The merman lunged at me, the muscles of his chest and arms straining as his wrists were ripped backward, restrained by the shackles binding them. I glanced over his body, taking in the other golden bonds at his waist and tail.
A memory of Wrell’s image of the young merboy being pulled onto the boat, his emerald tail gleaming through the nets that bound him, superimposed itself over the reality of the male in front of me.
Despite his imprisonment, my heart swelled at the sight of him, both that he was here and that he seemed more alive than the rest. The golden chains confused me. I’d not seen any others so confined. Maybe the fact that he was so alive had forced the vampires to bind him. Either way, he’d been set apart from the others. It didn’t matter. Not right now. He was alive. He was the crown jewel of all I’d discovered. At least for my tribe. I’d found the one they’d all been devastated over. I’d found the one Lelas longed to see. The one who might bring some joy back to her life.
I’d paused at his distress but couldn’t stop myself from lifting a hand toward him.“Ventait.”
This time, he stilled at his name. His blue eyes darting back and forth as he searched my form, trying to make sense of what he saw.
“The Chromis have been searching for you.”I felt the smile break over my face. Somehow it felt wrong to smile in his presence, with all he must have gone through. With the room of bones not far away. I couldn’t help it.
He narrowed his gaze, stretching his head out as far as his confined body would allow as he inspected me.
I paused, simply letting him look at me.
Finally, a low, slow voice filled my head. It was hard and cold.“What are you?”
“I am family. I am a Chromis.”
He searched my form again, his gaze pausing in their inspection to stare at my penis, then traveled down my legs to glare at my feet.
I swam forward in the small space and stopped in the light of the enclosed fire. Once there, I twisted my body slightly.
It had the desired effect, as I’d hoped it would. His eyes widened at the familiar opalescent sheen over my skin. Though not as strong as his own, it was there. Enough to convince him.
“How?”
I grinned at him again.“My father is Therin, your dad’s friend. My mother was… a different species.”No need to bring up the demon thing. There was enough to deal with.
At the mention of his father, his demeanor changed. For the first time, something besides anger and suspicion flitted behind his eyes. I prayed he wouldn’t ask about his parents. I’d lie to him. I couldn’t tell him of his mother’s suicide and his father’s disappearance. I wouldn’t.
Abruptly, his expression hardened.“Why are you here?”
I shrugged, suddenly overwhelmed with the task at hand.“We’ve been searching for you. It’s time to go home. For all of you.”
He didn’t respond, and I couldn’t read anything from his appearance. His mask was stoic.
“I’m not sure when. It may be today or tomorrow. I can’t imagine we will have more time than that.”
I paused, waiting for a response. None came.
“Either way, it will be soon.”
Still, no reaction.
I almost asked his permission before I approached him, but didn’t. For some reason, the silence that fell between us seemed right.
Careful not to touch him, I reached out and grasped the base of one of the gold chains that secured him to the wall. I kept my eyes opened and focused. If there was ever a time I had to control my fire, it was now.
The water bubbled ferociously around my fist, blurring the scene beneath. Ventait didn’t flinch away or react, though I could feel his gaze on me. Within seconds, the gold melted and was consumed by my fire, and I pulled away. The golden chain fell to the merman’s side, coming to rest against his emerald tail. As it did, I noticed the blue that shone from the center of each crescent scale. My eyes flashed up and met his.
My cheeks burning, I turned back toward the marble wall and repeated the process on the chains that held his other hand, his waist, and then his tail.
When the last chain fell, I looked at him again.“I’ll try to get the shackles off, if I can. I shouldn’t use fire so close to your skin. I’d burn you.”
“How do you do that? I did not know of mers having such power.”
“They don’t.”I forced a grin.“It’s a gift from my mother.”
