Alexandros lounged on Skye’s other side, while Damon claimed the stone throne at the head of the table, beside me. At the opposite end sat King Proteus and Queen Peisinoe, with Finn beside them, Porphura and Layla flanking him. Edward had taken the seat next to Alexandros.
Damon reached across the lavish spread, plucking up a plate of prawns and offering them to me, his indigo-flecked eyes lingering on mine as I accepted one. I glanced across the table at Finn. His expression was dark, eyes fixed on me, clearly noticing his cousin’s attentions. I quickly turned away, offering Damon my most charming smile.
I could still feel Finn assessing us, and the realization tightened something in me. I leaned into the attractive Siren man beside me and laughed as if he’d just said something amusing. Damon’s gaze flicked to Finn, then back to me, a knowing smirk playing at the edges of his mouth.Shit.
He reached for a strand of my hair and toyed with it. “You look beautiful.”
I exhaled in relief. He was willing to play along. I offered him a smile from beneath lowered lashes.
Double shit.What was I doing? Was I really about to play the jealousy game? Some dark part of me purred at making Finn hurt. The Neptunus family had killed my grandmother—if I had to spend the next few days pretending to love the man who’d torn out my heart, the least I could do was this.
Heat crept up my neck as I turned from Damon only to meet Finn’s gaze. His jaw was rigid, his eyes dark as onyx. I needed some wine.
“May I?” Damon asked, as if he’d read my mind.
I glanced again at Finn, whose knuckles were white around the fork he was shoving into glistening caviar.
“Is it Moon Wine?” I didn’t particularly want to find myself comatose at this pleasure party.
Damon chuckled. “Moon Wine is for ceremonial celebrations only. This is regular wine.”
I held out my conch shell. The muscles in the Siren’s bronzed torso—half-adorned in gleaming obsidian scales—tensed as he poured the enchanted wine and passed it to me.
“Salute.” He kept his dark eyes on my face as he raised his drink.
“Is it weird for you to eat fish when many of youarefish?” I blurted out as I helped myself to some kelp sushi rolls.
“In the world of the deep, it is common for bigger fish to prey on smaller ones, and we are the biggest fish of them all.” A faint gleam lit Damon’s eyes at that, his tail fin fanning where it curled behind his chair. “But we only take what we need, never more.”
I nodded, gulping back more wine.
“So, cousin,” Alexandros, the lavender-haired twin, addressed Finn. “Tell us more about this impending threat.”
Finn sat up straighter, adopting his princely tone. “We believe that Manannán has returned and is using Taranis’s body as a... vessel.”
King Proteus looked between them. “Would you save talk of such dark things for another time? This is a party.”
I noticed Princess Porphura observing me as I helped myself to some seaweed salad. “And you’re related to the lost Selkies... to Iona?” she asked softly.
“Yes,” I managed through a mouthful of kelp.
“It must have been hard...” She eyed me thoughtfully. “To have been thrust into this new world with our ancient feud hanging over your head.”
I let the wine settle on my tongue before swallowing and meeting her gaze. The purple-haired princess’s eyes showed no malice, so I offered her a smile.
“My sister did enjoy Iona’s company. They were thick as thieves.” King Proteus grinned at me as he reached for a vat of wine, and a pang shot through my chest as I recalled the stories my grandmother had penned in her diary about her and Abalone’s adventures.
My eyes drifted to Skye and Edward as I chased the silence with a mouthful of red. Skye was now giggling with Alexandros, and Edward was leaning in to talk with the king and queen. They were my friends, just like Abalone had been my grandmother’s. Perhaps after we found the prophecy, there was a future where we could all be happy in this new world.
Finn’s mood darkened as the night wore on. When I’d glanced his way earlier in the evening, he’d been speaking with the princesses, but now his brows were drawn, his mouth set grimly, and he was twirling a knife across the table. Unlike the rest of us, he hadn’t touched his wine.
Skye was deep in conversation with Alexandros, and Edward, cheeks flushed, was still happily chatting with the king and queen. The Thálassian Mer seemed far more tolerant than the Neptunus court, and to Edward,sitting in the restored heart of history as an honored guest of the Mer, it must have felt like a dream come true.
Damon’s thumb brushed over mine on the table. “Would you like to dance?”
My gaze moved to Finn, still twirling his knife, then I let Damon take my hand and guide me from my seat. His inky tail swished, glistening with hints of plum, as he led me onto the dance floor.
He held me close, his body flush against mine, glittering scales grazing my fur, the taut pull of his abs shifting with every movement. When our eyes met, I saw his were a rich brown. His shoulder-length ebony curls drifted in the current. He spun me away, and when I turned back, his gaze stripped me bare.
