“Enough,” Frederick shouted, and I froze. I shouldn’t have walked into this conversation. Fuck, where could I go?
Frederick and Ursuline stepped into view of the doorway.
Their gazes landed on me, and Ursuline’s lips curled upward in triumph.
Frederick’s eyes burned, and he huffed out in anger. “How much did you hear?”
I swallowed hard, stepping back a pace, except the sight of Ursuline standing there in challenge gave me the courage to ask. “What do I deserve to know?”
Frederick’s jaw set, his gaze stony as he scanned between Ursuline and me. Tension stretched between us all, like the threat of an oncoming storm. I squared my shoulders, prepared to run if needed. Hell knew, I’d never been a fighter.
Frederick let out a sigh and gestured. “Follow me.” He strode past me, his steps echoing through the hallway. I pivoted on my heel and heeded his direction, aware of Ursuline’s presence at my back. They were close enough that I could feel them there, and I didn’t want them to leave.
He made a left turn into a sitting room filled with plush cerulean couches and gilt trim. Crystal lamps glittered on every stand, casting the room in a soft amber glow. Frederick sprawled out on one of the couches, a grimness to his features that unsettled me. The man was massive, with slick black hair threaded with grays, and the same salt and pepper mustache andbeard. His features were precise, along with his appearance as well.
Everything about this family remained a mystery, no matter how much I’d tried to look for information. Any hint of what I’d stumbled into would help.
“Given that you’ll be marrying my daughter, I will let you in on a family secret. I suppose living here, there’s no way to avoid the truth,” Frederick said. “However, if word of this spreads to anyone—your parents included—I don’t care if you’re her fiancé. You’ll end up dragged to the depths of the Sentient Sea.”
A chill spread through me, and I took a seat on the opposite couch, not trusting my knees to keep me upright. Ursuline sank onto the couch beside me, their tentacles mere inches away from me. Why hadn’t they sat with Frederick? Granted, they didn’t seem to share much fondness for their employer.
“I understand,” I croaked out.
Frederick let out a low rumble that echoed through the room. “Our family isn’t human. We’re merpeople.”
The hints whirred together, everything I’d questioned since I’d entered this place. The disappearances, the proximity to the bay, the iridescent scales in the bathroom. I should’ve figured them out from the start. All those hints felt glaringly obvious now.
“So the reason no one is ever here…”
“This isn’t the only home we own,” Frederick confirmed. “Oftentimes, we go to our estate in New Atlantis. Arielle does have a preference for the surface, though, which was why we believed she was the best daughter to marry a human.”
“So the alliance was for a foothold,” I clarified.
“In the human communities, businesses, yes. While we’re treated politely, since we’re relative newcomers, we’ve garnished a fair amount of hesitation and distrust. The Durand family has a longstanding reputation in Peregrine City.”
My stomach churned. Of course I’d been used as a pawn between both the families. I knew it, yet hearing the words aloud sliced into me.
“How are you walking up here?” I asked. The mermaids I’d encountered in the water all had fins—they weren’t capable of walking around on two legs, or shifting, that I was aware of. When they did visit the land, they were conveyed around in mobile water tanks to make sure they could easily move rather than flopping on the ground, or in altered scooters, unlike kraken or cecaelia who had the tentacles to shift around.
Frederick’s lips quirked. “Let’s just say arrangements with witches have their benefits.”
So, a spell. And for it to transform something like that, it had to be a powerful and costly spell, one that only a family as rich as the Tritons could afford.
“I’m aware your family flirts with the Human First delegations…” Frederick started.
“I don’t share those allegiances,” I said. “I have no issues with monsters.”
“So you’ll keep our secrets,” Frederick said, the underlying threat simmering in his tone.
What choice did I have? This was the family I’d been sold to, their daughter the woman I was supposed to marry. “Of course,” I reassured him, even though I shrank at the way he glowered.
“Papa, I’m home,” Arielle said, striding through the entryway. She paused and glanced between us. “Did I miss something?”
Frederick heaved out a sigh. “No, sweetheart. Your fiancé is aware of what we are now, that’s all.”
She let out a tinkling laugh. “Thank the gods. I was so tired of making excuses. Plus, Olivia has the bad habit of shedding a few scales in the main bathroom when she scrubs off after a swim.”
“I wondered what those were,” I offered, appreciating how she lightened the mood. Being in a room with Ursuline andFrederick was like standing between two titans about to wage war.
