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Nemo stood up and blocked his path.
Blade huffed and squeezed past the hulking merman.
“Asshole,” mumbled Gill.
My sentiments, exactly. Thank you, but no, thank you, Blade. I was quite content with my two mermen…maybe three if Gill allowed it. A man who wasted his money on whores was not exactly the kind of man I’d take to my bed or consider for my lover.
The assassin dumped his winnings on the bar, where the barman exchanged them for gold coins and a beer bottle. Blade stuffed his prize in a velvet pouch dangling from a leather tie around his neck. Then he took a slug of the beer on his way out.
Gill nudged me in the arm. “Time to leave.”
I scooted along the chair and got out of the booth. All my fear outside the tavern returned in a giant wave that crashed down on me. The prospect of breaking into the collector’s facility—and potentially not even finding what I needed—terrified me even more than entering this tavern had.
Gill lifted me over his shoulder, gave me a hard slap on the ass, and carried me out of the tavern. Poseidon, he was really not helping the situation with Nemo.
The swinging doors on the tavern creaked as they closed behind us. Outside in the cool night air, he set me back on my feet and smacked me on the ass again.
“You did well, wench.”
Thank Poseidon. We’d made it out alive. While I’d played my part, I’d lost all my inhibition and anxiety about what could go wrong. Now, being back outside, I kept glancing over my shoulder, expecting to see some murderer stalking us in the dark.
“Hurry,” said Fin. “This is not a place where we want to linger.”
I concurred wholeheartedly. He helped me onto my mare. Verita had kindly given us four horses in exchange for one of my gold hair clips with the pearls.
When my companions were on their steeds, we raced off into the night, headed for the old ruins in the Darkwoods. With each strike of the horses’ hooves, my terror grew. Had we just left one deadly place for another?
Back home, the worst threat a mermaid faced was a shark. They were too dumb and bloodthirsty to get smart and not attack merfolk. Whales, dolphins, and seals were among the smartest sea creatures. Sharks, we could deal with, using our sonic vibration powers.
But what dwelled in this forest, ready to attack us? This thought did not sit well with me. When I was young, my tutors had told me stories of all the lands of Haven. Fae dwelled in the southern part of the Darkwoods. The witch queen had taken control of the White’s kingdom in the northeast. Voodoo witches and pirates settled in the south of boundary to the south. On the borders dwelled the panther shifters. To the east, dragons lived in the Wildfire mountains. Any one of those creatures could wander into the Darkwoods and claim us as their next meal.
Haven was positively brimming with humans, witches, and magical species, and not long ago, war had waged between them all. The witch queen could consider our presence in the Darkwoods an invasion. Poseidon only knew what she’d do with us. Rumor spoke of her bathing in the blood of virgins to preserve her lifespan well beyond her human years. If they were to be believed, legend also spoke of her possessing a magic mirror that revealed to her the future and the intent within anyone’s heart. My mermen and I were dealing with forces beyond our experience and power to control. That terrified me beyond belief, and I sat my horse stiffly, my legs cramping from squeezing the saddle too tightly.
“Princess, your royal ass sure is tight from this angle.” Gill said from beside me, giving me a confident wink. “Don’t tell me you’re a little worried?”
Yes, I was, actually. But I wasn’t about to admit it. My aunt always told me to never admit my fears or concerns, especially to the people in court. They’d twist it to their advantage. Not that I considered these mermen the same kind of people, but I still didn’t want them to see my fear.
Fin chuckled. “Hurry up, and tell her you’re fond of her.”
Gill plucked an apple from a tree in the orchard we strolled through, took a bite, and then tossed the rest at Fin.
Fin slowed his horse to keep pace with Gill’s and gave his friend a good whack on the thigh.
Nemo cracked his knuckles as he had with Blade. I could see Nemo swinging at Gill for his behavior back at the tavern.
Guilt nipped at my heart like a hungry salmon. Poor Nemo. He really didn’t want to share me. A relationship with Fin had stretched the limits of Nemo’s tolerance. Flirting will Gil was testing him even further. Controlling my feelings for all three was impossible; I could just as easily stop breathing air.
There was something about Gill that was a refreshing change from the crowds I’d been surrounded by at court. The simplicity of him was incredibly appealing to me. No matter how I tried to deny my attraction to him, a deep, dark part of me was excited to explore our feelings. I wondered what kind of lover he might be compared to Nemo and Fin. Judging by his reckless ways so far, he’d be quite the kinky partner, probably into the rough stuff, wrecking my body with pleasurable pain. I hated to admit it, but the idea had my privates steaming up.
“You’ll have to try much harder to impress me,” I said, returning his flirtation.
“Ouch.” He pressed a hand to his chest.
The humor didn’t distract me for long. Quickly, my heart turned dark again with worry about what lay ahead of us. The cramps in my legs returned. I squeezed the horse’s reins so tight, I lost feeling in my hands.
“Nyssa,” said Fin, his horse trotting beside mine. “You need not worry when you’re with us.”
Nothing frightened that merman. I wished I possessed but a fraction of his courage. Then I might not have been such a quivering mess all tangled in a tight ball.
Even with his reassurances, I wasn’t so confident. My mind kept wandering back to the assassin’s words. No one had ever broken into the collector’s trove. I had to consider the possibility that this was a suicide mission. That my mermen and I might end up where we’d left—apprehended again, and this time, sold to the highest bidder. A fate my stomach could not digest.
