Page 63 of Cruel Tides

Barren’s hum was so deep that it reverberated in my bones. “And now you don’t know if you can trust me.”

Leander made a noise, a mix between a whine and a growl, then lunged forward, going for Barren’s neck.

“That’s it,” I said firmly, caught between the two of them. “Fish time out!” I jerked to the side with enough force to send me falling off him and onto Kai, useless tail and all.

Pop.

Two bettas, red and gold, were next to us. Their colors intensified as they carried on with their childishness, flaring and stretching their gills out on the sand.

I lifted my torso from Kai, awestruck at the colorful display. “They really are like bettas,” I mumbled, remembering what I’d heard about betta fish—how you couldn’t keep two males together without them fighting for dominance.

“Claira…”Barren’s deep voice penetrated my head in a plea, but I tried to shake his voice right back out.

“No, Barren. This fighting thing? Yeah, it’s not going to work. Not if you expect us to make it to your kingdom. At this rate, we aren’t going anywhere together.” Their little bodies stilled, and I took it to mean they were finally listening. “You’re friends, remember? Leander—you told me I could trust Barren, and I do. And Barren, well, I know Leander can be a pain, but he cares a lot, and you can trust him when he says he has your back. So, let’s take a breather and calm down, okay?”

Both of them were on their sides, their gills gaping, when I realized their lethargy might have been more because they were struggling to breathe in the open air than because they were taking my advice. “Shoot, okay—my bad. Not what I meant by a breather.” But before I reached out to touch them again, I kept my voice calm and asked, “I have to leave you guys here while I go get clothes, and I don’t want to come back to a bloodbath, okay?”

I was about to touch them when—pop—my legs split.

Pop. Pop, pop.

The magic hit us one by one, crashing over me in a wave that almost sent me tumbling back down the shore.

When I looked back up, my eyes couldn’t possibly settle on who or where to look at, so I averted my gaze to the docks further down the shore. Then the icy chill in the air hit, and I scrambled to my feet. Now that the cold was affecting me, it became more apparent than ever that it was still freaking wintertime. I pulled my wrap to the front, cursing every glob of sand stuck to the fabric that was making it difficult to smooth down.

When my wrap was as presentable as it was ever was going to get, I said, “You guys stay here.”

Venturing out with wet hair, a bikini top, and a swim wrap in the winter was absolutely ludicrous—not to mention mortifying—but at least the town already thought I was odd.

Leander got to his feet, his jaw working like he was barely holding back his rage. “I’m not letting you go alone,” he declared like he thought he had absolute authority over our group.

“Notlettingme?” I let out a harsh laugh as I pushed past the three of them to head up the shore. “Fine. If you don’t want me going alone, then Laverne can come if she wants,” I said with a dismissive shrug.

I turned back in time to see her giving Kai the stink-eye.“Yes, let’s.”Well, that was a surprise. I hadn’t expected her to ever agree to go anywhere with me. She must have still been irritated with Kai for making such a show of his arms being sore after carrying her.

Together, we broke off from the group, heading toward the hill. “If you guys want to compare dick sizes, wait until after we leave,” I threw back over my shoulder and nearly lost my footing when all three of them froze to stare at me in disbelief.

“What the hell, Claira?” Leander said with a look of absolute revulsion.

Yikes. Okay, maybe they’d taken that literally. “Err—human phrase, sorry.” I felt my face heat as I continued up the shore.

I could barely hear Kai’s hushed mumble. “Compare our dicks? … Should we?”

Barren and Leander growled the word out together. “No!”

That they could agree on.

Gosh, I never expected they’d take that phrase literally. I certainly wouldn’t mind judging that competition, though I didn’t need to look to know Barren would be the winner.

I glanced at Laverne as she shuffled up the sand alongside me, remembering how fish-Barren had read my thoughts back when he’d tried to teach me how to swim, and gave her a sidelong whisper. “You, uh, can’t hear my thoughts. Can you?”

Laverne huffed.“It’s so obvious what you’re thinking. Only an idiot would need to read your mind.”Then she added,“Harlot,”and I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Yeah. Like you really weren’t thinking it, too.” I snorted, remembering her shocked face when Leander had first stripped down in front of her on the boat. “I see the way you look at those three.”

Laverne stopped dead in her tracks.“THREE? Kai-Kai’s my brother,”she snapped, her tongue arching out of her mouth like she’d tasted something terrible.“I’d sooner let the barracuda pick out my eyes than look at him like that!”

“Right, my bad. I keep forgetting.” I was still laughing when we came to the top of the hill. A thicket of pale green beachgrass separated the sand from the pavement, and I parted the tall grass, letting Laverne go through first. The blades of beachgrass tickled my arms as we emerged. I took a deep breath as I scanned the rows of shopfronts lining the end of the strip.

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