“Well, I will take your heart and soul. A bargain is a bargain, after all.” The wicked laughter sounded again, and the newly cut tattoo on Finn’s chest seared. Then the shadows and the voice disappeared.
Finn hung there, limp and breathing heavily, until Mr. Inegar reappeared. He raised his chin to meet Inegar’s eyes. “Are you and my father looking for the Trinity?”
“We might be.” Inegar clucked as he dabbed a fresh seaweed coil against Finn’s welts.
“That’s why you’ve kept the pawn store all these years? In the hope the Trinity will pass through its doors?”
“Yes.” Inegar blew out a weary breath. “But we haven’t had such luck...”
“Tell my father I will help him find the Trinity if he promises to forget about the prophecy and the girl.”
Inegar chuckled. “I highly doubt he will do that.”
“The prophecy is said to benefit all, and no one knows exactly what will happen if it is fulfilled, but the Trinity only benefits the Mer.”
Mr. Inegar was silent as he continued to tend to the prince’s welts.
“Tell him I made a blood bargain with the spirit of Kyano,” Finn pressed.
Inegar pulled back from Finn and raised both bushy white brows. “Kyano?”
“Yes,” Finn ground out. “He has told me how to find the first item.”
Inegar’s expression filled with excitement, and with a flick of his lilac tail, he disappeared up the stairs, then reemerged moments later. “The king is willing to make a deal. You find the Trinity, and he will forget about the prophecy and the girl.”
Finn’s eyes flashed. “Will he make a blood bargain?”
“Yes, he said that he will.” Inegar unhooked the shackles holding Finn and helped the merman up the dark passage.
The dream faded into a thick black fog. A light appeared, and I blinked through my contracting vision as the beautiful marble chambers of Okeanós swam back into view. Finn was hovering before me, his jaw tight, dark eyes searching mine, and his hands still pressed to each of my temples.
I raised the hand I had cut to eye level, inspecting the skin. The heart tattoo had vanished. Grabbing Finn’s hands from my temples, I saw his mark had faded too.
Peisinoe’s words swam into my mind:The tattoos fade if the dream is true.Finn had given me an actual memory, but my stomach hollowed out as everything I had seen flooded my being.
“This,” Finn said, gesturing to the heart tattoo on his chest, “is the bargain I made with Kyano. The small second line, inside the heart, is the one I made with my father. As long as I help him find the Trinity, Morgana will be safe, and he will not try to use her to fulfill the prophecy.”
I exhaled, “And if you don’t find this Trinity, you must give up your heart and soul to Kyano?”
“Yes,” Finn whispered. “But I would willingly give up my heart and soul a thousand times over if it meant keeping her safe.”
I ran a hand through my hair, scrunching my nose in thought. Morgana had described the welt-like burns she’d seen on Finn’s body when she met him in Therme Skótos, and the new tattoo on his chest. It was there that he’d asked her to come to Thálassa. All of it led back to this. My mind spun beneath the weight of it all.
“Do you understand why I can’t help her find it?” Finn’s lips pursed, his features strung taut. “Why I had to lie to her and get her to help me find the box?”
“‘Blood taken when it need not be taken’ means she needs to die willingly,” I whispered, inhaling sharply as I continued to process everything I had seen. “So at the Thálassian dream ceremony, you dreamed of what you desired most, and that was to protect Morgana from the prophecy?” I chewed on the words carefully as I processed everything.
Finn nodded, but then his eyes pinched together with fear. “You can’t tell her. You can’tevertell her.”
“I understand why you did it,” I said slowly, though my mind was racing. “But this isn’t our choice to make for her.”
“No,” Finn shouted, slamming his webbed fist into the table as his claws protracted. The marble cracked beneath the force. “I did all this because I love her... and I don’t want to lose her, even if it means I don’t get to have her.”
“Oh, honey.” My eyes softened as I observed his pained expression. “I don’t doubt that you love her, but I fear that after everything you’ve endured with your father, you don’t know how.”
“Guys,” Edward’s voice called from the doorway, pulling my attention from Finn. “Morgana’s gone.”
I rushed toward the door, but a wave of exhaustion crashed over me, and my body buckled. The dream magic was taking its toll.
