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Snapping my hand out of his grip, I wrung it out in front of me and frowned. “You’re crazy. I’m not going anywhere near the water, and I’m definitely not going to be fixing any curses.”
Going back to the ocean? Even Poseidon couldn’t persuade me.
My fingers clenched into fists. “My tailis a curse in and of itself, Leander, and I don’t owe you or the Kingdom of the Atlantic anything.”
He didn’t look quite convinced.
So this was what merfolk were all about? Tossing the weak ones aside until they had a use for them?Figures. I’d already seen it firsthand, and yet I’d still let a smooth voice and a pretty boy face lower my guard. Well, I wasn’t a pawn to be moved around wherever the merfolk saw fit anymore. I should have never helped him in the first place.
“Listen, Nera. You have to—”
“Fuck you, Leander,” I said, shooing the sand off my lap. Who cared if I was naked? I’d let him look at my bare ass all the way to the door, ’cause it’d be the first and last time he’d ever catch a glimpse of it.
Grit fell away as I got to my feet, leaving only a fine layer covering my legs. Strong hands reached for my arm, but I swatted them away. There would be no smoothing things over with charming words this time, oh no.
Grabbing hold of a fistful of his hair, I wound my fingers in it, drawing his head back until I could see my reflection in the depths of his eyes. Leaning in close, my lips curled into a vicious scowl. “I swear to Poseidon, if I everhear your voice again, Leander, you’ll be talking to the tip of a knife. You may think you’re a prince, but you’re no prince of mine.”
I held him there, waiting for his smart mouth to open so I could slam it back shut. A whirlpool raged behind his eyes, his jaw clenching like he was straining to hold himself back. I drew even closer, tempting him to try me.
His eyes went blank in an instant, his expression suddenly inscrutable.
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
I released him with a small jerk and dismissed him with a twist of my shoulders. Oh, he was pissed off all right, but what did his feelings matter to me? I’d said what I needed to say, and I meant every word.
My wrists tensed as I made my way back to Dad’s house. I halfway expected him to run up and seize me again, but the insistent grip of his hand never came.
It wasn’t until I had dead bolted the front door and sank to the floor mat that I let myself breathe normally again.
So that was it. The nightmare had finally ended.
A numbness fell over my chest, and I raked my nails over the place where my heart thumped louder than it had ever thumped before. I could hear its steady beating.Thump, thump, thump… So why did my chest suddenly feel so empty?
Claira
ONE MONTH LATER
“Would you mind taking the slow cooker down to the O’Malleys’ on your way to the strip?” Gram asked, wiping a skillet down with her favorite embroidered hand towel. “We shucked so many clams earlier, and I promised Rita I’d give her a pot of chowder if we had leftovers.”
Lacing up my boots, I excused myself from the kitchen table and gave each of my steel-toes a test tap on the floor. “Oh, Gram, you know how greedy I am when it comes to your chowder.”
She let out an exasperated sigh and swatted at the back of my head with her towel. “Now mind your manners, Claira,” she scolded, but I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Okay, okay—I’ll play nice. I promise I’ll be good and not take a spoon with me for the walk over.”
I loved riling her up. Even at sixty-seven, Gram still had a lot of feathers left to ruffle. Clucking her tongue, she put a hand over her hip and shook her head. “You’d better not!”
Dad quietly slid a spoon across the table and threw me a mischievous glance. Snorting, I picked up the utensil as I rounded the counter.
“Well—! I never, John!” Gram gasped, throwing her hands up in the air.
Instead of carrying the joke along by slipping the spoon into my pocket, I set it down in the sink and planted a kiss on her cheek.
“Does anyone need anything else while I’m out?”
“Hm.” Dad leaned back in his chair as he considered the question. “I can’t think of anything, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something as soon as you’re out the door.”
Unplugging the slow cooker, I lifted it up by the handles. “Well then, as long as someone gets the door for me, I guess I’ll be back in a few hours.”
