forward, and Dair none too gently placed him on the ground.
The dagger protruded from the center of his stomach. Blood pooled on
the ground, the color so dark it was almost black.
A strangled laugh escaped Tavvy.
“I didn’t think you had it in you, little brother,” he whispered hoarsely.
No! I struggled earnestly against the ropes, ignoring the pain and the
voice telling me that Tavvy wasn’t the one I needed to protect.
Dair moved away, only for a second, and returned with my sword. He
held the weapon in a tight grip, the blade pointed at Tavvy’s throat.
“Dair!” I screamed helplessly. He needed to lower the weapon, he needed
to…
I let out a scream of agony.
One of my wrists was minutes, if not seconds, from breaking free. I knew,
without a doubt in my mind, that the second I was free, I would not hesitate
to hurt Dair in order to save Tavvy.
Ignoring my screams, Dair pressed the sword further into the other man’s
skin.
“What did you mean earlier?” he asked darkly. “About us not being of
royal blood?”
Tavvy’s howl of laughter turned into a guttural moan as blood poured
from his lips. He was blinking rapidly, as if struggling to stay awake.
I could sense he was seconds from death. It pierced my heart, this pain I
couldn’t understand.
So close…
I wiggled my wrists once more.
“I meant what I said,” Tavvy answered cryptically. “You aren’t related to
the King. None of you are.”
“Explain.” The sword dug deeper into Tavvy’s neck, and the psychopath
once more released a crazed laugh.
Tension flooded my muscles. All I could see was red. How dare he hurt
Tavvy? Threaten him?
One of my wrists slipped free, and I hastily worked on untying myself
from the pole.
“I always suspected it, but this only confirms it.” Tavvy’s voice was
losing its maniacal edge as death claimed him. He blinked rapidly. “Your
mom…” He coughed violently, more blood sputtering from his chapped lips.
“She was never pregnant.”
“What?”
“If the rumors are true-” another hacking cough “-you and those men you
call your brothers magically appeared. Out of thin air.”
Dair momentarily lowered the sword, face slack with shock and
unhealthily pale.
I wrenched my hands free of their prison at the same second Dair lifted
his sword and cut off Tavvy’s head.
THIRTY-SEVEN
DAIR
Blood.It coated my skin, contaminated my lungs, filled my nostrils. I
stared down at my soaked hands unable to believe that these same
hands, these unremarkable limbs, had been a harbinger of death.
I had killed a man. And not just any man, but my blood brother.
Or, not my blood brother, if I believed the nonsense Tavvy spouted.
I shook my head as if that gesture could clear my thoughts.
Slowly, I turned to face my mate. I didn’t want to see the expression on
her face - the horror and disgust towards a man willing to kill his own
brother.
Her face was spotted in bruises, a fact that only served to enrage me
further. If Tavvy wasn’t already dead, I would’ve killed him again.
Z’s wide, terrified eyes flickered from my blood-stained body to Tavvy.
“Stay back,” she whispered hoarsely the second I took a step towards her.
The blood drained from my face. I would rather be stabbed repeatedly in the
chest, fight a thousand Tavvys, than have her look at me like that.
With fear.
“I don’t know…” She gritted her teeth together. “I don’t know if the spell
is going to expect retribution. I don’t want to hurt you anymore, but I’m not
sure…” Her face was pinched. “The spell wanted me to hurt you to protect
Tavvy. I’m not sure if I’m going to hurt you now that Tavvy’s dead.”
She held up red, bloody wrists and took a tentative step towards me.
Relief filled my chest, this instantaneous buoyancy that had me floating.
She didn’t hate me, didn’t fear me.
One second she was surveying the store, expression pensive and slightly
cautious, and the next she was in my arms. I hugged her to me, molding her
body to my own.
We were both bloody, injured, and admittedly fucked in the head, but in
that moment, we had each other.
The rest of the world didn’t matter.
I DIDN’T KNOW who was more shocked when we arrived home, dripping
in blood and holding Tavvy’s body in a bag. The twins were the first ones to
see us, and they threw us scathing glares.
They wouldn’t mourn their older brother. They would, however, mourn
the power Tavvy’s presence gave them.
Lupe must’ve sniffed the blood, for he came barreling out of the house
next, eyes frantic. Ignoring me, he grabbed Z gently, as if she was fine glass
seconds from breaking. They began to whisper to one another, voices hushed,
and I turned away to give them privacy.
“What the hell happened?” Ryland asked. He hovered just behind Z,
shadows continually appearing and disappearing around him in his agitation.
A dark hand reached out to touch her, but he pulled it back, granting Lupe the
time he needed to get his beast under control.
I mechanically explained to him the fight with Tavvy. How could the best
memory of my life, Z’s confession of love and our bodies moving as one, be
tainted by my worst memory? I didn’t think anything could compare to the
fear and rage I felt when I saw Tavvy’s hands on her.
And the sword slicing through his head…
Nausea swirled within me, and I couldn’t stop myself from vomiting in
the nearby bushes.
A memory burned itself in my brain, searing.
The sword had gotten caught on something, bone more than likely, when
I had tried to cut off his head. I had only meant to quicken his death, to grant
him relief from the agony he was experiencing. But I had only prolonged it. It
wasn’t a clean slice through skin. It was jagged and brutal, and I would never
forget the pain in his eyes.
Z’s small hand touched the bottom of my back, but even her comfort
couldn’t stop the storm raging in my mind.
A murderer. I was a murderer.
“I need to heal you guys,” Bash said tersely. He stood in the doorway,
body rigid and his focus on Z. However, he didn’t step towards her. He didn’t
hold her like I knew he wanted to.
“Dair first,” Z answered immediately, and I couldn’t help but smile. If she
thought there was a chance in hell Bash would heal me before her, she was
crazier than she looked.
Bash continued to stare her down, his typical, no nonsense stare. When Z
saw he wouldn’t relent, she released a huff and wobbled up the front steps.
Both Ryland and Lupe rushed to steady her.
She was even more injured than I had realized. If I had arrived even a
second later…
No, I didn’t want to think about that. I shot those thoughts from my mind
vehemently.
What I needed was a scorching hot shower, a c
hance to wipe the excess
blood off my body. I also needed to swim in my Mermaid form. Already, my
twelve hours as a human were coming to an end, the familiar itch begging to
be scratched.
A part of my curse. Twelve hours as a human. Twelve as a Mermaid.
Tavvy had always preferred his human form.
Tavvy...
I could still hear my brother’s laugh. I didn’t think that sound would ever
fade completely.
At the end of the day, he was just a sick, twisted boy in desperate need of
help. Did that make me feel guilty for killing him? No, absolutely not. Did I
feel guilty because I didn’t feel guilty? Yes.
“You know you’re going to be punished when you get back,” one of the
twins, Idol, said.
I sighed.
My legs were a gift, and like with any present, they could be ripped away
and returned.
At least I had enjoyed them to the best of my ability while I had them.
THIRTY-EIGHT
Z
There was a sort of tension in the air. A sickly cloud that hung
ominously over our heads. Not palpable, but just foggy enough to be
noticeable. A mist glissading over the land.
The tension remained as we pulled up in front of the Capital, parking near
the stone fountain.
Two familiar figures were waiting for me when we arrived, and I
unbuckled my seatbelt and flung myself at them.
Both sets of arms immediately wrapped around me before Devlin pushed
me away with a scowl.
“What the fuck happened?” he whispered, hand tracing the bruises and
cuts on my face. I captured his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze,
knowing that he needed it.
Bash had tried to heal me the best he could, but he had quickly tired.
“I sense something in you,” Bash had said suddenly during the healing
session, brows creasing. My mind had immediately drifted to Zack and his
talk of poisons. When Bash had waited for me to answer with a raised brow, I
had meekly shrugged in feigned cluelessness.
Despite my protests to take a break, he had continued with a renewed
vigor until he abruptly slumped forward, passed out. Still, I was ten times
better than I was before. I couldn’t imagine what my other mates would’ve
said if I had come back without any healing.
“I’ll explain everything,” I promised Devlin now.
Keeping my hand in his, I turned towards my Incubus. His red hair was
tangled, and he had dark shadows beneath his eyes. My brows furrowed at
the helpless expression on his face, the need to comfort him driving me.
“What’s wrong?”
Before he could respond, the doors were pushed open, and the Mermaid
King stepped outside. His blond hair was swept away from his face, once
more revealing eyes a spitting image of his son’s. Or...not his son’s. Those
eyes fixed on me with a predatory gleam.
I straightened under his gaze. It was time that I proved myself. It was
time that I demolished the game board, emerging victorious.
I was no one’s fucking pawn.
“I completed your task,” I said, refusing to tack on the dreaded “your
highness” at the end. If he noticed my intentional slip of protocol, he didn’t
react. His eyes continued to glimmer in the sunlight.
Everything was painted in a pale pink and orange, the sun just barely
cresting the horizon. It was just another reminder of how little I had slept the
last few nights. My sleepless days were finally catching up to me - my body
was tired and weary.
I had tried to eat on the car ride back, but everything landed like lead in
my stomach, tangling with the ball of nerves and fear.
I waited now, listening to my mates move behind me. It was Ryland who
appeared a moment later, Jakob’s red-haired head in his hands. Without
preamble, he tossed it at the King’s feet.
“Very good,” he practically purred, surveying the man whose only crime
was defending the woman he loved. My throat tightened with emotion,
making it impossible to release anything louder than a croak.
“I completed your task,” I repeated. “I’m done.”
“You’re not done,” he countered. His lips were still curved upwards in a
cruel smirk. He was a beautiful man seeped in poison. Everything about him
was dangerous, exuding raw power. Even his smile held thousands of hidden
meanings.
I waited silently for him to continue, hands on my hips. My posture
screamed disobedience. Rebellion. With one eloquent quirk of my brow, he
knew I wasn’t a toy he could play with.
Still, he would try. He would mold me and break me until I was
unrecognizable. Through it all, he would be wearing that damn smirk.
“You still have six other tasks to complete,” he said, turning on his heel. I
wasn’t worth the attention he had given me, apparently. Asshole. “The next
task will begin tomorrow. Sleep while you can, my daughter.”
Before I could react to his admittedly terrifying statement, the King
stiffened as something was thrown at his feet. Only his head moved to survey
the second head rolling beside the first. The King’s eyes were blank,
expression carefully impassive, as he stared at his eldest son’s severed head.
Dair stood a foot away, breathing heavily. His hands were balled into
fists.
After a long moment of staring, the Mermaid King began to chuckle. It
was so unexpected, so sudden, that all I could do was blink at him. His first
reaction to seeing his dead son was to laugh?
“Son, son, son,” he tsked at Dair. “I didn’t know you had the balls to do
it.”
As if Tavvy’s head was nothing more than a soccer ball, he kicked it out
of the way. Guilt, for the first time, clawed at me.
Maybe guilt was too strong a word. It didn’t fully encapsulate what I felt.
It was...sadness.
Nobody had loved Tavvy. Even his father had discarded him the second
he was no longer useful. He lived in a world, in a family, that deprived him of
love at all cost. It was no wonder he turned out the way he did. That wasn’t to
say I excused any of his actions, because I didn’t, but it made me wonder
how Dair would’ve turned out if he had been raised solely by the King. No
Pearce, Angelica, and Juliet. No Ryland, Bash, Killian, Jax, Lupe, or Devlin.
Alone. Unloved. Unwanted.
Maybe things would’ve been different for Tavvy if he had been loved.
Maybe.
But I couldn’t focus on the maybes without completely spiraling down a
hole I wasn’t sure I could crawl myself out of.
“Dair,” the Mermaid King said, redirecting my attention to the matter at
hand. I wouldn’t grieve or mourn for Tavvy, but I would remember him. It
was the only consolation I could offer.
“Yes, father?” Dair’s voice was resigned. Already, he knew what his
father was going to say. My hackles rose, hair standing on end.
“You know what has to happen now, don’t you?”
Dair’s face was pinched tight. I didn’t like that - not one bit.
“Yes, father.”
“Meet me in my office in five minutes.” Without another word, he
clam
bered up the stairs and disappeared from view. The second he was gone,
I spun to face my Mermaid mate.
“What does he mean?” I asked breathlessly. My hand wrapped around his
corded bicep. “What’s going to happen? Are you going to be punished? I can
take the blame. He doesn’t have to know it was you.”
“With the Mage spell, who else would it be?” He tried to smile at me, but
it didn’t reach his eyes. “I accept what’s going to happen, Z. And I think you
do too. You just don’t know it yet.”
“Know what?” My voice was desperate. High-pitched
Dair cupped my cheek with his palm.
“I promise you, I’m going to be okay. We’re going to get through this.”
His words did nothing to calm my racing heart. I tried to think of what the
Mermaid King could do to him, what the Mermaid King must’ve already
done to him if his haunted expression was any indication, but I came up
blank. The knowledge was there, right there, but it remained just out of reach.
It burned the tip of my tongue…
Dair grabbed my ass suddenly, and I wrapped my legs around his waist as
he kissed me. A quick, desperate kiss that spoke louder than any words ever
could.
“I needed to do that one more time.” His tone took on a hushed murmur,
so soft I wasn’t sure if he intended for me to hear it. He placed me back on
my feet.
“Wait! Dair!” But he was already racing off, his golden hair disappearing
inside the large wooden doors.
How many more monsters did we have to fight? We had already killed so
many.
Thousands of monsters in this world, and the worst was my mate’s own
flesh and blood.
I shook my head, coming out of my daze, when Killian put a hand on my
shoulder to capture my attention. I turned to meet his anxious, slightly frantic,
gaze.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I tried to find him.” His stutter was more pronounced than before, and he
absently scratched at one of the many tattoos adorning his arm. “I looked and
I looked and I looked. He’s gone, Z. He’s gone.”
“Who’s gone?” I whispered, but a part of me already knew. A part of me
had felt his absence acutely when I had stepped out of the car.
Searching once more, just to be one-hundred percent certain, I felt my
body fall. Fall. Fall.