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He started down the shore, and I held my breath, stretching my arm out further.
“Uh, okay,” he said and tentatively reached for me. Our fingers locked just as the tide swelled, and I pressed my eyes shut as I felt a rush of water race up the shore.
Pop.
Solid and steady, his hand was still fixed in mine when my eyes opened again.Thank goodness.
Kai’s body lurched forward, plunging right into the sand in front of me. “Oof,” he groaned when he managed to yank his face out of the sludge. “Dude!”
I started pulling him up when his fins caught my eye.
What the heck?
Two dorsal fins jutted straight out of the center of his back like sails on a ship, way higher than where a normal tail should have started. I gulped, realizing what they’d done to his shirt. The fabric was split, sliced and diced from where their sharp edges had poked through during his transformation.
But that wasn’t all. A blue-gray tail trailed behind him like a bony whip, narrowing into an angled fin at the end sporting sharpened blades of bony flesh rivaling the ones crowning his back.
“I don’t understand,” he gasped, pulling himself closer to me. And neither did I. He was nothing like I’d expected. Why did he have so many sharpened points and edges? “How are you doing this?”
Kai’s body seemed to shake with energy, his eyes flicking between me and his tail.
“Honestly?” I whispered, feeling bewildered myself. “I have no idea.”
He watched his tail thrash through the wet sand like a cat watching its tail flick back and forth, then turned to me, all smiles and polished teeth.
So many teeth.
“Does anyone else know?” His tail wiggled happily, moving us into deeper water.
“I actually still don’t know how to swim,” I confessed, my arms clamping around his as the waves sucked us in further. “Leander took me down to the palace. I didn’t swim there at all.”
I took a breath, feeling the water beat against my shoulders. “You’ve been so nice to me since you got here, like you were the only one who actually cared. It didn’t feel right that you were the only one left who didn’t know.”
His smile drooped, but he recovered quickly. “Everyone else knows?”
“Well, not everyone. But Barren and Leander know,” I said, hating the thought of making him feel left out. “Er, Laverne, too, I guess.”
“Laverne knew?” he groaned, and I shrugged, gritting my teeth.
“She talks to you, right? I didn’t even think about her telling you before, but I’m actually kind of surprised she kept it a secret.”
“Hmm,” he grumbled, the short movements of his tail keeping us parallel to the shoreline. “She probably didn’t want, well,thisto happen.” His chin cocked, gesturing down at the arm I was currently wrapped around.
“Oh—right. Good point,” I breathed out, keeping my fingers tangled up in his but loosening my hold on his arm. I didn’t hate having him so close—but was that how I really felt, or was it just some illusion?
“Do you really believe inthe thrall?” I asked, and his body stiffened next to mine.
“Yes,” he confessed, wincing like it had hurt him to admit it. “But whether it’s a love thing or a nature thing, I’m not sure. Some scribes think it’s just a way to keep us reproducing.” He coughed suddenly, nearly choking on his own tongue. “N-not that I was trying to reproduce with you earlier!”
“Don’t worry,” I said, hoping the waves distracted from my reddening face. “I know you were just trying to keep me safe. You’ve been so sweet to me. Thanks for that.”
“It would be nice, though, wouldn’t it?” he whispered, our tails brushing together as his body leaned into mine. Kai looked at me tenderly, his smile equally boyish and broken. “To have someone you’re bound to, even if it is with magic?”
A hand hovered in the water behind me like it was too afraid to touch. Kai’s lips hardened, his throat bobbing in a dry gulp as his hand finally landed on the small of my back.
“Kai,” I gasped, bracing a hand on his shoulder as his fingers pressed into my back, drawing me up against him. Unspoken feelings surged in his gaze, more numerous than the bubbles frothing in the water around us. “Itwouldbe nice, Kai, but I promise you, it isn’t real.”
His lips parted slowly, his voice low and breathless. “What if it could be?”
