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“Just showing Kaga around,” I said. “Tell him what brought you here?”
“Oh, sure,” he said jovially. Immediately, he launched into his story, sharing all the gory details he had left out for me. Not that I hadn’t seen them anyway, when I took his pain. Kaga’s face turned paler by the second as he listened. When the merman was finished, I swept my hand over his head, drawing out his pain, wincing as it became my own.
“Thank you, brave soldier,” I said. “Rest well.”
I passed from bed to bed and had every awake merperson tell their tale to Kaga. By the time we left, he was quiet, withdrawn. I didn’t push it too much, and heal like I did yesterday. It wasn’t wise to be vulnerable around a human. I let my exhaustion show, though.
I swam around Kaga as we stood outside the sick ward. “Do you see what your kind has done to us? Humans are the worst, and water mages the worst of all.”
He frowned, but said nothing. I turned around and left toward the city, not entirely caring if he followed or not. If he was eaten by a shark, then that would be an unfortunate accident.
It didn’t take Kaga long to catch up to me. “You don’t understand,” he said, his voice hard. He grabbed my hand, but I ripped it out of his grasp. “How many times have my people suffered at your hands? Mermaids leading our ships into rocks, ripping our fishing nets. Dragging anyone who falls overboard into the depths of the sea.”
“And how many of your kind have captured us in those nets, dragging us above water and selling our tails to the highest bidder? I am no fool. At least we do the decency of letting the ocean take your bodies, instead of profiting off of them.”
“We need the fish to survive,” he said, arguing back. “We eat to live.”
“So do we,” I retorted. “But we don’t kill those around us to get them.”
His hands clenched into fists, each knuckle turning a pearl color. “We don’t drag ships to the bottom of the ocean.”
The water around us started shifting as we drifted closer to the surface. “We don’t kill anyone!” I said indignantly.
“They certainly don’t come back alive,” he shouted. The water was swirling now. I searched for the cause, but no storms or animals were near. “The men and treasures disappear into your ocean.”
“That’s all it ever is with you humans!” I yelled. “Treasure!”
“Treasure feeds our families, builds our roads,” shouted Kaga.
The water moved faster now, a small whirlpool almost sucking me in. Then the dreaded realization hit me. My heart dropped into my stomach.
Nothing else, no one else was here.
It wasn’t me causing the turbulence in the water.
Kaga.
I whipped my eyes up to stare into his. “Are you a water mage?” I said, spitting out the words in disgust.
He opened his hands, the water calming down into gentle waves. “Yes.”
Chapter 8
Iroared, flipping my tail at him. “Of course you’re a water mage. What are you even doing here? Shouldn’t you be on a boat sucking the water out of our villages to raid us?”
Kaga shook his head. “I don’t do that.”
Squiggles squeaked. “Princess, look up.”
I obeyed, gasping as angry lightning flashed through the sky. I grabbed Kaga’s hand, ignoring the slight tingling it gave me, aiming myself for the city. If we were lucky, we might make it.
“What’s going on?” Kaga said, oblivious to the storm clouds crackling just beyond the surface. The thunder rolled, making me shiver.
“Storm.”
The ocean roiled, and I kicked my flipper out, trying to swim back to the depths of darkness. I was too late. I grabbed Kaga’s hand, pulling him close. If the storm pulled us apart, we’d never find each other. Mother would kill me if I lost the ambassador’s only son. A shark attack I could explain away, but not this.
Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around me, and I buried my face into his shoulder, holding on tight as the waves tossed us back and forth. Squiggles kept his tentacles wrapped around my neck, squawking as if he were a bird.
