Page 3 of Cruel Tides

Just as his chin turned down to look at the pearl, one of the wide-scaled mermen called out a word I didn’t recognize, and the merfry was drifting away. When he got back to his group, he glanced over his shoulder, and I gave him a wave.

Maybe I’d made a friend for once. That thought made me smile—parties really were magical, just like Papa had said. And this one had hardly even begun.

But my smile quickly faded as Lee swam back over. His mouth slipped into a smirk, and I stuck my tongue out at him as a distraction while I hid my new pearl in my ocean silks. There was no way I would let him steal it from me again.

Music started playing, and with a crescendo of notes, the party had officially begun.

“Hey, Lee,” I said, and he spun at me with a teasing grin.

“Yes, Nera?”

My eyes rolled at that horrible nickname, but still I asked, “Do you know who that merfry is?”

Lee’s lips fell. “Yeah, I know him.”

“Well?” I pressed. “I’m just wondering why your father brought a merfry to his party. I didn’t think we were allowed.”

“He’s not a merfry, Nera.” Lee’s voice turned serious. “Maybe he was, but not anymore.” He took a pause to run a hand through his hair. “That’s Barren Arwa, and he’s about to be a king.”

Leander

PRESENT DAY

I’d never regret protecting Claira from my father.

As soon as I held the trident in my hands and felt its immense power whirling through me like a raging storm, I knew I couldn’t let him have it. I had to hide it away, even if it meant sacrificing my body as a vessel for its magic—the magic my father would have used to force Claira down for the other relics, collecting them one by one, until all five tridents were his.

To his captains, he claimed the tridents would grant us the power to break the curse. But I could see his lies as easily as I could his anger. Power was what my father really wanted. To bring about a war that would end countless lives. And for what? More fucking territory? To control the ocean with the very power Poseidon himself had once wielded?

I knew Claira, and she would never forgive herself if my father’s plans had come to fruition. It would tear her apart to know her abilities had caused a war. So, I’d done what I had to. What needed to be done.

And even if it killed me, I’d never fucking regret it. Never.

“I thought you were supposed to be mad at me,” I mumbled against Claira’s neck. I managed a small smirk before my head slumped forward, catching on her soft shoulder. Fuck, I was exhausted.

She stood silently before me, her nimble fingers working at the pants Barren had pulled on my legs before hauling me up to Kai’s rented bedchamber. One of my brows lifted as her hands ventured closer to the lever holding them on my hips.

The clasp at the top popped free, and rough sand grated against my groin as she jerked the material halfway down my thighs.

“I am mad at you,” she said finally. She tugged at the fabric again, and a shower of grit rained over the washroom floor as my pants fell around my ankles.

“But you’re helping me,” I pointed out with a chuckle. My forehead rolled over her shoulder to take in the warm, salted scent of her neck. Even with the sparks of pain working through my chest and down my arm, my cock managed to throb with an ache of its own.

“You’re my mate,” she said stiffly.

Fuck. I’d never grow tired of hearing her say that.

Claira’s eyes narrowed. “But not because of some ancient spell cast by Poseidon, okay?” Her fingers brushed along the same pattern over my chest she’d been tracing since I’d taken in the trident. I couldn’t see the markings she’d described to me, and I fucking hoped no one else could, either. The last thing I needed was for someone to see hints of the trident’s location scrawled all over my chest and arm.

A gentle hand came under my jaw, and when my spine straightened, I noticed a fiery blush had spread down Claira’s neck.

“You’re my mate becauseIsay so.”

Had sweeter words ever been said?

“Your mate…” I leaned back on the vanity, ignoring all my aches, all my pains, to pull my sweet mate up against me. “I’m glad you finally realized what a catch I am.” My smile deepened into a smirk. “But are you sure you can stand being stuck with me?”

“Well, you do drive me crazy…”

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