Page 168 of Cruel Tides

Another riddle. Why was I not surprised?

I gritted my teeth, pulling away from his hand. “So, what’s the truth, then?” I snapped, my patience fraying like this withered bed of seagrass the cecaelia counted as a luxury beneath me. “What am I? Why can’t you speak plainly for once and come out and tell me?”

“Do you really not know yourself?” There was a chilling emptiness in his eyes. “If you need me to tell you for you to believe it, then listen closely: the truth is that you never were a mermaid.”

Despite his icy demeanor, his touch was gentle as he closed the distance between us to cradle my chin in his palm. When his thumb grazed the edge of my lower lip, I felt my heart stop completely. “You’re something far greater, Claira.”

This was the second time he’d called me by name, the two smoky syllables rolling off his tongue like a caress.

“Underneath this tail that you’re clinging to is the potential for power that even I cannot fathom,” he continued, his voice low and husky, like he was visualizing all the possibilities that lay hidden under my curse.

I struggled to remain upright as his words rattled around in my head. So, it was all true? I really wasn’t a mermaid?

My confusion must have shown on my face, because the sea wizard let out a humorless laugh. “Despite my plain and straightforward words, you remain unconvinced. Choose to dismiss the vision of yourself you saw in the mirror, if that’s what you wish. But I’ll warn you that either way, the queen has ordered me to return you to your true self.”

Mytrue self.

The shivers rocking through my body seemed to come from deep within, and I jerked my chin free from his hand. “Okay… Say that I do believe you,” I whispered. “What if I don’t want you to break my curse?”

His lips pursed, and he slid close enough for his dark tendrils to ruffle the bed of seagrass underneath me. “Unfortunately, that is no longer an option, princess.” His voice hardened. “One moon cycle from now, Queen Sagari, your grandmother, expects your curse to be broken, whether you want it or not.”

Now I was petrified. Because if what he was saying was true, my fate was already sealed.

This was a recurring theme in my life—being thrust into a position where I had to leave everything familiar behind and become something entirely new. Something I didn’t even fully understand.

Last time, I had to be human. This time, I’d become an actual monster.

“I don’t want to believe it.” I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling exposed and defenseless, trapped in this damned Undersea. “Sea wizard, tell me—my eyes, are they…” My throat choked. It didn’t matter that our deal allowed me to tell him about the first thing I’d seen in the mirror. I still couldn’t find the courage to say it.

I felt the shadow of his presence closing in, but I wasn’t ready to face him. Even when his smoky voice washed against the shell of my ear, I refused to open my eyes. “Are you asking me if, underneath all your illusions, the eyes you saw reflected at you are the eyes of a sea witch?”

In a sudden gasp, my eyes flew open. “I couldn’t—” There he was, his face barely an inch from mine.

He finished the thought for me. “Possibly be a sea witch?” His dark hair fell back as his head shook, framing his sharp features. “That, princess, is a secret that will continue to belong only to the two of us.”

“But I don’t have magic,” I croaked, feeling all the more vulnerable. “There’s no way. I’m nothing like a sea witch or a cecaelia, no matter what that mirror showed.”

“Oh, but you are.” His blunt words struck like barbs, and I flinched at the sting of them.

“No—” I shook my head, refusing to accept what he was saying, but his words kept coming.

“Let me ask you this: what mer possesses the ability to see perfectly clear in the dark?”

That’s right—my night vision. I supposed that was some sort of magic. Judging by the guys’ reaction to it, night vision wasn’t typical. But merfolk had a variety of gifts, like Kai and his glowing eyes. “Some Pacific mers can see in the dark,” I murmured.

Unimpressed, the sea wizard chuckled darkly. “Correction—Pacific mers create light which they use to cut through the dark.” His hand waved, gesturing to our surroundings. “But you, princess, have always been a creature of darkness. You have no need for light.”

Admitting it tore me apart, but I couldn’t deny he had a point.

“But I don’t know anything about cecaelia or… sea witches,” I whispered, afraid that if I spoke too loudly, it would become more real in my mind. “And if that woman is my grandmother, why aren’t her eyes white? Why haven’t I ever seen a creature with eyes likethat?”

Even now, that haunting version of myself still lingered in my mind. The eyes of a predator, of a creature well versed in its ways and unafraid of the dark. Perhaps darkness was afraid of it.

It wasn’t me at all.

“The queen is not a sea witch,” he said sharply, as if the thought of her being among his rank disgusted him. “You’d be lucky to find another in this entire ocean who is. That, I suspect, is the reason for yourcurse.” I could sense his fascination as his gaze shifted to my tail. “Whoever laid it clearly didn’t want others to know who or what you are.”

“Butyouknew what I was.” My voice shook with equal parts anger and fear. “You knew all along, didn’t you? You knew who my grandmother was, what I am.”

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