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My chin tipped down.
My nape tingled with despair.
And I couldn’t help it.
I’d drunk enough seawater to last a lifetime and now it poured hotly out of my eyes.
My ankle bellowed as I drew my legs up to my chin.
My wrist screeched as I wrapped my arms around them.
And my heart shattered as the girl who’d saved my life scooted closer and wrapped her slender embrace around me.
She shook and shuddered with me, holding on to me so tight.
Tight enough to keep me from being washed away by my tears.
Chapter Three
*
Aslan
*
(Moon in French: Lune)
“NERI, WHAT ON EARTH—”
“It’s okay, Mum. He fell. That’s all.” The girl ripped her arms away from me and leapt nimbly to her feet. She threw me a worried look. “His family is missing.”
My heart fissured and it took everything inside me to stem my sorrow. Sucking gulps of air, I swiped angrily at my face, wiping away wetness, hissing as my damaged wrist screamed not to be used.
The girl’s mother stepped warily toward me, throwing a glance at the long bench with its sun-faded baby-blue upholstery along the wall where I’d woken and promptly tumbled off. A streak of my blood marred a white cushion, staining it, ruining it.
I had absolutely nothing to my name, and, if I was honest, I would rather be at the bottom of the sea with my mother, father, and sister—
Tears welled again; I gritted my teeth.
But I was alive.
And that meant the politeness that’d been drilled into me by my uncle who was the reason my family was dead—
I fought another crest of grief.
Fuck, I can’t do this—
An image of Melike speared through my mind.
Her innocent laughter. Her trusting eyes.
It wasn’t fair.
It’s not fucking fair!
“It’s okay.” The girl’s mother approached me warily. “You’re okay.”
That word again.
I hated that word. Despised it.
If I never heard it again it would be too soon.
Anger was good.
It dried up my misery and gave me strength.
Straightening my spine, I shoved away my shipwrecked emotions and tipped up my chin.
I had nothing and no one.
These people had saved me.
It didn’t matter I would rather they’d let me drown.
I owed them my thanks, and what had I done?
Ruined one of their cushions.
I sank into a lifetime of respect and obedience, taught with love and compassion but expected with a firm hand and harsh command. “I apologise for the stain. I’ll...I’ll replace the pillow. I’ll find a way to repay you.” I tried to stand but without two hands and two workable legs, I only succeeded in cursing with agony.
“Stop that.” The girl strode back toward me and planted her delicate hand on my suddenly sweaty shoulder. “I told you not to move. You didn’t listen to me the first time and now you’re on the floor. You better listen to me now. Otherwise, your bones will break even more.”
I shot her a look, anger flushing to be instructed by a child, but there was also something else. An odd kick in my heart that a total stranger cared enough about me to protect me, even from myself.
“Neri, let him go.” Her mother drifted closer, holding out her hand as if I was a threat to her daughter. Her sun-lightened brown hair swayed in its ponytail as she shook her head kindly. “And I don’t care about the cushion. I’m just glad you’re awake and breathing.”
I shifted the best I could, highly aware the girl called Neri hadn’t removed her hand. Her delicate fingers burned my skin.
I looked up at her looming over me.
Her crystal-blue eyes met mine.
I couldn’t suck in a breath.
Her mother looped an arm around Neri’s shoulders and pulled her firmly away from me.
Neri tripped back with her, but her gaze never left mine, fierce and bright, perceptive and clear.
Prickles broke out over my nape as I swallowed hard.
Looping her arms over Neri’s shoulders and clasping her hands over the dolphins on her daughter’s flat chest from behind, the woman said, “My name’s Anna. Anna Taylor. And you’ve already met my daughter, Nerida. My husband, Jack, is above deck. We found you amongst some wreckage—”
“It wasn’t us who found him, Mum.” Neri twisted to look up at her mother. “It was Sapphire. I told you the pod was acting strange. They came to get us and then swam so fast the boat barely kept up.”
“They were merely wanting to surf the bow wake. Like they always do.”
“No. They knew. They knew he was about to die and took us to find him.” Neri turned back to face me, her jaw set with determination and eyes glittering with belief. “We found you for a reason. I’m so sorry we couldn’t find the rest of your family, but don’t be sad. They’re with the whales now. They’re swimming and happy and free.”
A dagger pierced my chest.
Visions of my little sister trading her legs for fins brought fresh tears but also...incredibly...a little comfort.
