Page 47 of Bride of the Sea King

Yay.

I had no idea where I was supposed to go to eat in the castle, but I hadn’t seen a kitchen in any of Triton’s rooms. So it seemed safe to say there was one somewhere.

I could ask Triton for help…

Or I could figure it out on my own.

Which sounded terrible. But also, useful. Talking to Joa had definitely opened my eyes to more of what was going on.

Leaving the room alone meant I could learn more about the castle and the merrae without Triton there to put everyone on their best behavior.

So… I was going to do it.

Assuming I could actually figure out how to control the water tube thing that would carry me out of the grotto.

I gave myself a few more seconds to catch my breath before I forced myself away from the wall and shuffled across the platform.

After staring enviously at the fish, who clearly weren’t sore from swimming like I was, I dove into the lake.

They ignored my presence as I shifted my legs to a tail. My magic seemed to have regenerated entirely, and it felt stronger than it had before. I was pretty sure that was good.

The itchiness I’d been feeling vanished entirely as I shifted. I guess my skin was just tired of being in human form or something.

Triton had mentioned my body forcing me to shift eventually. Maybe that was what he had been talking about.

Weird.

But not weirder than the fact that I could actually turn my butt into a fish tail.

It hurt so bad to swim across the lake that my eyes legitimately burned, but I ignored them.

When I reached the bottom of the waterfall, I stared up at it for a solid five minutes while I tried to use my magic to make it carry me upward.

It didn’t even pause, no matter how much magic I shoved at the thing.

I must’ve been doing it wrong.

With a long sigh, I shifted my tail back to legs and climbed out of the water. My knees knocked together as I dug my fingers intothe rocky wall of the cliff beside the waterfall. It was slippery, and there was moss all over the rocks, but I could do it.

I’d figure it out.

My arms shook as I pulled myself up a couple inches off the ground. My foot glanced off a sharp rock, and I winced at a gash of pain before I planted my foot on another rock.

Yeah, I was probably bleeding.

I remembered cutting my arm the day before, and twisted awkwardly as I tried to check out the wound. There was a large, white bandage where the cut had been.

I blinked down at the thing, not remembering cleaning the wound. Or covering it.

Triton must’ve done it while I was sleeping.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about that, honestly.

Grateful? Yes.

But everything else was an uncertainty.

How much of what he was doing was just so I’d be willing to let him breed me?

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