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“Seals are also delicious,” Skadi muttered in the language of the orcas. “Larger, too. Bring seals!” he shouted to a male, who to my shock bobbed up and down in agreement.

“No seals,” I quickly corrected, feeling slightly nauseous that I’d given Skadi so much of my power. “The selkies,” I reminded him when he glared back at me. We could not afford mistakes.

He grunted. “Ah, yes. We would not want to make the little spy angry by eating one of her pet mates. No seals.”

The orcas carried us a few miles before I noted, “You are much stronger.”

“The cold of your realm helped. I have never traveled to the depths of the ocean before. I approve.”

I felt his approval in our bond, but also his pain, which worried me. I glanced at the nautilus pendant he wore. The blue-ringed wound beneath was no larger than before, but the odd black markings now filled the space inside the circle. “It is not only my mate who has no time.”

“You must not carry me ashore when we reach the island,” he warned. “My brother will know if I step onto his resting place.”

“Will he sense your approach?”

Skadi seemed to think, his blue eyes narrowing. “I believe not. I am not at my full strength, and the power I have now tastes of the sea. I can conceal much. He may feel something, if he is paying attention. But he would not recognize me.”

We remained silent, slowing only when the males and younger females of the pod brought large fish for us to consume as we plowed through the increasingly filthy water. When we changed course to go south and around the strongest currents that blocked Pict from most boats, we passed by the small island the whale had spoken of.

On my way to meet Rada, I’d noticed it, with the freshwater spring and the small stone building there. Now, there were males standing on the shore. Starlakian Alphas.

They waved as we approached. “Where are they?” I shouted. “Where are the selkies?”

One shouted back, “A spit of land, the tail of the Pict islands. That way!” He pointed.

The orcas swam faster, and we quickly left the Starlakians behind.

The water had already become slightly foul when a small, stony half-circle of land came into sight. Black rock rose in uneven spires, and I could only make out one form.

“Warrior,” I greeted Rada’s servant when I was close enough to recognize the boy. “How goes it? Where are the selkies?” The boy seemed unable to answer, his mouth opening and closing like a fish on land as he gaped at me. “Are you unwell?”

He could not answer. Fortunately, the selkie Omega emerged from behind a pillar of stone and called back, “We are better now to see you alive. Shit. Did you kill Skadi? I wanted to watch Rada do that.”

Skadi made an odd hissing sound and pulled away from my tentacle, flopping into the water and churning toward the selkie. “I’ll teach you to mock your betters, seal man.”

“You’ll have to catch me fir—ah, damnit,” Lachlan muttered, wading out to meet Skadi, who had fallen in the shallow surf and seemed unable to stand. I sent a trickle of power I could hardly afford through our bond as I untangled myself from the orca and asked her pod to wait and hunt these waters while I spoke with my beloved’s Omega mate.

Don’t forget that the selkie Omega is hers, Skadi.

I forget nothing. I remember every slight given me, each one a needle encased in ice, frozen in perpetual rage for me to return⁠—

“Looks as if you could use a tuna, your iciness,” Lachlan interrupted, grabbing Skadi and hauling him to a stone-edged pool near the shore that he must have stocked with deepwater fish. Skadi stopped thinking of murder, and in seconds, was sulking with his mouth full of bluefin.

I addressed the selkie, who bowed. “Resourceful, Prince Lachlan. Thank you for your welcome.”

“I would cook you a meal, but we can’t risk fire.”

I gave an approving nod. Night had fallen, and the only glow was from the slender crescent moon and the luminescence from the countless small creatures on the waves.

“Have you been here long?” I asked. There was a pile of canteens and other provisions not far from us.

“A few days.”

“Can you tell us where we stand? We know that she reached Pict. We know that the Warlord and your brother are there, and that the fire god marked her.”

The selkie jumped up and began pacing, cursing in a language I’d only heard from merfolk until now. “I know. Kellin went to see her and came back to tell us. But I felt it happen as well.” He rubbed at the silvered bite mark on his shoulder. “I can feel her pain. And yours, Emperor.”

I grunted. I had not known the bond would affect her other mates. “You have my regrets. I am trying to keep the strain of the bond from seeping out.”