by Starla Night
Uvim stiffened.
She tightened on the cell phone. “Zara—”
“They’re in the middle of a war! Undersea armies are trying to kill each other. Asking you to check on the cell phone lockbox was a mistake. You could run into one.”
Milly let out a long breath. “It’s too late. I’m already involved.”
Zara’s voice dropped low in horror. “What?”
“A merman and I are close.”
Uvim stood ramrod stiff, as though perfect posture would impress Zara, he raised his chin and braced.
Zara sputtered. “What could you possibly mean? Do not tell me you are already together with one of those finned, tattooed freaks!”
Uvim flinched.
“Zara—”
“They’re thoughtless, awful, violent creatures. Elan’s the only reasonable one and even he can be nuts! You will not be enslaved by a mer who treats you like you’re a possession to be claimed!”
Uvim endured Zara’s verbal lashes with stony-eyed flinches.
Milly couldn’t allow this to continue. “Zara.”
“God, I will not live with myself if you—”
“Zara!”
“What?”
“A merman is already my brother-in-law.”
Zara dropped silent.
Milly rubbed Uvim’s hand.
He looked away.
Zara let out a huge sigh. “Oh my god, Milly. You had me. You really had me.”
“I’m a laugh riot.” She squeezed Uvim’s hand. “But listen to yourself. Are you Dragao Azul’s queen? Or are you one of our mysterious enemies?”
Zara was silent for a long moment. “Our?”
“Your attitude causes fear. Me being involved with a merman wouldn’t be so bad. I’d get magical powers.”
“Those ‘magical powers’ did me no good when I needed them.”
“You liberated Dragao Azul.”
“After. You don’t know what it’s like to have your life — your husband and your son — ripped away from you while you’re begging them to stop. The bastards never even looked sorry.”
Uvim flinched.
Could he still hear? Milly switched the phone to her other ear.
“And I hope you never do,” Zara said darkly.
“Maybe they were just doing their duty.”
“They’ll be doing their duty when they stab you in the back. And I won’t have that happen, Milly. Not to you.”
Uvim’s shoulders tightened like she’d hurt him even deeper.
She gritted her teeth. “I’m not as useless as you think.”
“You’re not useless. Just inexperienced. I won’t let you make a mistake.”
“Maybe it’s not a mistake.”
“It is. Believe me. I know.”
Her chest heated like the sun had broken through the clouds. But what could she say besides, Oh yeah? I know too. And then Zara would freak out.
Milly focused on breathing.
“You always look to the ‘bright side,’” Zara said into her silence. “Pretend everything will turn out all right. But everything doesn’t turn out all right. And sometimes things go worse than you can imagine.”
“Keep trying,” she insisted.
“Or take a step back. For your own safety. And for everyone else, too.”
Milly had been through a lot. Zara had been through more.
Exiled from the city on the day of Zain’s birth, torn from her husband and newborn, forced to the surface still bleeding, Zara had collapsed all alone. Milly had found and rushed her to the hospital. She’d barely survived.
Physically, she’d recovered, but jagged pain fractured her heart and mind. Her strong, fearless, just sister had hidden in their house, burrowed into a shell of her former self.
Milly had cared for Zara as best she could for that year. But it had taken the return of Elan — and Zain — for Zara to finally heal.
Now another year had passed. Milly needed to respect Zara’s past while still making Zara aware of how wrong she was.
The future of the mer depended on it.
Zara cleared her throat. “I’ve got to get to bed and you’re late for work.”
Crud. She was.
“This conversation is so not over,” Milly said.
“Bye bye,” Zara said and hung up.
Ooooh.
She would strangle Zara. Milly would board a plane, fly to California, and choke sense into her older sister.
“Bye,” she snapped at her already-darkened phone, shoved it in her capris pocket, locked up, and raced to the sedan.
Uvim did not join.
She engaged him over the roof of the car. “Get in.”
“Queen Zara ordered me to stay away.”
“No, she ordered me to stay away.”
His jaw flexed. “She is not wrong.”
“Actually, she is.”
His brows furrowed.
The amethyst and green depths mirrored his worries. Hurt mixed with betrayal.
She wasn’t the only one who’d tried to keep secrets.
“Get in the car.” She opened her door and got in. “I’ll explain on the way.”
He did so.
Thank you for having faith in me.
She checked his seatbelt. Snug. She drove into the bright sunshine on the winding road to the harbor.
“I love my sister,” Milly said, “and I know she’s only trying to protect me. But I’m an adult.”
“She is my queen.”
“But she’s not my queen.”
He blinked. As though he had forgotten. Just because he was subject to Zara’s rules — and Milly was dating him — didn’t mean Milly was subject to Zara’s rules.
“Zara ordered me not to involve myself. But I already have. Obeying her order isn’t possible even if I wanted to. Which I don’t. I want to see where this goes. Where ‘we’ go.” She took one hand off the steering wheel to gesture between them. “With you.”
He didn’t respond.
Uh oh. Had her confession come too late?
She stopped at a stop sign and gripped his knee. “Will you go away?”
He looked down at her hand. “I will remain.”
Whew. She let go to pull onto the main road. “Well, good. Then we’ll figure this out together.”
“You did not tell her you were a bride.”
“True.”
He looked at her face.
She didn’t take her eyes off the empty road. “Zara wasn’t in a place to listen.”
“We cannot descend to Dragao Azul until—”
“I know.”
“Milly, do you not wish—”
“Of course I want to be your bride!”
“Then—”
“Look, there’s no point in scaring Zara. She might abandon her search. And for what? Just so we can upset her in person?”
He closed his mouth.
She sighed. “Sorry. I will tell her. I have to figure out how to explain so she understands.”
He looked away.
Hiding his disbelief?
Ugh.
When would she stop worrying people? She made Zara worry. She made everyone worry, and all because she wasn’t capable enough to resolve her problems on her own.
One of these days, when she found her place, she’d know it because she’d tell people she was fine and they’d believe her. That was how she’d know.
“I’ll ask Vaw Vaw and my boss,” she said.
He remained silent.
The harbor buzzed and the small streets lined with tourists arriving early for the Sea Festival.
They passed the dive shop. Tourists lined up inside for Brody’s safety talk and life vest fitting.
Milly parked under the shade.
She was in so much trouble.
“We’ve got to run.” She jumped out of the sedan and tapped the roof. “Let’s go!”
Uvim exited to the building’s shadow. “I cannot expose myself to so many humans.”
“The rules are different now. You’re no longer required to stay hidden by the All-Council or the ancient covenant.”
He shook his head.
Okay. Fine. She didn’t have time for this argument. “I’ll meet you here tonight?”
“Milly…”
Her cell phone rang. It was her boss.
Good thing she didn’t need this job to survive. Because her boss was going to fire her.
She hit the button to deny the call.
Uvim struggled to express himself.
Milly shifted her scuba gear up her shoulder. “Can it wait?”
“Our warriors deeply injured Queen Zara.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“You could also be injured. Because of us.” Deep shame twisted Uvim’s expressive lips. “You do not know about that night.”
“You ordered Zara to the surface?”
He frowned.
“No, someone higher up must have given that order. Oh. I get it. You ‘escorted’ Zara to the surface?”
His jaw dropped slack. “Queen Zara told you?”
“No. You did. Just now.”
His brows wrinkled. “You are formidable, Milly.”
She hugged him with one arm. “Thanks. I like you too.”
“But I injured your sister.”
“That was wrong and you owe her an apology.” She stroked his locks. “You’ve regretted it for a long time, haven’t you?”
“Even at the moment.” His chin trembled. “I did not speak out. No one listens. I do not use the correct words. I cannot convince them.” He shook his head, avoiding her sympathy. “I hate this about myself.”
Okay. She was going to be super late.
She dropped her gear on the cobblestone and leaned in.
He waited a long moment, and then he gave in and dipped his head. Their mouths touched, enmeshed, became one. His lips opened and wet heat mingled. His tongue entangled hers, sizzling electric. His hot kiss stole her breath, swirling delicious longing and passionate aches in her belly.
If she let him, he would do what she most feared. Sweep her reason away. Enchant her so she belonged only to him. Drop her to her knees and make her beg.
And she would thank him for it.
Milly stroked his firm, male cheek. “You didn’t speak out in a dictatorship. Protest meant death. Or ‘exile’, which is worse. Silent devotion to duty was the only way you could survive.”
“Many others were not silent.”
“And what happened to them?”
He frowned.
Exactly.
She stroked his wrinkled forehead. “Everything is in upheaval. Humans are struggling to accept the mer exist. In the mer world, only Atlantis and Dragao Azul have dared to honor queens, and in your city, it was only because they had to. Things don’t change overnight — usually — but they are changing. So now is the time to speak your mind.”
“I … I cannot.”
“Now is the time to try again.”
“Milly, you…” He trailed off without finishing his thoughts.
“I’m listening. Even to the words you don’t say. I still hear them.” She lifted onto tip toe, pressed a kiss to his trembling lips, and dropped to her tennis shoes. “So try again, okay?”
His brows lifted. His expression lightened like she’d lifted a weight off his shoulders he’d been carrying for a long time.
Well, good.
She shouldered her heavy dive bag. “Sure you don’t want to join me on the tour? My boss would love a merman guide.”
“That change may be too fast.” He stepped back, his expression stern with duty. “Watch for me.”
“I will.”
He studied traffic, lowered his head and trotted across the street to the harbor.
She paused at the shop door.
He was meeting the warriors from his city today. And although he didn’t say he expected any problems, his anxiety hummed.
Zara had lost everything in a single moment.
Was this her last view of Uvim?
He crossed the dock, dove off the slats — to the shock of the tourists moseying the opposite direction — and disappeared beneath the gentle swell with no splash.
Her heart squeezed.
This separation was not forever. He would return.
Hopefully, her mermaid powers would still be functioning.
Chapter Sixteen
Milly understood him!
Uvim dove beneath the bobbing boats. So many so close together formed a strange ceiling on the water’s surface.
He had not spent long on the surface or near humans. In this harbor, a thick layer of muck suffocated the coral. The oily taste of the harbor did not deter the hardier urchins and anemones and nudibranchs.
Or one other unexpected resident.
Growls echoed over the harbor, muffling the friendly noises of the other creatures.
Somewhere nearby lived a large cave guardian.
Strange.
Uvim found Milly’s tour boat. He would follow it to the first location, near the beach, and await the warriors.
A large, black shadow moved beneath his fins.
He startled.
The tentacle snuck between the wooden poles.
He followed it back to…
A boiling mass!
Breathing black mud smooshed to the shallow harbor floor. Familiar... It was missing one tentacle … half of another…
The giant cave guardian of Ilha Sagrada!
“Why are you here?” he demanded, taking up Milly’s habit of speaking aloud to her friend Clifford. “Do you know what humans do to cave guardians? Their corpses hang from poles beside their ‘barbecue’ cooking fires. You would make a feast.”
She warbled.
The sound grated on his chest.
He continued his lecture. “The boat propellers will cut your skin. Another injury would make Milly sad.”
Her warble changed to a melancholy growl.
“Go back to Ilha Sagrada. That is your place. This small harbor is not safe for you.”
She drew in her tentacles, squeezing herself into a small mass.
It was still at least twice the size of the largest human boat.
“Come.” He kicked for the mouth of the harbor. “This way.”
She did not follow.
He paddled slowly, explaining why she must not remain. She uncurled from her tight hole and dodged ships on the way out of the harbor.
Outside the wall, wild currents puffed her funnel. She stretched, uncoiling her tentacles with a satisfied growl.
Satisfied? Perhaps he, too, could sense her feelings as Milly did. If he took the time to listen.
“There is a good cave that way,” he pointed toward the distant beach. “Another lies across this island.”
Clifford squeezed into the lee of a boulder and snacked on a surprised crab.
Apex predators such as her were a “shadow of death” to lesser creatures.
But not to humans. Not right outside their own harbor.
“Will you not go?”
She upended rocks and snacked on wiggling creatures underneath.
Perhaps she was lonely.
A few boats motored overhead. Some entered the harbor; others left. She scanned them.
“Follow one to safety,” he encouraged her.
After some thought — or a large enough snack — she pushed off the floor and followed.
He led her toward the beach.
On his way, the familiar motor sound of Milly’s tour boat chugged out of the harbor. It curved in his direction and then angled out to sea.
Curse it.
He told Clifford, “Follow this land and you will see the good cave.”
She veered toward the boat.
“Do you understand?” He pointed. “There. Go there.”
She eyed him first with one eye and then with her other eye.
He sensed amusement. As if she knew what he was saying and wonder
ed how long it would take him to figure out she wasn’t interested.
Very well. He had done his best to show Milly’s friend shelter.
He turned and kicked.
Not as fast as when he’d held Milly in his arms.
The so-called “bride effect.” Everything felt better with a bride, whether swimming or eating or breathing.
Now he’d experienced it. The bride effect was true.
No wonder so many males suffered from “newborn sickness” — the refusal of an otherwise-honorable warrior to give up his bride after she had produced the requisite young fry.
Most warriors swore they would not waver from the ancient covenant. But when they had to bid farewell to their brides, most did not do so happily.
Elan was the first to go crazy and battle his own warriors. He was also the first warrior to claim a sacred bride during the rebellion. And Queen Zara — Bride Zara then — was the first bride who had ever fought to remain.
That night was seared in his memory.
Elders had summoned him from the barracks to First Lieutenant Elan’s castle.
First Lieutenant Elan had floated unconscious. Bruises had blackened his broken body. His newborn young fry had cried in an elder’s arms. Bride Zara had struggled helplessly in her bonds.
Touching a bride was a violation. Who had bound her? How without touching?
Long ropes had dangled from her immobilized limbs.
He had been ordered to take one end and convey her to the surface.
He had balked.
Why this brutal action? Why so suddenly? Brides always waited for a short recovery period before crossing open ocean. It was dangerous. And on this dark, bloody night, the elders could not even find five healthy warriors to be an escort. But they were desperate to be rid of her loud, rebellious voice. So, they ordered the last trio of warriors to convey her, weakened and bloodied, to the surface.
His superior, Warrior Soren, had taken one rope. His friend Dosan had taken another. So, Uvim had taken the last rope.
They’d obeyed orders.
Queen Zara had screamed at them on the long, dangerous journey. Her screams had broken his soul.
He had known it was wrong.
Violating the ancient covenant and keeping a bride was anathema. But when Uvim saw Bride Zara stumble onto the beach that night, he had understood her curses. The rebel voices were right.
