This isn’t New York.
It’s a full world map—highlighting oceans, depths. Unreached zones. Scattered islands. Coastlines etched with almost obsessive precision. And across the waters: pod markers. Tiny symbols scattered like constellations, each one carrying a lineage I’d only ever felt in my bones.
My chest tightens.
Why is he looking at this?
Did Mom give him all that info?
Even I never knew every location. I only felt them—the flare of life when a pod thrived, the hollow silence when one vanished.
“And by issues, I’m guessing you mean merproblems?” I ask, tilting my head and raising a brow.
“Dad!” Kayla cries again, but before he can respond, I shoot her a glare.
“Kayla. Not the time. Go. You can come back to cry when we’re done.”
She freezes, eyes darting between us, as if she’s weighing whether to push her luck. Then she exhales, frustrated, and storms out, heels clicking sharply against the floor. The door slams behind her.
I look back at Dad to make sure I’m seeing things clear—he’s smirking now.
“You’re starting to handle things well with her,” he says, tapping my shoulder. “I’m proud of you.” He pulls me in closer and gestures toward the map.
“Now look here. These pinpoints.”
Red pins stab into the paper like blood drops staining a body. Mal-El. Sur-El. Aquan. Stylon. Kolox. The names thud in mychest, one after another, like stones filling my lungs, sinking me deeper.
“These are the pods we need to start with,” he says calmly, but I can hear the storm building beneath it.
I study each mark, feeling the weight of them settle like anchors on my shoulders.
“Your mom heard from your grandmother,” he continues. “Someone’s tracking merfolk. Vanishing them. We need you on this.”
The words sink in sharply. My pulse kicks.
Solas’s soul, it seems, won’t be the last nightmare today.
Roran
Ibite my lower lip hard as the needle pierces my skin. I never get used to the burn. The medicine they give me every two weeks always sets fire to my veins the second it’s in. But the dizziness and the voices disappear the moment the dose finishes—like magic. Pulling me back into my senses.
Which Ireallyneed right now.
I’m about to marry a monster to save my little sister.
“I’m so sorry, Ror. I never meant—” Diana’s hugging my free arm, sitting next to me on my bed as my father’s doctor walks out of the room.
“Shhh,” I cut her off, shifting my gaze to the door, waiting until I hear the click of the lock.
Only then do I let out the breath I was holding.
“You can’t take my place,” she starts again. She’s been trying to convince our father to let her take the marriage deal back, but for some reason, he’s finally backingmeinstead.
He’s a piece of shit—but as long as it keeps my little sister, who’s not even of legal age, from belonging tohim, I’ll take the consequences.
“Ror! Talk to Dad again.”
She shakes my arm like I don’t know what this means. Like I’m just some blind girl in love with the idea of sacrifice.
