Page 21 of Marked By the Sea

It kills me to say this. Not because of the princess staring back at me, but because of who I’m thinking of as I say the words.

“Our feelings have no place in this relationship. You’re promised to me, and I to you. I will wed you. And bed you. What I want has nothing to do with upholding my word. There’s nothing that will cause me to break it. If this is about the merman waiting for you outside, deal with it.”

“Your highness,” she gritted out before dipping her chin. I said nothing more and she disappeared.

With her finally gone, I sat on my bed and watched the sea life inhabiting my coral. One of my personal favorites, the flashlight fish, could rotate their organs to flicker on and off to find their prey. But since my room was lit, they had it switched off. Misery, the sneaky cat shark, was nowhere to be seen. She must be napping.

My thoughts wandered to my little human, as they so often had since I’d first lain eyes on her. I burned to have her here, and it caused something to twist in my chest. I needed her scent on every surface, erasing any trace of Prem in here. It hadn’t been long since I’d had her, and yet, I craved her sweet nectar on my bed. I wanted her beneath me, screaming my name for all the kingdoms to hear.

Did she miss me as much as I did her?

Or did my brother’s presence erase every thought of me from her mind?

I itched. I didn’t want to be here. My words repeated:

The last of my freedom.

The last of my freedom.

The last of my freedom.

I didn’t want to spend any more of it here.

Not even 24 hours had passed since I’d seen her last, yet impulsively, I gave up. Flying from the bed, I didn’t bothergoing through the kingdom. I swam from my window, over the kingdom, homes, and merfolk below. As the soldiers felt me draw near, they turned and saluted. Hexon’s large kraken form loomed in the deep. krakens were forbidden from entering, as per the King’s demand.

I was just about to link you. Where are you headed?

Without seeing his human face, and even without his voice in my head, I would have known he was smiling. Ignoring him, I swam away, needing to put as much space as possible between me and the kingdom I would be bound to in a few days’ time. He was silent as he joined me. His powerful tentacles pushed him effortlessly through the waters. Everything was a blur as I followed my desires and rushed to her. There was a princess waiting for me in the palace, yet all I could think of was the human above the surface. When the lights were swallowed by the deep, Hexon cleared his throat.

You like her.

Say you like her.

Not now, Hexon.

Is it a sin to admit your feelings?

Yes.

Dramatic, as always.

Why don’t you go spend time with Ro?

The kraken’s tentacles swished as they moved out of the way until a patch of blue was visible. And then Rowan popped out from the mass. The cheeky faerie winked at me before I rushed ahead.

So much for that.

We want to keep her, Rift.

We?

The kraken ignored me, and Rowan made an irritated sound. I figured he felt more for her. I could see it in the way hedefended her before I dismissed him. Rowan isn’t one to lie. He is quiet when he doesn’t want to answer.

Yes, we.

Coming to a halt, my tail flicked beneath me. They knew not what they spoke of, and it was time I enlightened them. They’d never wanted to keep one. Before I saw Rowan with her, I would have expected him to beg for her life like he’d done with the previous ones. But keeping her? They were delusional. I ignored the gnawing voice that whispered I’d thought of the same thing. Glaring at Hexon and the tentacles that fell from his face like a beard, and then to Rowan, who flushed red as he hid his body beneath Hexon’s mass, suspiciously close to his tenta-cock.

“And what would keeping her look like, Rowan?” I snapped. The faerie leaned forward.

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