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No transformation could steal that enchanting look from her brown eyes. That’s not a mermaid feature. That’s all her.

She’s still here. Still Cordelia.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asks, lifting her softly arched brows. “I did this for us.”

“For us?” I snap out of my horrified stupor. “Did you not hear the part where I said don’t drink the potion?”

Her knuckles brush my sternum as she grasps her pendant. “What if I’d been caught and taken to my father? He would’ve summoned you for questioning about all the times you lied for me.”

“And you could’ve swum away while I distracted him with a long-winded story.”

“Be serious. He would’ve punished you severely.”

I wave that argument away. “Oh no, the Mer-King would’ve put me out of my misery. How awful.”

“No, Zephyr, your aether magic is far too valuable,” she whispers hoarsely. “He’d simply clip your wings to keep you under his control.”

Her words sink beneath the cloud of absinthe that keeps my brain nice and foggy.

“Don’t tell me you did this for me.” I rock to my feet and stagger back. “Don’t ever make a trade like that. Not for anybody. Especially not for me.”

“It wasn’t all for you.” She sits up and scoops her knees to her chest, arranging her new appendages. “If I’m going to have a human body, at least I’ll get to decide what to do with it.”

“At least there’s that.”

“I really did try my hardest to get away,” she says, her sincerity flattening my sarcasm.

“I know you did.” I pinch the bridge of my nose, unable to come up with a snarky comment after watching her evade multiple life-threatening dangers. “Your grandmother’s little goblins probably haven’t had to chase anyone like that in ages.”

She rests her chin on her knees. “I certainly won’t miss them.”

“You gave them trouble. It was magnificent.”

Smiling weakly, she accepts the compliment. “It might not be so bad to live like this, away from my family. Perhaps the sailor and I are meant to find true happiness.”

I’m not sure who Cordelia is trying to convince, but she doesn’t sound like herself. She’s not the sort to chalk things up to fate. And even if she were, I’m pretty damn certain the night wasn’t meant to go this way.

A troublesome thought nudges to the front of my mind. I shove it back where it belongs because we’ve got another fucking problem.

“Speaking of your sailor,” I say, looking around the empty beach. “Where is she?”

“I’d assume she’s at home, resting after her injury.” She rolls onto all fours, her knees knocking together as she attempts to get her feet beneath her. “You’re going to have to find her for me and lead me to a place where we can meet.”

With her hands braced on the ground, she arches her back higher and manages to lift her upper body a few inches. Her legs shake, and she falls backward, her ass plopping into the sand.

“Whoa.” I hold my hands up. “Slow down there.”

“I can’t. The sooner the sailor and I are wed, the better.” She holds a finger up and draws a line between us. “My father’s magic holds no power over humans, so once this transformation becomes permanent, our bond will be broken. I think.”

Her father’s hold over us is the least of my concerns, but I feel a twinge of regret that she’s so worried about that.

“Let’s shelve that thought for now,” I suggest. “Why don’t we work on getting you steady on your feet first?”

She runs a hand over her leg, kicking her heel a few times to study how her knee bends. “It’s much harder than it looks.”

“It’ll be easy once you get the hang of it.” I choke on the end of my sentence as she opens her thighs and frowns at the space between them.

“I wasn’t aware there’d be fur down there.” She touches the patch of dark curls covering her mound. “Is that normal?”