Page 23 of Battle Fluke

“They’re not mine anymore.” The lines in Kaelin’s face tensed.

Kyree sat with that. If the elders cast her out with no hope of return, would she feel the same way? She had willingly exiled herself, but she still had hope of returning, didn’t she? So long as she followed the ordered rules. So long as she kept to herself. So long as she—as she what? Kept herself pure from all that was outside her people.

That’s what this really was about, wasn’t it? Anything considered outside and different was evil and must be cut out immediately for fear of infection. How was that any different from what the humans were doing? Did they need the mermaids? No. So they were going to destroy them in order to survive. Their tribe—no, just her tribe, because Kaelin rejected them—was simply going to let the other mermaids die in order to save themselves from impurity.

Kyree shook her head, dropping her chin and closing her eyes. What was she going to do now? Was Nylah even hers anymore or had they returned to the deep soundings and the tribe that had raised them? Was Kyree truly alone in this ocean?

“Kyree…” Kaelin’s voice called to her, pulled her from the depths of darkness that she wasn’t sure she could bring herself to exist in anymore. “The choice has to be yours whether or not to leave them. But if that’s why you’re here, to ask if I regret leaving, then the answer is no. Was there a time when I would have? Absolutely. I hated every minute of my banishment, and I wore the shame they gave me like a badge of honor.”

Oh, Kyree understood that. She’d done the very same thing from the moment she’d swum out of that village until she’d found herself pressed between the ocean floor and Honour’s body. How she’d longed to kiss her, to make love to her, to let those touches teach her about life in ways she knew she’d never understood before.

“It wasn’t until Zendalia showed me what real love is, what a real family can be, that I understood what I never had.”

But Kyree had that. She’d had family and friends. She’d never been on the outside of the tribe like Kaelin had been. In fact, she’d been right near the damn center of it, surrounded by everyone and in the midst of everything. She was on track to becoming one of the next elders. She’d thought that this would ensure that, but now? Now she wasn’t sure that was a good idea, or even a reasonable idea. To go home and face the darkness? Face whether or not she would be accepted when she was accepted here?

“And what’s it like now? Living and knowing you’ll never return?” Kyree’s question was soft, gentle almost. But she needed to know how much pain awaited her if she were to make a decision, one that would end her hopes of ever going home.

“It hurts, on occasion, that the one people who should have accepted me never did. And those who have no obligation to me so widely embraced who I am without question.” Kaelin sat up sharply. She glanced toward the entryway and nodded toward Kyree. “Zendalia returns.”

“You can tell all that from this distance?”

Kaelin shook her head, a smile playing at her lips. “No, Neyon told me.”

“Ah.” Sadness swept through Kyree. She’d been given the responsibility over Nylah and she couldn’t even keep them safe. Instead, she’d gifted Nylah to the princess, and both were now lost to the sea. “I need to find Nylah.”

“You do. If you concentrate, you’ll be able to connect with them.”

Kyree wasn’t so sure about that, and Kaelin’s confidence, while unwavering, seemed misguided. Kyree had been attempting to connect with Nylah since she’d rescued Honour, and it had been hopeless since. But if they could find Nylah, then they could find Soulara. Or at least, perhaps, glean some information about where she was.

“Will you go with me?” Kyree asked.

“Go where?” Kaelin looked genuinely taken back by the question.

“To find Nylah.”

“No.” Kaelin squared her shoulders. “I’m not part of the tribe any longer. Your companion is your responsibility. Neyon has chosen to stay with me, here in Reine, but I won’t risk my life for them again.”

“But you’d be risking it for the entire ocean.”

Kaelin’s lips parted, as if she was about to protest again but hesitated. Kyree waited with bated breath for Kaelin to change her mind, for something different to happen. Instead, Kaelin doubled down.

“They’re not my people anymore.”

“But Nylah could help us find Soulara.” Could Kaelin hear the desperation that leaked into Kyree’s voice?

Kaelin pursed her lips. “I’ll speak with Zendalia and the king.”

That was hopeless. They’d already been through that, at least Kyree had. And Honour had refused to even bring it to his attention. Pregtox didn’t understand, Honour didn’t understand, none of them knew what the companions meant in their culture, how they could be connected with, how Nylah was so important to the war. And they wouldn’t take the time to understand it either. Kyree had tried.

“I’ll find them.” Kyree straightened up. As Zendalia entered the living space, Kyree pushed her way out.

She avoided touching Zendalia but barely, and she slid around the coral into the open water. She didn’t even wait as she followed the pathway to the edge of town and away from the city. She wanted to get out of there. She wanted to get to the open water where she could breathe again, where she could maybe even form a thought.

Kyree swam and swam without looking back. By the time she stopped, the water was darkening and every single one of her muscles ached. The last week had been a disaster, and she was exhausted from it. The torment of watching Honour nearly be ripped apart, the pain of seeing her struggle with Soulara being taken from the water—it was all too much.

But then adding in Hudson… Kyree sucked in a sharp breath and let it out slowly. Hudson was an entity all unto her own, and Kyree wasn’t sure where to put her or how to sort through all that had happened in the days they’d been held captive by her. But then they’d been released, for nothing more than a simple kiss.

Simple?

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