CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Myra
A rhythmic rushing sound crept into my consciousness, and I slowly roused from my magic-induced slumber. My eyes were blurred and heavy as I tried to focus on my surroundings. The ground was jagged beneath me, cutting into my arms and back, and I could hear murmured voices that sounded far away.
“Where has she been all this time?” a male asked.
“That doesn’t matter. Just know that Jemma will be returned to you soon. Patience has never been one of your virtues, has it, Yael?”
“Why are we waiting here?” he asked, ignoring her question.
“Because they’re coming by sea.” I let my head loll to the side and found my captor and my betrayer standing only feet away, conspiring once again.
My movement caught their attention, and Loreleia approached to look me over.
“Sleeping beauty lives,” she said, her tone sharper than steel.
“How fortunate. It would have been difficult to negotiate this deal if you were dead.” Her smile was a vicious slash across her delicate face.
“But not impossible.” My mind was a sluggish mess of disorienting sensations, and I struggled to get to my knees with my hands bound behind my back.
I fell forward and crashed face-first into a hard, unforgiving surface, making the world spin around me even more violently.
“Perhaps you should just lie there and await your fate, girl. It would be easier for us all.”
“Perhaps you should go fuck yourself,” I clapped back, though the effect was lost due to my slurred speech and inability to drag my body off the punishing surface below me.
“Would that I could, my dear,” she said with a smile. “I’m sure I’d be the best I ever had.”
“When will this be done?” Yael asked, sounding more annoyed than ever.
“They should be here momentarily,” she replied, looking off into the horizon. “Perhaps you should say your goodbyes to your little friend here before they arrive.”
I lifted my face to find him staring down at me without an ounce of compassion or regret in his forest eyes. “I don’t need to say anything. She was a means to an end, nothing more.”
“You bastard,” I snarled as I managed to struggle to my knees. “I trusted you!”
He looked away, dismissing my rage like it meant nothing to him. “One of your many mistakes, little mermaid.”
“How you’ve changed since I last saw you, Yael,” Loreleia said with a smile. “No wonder the king keeps you close.”
“I haven’t changed,” he argued as he looked out over the water. “I’ve just stopped pretending.”
The ground beneath me began to quake, gently at first, until it shook with tremendous force, and the water in the distance began to churn.
I tried to see what kind of vessel could cause such turmoil, but when I managed to look out at the sea, fear instantly snaked its way up my spine, gripping me so tightly I could hardly breathe.
There was no ship coming our way; just a rift cutting through the water toward us at alarming speed.
“Oh, good,” Loreleia said as she stepped closer to the turbulent water lapping at the shore, “it looks like the other party has arrived.”
“Who?” I asked, my voice barely audible above the din. “Who is coming?”
Loreleia looked over her shoulder and smiled like the devil she was. “I believe you know him well. He was light on specifics, but I got the sense that the two of you know each other intimately; and that you share a rather complicated past.”
“No,” I whispered, terror fully taking hold.
Then survival kicked in, and I sprang to my feet and tried to run.
The rocky shore made that difficult, especially with my hands tied behind my back, but I didn’t let that stop me.
Hurdling rocks and driftwood along the way, I made a break for the street, hoping I could at least make it to somewhere my screams would be heard.
That maybe Viv and the girls would hear me and come—or get Ravi.
Anything to give me a chance to escape the death sentence that was Finn.
I’d nearly reached the street when something whip-like wrapped around my belly and yanked me so hard I flew backward through the air to where I’d started.
I crashed down hard on the jagged edges of rocks that bit into my arms and back.
Something made a horrid snapping sound when I landed, and I cried out in pain as fire ripped through my left arm.
I looked up to see Yael snap back the strand of seaweed he’d snagged me with and drop it to the ground.
“Was this your plan all along?” I asked, hating the way my throat choked off the anger in those words, leaving only pain and sadness.
“Your way to fulfill the bargain?” The smallest muscle in his jaw feathered at my accusation.
“He will finish what he tried to do before and kill me, Yael. He will take me back to the Deep and torture me until he gets bored, then he’ll kill me just for the fun of it. ”
“Your fate isn’t my concern,” he replied without flinching. “All I care about is my sister.”
All hope—along with my heart—sank to the ocean floor.
The water beyond the shore began to bubble out in concentric circles, and I held my breath in horror as I waited for the inevitable.
Seconds later, the dark-haired traitor I’d dreamed of killing every day for the past two years broke through the surface in a spray of seafoam, his tentacles extending deep into the water to hold him high above us.
His malevolent gaze surveyed the two fae standing a few yards away before his unwanted attention turned to me.
All I could see was that malicious grin that haunted my dreams.
“Hello, little mermaid…” The sound of that nickname on his tongue made me shudder. “I never thought I’d see you again, but here we are.”
“Wasn’t that the point when you had the queen banish me?” I spat back at him. “For me to die?”
That fucking grin widened. “It was, though it seems my plan wasn’t quite as foolproof as I’d thought.
You would have gotten away with it if you hadn’t tried to return.
The second you did, it triggered the magic of the curse, and I knew you’d survived—and exactly where you were.
From there, it was just a matter of finding someone able to track you down and bring you to me. ”
“The bounty… it was you.”
“It’s serendipitous, really,” he replied, as though I gave a shit. “It turns out I have use for you at the moment.”
“And when you don’t?” I asked, knowing damn well what his response would be.
“I’m sure I’ll think of something.”
“Not that I wish to interrupt this reunion,” Loreleia said as she stepped closer to the waterline, “but shall we get this exchange over with? I’m sure we all have better things to do.” She cast me a sideward glance. “Except for you, dear.”
“Where’s my sister?” Yael asked, his tone cold and indifferent. Finn’s gaze drifted to me, and Yael took a step toward him. “You don’t get anything until I get my sister. That’s the deal.”
Finn looked at Loreleia, his amusement still plain in his sharp, pale features. “Is he always like this?” he asked. “I can’t help but wonder how he was able to snag Myra like that.”
“Yael has undeniable charm,” she explained, “when he chooses to turn it on.”
“Until he decides to fuck you over,” I snapped. “You’re both pretty good at that game.”
Finn looked from Yael to me, realization setting his eyes alight with delight. “Oh, Myra,” he said in a pitying tone to mock me, “have you still not learned your lesson?”
“I have now. Believe me.”
“Unfortunate that it’s too little too late.”
“My sister,” Yael demanded, drawing Finn’s attention again. “Now.”
Silent rage flashed in Finn’s eyes, but his patronizing smile was unfaltering.
Seconds later, the water to his right began to stir, sending out waves as an orb of fluid emerged, a blurry silhouette inside of it.
Finn reached a tentacled appendage inside and pulled out a limp body.
Hooked beneath her arms, the redhead dangled, head lolling to the side as though she were asleep—or unconscious.
With a violent shake from him, she roused a little, lifting her head to face her brother with barely opened eyes.
“Jemma?” Yael called to her.
She smiled lazily, like she was drunk or high, and waved. “Big brother… it’s you...”
The slur in her voice did nothing to assuage his concern. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing’s wrong with her,” Finn replied, feigning offense. “She’s just been hard at work for me.” Though he tried to hide it, I saw Yael bristle at Finn’s words. “I said I would trade her for Myra. I did not guarantee her condition upon return.”
“She’ll be fine,” Loreleia said with a dismissive wave. “Just lay her down on the rocks. Once you give me my cut, you can take the other one.”
“This is how Jemma was to pay off her debt?” Yael asked her, his barely restrained anger plain in his voice. Concern plagued the madam’s expression for a fleeting moment before she recovered, while Finn’s cunning gaze bounced back and forth between the two fae.
“Your sister is quite powerful,” he said in a conversational tone that set my hackles on edge. “I had no idea there even were fae capable of what she can do, but when I learned of it, I knew I had to have her.”
“And now her work for you is done,” Yael replied, hands clasped behind his back in a casual stance, but in those hands, I could see shadows stirring as his patience waned. “If you want the mermaid, hand Jemma over.”
“I can’t help but wonder if you’ve been on the receiving end of her abilities,” Finn continued, unfazed by Yael’s demands.
“And I can’t help but feel like you’re stalling.”