Morgana
Istumbled toward my chambers. The world passed in a warped haze of colors, shapes, and sounds obscured by the pain and confusion clouding my being. I collided with people and objects, but I didn’t care.
Tears blurred my vision as I grabbed my dagger from the stone table in the center of my chambers, where it had sat beside the box.
The box.Finn—or one of the Neptunus Mer—must have slipped back to retrieve it. The thought ignited a ribbon of rage that curled through me, kindling the power slumbering at my core. I clenched my fists, trying to contain it.
Then the door to my room swung open, and there was Finn. His ebony hair was disheveled, his chest rising and falling with quick, ragged breaths. His emerald tail flicked behind him, and his expression was twisted by fear.
My power stirred, purring in response to the rage that burned through me as I met his dark gaze. “You... ” My heart was pounding as I glared at him. “You dragged me across the ocean chasing this box when I could’vebeen searching for the prophecy? We made a promise to Peisinoe and Proteus.”
“Having a third of the Mer’s power will help Proteus and my people. It won’t stop the Shadow, but its effect will lessen,” Finn said quickly.
“So this was for your own selfish gain? You used me. You slept with me in front of the box just to cure yourself. If you’d been honest, I—I would’ve helped you willingly.”
“No, that’s not it at all. You don’t... You can’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand? You distracted me just now in the hall so Mr. Inegar could slink into my chambers and retrieve the box!” My power raced through my veins, pulsing with my elated heartbeat, begging to be unleashed, to annihilate the merman who had hurt me this deeply.
Finn’s black eyes shone with agony. “I stopped you to tell you everything, but my father...”
“The Captain died hoping I would find the prophecy!” I ground out. “It was his final wish.”
Finn moved toward me with a flick of his tail, reaching for my face, but I reared backward. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “This was only to protect you.”
“Youliedto me, and I don’t understand why, because the prophecy could save you, too.”
He drifted back and forth in silence for a moment, a muscle ticking in his jaw. At last, he turned to me, his expression unreadable, his voice cold as ice. “I will never help you find the prophecy. In fact, I will do everything I can to ensure you never find it. If that means lying to you, I’ll do it again. If it means letting this insidious disease claim me, I’ll do that, too.”
Silver power crackled through my clenched, trembling fists. “I’m going to ask you again...Did you kill my grandmother?”
Pain flickered across Finn’s face, his anger giving way to something desperate. “Morgana,” he said softly, almost a plea.
I stifled a sob. “Did you?”
“No, I didn’t kill her.” He sighed.
A sliver of something quivered inside of me: relief.
“But I may as well have . . . ”
The relief vanished, swallowed by a silver fireball of angry power burning in my chest. “What do you mean?” I could barely eject the words, my body taut and trembling, staring straight into the jet-black eyes of the man I’d thought I loved.
Finn sighed, brows furrowed, eyes pinched. “I was the one who tracked her down for my father.”
The world flashed silver as my power consumed me. I barreled into Finn, smashing him against the wall, my forearm pinned to his throat. He caught my wrist as I reached for my dagger, but my free hand struck his face with full force.
I didn’t know what I was doing—I didn’t know anything anymore, not even my own name or why I was here. Only rage. Blinding rage. The love and hate for this man that once battled within me had burned away, replaced by a searing silver-coated fury.
I clawed at him, teeth bared like the beast King Neptunus had dubbed me. Finn grunted as I slammed him further into the stone wall. Ripping my dagger hand free, I drove it to his throat, surrendering to the dark side of my smoldering power, letting it consume me the way it craved.
Finn’s eyes widened, fear and disbelief shining in them, reflecting the creature I had become. “No, stop,” he choked as I pushed the blade closer, allowing it to nick skin.
But I couldn’t stop. Wouldn’t stop. I would turn him into dust like theothers. The dark depths of my power purred with anticipation, feeding off my rage, eager to be unleashed.
He locked eyes with me, refusing to look away. “I-I didn’t know what my father would do to Iona, I swear.”
“But if you had known, you would have done it anyway. What Daddy Neptunus says goes, right?”
