Page 85 of The Dark, Dead, Deep

Shay cleared his throat. “Cormac has not moved since we brought him here.”

“I thought nymphs were meant to be healers?” I swam closer.

Shay’s gaze flicked over my shoulder to settle on Rainn before he met my eyes again. “We are,” he said with little explanation.

I blinked, confused.

Rainn swam forward. “Nymphs require sexual energy to use their healing abilities,” the selkie explained.

My cheeks flamed. “Oh.Oh.”

Shay winced as if he was in pain. “Unfortunately, I have little magic left at the moment. I have been trying to help Cormac wake since we arrived. Several healers have said that he appears to be in good health, save that he won’t wake up.”

I glanced at Cormac’s lifeless body. The skin around his throat was marred by a single red line where my uncle’s wire had burned into his skin.

“Tormalugh is fetching some food,” Rainn said, breaking the silence. “Lady Bloodtide comes to see her son several times a day, but he doesn’t react to her voice. Or anyone else’s, for that matter.”

“He’s the king,” I whispered. “He can’t just fall asleep and die.”

“Surely, as one of the undine, you would rejoice if Cormac were to perish.” Shay smiled, but it was empty and without joy.

“Don’t even joke about that,” I murmured, but the admonishment had no heat. Cormac Illfin made me want to scream with frustration. He had seen me at my lowest, but he had also saved me. I owed him a debt, and I was going to try my best. “What can I do to help?”

Shay narrowed his eyes. “You want to help?”

I waved my hand dismissively. “Yes, I know. The sea is boiling, and the turtles are flying. What a miraculous and strange occurrence. Me, helping.”

“I meant because we are enemies.” Shay frowned. “As you have reminded us every moment since the Frosted Sands.”

I glared at him. “If I heal the mer-king, I assume I won’t rot in his dungeon, and I can go free.”

Shay clicked his tongue. “Ah. That’d do it.”

I didn’t give him the satisfaction of a response. Instead, I twisted at the waist and turned to Rainn. “Can you help with this glamour?” I asked.

He shrugged and swam forward. “This will hurt,” Rainn warned a second before the glamour stretched and snapped into a thousand brittle pieces.

I massaged the skin on my face. “It didn’t hurt when Urma placed it,” I said, unable to keep the accusation out of my tone.

“Selkies are immune to most magic, but breaking a glamour is different than simply seeing through it.” Rainn shrugged. “Breaking a glamour requires skill.”

“So humble,” I murmured.

Rainn responded with a wide-toothed smile.

I didn’t say anything, even though his statement held no explanation for the pain.

I steeled my spine and got closer to the bed, pausing for only a moment before I gripped the covers and heaved myself up until I was next to Cormac on the bed. I poked his tail and placed my hand on his forehead, but the male did not respond.

I expected the merman to snap upright and slap my hand away, but he just laid there.

I listened to the water and hoped the lake might provide some insight into what was affecting Cormac, but the water was curiously silent.

I had no magic of my own, and save from slapping the merman around the face, I had no idea how to wake him up.

Urma had been so confident that I would be able to help, and I hated that I would be letting her down. I worried my bottom lip between my teeth as I tried to formulate a plan, but my mind was a fish swimming in a glass bowl. Circling over and over and getting nowhere.

Shay stepped up to the side of the bed. He opened his mouth to say something before the door to the room opened.

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