“I-I don’t know.” Finn shook his head.
“Liar!” I held his gaze, breath quickening as my power coiled inside me like a serpent of silver shadows, poised to strike the moment I gave it leave.
“Morgana, no.” Skye’s voice sliced through the darkness roiling inside me.
I didn’t release Finn, but gentle hands—hers and Edward’s—pulled me back. I fought against them, eyes locked on the dark-eyed merman I’d once loved.
I shook my friends away, chest rising and falling as I stared Finn down. My knuckles were white from the force I was gripping my dagger. The metal pulsed beneath my skin, encouraging me, and I lunged.
“No!” Skye screamed.
Finn grunted as my blade pierced his abdomen, and silver-streaked blood dripped around the hilt as I dragged the knife down. His eyes pulled wide as they locked with mine. I retrieved the blade, and he inhaled sharply, blood spraying into the water and twisting around us. My features remained composed as I met his stare, refusing to shrink from the devastation on his face. Crimson globules belched down Finn’s stomach and trickled over his emerald tail, flowing between his fingers as he brought them to the wound.
“If I ever see you again, I will kill you.” I spat the words like venom before racing from the room.
“Morgana, wait,” Skye called. I could hear footsteps slapping on themarble floor behind me, but I was already swimming, stowing my dagger in the scabbard at my waist as I wiped angry tears from my eyes.
I burst through the arched palace entrance, slicing through the water faster than I’d ever swum. There were two saffron-tailed guards at the gate.
They crossed their spears over the entrance. “We can’t let you leave until a decision has been reached from the summit.” My eyes flicked between them, then up to the minarets where two more guards stood sentinel.
I ignored their command, surging forward. Spears shifted in my direction, teeth bared as their faces dissolved into beastly forms.
“P-please, I can’t stay here.”
They answered me with a thrust of their weapons.
My fingers twitched over the hilt of my blade, and the Mer guards clacked their teeth, advancing.
No, I couldn’t, I wouldn’t remain trapped in another palace on the orders of Mer.
My blood screamed in my ears, and my power, which remained slithering at the surface of my being like quicksilver, answered. With a cold flick of my wrist, the guards’ bodies went slack, spears falling to the seabed as they disintegrated into dust.
Shouts from above alerted me that the sentinels on the tower had seen, but I was already shooting through the gates.
I didn’t slow until the Okeanós Kingdom had disappeared; only then did I spiral upwards. Up and up I went until I broke the surface, gasping for air as my lungs sucked hungrily at the oxygen.
It was daytime, and the sun was high in the sky. The waves glittered under its caress. Each sparkle was a fresh jab to my chest, a cruel reminder not to trust beautiful things or the heart.
I filled my lungs with air and dove back down to the seafloor, gliding over the desert of dunes with steady strokes, my hair streaming in theswell. I didn’t know where to go, but I couldn’t stop. Maybe if I just kept swimming, I could outrun the ache in my heart.
On and on I swam, until my bones ached and the tightness in my chest threatened to shut off my airways. When I couldn’t swim anymore, I crumpled into a sobbing heap on the sand.
It was all too much.
Finn had tracked my grandmother down—and that made him responsible, even if the final blow wasn’t his. He had lied to me. Lied, and still slept with me... All to open the box, following his father’s command.
And his father—his father was the one who had taken my grandmother’s life.
Now that the Mer had a third of their power back, and the Drowned had reclaimed Mortimer, we were closer to war, and I had failed. I’d failed the Captain and my grandmother, all because I’d given my heart to a man I shouldn’t have. I was a damned fool, but I wouldn’t be a fool anymore.
More tears spilled from my eyes as I doubled over, sobbing and gasping. I wept until the cries gave way to silence.
When the shuddering ceased, something inside me shifted—hardened. And I welcomed it. I settled into that darkness, letting it seal away the innocent, naive part of me that had repeatedly given my heart, only to have it torn apart.
I’d killed two Mer guards in my anger and stabbed Finn. Nausea swirled in my gut, clawing up my throat as Louisa’s words swam into my mind.You need to stay in the realm of peace and light. Don’t let the darker side of your power take hold.I pushed them away, shoving them down until they were buried deep, and then I let my inner light go out.
“Well, well, well.” A raspy voice ghosted my neck as silver-stained fingers clamped around my arms, pulling me against a broad chest.
