Page 76 of Battle Fluke

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The grotto was just like the last time they had arrived there, and it still gave Hudson the chills. Nothing about magic sat well with her—ever. She wasn’t comfortable with it, with what it could do. But right now, they needed it. Hudson swam forward, glancing over her shoulder to make sure that Kyree was following, because she definitely needed Kyree for this one.

“You’ve found my daughter,” Milan said as way of greeting, opening the door of her home and filling the space.

“Yes,” Hudson said, an unexpected nervous tickle in the back of her throat. “But we can’t get to her. We can’t save her without your help.”

“My help?” Milan’s shoulders curled inward just a fraction as the confusion flashed over her face.

Hudson turned to Kyree, silently begging for her help.

“You can’t reach her. You’re no longer sure if she is unharmed.” Kyree’s voice floated on the water like a lullaby. She moved closer to Milan, their bodies merely inches away from each other.

An overwhelming desire to stand between the two deep sounding mers washed through Hudson, and she understood alittle easier the idiot Honour had made of herself the last time they had come to the bog witch’s grotto.

It hadn’t been hatred for Milan. Not entirely at least. It had been jealousy. Honour had already been that much more attached, that much more connected to Kyree.

“What happened to her?” Milan’s voice shook in an unexpected display of weakness Hudson would never have imagined possible for the mer.

“She’s been taken into the sky ship.”

“Disconnected.” Milan nodded. The understanding relaxed her shoulders, and her chest rose in a long breath of water. “But you’ve found her, and she’s unharmed?”

“Relatively unharmed.” Kyree, slowly as though giving Milan all the opportunity in the world to stop her, raised her arm and laid it gently on Milan’s arm. “But we need to get her and the only way we can do that is with your help.”

“How?” Milan didn’t move away from the touch but the strength in her upright form solidified back into the determined mer Hudson found she was more comfortable with than the fragile broken mother she had glimpsed.

“We need your help to enchant us, the way you’ve taught Soulara to.”

“Enchant?” The question filled Milan’s face and then dropped just as quickly as understanding dawned. “Right. Both of you want this?”

“Yes.” Hudson couldn’t stop herself from replying before Kyree could suggest anything else.

“Please, Milan.” Kyree bowed her head and looked down at her own fluke. “Would you grant us the gift of your magic?”

Milan, back to the smirking confident mer Hudson had met on her last visit, turned her eyes to Hudson. She lifted a single eyebrow.

Hudson rolled her eyes before nodding her head forward and mimicking Kyree’s pose. “Please.”

The word was silt on Hudson’s tongue, it grated against who she was, but the hope she had seen in Honour’s eyes as she finally showed her trust and faith in them filled Hudson’s mind. She would beg to ensure that trust and faith had not been given in vain.

“Then we don’t have time to waste.”

The moment happened before Hudson had time to process it, and she couldn’t stop staring at Kyree’s split tail. No, she mentally shook her head.Legs.They were called legs.

“Hudson.” Kyree chuckled as she tucked her fingers beneath Hudson’s chin and lifted her eyes back to her face.

“Yes.” Milan’s approval finally snapped Hudson out of her trance. “She does cut quite the impressive human figure, doesn’t she?”

“All right. My turn.” Hudson’s voice was hard and sharp like broken coral. The sharp look Milan turned on her made her chest tighten enough for her to realize her error. “Please, Milan.”

“Better.” Milan pursed her lips but Hudson could have almost sworn the hint of a smile tugged the corners of Milan’s lips up before she turned back to her potions and things Hudson knew she didn’t want to understand any more than necessary.

“Does it hurt?” Hudson muttered to Kyree as sounds of clattering came from Milan and her bench.

“Not nearly as much as possibly losing Honour.”

“Okay.” Hudson steeled herself for what was to come.

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