Page 23 of Cruel Tides

Huffing, I scrubbed a hand over my face and squared my shoulders up with the mirror. I leaned in, staring down my reflection, waiting for my jaw to loosen enough to test out a smile.

I finally managed a simple, awkward smile, and it only took a second for my lips to fall.

“Alhey,” I cursed, slipping into my native tongue. What had I expected?

Maybe it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was.

When I turned my back on the mirror, Laverne’s sleepy stare was waiting for me. Lost in thought as I was, I hadn’t even registered that her snoring had stopped.

Her eyes darted around as her head lifted from the center of my bed.“Ren?”

Then her eyes widened, and I lifted my hand out to calm her like I’d seen Kai do countless times before. “Laverne, wait?—”

“Where’s Big Brother?”She dived from the bed in a quick swoop, her tail and flippers slapping against the carpet. Her neck whipped, taking in her surroundings, the panic in her eyes growing. When she realized where she was, her eyes narrowed on me.“Where did he go!”

The hand move wasn’t working, so I switched tactics, giving her soft clicks with my tongue in the way one did to keep a frightened barracuda from striking.

She took obvious offense to that.

“How DARE you?”Her hiss was so scathing, it burned a path as it rattled around my head.“Tell me where he is! Why did you take me away from his side?”

Her voice cracked, unleashing a flood of raw emotion inside of me that sent my pulse into a frenzy. For a split second, her panic was mine, and thoughts and emotions poured into my head, unrestrained.

Kai dead.

All of them, dead.

Now I’m all alone.

I swung my head like it could shake the thoughts out until I could recover. “Nothing happened to your brother, Laverne.” I kept my tone even, but she didn’t look any less concerned. “He’s safe. He needed to rest, so I?—”

The whack of Laverne’s flippers pounding on the ground cut me off as she snapped into action. Her jaw dropped, her teeth bared. But instead of taking her rage out on me, she bounded for the countertop, leaping up and balancing on her tail so she could scoop up the pile of room keys in her jaws. Then she pushed off, giving herself a sliding start to the door.

“Laverne!” I called after her, my pulse hammering in my head. But she had already slapped the door open and nosed through it, darting headfirst into the hall.

“Alhey.” I grunted before chasing after her, making sure to flick the door wedge so I wouldn’t get locked out of my room. Wrestling my key back from her would be a miracle, especially after she found out I’d left Claira alone with Kai.

When I got through the door, Laverne was already down the hall, her nose pressed against the door to Kai’s room. “Laverne!”

She didn’t even pause, trying out the different keys to the lock. She had the door open a second later, and I was only halfway down the hall when the screaming started.

Claira’s screams.

I made it to Kai’s door in a flash and growled out my frustration when I found the door had already relocked. I was deciding whether to rip the lock off or break the door down when the handle turned. The door flew open, and there was Claira, her red hair swinging as she threw a panicked look over her shoulder at Laverne.

I stood there, chest heaving, too stunned to move.

She was completely naked.

“Harlot!”Laverne screeched, projecting loud enough for any merfolk within ten leagues to hear. She was barking, too, her tongue frothing as she snapped at Claira’s feet.

Laverne charged forward and Claira jumped with a squeal, her eyes meeting mine as she bolted through the door. A flicker of something passed over her face, and she shoved right into me, throwing her arms around my waist like she thought I could protect her. Those soft lips whispered, “Barren,” sinking into me with a sigh of relief, and my body moved on its own.

I yanked her close, wrapping around her as a shield while Laverne bounced and yipped at my heels.

“You strumpet! Dirty sand slug!”

“Stop it, Laverne!” Kai’s voice called from behind us.

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