Unwanted Changes
Chapter Sixteen
SADIE
Iwake slowly.
For a moment, I think I’m back on the boat. The stone above me ripples faintly, and the dim glow of algae along the walls reminds me of the green navigation lights Dad used to leave on during night shifts.
Then reality crashes back in.
Dad and Tipper are dead, and I’m deep in the Pacific imprisoned by Mer.
Fantastic.
My ribs ache when I sit up, still bruised from being bounced around the trench the other day. At least I’m alive. For now.
Kyros dumped me back in here after yesterday’s swim lesson—if you could even call it that—then disappeared without a word. I was brought food by a woman with a vibrant fuchsia tail later in the evening.
She didn’t speak. Just set a tray of raw fish and something that looked like seaweed fruit on the stone slab, then backed away like I might sprout claws. I don’t feel that I’m particularly frightening, but whatever.
The food didn’t look especially appetizing, but I ate it, anyway. Starvation doesn’t care about dignity.
I swing my legs off the slab, then pause.
My eyes don’t burn. For the past two days, opening them has felt like staring directly into a welding torch. Now there’s nothing. I blink a few times, waiting for the pain to return, but it doesn’t.
I’m adjusting to life underwater.
I slide the remainder of the way off the slab and drop into the water. The ocean closes over my head, cool and strangely familiar. The sooner I let the water in, the sooner this will be over with. I hesitate for only a moment before forcing myself to inhale.
The change hits immediately. There’s some pain, a sharp twinge in my chest, but it’s nothing like before. My lungs seize for half a second, then loosen with my next inhale.
Even underwater, my eyes remain pain-free.
I kick my legs and look around. The tunnel walls are easier to see, and the subtle ripples of current sliding along the stone are more visible. I can even make out the fine texture of algae clinging to the rock.
I spin in a circle, taking it all in.
There’s a low, haunting sound vibrating faintly through the water. Long, drawn-out notes drifting somewhere far beyond the cavern walls. Whales? The noise rises and falls in strange, rhythmic patterns. I’ve never heard anything like it, and I’m not sure what to make of it.
I turn slowly in the water, trying to pinpoint where it’s coming from, but the sound fades before I can determine the direction. It leaves behind an empty silence.
I blow out a breath, bubbles erupting from my mouth, before noticing the water shifting at the cave entrance. Another food delivery? The water ripples just moments before Kyros appears.
I don’t bother hiding my disappointment.
He moves smoothly through the water, his dark hair slicked back and his crown gleaming. Pearls and obsidian curve through his hair, the black stones throwing thin reflections across the chamber walls.
Even underwater tyrants need pretty accessories.
His eyes land on me. “You’re awake.”
“How observant.”
He ignores my snide remark. Instead, his gaze drifts over my face, studying me in that unnervingly intense way of his, before trailing over my pajama shorts and settling at my legs. His nostrils flare as he eyes my thighs.
I cross my arms. “Stop that.”
“Hm?” His eyes dart up. “Stop what?”
“Examining me.”
He hums again, then very deliberately looks from my toes to the top of my head. His attention lingers once he reaches my eyes.
“The burning has stopped,” he notes.
How does he know that? I never told him they were burning in the first place.
“That’s faster than expected,” he continues.
I frown. “Expected?”
“I’ve been reading the ancient texts.” He drifts sideways, slowly circling me. “Your body is adjusting to life underwater. The changes are triggered each time you drown.”
I glance at my toes, wiggling them together. There are specks of purple nail polish clinging to the tips from when I painted them several months ago.
“Will I grow a tail?”
Kyros snorts. “No.”
That’s good. I like my legs, and I’d prefer to keep them.
The water shifts again near the cavern entrance before the woman who brought me food last night drifts in. She holds several strips of pale fish tied together with a piece of kelp. In her other hand is a cracked shell filled with something green and spongy.
Her glistening fuchsia tail sways as she hands Kyros the food, and she makes brief eye contact with me before leaving.
“Is that for me?” I ask.
Kyros nods. “You need strength.”
I swim back to the slab and drag myself up through the air pocket, water streaming off my body. The cold air kisses my skin, and despite the less-than-appetizing look of the food, my stomach tightens as Kyros sets the fish on the edge of the stone.
I haven’t eaten nearly enough these past few days, and my body knows it.
My hands tremble as I reach for a fish strip. It’s raw, and the texture is soft and unpleasant. I squeeze it between my fingers before shoving it into my mouth. The taste isn’t terrible. Salty, but clean. Better than expected.
I grab the shell next and sniff it cautiously. The green something jiggles.
“It’s kelp,” Kyros says. “Pressed and soaked.”
I stare at it. “I think I’ll pass.”
“It’s good.”
“Forgive me if I don’t blindly trust food given to me by my kidnapper.”
Kyros pinches the bridge of his nose. “If I wanted you dead,” he says evenly, “you would already be dead.”
I hate that he says it so matter-of-factly. I hate even more that he’s right.
I take a careful bite, beyond relieved to discover that the kelp has little to no flavor. Like the fish, it’s salty but clean.
I sit on the edge of the slab and finish the rest of my meal while Kyros waits in the water, silent and watchful.
His gaze should make me uncomfortable, but it doesn’t.
I’m getting used to the staring. Besides, if I were being honest with myself, I find myself staring at him just as intently.
It’s hard not to. He’s a merman, for heaven’s sake.
I finish my food, shifting awkwardly as another problem makes itself known. I look around the cavern, then down at Kyros.
He arches a brow. “What?”
I hesitate. I can’t believe I’m about to ask this.
“Where, exactly, am I supposed to…?” I motion vaguely, heat crawling up my face. “You know. Use the bathroom.”
For the first time since meeting him, Kyros looks genuinely caught off guard. His gaze darts toward the back of the chamber, to a narrow groove carved into the stone wall. I hadn’t noticed it before.
“There,” he says after a beat. “There’s a current within the groove. It will…remove anything placed within it.”
I stare at him.
He stares back.
“You have underwater estates and glowing current highways, but your bathroom situation is a carved groove in a wall?”
Kyros furrows his brow. “It feeds into a filtered current.”
“Wow. How luxurious.”
Something flickers at the corner of his mouth. It’s not quite a smile, but it’s close enough to one to startle me.
I narrow my eyes. “You find this funny?”
“No.”
“You do.”
“I do not.”
“Liar.”
I drop into the water before he can say anything else, and I try very hard not to think about the fact that I just had a bathroom conversation with a murderous merman king. Or ‘Oshea,’ as they prefer to call it.
Kyros waits until I adjust to breathing underwater again.
It only takes a few seconds.
“Come,” he orders, his voice returning to that clipped, controlled tone.
I swim beside him, still sore and furious but no longer quite as weak. The depth pressure isn’t bothering me as much today, making it easier to move.
“Where to?” I ask.
“Training.”
“Again?” I shove my hair out of my face, the black strands tangling around my head. “Did we not do enough of that yesterday?”
“No.”
I decide against arguing. I suppose I want the practice. Trench monsters aren’t my thing, and learning how to swim the Mer way isn’t the worst idea. I follow Kyros out of the room.
The currents that slide through the stone corridors brush along my skin, tugging gently in different directions. They felt chaotic yesterday, but today they almost make sense.
Almost.
Kyros glides ahead of me with effortless precision. His crimson tail flicks once, and he shoots forward several feet. I attempt to copy the movement, but my result is significantly less graceful. My legs kick unevenly while my arms windmill.
We exit the tunnels several minutes later.
The underwater city spreads before us, just as beautiful as it was yesterday and the day before. Spiraled white towers, drifting gardens of glowing algae, and streams of Mer-filled currents.
I’ll never get used to this.
Several heads turn in our direction. Without a word, Kyros positions himself between me and the nearest group of males. I appreciate it more than I’ll ever admit.
It takes several more minutes to reach the outer edge of the city. The structures thin out, giving way to darker stretches of open ocean and jagged rock formations. The currents run stronger along the boundary. It’s easier to recognize them today.
Kyros spins toward me. “Swim.”
He has an incredible coaching technique.
I blow out a breath and push forward. My first few strokes are clumsy, my arms pulling too wide through the water while my legs kick unevenly behind me.
Kyros watches before drifting closer.
“You’re still fighting the current,” he notes.
“Thanks.” I huff. “Very helpful.”
“You need to move with it.”
“As I mentioned yesterday…” I gesture to my legs. “I don’t have a tail. Humans swim differently.”
“Yes, but you’re not human.”
Kyros studies my legs, then reaches toward me. He hovers his hand inches from my waist, his fingers twitching, before pulling away. Is he avoiding touching me? His gaze lingers for half a second too long before he looks away.
He swims back several feet, then demonstrates the movement he wants me to make. His body shifts, tail angling smoothly through the current.
“Like this,” he says.
I try to copy it. My first attempt is terrible. The second isn’t much better.