Page 6

Blood on the water. Blood everywhere.

I should do something. Swim away. Open my mouth and sing. Use the hypnotic effect of my Ocean Voice to force her to put down the weapon.

But I’m frozen. All I can do is stare as my love pulls the trigger.

The spear goes flying. A swift whoosh of air makes my hair stand on end as it passes, and I hear a wet thud of impact a few feet behind me.

I release a serrated breath. How could I even think my love might hurt me?

I glance over my shoulder, a guttural noise forming in my throat as I see a row of dark scales coiling beneath the surface.

“A sea serpent,” I breathe.

The sailor drops her harpoon near her hip. “I got the damn thing. It’s retreating.”

Yes, but serpents tend to dwell in dens. Merfolk know to avoid them at all costs during nesting season.

If there’s an egg nearby, there’s bound to be more of them looking to defend their territory.

“We still need to get out of here,” I urge her, but the port side of her boat rocks up with a terrible creak.

Her legs go out from underneath her as she pitches forward, and there’s a sickening crack as she hits her head on the gunwale. I race to catch her before the vessel flips over, but the sight of wood splintering between a set of spiked teeth stops me from treading any closer.

There’s nothing I can do to prevent her limp body from rolling into the sea. I thrust backward on instinct to escape the open maw rising from the water as the serpent sets its golden eyes on me, its pupils narrowing into vertical slits.

A forked tongue slithers past its lips, tasting the air, tasting me. It lets out a low, clicking roar that rattles my bones and rumbles through my entire body.

“Zephyr!” I cry out their name before I can even process my fear.

Silver flashes before my eyes, a bolt of lightning striking the shrinking space between the serpent and me. The bright light goes out in a split second, and a tall figure stands silhouetted in the darkness.

Years ago, my sister told me how Zephyr single-handedly cleared my father’s defenses and led their friends past the magical barricades blocking the portal to the fae realm. But they’ve only ever come to me in the form of a voice on a current or a breeze.

This is the first time I’ve seen them as the legend from that story.

Their feet hover above the waves, their white dress crisscrossing over their chest and the slight curve of their waist, its loose ends flowing around their long, sculpted legs. Iridescent blue wings stretch out from their shoulder blades, the muscles between them flexing as they reach for the sword on their hip.

An aura of sheer strength surrounds them as they unsheathe their blade, moonlight glinting off their steel weapon.

They snap their gaze to me, and all of the measures I’ve taken to protect myself in case they turn on me after the ritual suddenly seem inadequate.

They’re beautiful. They’re terrifying.

They’re everything I thought they’d be before I got to know them.

They turn back to the serpent, their mouth stretching into a stunned grin. “Oh shit, big snake!”

Of course they’re drunk off their ass when I actually need them.

They fly higher, circling the beast and swinging their sword wildly to draw it further out into the sea. A squeak escapes my throat as the serpent snaps its jaws, its fangs catching the bottom of their dress. Zephyr cuts themself loose and halts mid-air, their silver braid whipping around their neck.

“Why are you still here, princess?” they shout down to me, far too cheerily for someone fighting a giant serpent. “I’ve got this.”

Right.

I dive beneath the waves to search for my sailor, my claws slicing through the dark water. Dodging the serpent’s writhing trunk, I push debris out of my line of vision and see her drifting toward the ocean floor, her knees curled in soft repose.

Her arms reach lazily for the surface, and her short black hair floats up around her face.