Page 152 of Cruel Tides

I came out from underneath the palm trees sputtering. “N-no! I wanted youclothed, under these palm fronds,” I asserted, pointing back at the bowed trees behind me.

The way his pale lips slid into a suggestive smirk had me tripping over my boots. “Well, you caught me while I was trying to sleep,” he said, rolling out his neck. “So unless you have the desire to become familiar with my human flesh, you’ll have me in the water, or not at all.”

“Absolutelyzerodesire. It’s just”—My eyes cut to the left, then to the right—“if anyonesaw you here. Likethis,”I said, motioning to his tentacles. My voice grew quiet, the thought of Barren’s painful past causing a lump to form in my throat. “I realize now how much your kind… isn’t trusted.”

Is hated,had been what I wanted to say. But even if it was the truth, it somehow seemed cruel to say it aloud.

The sea wizard’s shoulders straightened. Every lithe muscle, every curved limb went stiff, as if my chosen words had offended him regardless.

“Mykind,” he repeated through tight lips pitched so different from the smirk he’d shown me only moments before.

Now he looked awake, with wet hair dripping down his neck and sharp eyes filled with irritation fixed on me. “You know this, and yet, here you are.”

With a sudden lash, his tentacles worked around him. The lump in my throat only grew with his approach. Out of the water, the height added on by his lower half seemed to amplify his already imposing stature. I understood now why a child might have believed he was Poseidon. His height, his trident—those inhumanely white irises that looked like they belonged to a nightmare.

One deep purple tendril came close, curling just below my chin, and I shuddered, immediately reminded of how Barren had lost his arm.

The sea wizard’s eyes narrowed to perilous slits. “Clearly, my warnings were not enough,” he said, all of his amorous charm long forgotten.

Forget irritated, he lookedfuriousthat I was standing here before him.

The tentacle lingered, slowly twisting like it was toying with the idea of slipping into the space between my hair and my neck. “You know what they say about curiosity.”

“Something about cats and satisfaction.” I lifted my chin. Regardless of his warnings, this was my only way forward. Something onlyIcould do for Barren and Leander. For all of the merfolk. “But I think that saying underestimates mermaids.”

“Mermaids?” The tentacle underneath my chin flicked, and dammit, I flinched. The sea wizard’s scowl dissolved into a deep rumbling laugh. “You look far more like a mouse to me, little captive.”

Ugh—this exchange was giving me whiplash. Nothing was turning out how I’d planned it.

“Look, can you just… poof us somewhere?” I asked, trying to mask my annoyance as I glanced up and down the beach. The sun was basically up now, and it felt like sheer luck that someone hadn’t come across us already. “Somewhere far away from here, so we can talk for a minute?”

The sea wizard’s glaring white eyes betrayed no emotion as he crossed his arms over his pale chest. “You want me to‘poof’us somewhere.”

“Yes, exactly.” I took the end of the tentacle waving closest to me, taking care to touch it as little as possible by grasping the firm flesh between two fingers. “Let’s go.”

He didn’t move.

His lips remained tightly together as he took a long, hard look at me. “Enlighten me. Where, exactly, do you think we’re going?”

“Somewhere private, I guess. A place where we can talk before you take me to your queen.”

“Private.” His sigh was heavy and laced with somehow even more irritation. “My only purpose here is to escort you to a certain location. A location that happens to be underwater.”

“Underwater? But your queen is?—”

“Currently holding court deep in the bowels of the Undersea,” he finished for me.

Bowels of the Undersea. Now that conjured a lovely image.

“Okay, well, I have one problem with that,” I said, casting a glance back in the direction of the bungalow. Naturally, it and my suitcase were both well out of sight. “I didn’t bring a bathing suit.”

“That hardly seems like a problem to me.” Although his eyes steadily rested on mine, one of his tentacles wrapped around me from behind. Then another. Gentle pressure reeled me closer to him, closer to the water.

“Wait—! Let’s… let’s talk first,” I squeaked. Despite holding my magical switchblade shell out in defense, I couldn’t shake the feeling I might actually look like the small, timid mouse he’d teased me of being.

His pale shoulders rolled with amusement. “Fine. We’ll talk first, if that is what you wish.”

A dark tentacle rose like a whip, and with a smooth motion, he snatched his trident from it. Black smoke exploded, and we were suddenly surrounded by a thick, impenetrable haze. Darkness drew around us like a cloak, letting only the overhead dawn through.

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