Page 142 of Storm and Sea

“I’m not a fish, but the joke landed anyway,” he said, taking a chair and ushering Nyel to do the same.

“I’m sorry I made you guys wait so long. To be fair, I had no idea where you went. And I was—am, so flippin’ mad at you.”

Atreus blinked. “Mad? Not— not scared?”

“Well, I was scared at first, but when you explained things, I stopped being scared. I was—am, mad. And hurt.” She stopped her sewing, staring at the needle in her hand. “You could have trusted me, Atty.”

Guilt settled in his stomach, but so did something else. It was warm, and he never wanted to let it go. He cared for this red-headed girl so much.

“I’m sorry. I am. I hope you understand why I did it.”

“Yeah. I do. Doesn’t make it suck any less.”

“I should have trusted you.”

“Yeah. You should have. But I’ll get over it.” Marina’s gaze locked on Nyel, who hadn’t said a word thus far. “I’m sorry, Nyel.”

Nyel blanched, obviously as surprised as Atreus was.

“Sorry for what? We’re the ones that lied to you.”

She waved him off. “I get it; this is a fishing town, after all. But I had no right to treat you like a monster. That was mean.”

“Apology accepted,” Nyel said, and Atreus smiled at the way he held back relieved tears.

“What do you like to be called? Just between us, of course. I promise not to say a word to anyone, even Papà.”

Atreus let out a long breath. “Thank god. I wasn’t sure if you⁠—”

“—If I what? Would tell? Seriously? Atty, do you even know me? Jeez. Give me some credit.” She threw a paper flower at him.

“Sorry,” he said for the millionth time that day, catching the delicate petals. “Uh. We call ourselves Mer. Just Mer is fine.”

“Got it. Mer it is. But more importantly”—she smiled at them both, and the warmth was enough to drive away all the residual fear in Atreus’s chest—“it’s Atty and Nyel. That’s all that matters.”

The tension in the air cleared like a gust of wind.

“Thank you,” Atreus said.

“Alrighty, no more pouty faces. Stand up so I can hug you both.”

They reluctantly stood, allowing Marina’s short stature to pull them into an embrace, one arm slung around each of their necks. She held them for a few extra seconds, composing herself. When she released them, there were no tears, but she blinked rapidly.

“There. Now that’s out of the way, Nyel, can you help me with these? And Atty, I’m pretty sure Papà has his hands full downstairs with the fry.”

“You got it.”

“And try not to fry yourself while you’re down there.”

Atreus rolled his eyes as he listened to Nyel and Marina laugh.

The moment Giovanni caught sight of him, his posture relaxed. “Oh, good. It appears you have made amends,” he said. “Marina came home so upset last night.”

“Um… yeah, we talked it out. It’s going to be okay.”

“I knew it would, but men get sentimental around my age. I worry for my children.”

“Nothing gets past you,” Atreus said with a shrug, ever impressed with Giovanni’s silent perception.