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“Well, of course I have. Just like you’ve been worried sick over Aden.”
“I don’t want to talk about Aden!” My brother snapped, his face like a thundercloud. Maybe it was too painful for him to discuss. I could totally understand that. We had both faced our king’s wrath when he discovered just how badly we’d fucked this thing up. Not to mention how Kailar and Aden’s father reacted.
About six months earlier, Adan had gone missing. Though Keion had searched for him everywhere, we’d found no trace of him. Oddly enough, that was about the same time as Kailar’s experience at Tybee Island—the one that had made him afraid to go in the water ever again. Wed needed to question him about that event as soon as he calmed down some.
The worst of all this was that we’d only recently realized what a huge mistake we’d made in all this. It seemed incredibly selfish that we could so easily put them out of our minds that way. Like they were disposable and some burden to us. But we had. Once we’d made our plans and sent them away, we went blithely back to our lives in the Atlantean military and hadn’t looked back. Yeah, we were young and the skirmishes with Beathag and her creatures were frequent, but that didn’t account for all of it. Not by a long shot. I wasn’t sure if either of them would ever forgive us. And Aden was still missing.
When we’d first gotten word of his disappearance, we’d launched an all-out search right away, but he was nowhere to be found. He had simply vanished, and he was nowhere inside the city. Still, Keion urged me to step up my efforts to find Kailar and bring him back home. We both hoped that their intense connection—the one they used to have anyway—might lead him to Aden once we got back home. I was in despair at that point because Theos was still missing and had taken Kailar who knew where. They’d both vanished without a trace.
“Should I totally submerge him in the water?” I asked Keion.
“If you do and he wakes up, I have a feeling the shit’s going to hit the fan again. But I’ll stay here to compel him.”
“I know we feel that what we’re doing is for the best, but it still feels wrong, Keion. And how can he be so afraid of water? He can’t be afraid of the ocean. He’s a Merman, for fuck’s sake.”
Keion was pacing back and forth, massaging his temples. “I’m only telling you what I think…what you’ve already seen today. I think it happened when he went to Tybee. Something happened in that water. In the open sea. His stepmother told me that he used to love the water and spent lots of time at the pools even after Theos died, but after that time at Tybee Island six months ago, he’s avoided the water at all costs. Won’t even go into a pool. I think it was the shock of whatever happened and the lack of water on his skin that put him in the condition we first saw him in. He was dying, just like he said.”
“It doesn’t make sense.”
“But just look at the difference in him in the short time he’s been back in the water.”
I was amazed at what I was seeing. Kailar, still wrapped protectively in my arms but floating in the salty water, was still changing almost by the second. Physically changing. He was still unconscious, but his breathing was much easier, and he looked drastically different. Where his hair had been stark white, it was now a mixture of purple, coral, blue, and green. When Theos took him to the mortal world, he’d put a glamour on him to give him black hair and green eyes. He’d been far too beautiful to be simply human with his natural coloring, even as a child.
Now his hair had such stark, bold, beautiful colors. I’d forgotten how radiant he could be. His skin had been sickly white, but though his skin was still pale, like all the Mer Folk, at least now it looked vibrant and was glowing with good health.
When I’d first cradled him in my arms, he’d been frail, and skinny. Now, his body was nothing but lean muscles. More than any of this, though, was the fact that his aura was a bright, beautiful color and it called out to my soul, whereas before his aura had been weak, pale and faded. Suddenly, a wave of protectiveness like I’d never felt before washed over me. He was mine. Or at least I badly wanted him to be. He was perfect in my arms. Attraction buzzed wildly through my veins, but I felt despair too, knowing how much he would soon come to hate me—as soon as he fully realized the truth.
I wanted him to be healed first of all before anything else, though. Sadly, I wasn’t certain that I could help. Our magic, regardless of how powerful our powers were, just didn’t work on our mates. I had to defer to Keion.
Keion’s stared down at him. “Are you worried about his illness? I’ll be able to fix that, Keion. You know I will. Well, the water and I together.”
“Why would he deprive himself of…of what he needed to survive? What would cause him to do such a thing? He hasn’t mentioned Aden at all, has he?”
“No. I’m telling you, Alyx, something isn’t right. Why is Aden and why can’t we find him? It’s like he’s disappeared off the face of the earth.”
“We’ll find Aden, Keion, and we’ll make all of this right. Now that Kailar’s regaining his memories—at least some of them—he’ll be able to find his twin, regardless of what separated them or how long they’ve been apart.” I glanced back down at him. I didn’t have a clue what had happened to my mate at this Tybee place, but I’d be damned if I didn’t put an end to it. Kailar was mine and I’d protect him with my dying breath. Keion would do the same for Aden. Assuming of course that they’d allow us to.
“Uh oh,” Keion muttered. “He’s waking up. Get ready.”
I frowned. “Ready for what?”
“Anything.”
Kailar blinked his eyes as he looked around, saw he was in the water, and starting flailing and flopping around in my arms like a slippery… Well, fish. Before I knew it, he slipped right out of my grasp and disappeared beneath the surface, his arms and legs splashing salt water in my face and pretty much every other thing in a twenty-foot radius. His head popped up and he screamed loud enough to do damage to both mine and Keion’s hearing.
“Easy, Kailar. Don’t panic,” I pleaded as I tried to scoop him back up in my arms. He wasn’t having any of it. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I yelped when he accidentally punched me in the face and kicked me in the balls. Or maybe not so accidentally.
Stepping away from him for my own protection, I heard Keion whispering an incantation,Petrificus Totalus, which caused Kailar to float up in the air, safely away from the water—water that he should love but obviously was scared to death of.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Kailar screamed at the top of his lungs as he floated up a couple of feet above the water level. Keion had managed to make things far worse, though I had to admit Kailar was a little difficult to please. He didn’t want to be in the water, nor did he want to be floating above it. I put my arms around him and lowered him back down until he was safely back on the surface and not floating above it.
“Come on, love. Everything’s all right. Don’t be frightened. You’re safe.” I jerked my head toward the lovely fish tail. “Keion, a little help here with the…”
“Oh!” he said and muttered a few words so that Kailar’s legs made a reappearance. Thank the gods. If he had looked down and seen that merman tail again, I think he would have climbed me like a tree again.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Keion roll his eyes and bite back a laugh. I was certain he was finding it quite humorous to see me try to be nice and patient…it wasn’t one of my strong suits, to be honest. With everyone else, I was usually extremely blunt and to the point. I think I was honest, although maybe not as tactful as I could be.
“Get me out of this water right now!” Kailar’s head turned in every direction. “Oh, jeez, where are my clothes? Fuck, what’s happening? I should have known this job was too good to be true,” he whispered to himself. “Are you going to kill me?” He shut his eyes tightly. “Do it quick, okay? I’m a pretty nice guy. I’ve suffered enough with my illness. Don’t make me suffer when I die!”
