My marks pulse with blue light, stronger now, and I let them take over as I close my eyes and sense every soul around me. I shut off their cries. Their whispers. Their warmth.
None of it’s mine to bear anymore.
It’s just power now—the power that keeps our balance intact.
My gills flare as the burn in my chest spreads through every cell. I feel it glowing, bright and strong, wrapping me in a shield of light—a glowing bubble pulsing with soft hums that ripple the water.
It summons the soul orbs out of their bodies—dozens of them—pulling them straight into my body.
Consuming them all at once.
The hunger fades.
My strength returns.
My exhaustion melts away, replaced by something fresh and bright and alive, like someone swapped out my blood for new energy. I feel so light I could almost breathe air underwater.
It’s...addictive.
When I open my eyes again, the huntresses are already gone—swimming far from the one thing that could kill them with a single touch.Smart of them.
I feel Myko’s breath in my mind—light, pleased. He feels the power too, the energy. The restoration. But then I catch something.
Movement.At the edge of the dark, behind a jagged rock.
Eyes.
“Who’s there?” I demand, voice sharp. Bay and Myko are already moving. Her body shifts into a protective stance, and Myko’s tail curls around me like a barrier. Always overprotective, like I’m still some clueless merling that needs shielding.
“I—I’m sorry…” a small voice stammers from behind the stone. A young mermaid—no, a huntress—drifts into view. The red glow from her tail cuts through the darkness, lighting her pale skin and long pitch-black hair.
Her onyx gem-eyes blink wide and cautious, like a curious little merling, but she looks like she’s already of age.
“What do you need?” I cut to the chase.
She lowers her gaze to the ocean floor, her tail swaying awkwardly. “I know I’m not supposed to speak to you, b-but—” she swallows hard. “I need your help.”
I tilt my neck from side to side, cracking it with a snap of impatience.
“My name is Nyx,” she says, voice low. “I was banished from Kolox City to the Hunters’ pod a few lunar cycles ago.”
I sigh through flaring gills. Only someone from Kolox would still use terms likelunar cyclesinstead of days or months. They cling to old terms as if they were scripture. My mom used to make jokes about it.
“And what do you nee—”
“Wait a second!”Bay cuts me off, swimming straight toward her. Myko growls beside me, low and threatening, a warning just in case Nyx tries something stupid.
“You’re Nyx? The daughter of King Volar of Kolox—PrincessOnyx?” she gasps. “What in all the oceans are you doing here? Yoursixoverprotective brothers let yourothere?” She points at her like she’s seeing a ghost.
I frown, glancing between the two of them.
She’sthatprincess?
The spoiled jewel of Kolox? How the hell does my aunt even recognize her?
Kolox is on the far side of our ocean.
Royals don’t travel that far.
