Shit. He noticed.
Pulling myself together, I flashed him a charming smile. “After you, Your Highness.”
I was glad Edward and Skye were with me—if they hadn’t been, Finn might have pulled me close and started spouting the sentiments he’d shared the last time I saw him. And then what? I wasn’t sure. Maybe I’d kiss him and mean it... or maybe I’d kill him and mean that too. I needed to get a grip, or I would ruin all my plans.
Finn withdrew his hand from my back, still watching me with a strange look.
I straightened, willing the ruddiness from my cheeks. “Let’s stop wasting time. Which way?”
“Before we go, we need to settle something.” His thin mouth morphed into a devious grin as he looked between us. “Which one of us is going to carry the Drowned boy?” He jerked his head at Edward.
“There will be no carrying me.” Edward rattled his bag of rum at Finn.
“Suit yourself. We can carry you and get to Thálassa in a day, or walk and arrive in three months.”
“He has a point.” I rubbed my chin.
“Great,” said Finn, clapping his hands together before surging forward and throwing Edward under one arm, his tail beating against the water.
“Unhand me at once,” Edward yelled, his cheeks stained crimson.
I rasped out a chuckle as Finn brushed his dark hair back from his forehead and winked at me.
“This is disgraceful, do you hear me?” Edward wriggled against Finn’smuscular embrace, his maroon uniform billowing in the swell as the merman began to swim.
We kicked off into the ocean, Pháos slipping through the blue like liquid silver, Finn at his side, his tail slicing through the water ahead of me.
As I watched his sculpted back muscles ripple, the sting of his betrayal burned bright. The Neptunus family had killed my grandmother, and I suspected Finn was the one who’d done the deed. This man was now my sworn enemy. I hovered there momentarily, letting that reminder envelop all other memories, allowing my heart to barricade itself in an icy fortress of cold hatred that smothered all other emotions.
An eerie calm swept over me. I would use that anger—the hate and mistrust—to get through this. Then, after it was all said and done, when we’d found the prophecy and I had kept my vow to the Captain and my grandmother, I would confront him, but until then... until then, I needed to be an impregnable fortress.
The rest of the prophecy must be found. Find it, and end this.
20
Morgana
The sea grew darker as we descended into the deep along the coast of Ireland. We would travel this way for hours before curving into the Strait of Gibraltar, which separates Spain from Morocco, and then into the Mediterranean Sea.
Sometimes we swam through warmer, shallower waters, giving me a chance to surface and replenish my oxygen. But soon, we’d return to the depths, where we were less likely to encounter humans. Finn and Edward were invisible to them, but I wasn’t, and we still weren’t sure about Skye. She was half-human, too.
Silence settled over us as we swam. Each of us was weighed down by our own shadows and fears. Thankfully, Finn carrying Edward meant he was keeping his sweet sonnets and wandering hands to himself.
Finn set a fast pace—faster than I’d ever swum—our powerful bodies cutting through the water in a blur, propelled by our inhuman speed.
Skye glided gracefully behind him, the aqua-tinged scales on her legsshimmering as she kicked. Her face was calm, often smiling, but I could feel the ache of her sadness as I drifted beside her.
Finn kept one arm wrapped around Edward, who didn’t look like he minded being pressed against the merman’s muscular torso as much as he claimed. Sometimes, Pháos would swim with us. Other times, he would disappear for hours. I remembered Finn’s words.He’s a wild animal of the sea. He chose me.
We’d been traveling for hours, and a dull ache had formed in every one of my muscles, when Finn finally held his palm up, signaling us to slow.
“How much longer?” Edward’s groan broke the silence. With dramatic exaggeration, he raised a hand to his forehead, still caught in Finn’s muscular embrace.
“We are almost at the Pillars of Hercules, marking the Strait.” Finn nodded. “Once we get to them, it will only be a few hours to Thálassa.”
Skye careened backward, turquoise scales glittering as her arm shot up. “Stop!”
Drowned.
