Page 18 of The Hunted

She didn’t notice the water.

And even from a good distance away, she could still hear the way he dragged in a breath that sputtered with the water crashing against his chest. If he didn’t get out of the sea soon, it would pull him under.

Good, one part of her thought.

And what a shame, another bit whispered.

“I’ll kill you,” she heard him promise into the wind, “if it’s the last thing I ever do, little mermaid.”

Her heart skipped a beat.

And then two.

She didn’t need to wonder …

She could feel his threat was true.

Arelle sank under the water.

Let the sea Gods handle him.

She couldn’t.

• • •

Arelle wished she could say that she hurried back to the colony, but in fact, she didn’t do that at all. She warred with herself, knowing there wouldn’t be any way to hide what happened or how, in the end … she would be the one blamed for her sister’s death. She considered hiding but knew that wouldn’t do any good when her father would simply send someone to search for her.

And they would find her.

She certainly couldn’t go back to the land. She didn’t have her own grotto to hide within, not that it would make a difference if she did, when her father’s guards could simply come inside and drag her out.

There was no choice, really.

She had to go back.

Before she had even reached the long wall of twisted coral that protected her father’s palace from the rest of the colony, the merpeople had already begun to gather. They lined either side of her, separating to let her through without pause and never meeting her gaze. A few hundred—probably the entire colony of her people.

Just a few years ago, their numbers had been much larger. Their colony, before she had been born—according to those who were willing to talk about that time—had been one of the biggest, in fact. Now, they were dwindling.

Year by year …

Season after season …

They were hunted.

And now, they had so few left.

Today, another had died. Except it wasn’t just any mermaid, but a princess. The youngest of the royal sisters. She bet the people were asking that if they couldn’t even keep the royals safe from the landwalkers, then how would they keep the rest of them safe?

Look at their numbers.

Their whispers and chirps reached her ears, a few of their statements discernable enough for her to hear even though she tried to ignore them. That was impossible, honestly, and while some of what she heard felt like accusations … they were not unwarranted.

Arelle knew that better than anyone.

It also told her a lot about what would be waiting behind the wall of coral when she met with her father. If only because the merpeople seemed to already know that something bad had happened. Some outright said Coral’s name.

How quickly word could spread …