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“Thanks for the input, but this definitely wasn’tmyplan. Pirating boats is never my plan. This is considered theft,by the way.” Capping off the dangly bit, she withdrew from the motor in defeat. “Who’s her captain anyway?”
“Uh, you are.” I gestured to the boat’s wheel and threw her a motivational thumbs-up. “Captain Claira. And it’s only theft if we actually steal it. Considering that you can’t even get the boat moving, I’d call this trespassing at best.”
Her full lips curled, firing off an acidic scowl. “Me? You’re joking.”
A burst of adrenaline spread through my chest as I studied her sour expression. “Well, if you don’t want the title, then I guess that makes me captain.”
My palms practically itched with the need to press against her. To soften that scowl and warm the pebbled skin running down her bare arms. Maybe she would appreciate it. Maybe she wanted to share her warmth with me, too. She came out here with me even after everything that happened between us. After illustrating with painful clarity just how much she hated me, she still looked to me for help. Trusted me enough to let me listen to her call. Maybe she wouldn’t push me away.
I hooked my arms around her waist and reeled her in before I lost my nerve, squaring her hips with mine.
“And I guess that makes you my first mate,” I said, letting the words go before even fully thinking them through. Would she think I was actually trying to call her my mate? And if so, would she hate the idea of being with me? My pulse stilled along with my lungs.
Puzzled eyes arched back and forth, searching my face, but my sure grip held her firmly against me, not ready to let go. Then deep lines of worry appeared between her eyes, and my resolve shattered.
I’m a fucking idiot.
A shiver of vivid recollection ran through me as my father’s words echoed through my mind.“The easiest way to drive a mermaid away is to hold them like you’ll never let them go.”
For a king so wrong about so many things, he’d been right about that.
Releasing her hips, I turned into the wind and took in the smell of the open ocean. “So, First Mate Claira, are you ready for a swimming lesson?”
“S-swimming lesson?”
I pressed my eyes shut like it would somehow help me melt into the surrounding darkness. With the throb of my heartbeat thundering in my ears, I could barely hear her answer.
“Oh, uh—I didn’t agree to swimming lessons. Definitely not tonight. I—I was just going to show you my tail and how it doesn’t move in the water.”
“Exactly,” I shot back and leaned over the hull, peering at the murky water below. “And why not take time for your first lesson while we’re here? The sun will be up soon, and I doubt either of us will be getting more sleep tonight.”
“I was only going to let the waves hit me a little so I could show you on deck,” she said, her boots tapping as she stepped in a tight, nervous circle. “Harbors are filthy, you know? That’s why I wanted to move to the open ocean. Have you ever swum in a harbor? You don’t want to know what kind of gunk collects with so many people and boats coming and going all the time.”
Reaching down, I raked my fingers over the salt spray clinging to the side of the hull. “So? Say you transform in the boat. What will that prove? I can’t see how your fins move in water if you’re notinwater.” No matter what, I was going to teach her how to swim before what little patience my father had left ran dangerously thin.
“But I already told you it barely moves at all!” she said, her voice raw with exasperation. “Okay, you know what? Fine. Let’s just get this over with,” she groaned, and the sound of her boots stilled, her voice coming in short, clipped spurts. “Then… after we’re through… you can have a nice… long chat with King Eamon… and you can tell him… how I’m useless… and how I’ll be going home.”
I shook the foam from my fingers and turned back to the boat. Somehow, she’d already wrestled off her heavy boots and had moved on to wiggling out of her ripped jeans. My dick stirred before they even dropped past the dark silhouette of her thighs.
Fuck.Now was not the time to be showy, human cock.
“Poseidon, give me strength,” I mumbled, forcefully prying my eyes away from the curves of her ass as it waggled about for the entire ocean to see. My eyes practically burned holes into the side of the boat as I waited. “You done yet?”
“Just a second,” she called back, but the boat had already stopped rocking from her movements. I chanced a glance, letting my eyes flicker her way just long enough to see the tremor of her fists at her sides. The sickening feeling of guilt unraveled through my gut.
“I fuckinghate that we’re making you do this,” I growled, angry at myself more than anyone, knowing that my carelessness was the cause of all her suffering. Her arms were actually trembling now, and I couldn’t stop myself from reaching for her. I couldn’t take much more. I needed to get this over with. “I’ll help you, okay? It’ll be quick.”
Before she could protest, I drew my arms under her bare knees and hoisted her into the air. Whether she was too dazed to react or too terrified to protest, her body sank against my chest, allowing me to deliver her to the side of the boat. “I won’t let go of you,” I whispered, praying the words would be enough to build her confidence. “You know I won’t let go of you.”
“Leander,” she pleaded, her clear eyes catching the moonlight as moisture swelled in their corners. Her hands tightened around the base of my neck, and I eased in a breath.
Visions of what my father had planned for her if she didn’t cooperate clawed at the back of my mind, and I willed my heart to harden.
This was the only way. The easier way, I’d been telling myself since the moment my father had announced his plans to make her obey. I knew him better than anyone, knew what he was willing to do to get what he wanted. He would break any law or even sacrifice his own son to a fucking fool’s errand if it meant there was even a chance of the trident returning to his ravenous hands. He was hungry for it, starving for power and the magic the curse had stripped away from him and left at the bottom of the ocean along with his palace, his throne, and his authority.
This was the only way to save her from my father’s ceaseless wrath. She didn’t know the things he’d done, never saw the horrors. No, Claira had still been sweet Nera back then. Just a young merfry. Never anywhere near the palace at night to hear the screams travel up from the tortured souls in the dungeon rifts below.
“It’s okay, Claira. I’m here. I won’t let go.” I turned her slight frame in my arms, setting her on the edge, then eased her legs over the side. “I’ve got you.”
