He’ll know where it is.
My father rarely steps into the private rooms these days—especially not now when he’s busy with bigger problems—Ivan’s lost wife prize problems.
My heart thunders.
“It’s Thursday, right?”
I snap my head toward Chris, cutting her off mid-argument with Kayla.
She nods, her eyebrow arching in confusion.
“I don’t know what Kayla had in mind to help, but I think I know how to find The Red Dock’s exact location faster. Vlad is a good lead, but he isn’t always near my father—he’s slippery. It’ll take longer.”
Chris’s eyes sharpen, worry cutting through her expression. Kayla, though? A smirk starts curling across her face when she’s meeting mine.
“I shouldn’t—”
“Roran,” Kayla steps closer, her voice lower, warmer. “Let us help.”
I suck in a breath, my mind racing.
“How are you at dancing?”
Malec
Ican’t see my aunt, Alessio, or Onyx in the hellish red darkness. They’ve already gone too deep inside, and strangely, I don’t hear a single echo of complaints about the heat.
It’s not only looking like one—it also feels like merhell itself. Hot, boiling, but no bubbles rise around me.
My skin burns. I fight forward, each stroke a battle, each pull through my gills feels like I’m beingboiledalive.
I clench my teeth hard as another scorching current slams against me, but Myko’s long tail coils tighter around me, shielding me from it.
I never noticed how cold his scales truly are—or maybe it isn’t that his body is cold, but this place is just that impossibly hot.
“Thanks,” I mutter aloud as relief rushes through me, my gills opening and closing in uneven, shivering rhythms.
“Why can’t I freeze the water here?”I ask as I try to tap into my mom’s powers.
“Morvakar was hatched from the core’s dormant lava, deep in the ocean’s heart—the center of the earth itself. Even an entire army of royals couldn’t freeze it,”Myko explains.
I rest inside his hold, letting him glide us deeper into the massive cave-like chamber. I don’t even try to swim anymore, I’m too busy soaking up every drop of his protective cold scales.
How are the others not burning inside?
“I told you before. He is chaos incarnate. A living volcano ready to erupt. He could wipe out entire colonies with a single snarl of heat. Without an anchor, he’ll scorch everything, not just merfolk,”Myko continues, his tail tensing around me as if he’s holding himself back from tearing the walls apart.
Don’t mess with it. Noted.
I don’t like it—I hate it—but I don’t dare question it. If Myko is worried, then I should be terrified.
Myko stops abruptly. I snap my head forward, bracing for an attack, but there’s only another stone door ahead, sealed tight.
“What’s going on?”
“They went inside already… Now it’s all on Onyx,”Myko snarls, his voice rumbling in my mind like an echo from a deep chasm.
I start to pull away, but another searing wave slams against my forearm, and I coil back instinctively. Only then do I notice it—the Nortyn mark glowing at the bottom of this door too, bright and sharp.
