Page 17 of Cruel Tides

Kai sat up straighter as he untwisted the bottle cap. “Interesting. Laverne sounded so sure when she told me humans put them under their feet.” After he took a deep gulp of water, he folded his hands over the bulge on his lap. The blush on his face fired again. “Life on land is full of constant surprises, isn’t it? Humans are fascinating.”

I snorted. “Yeah, I guess. Although I think most humans would find having a shark tail and breathing underwater much more fascinating.”

Kai took another sip before sputtering out a wet, rumbling cough.

Feeling helpless, I leaned in, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Do you need anything? I can get you some more pillows, or help you get to the bathroom if you need to go. Should I go get Barren or Laverne?”

I stood halfway up to do just that when a hand on my arm stopped me.

“No, wait,” Kai said between coughs. Pausing, I sank back onto the bed. He carefully took another sip of water, then cleared his throat until he had composed himself. “Can we rest here for a bit?” Shifting uncomfortably over the pillows, he scratched at the back of his neck. “I mean—if that’s okay?”

There was a tentative hopefulness in his voice that pulled at my heartstrings. What an unexpected request. I’d assumed he would want to see Laverne as soon as he’d woken up. “Of course,” I said, swinging my legs back up on the bed. Our shoulders brushed as I snuggled into the side of the mound of pillows supporting his back.

Our pinkies sat over the covers, barely an inch apart—the same hand I’d desperately clung to as I drifted to sleep. How many hours had I held on to him? Even a full night of sleep couldn’t justify the urge I had to slip my hand back into his, counting the rough calluses covering his palm until my fingers had every one of them memorized.

“Laverne is okay, though, right?” Kai asked, beaming a contented smile.

“Oh yeah, don’t worry. She’s safe. She’d be here right now if Barren hadn’t taken her back to his room so you could get some rest.” Though I had a feeling Barren had been more worried about me getting rest than he was about Kai.

I took a sip of my water as Kai shook his head, looking amused. “Barren’s room?Gosh, I bet she’s thrilled. Laverne’s been trying to get all three of us to have a sleepover since the very first night we stayed here.” He chuckled. “It was the snoring, right? I swear she grunts louder than an entire pod of blue whales.”

Although I’d never heard a blue whale grunt, I joined in his laughter. “For real. It’s a wonder you slept through it.” My mouth eased shut, and my fist clenched around a handful of the thin, off-white covers as all the humor in me drained away.

He wasn’t really sleeping, was he?

I squeezed until I could feel my fingernails press into my palms through the fabric, just to keep myself from shaking. “Kai, I… I was afraid you weren’t going to wake up.”

The pillows shifted behind us as Kai turned. “I’m okay now, Claira. I don’t really know how, but I’m fine now, see?”

But he didn’t understand. Sure, I was upset, but it was more than just him. It was everything. The trident, the cecaelia, the bloodshed. I’d thought that once Leander got the trident, it would be the last thing I’d need to do as a mermaid. Now I had this dreadful, gut-churning feeling that the ocean wasn’t done with me. That it mightneverbe done with me. That maybe retrieving the Atlantic’s trident wasn’t enough to break the curse, and now that it was absorbed, Leander might be more cursed than ever.

If he couldn’t figure out a safe way to use its magic, there would be more danger, more trials, more bloodshed.

Just as I slumped forward, warmth wrapped around me as Kai’s arm drew over my shoulder. It was an odd embrace, with his elbow cocked at an angle that kept it well away from my chest and his hand resting conservatively on my shoulder. As awkward as it was, I still appreciated the sentiment.

“A lot happened after you got hurt,” I confessed.

A soft puff of breath tickled my ear. “Don’t tell me you had fun without me,” he said in a gentle, teasing voice.

Fun?I barked out a laugh. “I promise you, nothing that happened down there was fun. Not at all. Just disaster after disaster after disaster. After you got hurt, Lee told me I had to let you go. So I did, andpop.” I demonstrated the abrupt magical transformation with a flourish of my fingers. “You turned into a betta fish.”

The lean muscles of the arm around me tensed. My spine stiffened as his hand lowered, closing over mine. “I think I remember that part,” he said on a hum. His usually hyper voice was so subdued, low and relaxed, a soothing caress to my ears. My heart thumped against my rib cage as his fingers coaxed mine to open so they could work in between them. “I guess I’m not surprised Leander wanted you to let me go.” There was a tinge of self-deprecation in his voice that I wished wasn’t there.

“No, no, it wasn’t like that. Lee was trying to save you. You were losing so much blood, and I wasn’t thinking clearly. I kept clinging to you, even though it was only hurting you more.” My head shook, my throat growing thickening at the memory. “I didn’t want to let go, but he knew your wounds would close if you turned into a fish.”

“Whoa,” he blew out. “I would have never thought of that. Sounds like I owe him a life debt.”

Kai was clearly relieved, but if anyone owed a life debt, it was me.

“Barren helped, too. He stayed behind to take you back,” I added. “Which was actually really brave of him, because as soon as he let go of me, he turned into a fish, too.”

I wanted to demonstrate thepopagain, but Kai’s hand held strong around mine. He gave my fingers a squeeze while he chuckled. “So Barren dragged me back to shore even though he was a fish?Wow. That dude really is amazing.”

“Well, he triedto bring you back,” I said, returning the squeeze. Holding hands with Kai felt nice. Strangelyright.Like our hands had sought comfort in one another countless times before. Which… didn’t make any sense, did it? “But then he said Laverne showed up, and she carried you back to shore. Apparently, she was upset we left without her.”

“Sounds like Laverne.” Kai’s thumb brushed absently over the inside of my palm as he chuckled. The light caress sent tingles shooting through my arm that settled deep in my belly. “But how did she find us?”

I squirmed on the bed, shifting and pressing my bare knees together to stifle the arousal building between my legs.

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