Page 12 of Sunken Empire

I let out an unladylike snort. “It’s obvious where you three get your good looks from. She’s beautiful.”

They both stare down at me as I continue to look over the statue of their mother. A sick feeling in my stomach makes me want to throw up in the middle of the floor.

“She was taken, wasn’t she? That’s why she has a statue instead of bones,” I whisper sadly.

From the corner of my eye, I see Zale nod. “She had just as much right to be here as any of them. More so, in my opinion. This was one of the ways that we could honor her.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell them.

“Us too,” Zale replies. “We knew your family. They were good mers. It’s a tragedy what happened to them.”

“That’s the story of our lives. One big fucking tragic mess,” Zanthus says from behind us.

A glance over my shoulder rewards me with a view of him propped against the door, arms crossed against his chest as he watches us.

“True, but without all of the bad, we’d never genuinely appreciate the good,” I tell him.

An actual smile crosses his face, and I don’t know if it’s from a spare moment of happiness or the fact that we are having a civil conversation. Either way, it’s a massive reminder of just how much the three of them look alike. In their own smoking hot ways. I stand for longer than I should, staring at that smile. When my eyes rise to meet his, it’s clear as day that he knows what I’m thinking.

He straightens from the wall and stalks toward me. The only warning I have is the predatory look in his eyes before he grabs my neck and pulls my face to his. Holy Hades, for a brutish merman, he really knows how to kiss. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t go anywhere at this point. His mother’s statue at my back and his brothers’ warm bodies on either side of me, leave me trapped. It’s that last thought that has me pulling away. I was kissing Zale and feeling the same for him a few short hours ago, and now I’m with his brother, while he stands next to me, nonetheless. Damn, there’s something firing wrong in my brain.

“I’m sorry,” I say to them as my face turns red. I can’t help the lifting of my fingers to my lips where they’re still tingling.

“What are you sorry for?” Zephyr asks, now turned towards us.

I angle my face to him and catch his eyes. Boy, is that a huge mistake. All I can think is he’s the only one that I haven’t kissed. And holy hell, do I want to. Shaking my head answers his question and helps to dislodge the stray thought.

I try to blow it off. “I’m just really tired.”

That’s the biggest copout of all time, but it works. At least, I think it does, before I see the grin that Zanthus tries to hide.

This time, it’s his arm that is offered and leading me from the room. His brothers follow quietly behind us, and I think, I’ve really mucked things up this time.

I’m a very superstitious person, so I should have known better than to ask myself how much worse this could possibly get. It can always get worse.

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