I’d even grown to like Nalu. He was quiet, never complained, and was entirely focused on making Lelas happy. I had to fall in love with the guy for caring for my best friend so well.
I peered over at Wrell, who was gazing up at the light pouring through the kelp forest, silhouetted fish darting between the towering stalks. I couldn’t blame him. I never got tired of its soft, diffused glow. Hawaii was exotic and gorgeous, but I’d begun to count the kelp forests as a new sort of home. It was nice to be back to someplace more familiar.“Should we wake them?”
Without looking over at me, he shook his head.
Since Wrell wasn’t paying direct attention to me anyway, I didn’t see the harm in choosing to look at him instead of my sleeping best friend and her mate. I chose not to ponder which act was creepier. Not that Wrell seemed to mind. He’d caught me captivated by him countless times by this point. I was certain he was aware of my attraction to him, maybe even that I was starting to have genuine feelings for him. He neither reveled nor preened in the attention, like I’d seen some human straight men do, nor did he seem offended. Like most things, my desire for him seemed to fall in his live-and-let-live category.
As much as I knew I’d never act on it, or even could, I hated that my feelings for him were deepening. He’d become a good friend through this experience, and I didn’t want to mess that up. Try as I might, I couldn’t suffocate what continued to build inside me. Whatever I was feeling, it couldn’t be qualified as love. Not yet. And that was the problem. The only reason it wasn’t full-blown love and infatuation was my determination to build a wall around my heart as far as he was concerned. However, it was just a matter of time. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do then. Especially if the five of us were still traveling around in search of the missing mers.
“The two of you had a good catch this morning.”
Quickly, I looked away, hoping Therin hadn’t noticed me staring. He had, of course. They were all aware of how I felt about Wrell. Even Nalu. Only Lelas spoke of it with me. Thankfully.
I’d expected Therin to give me a lecture about my inappropriate feelings weeks ago. Remind me of my promise to Syleen. So far, he hadn’t. It seemed we really had turned a corner in our relationship.
My gaze traveled to the thirty or so herring Wrell and I had caught this morning. They were skewered on four spears embedded in the ground near where I sat.“Yeah, we got lucky. A whole school of them was passing through on the far side of the forest. We didn’t even have to go very far.”
Therin closed the distance between and curled up by the morning’s catch. His brilliant golden tail made the herring look even more depressing by comparison.“You should have woken me.”
“We decided to let you all sleep. Both of us were up anyway.”It was a true enough statement, even if I’d been the one to suggest it. I didn’t feel the need to confess time alone with Wrell was more my motivation than Therin’s sleep deprivation.
Dad was gracious enough not to point out that our pace had slowed the past two or three days, or that I’d been scheduled to be the one sleeping in.
“It’s good to see her so happy.”
I followed his gaze to look at Lelas and Nalu again.“Yeah, but she’s always been happy.”
Therin smiled, his expression fatherly.“That is true. There is deeper contentment than I have seen before. She glows brighter than she did previously.”
It was a good way to put it.
A vision of the Chromis tribe entered my mind—Syleen, Zef, and Greylin front and center, the rest of the family muted in the background.
Therin and I both turned to look at Wrell, who had exited from his trance and was swimming toward us. His feathery quills shifted the kelp away as they beat the water slowly.
“Less than two days journey, I would imagine. If they are close to where we left them.”
Wrell nodded in agreement.
I rarely misunderstood Wrell’s intentions anymore, at times even able to predict his thoughts before he imparted them.“We’re really that close to them? Maybe we should pick up the pace, so Zef doesn’t intercept us.”
Therin shook his head slightly, but even at the small motion, his moonlight-colored hair clouded around him.“Even if he did, we now have enough confirmation from the Scarus to justify continuing onward. The fact that they are having members of their tribe taken in such a similar manner is proof enough. Zef could not fail to see their involvement. In addition to their loss, if Akamaii’s view of history is to be believed, the tribe was not only a part of the bargain but would have access to the vampires. If the information has been passed down, they will have knowledge of where the vampires are located. At least where they were long ago, which is more than we have currently.”
Every once in a while, Therin would make a statement that made it seem he didn’t trust what Akamaii had told us. However, he hadn’t completely said as much, which led me to believe that it was more wishful thinking as opposed to genuine skepticism.
Lelas was the only one who had argued the fact after we had left the Scarus territory. It had taken a couple of days for Nalu to convince her that his queen wouldn’t lie, and, despite her edict that he was now banished from his tribe, that she was trustworthy and fair.
I couldn’t blame Dad and Lelas for struggling with the concept. Talk about having your whole world changed. And to find out your longevity was paid for with the lives of others wouldn’t be something you could just accept and continue on as if nothing had happened.
Only Wrell had seemed initially satisfied with Akamaii’s explanation. That wasn’t a surprise to me either. His own life had taught him how cruel others of his kind could be.
“Well, if we’re so close to them, and we have enough proof, why don’t we have them join us? Sure, it might slow us down as we try to find the Volitans. You think they’re close by, but those rumors were from before we even left the Chromis tribe. Who knows where they are now. What’s the rush?”
What’s the rush—had I really just said that? Mers being taken and never seen again? Nah, no biggie, might as well take our time.
Both Wrell and Therin shook their heads adamantly.
“Wrell believes we will make more progress on our own.”Therin gestured at his friend before motioning back to himself.“And if I am being honest, something at the core of me tells me to stay the course—though I can come up with no rational explanation of why. Wrell is correct. Our journey is too long, with too many unknowns to risk the entire tribe. Moheetla’s creation is something that cannot be tamed, and the mers are not his only children held within his care. We are not promised protection above his other handiwork.”
