveloping me in their aether.

I can’t move. I can’t open my mouth to ask a question.

The night sky falls down on us, and the world is voided out. It reappears almost instantly, but the scenery is different.

Zephyr is still clinging to me, but we’re lying on slab-like black rocks, and cold mist is spraying us.

“We made it through the aether together,” Zephyr says, patting my cheeks. “It actually worked.”

“What if it hadn’t?” I ask.

“I’m not sure, but you’re still here.”

A warm light glows high above us. I crane my neck to the top of a black-and-white striped lighthouse. “Where’s here?”

They help me to my feet, moving their head back to put a few inches between us. “Sorciere.”

The idea of traveling that quickly to the island situated in the northwestern territory of the Heartbreak Isles makes me dizzy. I stumble on the rocks, and they pick me up again without missing a step.

“What are we doing in Sorciere?”