Page 32 of Cruel Tides

Her eyes jumped to mine, her irises glittering, energized by an odd light. A magical light. She wasglamouringhim.

Papa’s face dazed, lost in the haze of the mermaid’s magic. Then he fought it, breaking through with a startling yell that shocked everyone in the storeroom. He threw himself backwards, and Echinea’s father’s neck rolled as Papa knocked the air out of him.

Papa was rabid again, his mouth ringed with blood. “I can’t look at her!” he roared. Then his voice broke into a sob, a desperate plea that had his shoulders crumbling. “Don’t make me look at her.”

Papa shook, or maybe I was shaking. My mouth hung open, my throat locking up. Every word I could have said was as dead as my birth father was to me.

Don’t make me look at her.I let his words echo in my mind so I might become numb to their sting.

“This is the only way we can restrain him,” Echinea’s dad called out with panting breaths, drawing my attention. “When he found out Prince Leander had returned alone, he became…distraught. We removed him from the others after he attacked the prince.”

Papa attacked Leander?Oh no.Leander was strong, but it was taking two captains and a mermaid’s glamour to keep Papa under control. If he hurt Lee, I’d—I’d?—

I couldn’t take this. Never again did I want to see this horrible, wretched merman.

Blindly backing away, I caught my spine on the edge of the wall, but it didn’t faze me. As I slid out of the storeroom, the merman holding the door looked just as confused as he had when I’d demanded entry. I kept moving back until I bumped into something massive, immovable. I knew who it was even before his arm wrapped around me, twirling me around.

“Barren,” I nearly sobbed out. I sank into him, grateful that he hadn’t listened to my suggestion to wait in the car. Even as his muscles flinched beneath my touch, I wrapped my arms around his waist. “He… he…” My head shook against the warmth as I anchored myself to him. I couldn’t even say it. “We have to find Leander.”

Barren lifted my chin from his chest, concern knitting his eyebrows. Just as his lips parted, rapid footsteps interrupted the moment.

“Why would you bring her here?” Leander asked, running up to us. He looked to Barren, whose jaw immediately hardened to stone. Then Leander turned his attention to me, stealing me away from Barren with a strong, deliberate slide of his hands. Within seconds, I was engulfed in his embrace, his arms wrapping around me. “Are you okay? Your face, it’s pale.” His eyes slid down the front of my sweater and up again, lingering at the top of my turtleneck long enough for me to wonder what he would do when he saw the marks hiding underneath it. “Whose clothes are these?”

Leander’s head tilted, and I noticed the purple tint to his jaw. It was slight, like the fist or shoulder hadn’t connected at full force. But he was in clothes now, too, and there was no telling what could be hiding underneath his white shirt and jeans. My nerves swirled, my body still shaking. “He attacked you?” I asked, ignoring his question. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay.” Leander gave me a steadying squeeze, his eyes focused on my arms and how badly they were shaking. Reassuring lips pressed against my forehead. “Don’t worry, I didn’t hurt him.”

“I don’t care abouthim,” I croaked, burying my face into his neck, my fingers clenching against his chest. “He can rot in there. They said he attacked you, and I thought you might be hurt—” My voice cracked on the words. “Why would he do that?”

Leander cupped the back of my neck, drawing me closer. “I’m not sure. Captain Maris had him off me after the first punch,” he said softly. “I can try to ask him, if you’d like.”

“No,” I snapped, the tremors in my arms intensifying.Dammit—I needed to get ahold of myself, but being near Papa had a way of robbing me of all my strength, reducing me to a helpless merfry, no matter how hard I fought to escape the memories of my past.

“Barren, can you take her outside?” With the way Leander was holding me up, he must have thought I was about to pass out in his arms. “I’ll be quick.”

“No, don’t talk to Papa,” I cut in, then immediately bit into my tongue because I’d actually referred to him asPapaout loud. “He’s crazy. So crazy that a mermaid is in there. She had to glamour him and?—”

“Shhh, you don’t need to worry. I’m not going in there.” Leander pressed a gentle finger to my lips as he passed me into Barren’s powerful arm. “I have one more captain to speak to, then I’ll be done and we can leave here for good.”

For good?

What did he mean by that?

“Leander, wait?—”

But Barren was ushering me back out of the warehouse, his arm steadying my shoulders. The merfolk standing near the entrance scattered when they saw him. And the next thing I knew, we were back at Barren’s car, his body leaning into mine, supporting me up.

“You don’t look well.” Barren’s deep voice vibrated in my ear as my vision tunneled, my head going light. Then his face was in front of me, pulling me close. “What can I do? What do you need?”

This wasn’t fair—none of it. Being born a burden, the strength of these mermen who passed me around like I couldn’t walk on my own, and especially the way Barren’s words swelled around me, those deep syllables turning into a ballad that soaked into my skin, filling me completely withhim.

While I focused solely on that thought, there Barren was, distressed and staring back at me. His mouth wasn’t moving, but I could still hear his words ringing. Feel them against me like an intimate caress. Drawing me closer…

Oh no.I knew this feeling.

Yet again,thethrallwas messing with my head. Would I ever escape this madness?

“I—I’m going to be sick,” I choked out, all my emotions converging and moving straight up my throat. Barren didn’t seem ready to let me go, but I pried out of his arm, my hip bumping into the car as I scrambled to run around to the other side of it. “Don’t follow me!”

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