Grudging Agreements
Chapter Fourteen
SADIE
As promised, Kyros returns the next morning. The water shifts first—tiny ripples that grow larger as he nears.
My ribs still ache from being dragged through the current, and I wince as I push myself into a sitting position.
When Kyros rises from the water, the first thing I notice is his crown. Of course he wears a crown. Pearls and obsidian weave through his dark hair, the jagged, black stones catching the flickering algae light. They reflect sharp glints across the chamber walls, unnervingly ominous.
Kyros speaks first.
“How’d you sleep?”
“Fuck you.”
The words don’t come close to covering the depth of my emotions. He killed my father. Killed Tipper. Tried to kill me.
Kyros doesn’t bother responding to my insult. He reaches for my ankle and drags me straight off the stone slab, forcing me into the water. The frigid ocean swallows my startled scream. It slams into my chest, causing my lungs to seize.
My throat burns as instinct tells me to breathe.
I try to fight it, but instinct always wins.
Water rushes down my throat, and for a horrible few seconds, I’m drowning again. My body convulses as the change hits, pain exploding.
The transformation is faster than last time. It’s still painful—my eyes are on fire—but my chest loosens and my body adjusts within only a few seconds. I cough once, then breathe.
It still feels wrong.
Kyros releases my ankle and drifts backward, his crimson tail swaying as he watches my every movement. It’s hard not to stare at his tail. A part of me still wants to believe it’s fake.
“You’re improving,” he says. His words are muffled underwater. I have to concentrate to understand them.
I shoot him the dirtiest glare I can muster. “Don’t ever do that again.”
Kyros ignores that entirely.
“Follow me.”
He doesn’t wait to see if I will. He turns and swims toward the opening in the chamber wall, his tail cutting through the water in smooth, powerful strokes. It’s easier to see through the darkness today, which I suspect is my eyes adjusting.
I hesitate, then follow behind him. I have no other options.
It becomes apparent almost immediately that I can’t keep up with Kyros. My legs kick uselessly, and I move through the water with the grace of a drowning cat. There’s too much pressure at this depth, making my movements clunky.
Kyros glances back once, his mouth tightening slightly, but he doesn’t comment on my pace. He leads me through the tunnel system, eventually popping us out into the open ocean. This isn’t the exit I found last night. There must be several.
I stop swimming, my eyes growing wide as I take in the sight before us.
I’ve never seen anything like this. We’re in a forest of glowing algae, the plant floating upward in long tendrils from the ground below to the open ocean above. It’s otherworldly, and I make a concentrated effort not to let my jaw hang as we swim through it.
Kyros pushes through the algae forest, bringing me into the heart of the city.
Merpeople move through the water. They’re everywhere, their tails flicking and their bodies gliding through the currents. They swim between buildings, moving about with a purpose that feels oddly human.
Several men pause mid-current when they see me.
I avoid making eye contact with them.
Children chase one another through loops of current, their laughter echoing faintly through the water. The sound is strange underwater—more vibration than noise—but the joy in it is unmistakable.
Their tails vary in color, from vibrant jewel tones to muted earthy colors.
Groups of merpeople gather throughout the city. Some repair nets woven from glowing strands of algae while others sort piles of fish near coral platforms. An older woman smacks a young boy upside the head with the flat of her tail when he tries stealing something from her basket.
The little boy chirps indignantly.
She smacks him again.
A group of hunters glides overhead, carrying some sort of massive silver fish between them. Blood trails through the water behind them, leaving crimson streaks. Several children swarm the men, practically vibrating with excitement.
One of the hunters shoos them away.
It feels normal. Not human normal, but normal. I hate to admit that it’s beautiful.
Dad would have loved to see this.
The children who notice me do a double-take, their eyes practically bugging out of their heads as they take in my bare legs. Then the high-pitched clicks and chirps begin. Some go as far as to point.
Kyros keeps swimming, ignoring the onlookers as he weaves effortlessly through the city. I struggle to keep up, my awkward strokes sending me in his general direction. After what feels like an hour of fighting the water, we reach the edge of the city.
The structures thin, and the open ocean stretches out in the dark-blue distance.
Kyros turns toward me.
“If you have any hope of destroying the black siphon,” he starts, “then you must learn to swim.”
I glare at him. “I’ve spent most of my life on a boat. I know how to swim.”
Kyros blinks. “Not well.” He gestures toward the open water before us. “Swim.”
He can’t be serious.
“That’s it?” I ask. “Your grand training plan is telling me to swim?”
“Yes.”
I grit my teeth and push forward. My first few strokes are clunky. My legs kick unevenly, and my arms pull too wide through the water. It’s the pressure. I’m usually an excellent swimmer. Practically a damned guppy.
A current catches my leg, promptly twisting me sideways.
I gasp. “Shit!”
Algae smacks me in the face, and a strangled sound escapes me as I become entangled in the glowing strands. I’ve been at this for less than five minutes and I’ve already been defeated by seaweed.
Kyros watches, his arms crossed over his chest. The bastard doesn’t even try to help.
I finally wrench myself free and attempt another stroke, only for another current to throw me in the opposite direction. Kyros catches me just before I crash into a coral outcropping, his hand closing around my forearm at the last second.
“Your body is wrong,” he says.
I frown, ripping my arm out of his grip. I’d give him the middle finger if I thought he knew what it meant.
Kyros continues. “You’re fighting the current instead of using it.”
I gesture to my legs. “I don’t have a tail, in case you hadn’t noticed. This isn’t nearly as easy as you’d—”
Kyros reaches forward suddenly, grabbing my waist. His grip is firm, his fingers splayed wide against my ribs as he drags me closer. We press together, my chest brushing his arm as he adjusts the angle of my hips.
His touch burns.
Common sense tells me to shove him off. He murdered my father. He’s an awful person.
But the part of me that understands how nuanced this situation is struggles to hate him. If humans knew that Mer existed…it would be a slaughter. Kyros is only trying to protect his people. I’m unfortunate collateral damage.
Dad and Tipper are, too.
I hate myself for understanding that. I hate it so fucking much.
“Streamline,” Kyros orders.
His voice vibrates through the water and straight into my chest.
He releases me. “Try again.”
I swim forward. It’s…better. Still awkward, but smoother.
Kyros studies me for several seconds before nodding once.
“Acceptable.”
High praise, apparently.
A little girl catches my eye. She floats near one of the coral towers nearby, hiding halfway behind it as she watches Kyros and me with wide, curious eyes. Her small, silver tail flicks excitedly as she peeks around the structure.
When she notices me looking back, she ducks behind the coral.
After a second, she peers around the coral again. Her eyes are enormous. Curious, but unafraid. She looks at me the way human children look at animals in an aquarium.
My chest tightens, and Dad’s words pop into my mind.
“If they exist, they deserve better.”
We pollute the oceans with trash, knowingly driving the animals that live here toward extinction. I can only imagine the horrific things that humans would do to this little girl. She’d be a science experiment.
They’d hang her skeleton in a museum.
I let out a slow exhale.
I should want them all dead. Every last one of them. Kyros murdered Dad, the council wants me executed, and half this city would probably cheer if I got dragged into the trench and eaten.
But the little girl doesn’t know any of that. She just looks curious.
Her tail flutters excitedly as she watches me.
She doesn’t know that her leaders want me dead, nor does she know that her precious Oshea killed my father. She’s innocent, and if the Great Current isn’t restored, she’ll die alongside everybody else.
Damn it.
Dad would want me to help them. His murder wouldn’t change his opinion. He was that type of person. Admirable—sometimes even to a fault.
“I’ll do it,” I say.
Kyros furrows his brows.
“I’ll do my best to destroy the siphon.” I jerk my chin toward the little girl. “Not for you, but for everybody else. The children.”
Kyros follows my gaze, his expression momentarily softening. I don’t care to earn his affection. I just don’t agree with letting children die.
“You asked about my legs yesterday,” he says.
“Yeah.”
“All Mer can take a human form.” He blows out a breath, bubbles erupting from his mouth. “It is…unpleasant. The transformation is excruciating.”
Well, good. Kyros deserves it.
“Why you?” I ask. “If you’re so important to the pod—the Oshea, apparently—why not send somebody else to kill my father?”
“Because I’m the Oshea.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Kyros presses his lips together. His gaze drifts toward the city, lingering on the little girl before shifting to the hunters and their fish above.
“It was my responsibility,” he admits. “I don’t enjoy it, but humans are a threat to my people. It’s my responsibility to protect Tideborn, no matter the cost.”
I mindlessly click my tongue against the roof of my mouth.
Kyros cocks his head, his gaze darting to my mouth. He looks startled, and I resist the urge to roll my still-burning eyes as I realize he thinks I’m trying to communicate with him. Fortunately for him, I don’t speak Mer.
“When do you intend to bring me to the siphon?” I ask.
Kyros hesitates. “Sooner than I’d like.”
Because of the red bloom. Seraya made it abundantly clear that I can’t be here when it begins in two weeks. From the sounds of it, my presence in the days leading up to it will be trouble, too.
“How much time do I have?”
“A week at most.”
That’s not a lot of time, not if I need to outswim a trench monster.
I shake my head, then turn toward the three men who are slowly drifting over. They pretend not to watch me, but their eyes keep sliding in my direction. A low sound vibrates from Kyros’s chest, and the men respond with a series of sharp chirping sounds I have no hope of understanding.
One of them gets too close for comfort.
Kyros grows rigid. Even his tail stops moving.
Then he lights up, red veins exploding across his body like lightning. The lines race up his arms and ribcage in a clear threat. I’d kill to know what it means. It’s clearly tied to emotion.
The effect is immediate. The Mer scatter, fleeing from the agitated Kyros. As the last of them disappears behind the coral towers, Kyros’s markings slowly fade.
“What the hell was that?” I ask.
His tail snaps once. Hard. “Training is over for today.”
“Kyros—”
“Enough.” His crimson tail snaps again, cutting through the water. “We’re done for today.”