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It looked kind of like Klester here had stolen the housing to a front porch light and made a couple of minor adjustments. The hole where the bulb would go was empty, but otherwise, definitely a porch light. I eyed the fingerprints covering the glass panes and the short silver chain affixed to the top of the housing like a handle. He’d been working on this for… days, Leander had said?
“As far as scavengers go, Klester here is a legend.”
Scavenger. That was my next guess.
The old mer tittered through his blackened teeth, his head shaking. “Yessir. Y’be remembering that when y’send payment, now. Don’t go forgettin’!”
“Of course, you will be compensated nicely for your service,” Leander announced in such an overly grand tone it made my nose scrunch. “And a little extra for your discretion.”
Hopefully Leander hadn’t agreed to pay too much for the… Okay, I really had no idea what a porch light was good for without the light bulb inside it. A weapon? A cage? A complete waste of our time?
The mer tittered away as Leander dropped the rags, leaving the scavenger to tend to the rest of his scraps. Clutching the apparatus close like he was trying to guard it, Leander lowered his voice as he ushered me down the hall. “Grab what you need, and then we’ll head to the water.”
The way he saidwaterthrew me. Now that he had his glass thingy, his shoulders shook with an excited energy, and there was even a very uncharacteristic bounce in his long strides. Was this leftover excitement from last night, or was he really this excited to go get his father’s trident back?
I frowned as I placed a hand over my stomach, feeling it grumble. “But what about breakfast?” Kai must have spoiled me with all the fancy meals, because the thought of a pouch of tuna made my belly protest even more.
A thought struck me, and I almost tripped over my own feet. It wasn’t actually Kai bringing me food, though, was it?
Barren was the one who’d been cooking for the three of us. Maybe for Laverne, too, though I hadn’t seen her eat. If he was feeding her, it was no wonder she liked him so much. I almost wouldn’t mind facing him again if he had one of those giant crescent roll breakfast sandwiches with him.
“I thought we could eat when we got in the water,” Leander practically squealedwith eagerness. Whoa. Grinning like that, he looked like a merfry again. It was the same boyish look Dad always got before digging into a slice of Gram’s pie. Leander glanced over for my approval, and I forced a smile.
Breakfast in thewater? My stomach rioted even more. When was the last time I’d eaten a raw fish that wasn’t folded on top of some sticky rice?
“Can you even catch a fish, my prince?” I teased, remembering how the maids would bring feasts into the palace. Though if anyone could figure out how to catch fish on the fly, it would be Lee. He’d probably start by punching them in the face first and, when that didn’t work, switch to snatching them up with his bare hands.
Leander’s eyebrows shot up as he opened the shower curtain. “But you’ll be with me. I thought catching fish was supposed to be your thing?” He chuckled. “I still have nightmares about that poor marlin tail you showed me on your wall.”
“Pfft.” I shouldered past him, scouring the floor for my bathing suit. “Yeah, with a net and a boat, sure. But I think walking to the storeroom for tuna might be a tad easier.”
I stuffed my bathing suit into the bottom of my backpack and zipped it, throwing it over my shoulder. Leander’s eyes scanned the floor, looking amused. “Didn’t I bring a net in here?”
“Even if I hadn’t tossed it,” I deadpanned, waving a hand through the air in dismissal, “it made a better skirt for you than it would ever make a net. There’s no way I’d take something so rotted and tangled into the ocean to get wrapped around some poor shark.”
His smile turned devious. “If it did, we couldeatit.”
Ignoring the joke, I sighed and headed for the exit.
He really didn’t like sharks, did he? Or maybe he just had something against the Pacific mers, considering how he’d treated Kai from the beginning.
“You’d better come through for me, Lee. I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday, and I’m gonna start complaining to management if I don’t get something in my belly soon.”
“Complaining to management?” he repeated, giving the impression he didn’t understand my meaning.
“It means you’re not taking good care of your hostage,” I grumbled, rubbing my poor empty stomach.
An arm slid around my waist as Leander came up beside me. He leaned in close enough that the heat from his breath tickled my cheek. “I thought I took pretty good care of you last night.”
The heat in his voice sent a little shiver sliding down my spine. He’d taken thorough care of me, but that wasn’t in question. “Yeah, well, that was fun and all, but a girl’s still gotta eat.”
“Let’s get in the water, then,” he said, pulling me over to the pier. When he got near the rail, he came to an abrupt stop. “Fuck. What happened here?”
A full yard of the wooden rail was cracked and falling apart. Even some of the flat boards in front of it looked like a heavy step from an oversized mer might cave them in.
“Sharks, probably,” I mumbled, and Leander lifted a brow.
My eyes fell on the dark stain where I’d had my fight with Aleena, and I gulped. How would he feel if I told him? Angry? Worried? Maybe even proud?
