Page 18 of Cursed Waters

Um, what?

“Aleena, Arina, please see Nerida to the brig.”

“Treason?” I choked out. “But I didn’t do anything! I was thrown out of the Atlantic against my will in the first place. I’m hardly even a mermai—”

Aleena’s fingers clamped over my mouth, and I didn’t even hesitate. I bit the shit out of them. She drew back, wailing and whipping her hand through the air. Her face suddenly hardened, and she slapped her bloody palm across my face.

Oh, thatbitch.

As I reared my neck back to headbutt her, a shower curtain with a cheerful dolphin printed on the side of it slid open from behind the king’s throne. A familiar asshole caught my eye.

My cheek was already throbbing, but I barely felt it through my rage.

“Leander!” I called from across the platform, a raw fury vibrating my entire being.

He leaned against a partition pole, casually folding his arms over his chest, and watched me in silence.

That freaking bastard was behind all of this, and oh, he was going topay.

“LEANDER, you BAST—” A knee went into my gut, forcing the breath out of my lungs before I could finish relaying my sentiments in front of the entire kingdom.

The women ripped me away from the platform in unison, and I writhed against their arms just to see that bastard’s face again. Sliding the shower curtain closed, Leander walked back into the makeshift building like none of this had anything to do with him at all.

Oh, it hadeverythingto do with him.

Quilts and patterned blankets passed my peripherals, and I let my body go slack.

Aleena hissed out a curse and slung her hand in the air, letting the other woman do the bulk of the work dragging me to the back of the warehouse. “You’re going to pay for that when I’m crowned queen, you little bitch.”

“You sure you’re queen material?” I snorted out as they dragged me between them. Her nasty attitude might actually pair well with Leander’s. “’Cause an angler knows a couple of bottom feeders when she sees them.”

She let out a little huff that quickly shifted into dry laughter when she threw back a curtain.

This was the brig?

Isolated in the very back of the warehouse, a small cage sat against the back wall. From a glance, it appeared to be crafted out of old wooden pallets—the entire structure no bigger than a kennel for a medium-sized dog.

Aleena dropped my arm to swing the wooden door open, still cackling as she went.

“One last thing,” she sneered. Her hands roughly patted down every inch of my body. She ran over every pocket, in every fold, and even into my boots. Oh, if Arina hadn’t been holding my ankles, I would have relished steel-toeing her in the face.

When Aleena was finally satisfied, she yanked me away from Arina’s grip and pushed me headfirst into the tiny makeshift brig. My face hit the wood, and I didn’t even have time to draw my legs the rest of the way into the cage before they were kicking at the back of my knees.

“Freaking harpies,” I hissed, pulling my heavy boots over the threshold until I could fold my legs beside me.

The splintered wooden door slammed shut, and Aleena clicked the latch with a grin, taking the key out and waving it in front of my face.

“Why do you hate me so much?” I asked, actually curious. Aleena, Arina. Neither of their names seemed familiar to me from the time I’d spent in the ocean. As far as I knew, the three of us were complete strangers.

Aleena’s lips tightened into a hard line, but she didn’t say a word. How strange.I’d expected her to be more than willing to tell me what it was about me she disliked so much.

Tucking the key into her pocket, she glanced at me with one final scoff and turned, walking over to where Arina was waiting at the edge of the curtain.

Now that I had been dealt with, the warehouse had come alive with commotion. Voices and laughter reverberated off the walls, their cloth-based structures doing little to contain the joyful noise of boisterous merfolk. Maybe they weren’t so downtrodden after all.

I groaned and took a quick glance around the cage. There wasn’t really much to see. My bunched-up legs almost pressed against my chest, and my head was only a few inches under the wooden top. My ass hurt, and splinters from the rough planks pierced through my jeans.

Ugh.When I did finally get out of here, I’d be pulling slivers out of my rear for a week.

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