I’d spent years angry at her, resenting her, convinced she was one small step up from a monster. Now that I’d seen her die—because of a mistake I’d made—I felt guilty about those feelings and the fact that there was a part of me that was still bitter.
Was that what was motivating me? Despite all the mixed-up feelings between us, despite all my anger and resentment, was I drawing my ideas about land versus sea from my mother?
Was I seeing things in black and white because that was how she’d seen them?
I hated to admit it, but it made a twisted kind of sense. My mother had left us when I was ten years old, when my brothers were much younger than that. My father had thrown away seven years waiting for her to come back; only she never had. Even with all my anger, all my assertions that there was no excuse for what she’d done, had I tried to absolve her of guilt? To make things easier on her, and on me, had I chosen to believe that it was an all-or-nothing situation, when it truly didn’t have to be?
If that was the truth, then Kona’s anger really didn’t make sense. I told him as much and he looked at me like I was dense. “I’m angry because you went alone. You know Tiamat is gunning for you, and yet you went anyway. What if you hadn’t made it back? What if you’d died? This isn’t pretend, Tempest. This is real.”
“I can take care of myself! I’m not a child playing make-believe.”
“Then stop acting like one, running off in secret instead of owning up to what you want. If you need to see your family, let’s go see them. But there are precautions that have to be taken. What if you’d run into Tiamat or one of her crew? What would you have done?”
“Exactly what I did do. I fought them and then swam to the nearest ally and asked for help. I’m not a moron.”
“What are you saying?” Kona demanded. “That. You. Fought. Tiamat. Alone?”
Chapter 5
I only thought people were staring at us before.
As Kona’s words thundered through the clinic, I realized every eye in the place was on me. Even Zarek had stopped stitching to stare with his mouth agape.
Obviously, telling Kona how I’d gotten hurt had been a supremely stupid move.
“Not Tiamat,” I was quick to reassure him, my heart pounding in my chest. “Just a few of her henchmen. Shark-shifters.”
The eyes Kona turned to me were a dark, endless black—no silver in sight and with none of the light I’d come to associate with him. “How many is a few?”
“Umm …” Suddenly telling him I’d gone up against five of Tiamat’s crew didn’t seem like such a solid idea. Especially considering what I’d had to do to get away from them.
“Tempest.” In that moment, in that one word, I saw a side of Kona I had never seen before. Royal, entitled, unwilling to be denied. I could tell he was using his power to influence me, but I was not without power of my own, and it annoyed me that he thought he could force compliance.
Heir to the selkie throne or not.
I tried to shove back, to show him I wouldn’t be coerced, but I was still too weak. The second my defenses lowered, he reached through the path we used to communicate—one that was exclusive to us—and snatched the answer right out of my head.
“Five!” It was as close to a yell as I’d ever heard from him. “You fought off five of Tiamat’s goons alone?”
Fury bloomed deep inside me. How dare he use our bond like that? I elbowed him, struggled to push him off the bed. I was rewarded by a raised eyebrow from Kona, who didn’t so much as budge, though I’d put all the strength I had left behind it, and a hiss from Zarek, who was still, unbelievably, working on the last part of the cut.
“How many stitches do I need, anyway?” I demanded, completely frustrated that, though I was beyond angry with him, I was forced to stay cuddled up to Kona like some good little girl.
“So far?” Zarek answered with a downward twist of his lips. “One hundred and fifty-seven. Before I’m done, more than two hundred.”
His answer only enraged Kona more, though he never moved an inch. “What the hell happened out there? And don’t even think about lying to me.”
“What is wrong with you?” I asked, annoyed. “You’re acting insane. I’ve never lied to you, and I don’t appreciate being treated like some damsel in distress who can’t take care of herself. Back the hell off!”
One of the nurses dropped a tray of instruments, and for long seconds, the only sound in the room was the clatter of steel hitting tile. Obviously, no one was used to hearing the crown prince addressed so bluntly. But I wasn’t one of Kona’s subjects. I was his girlfriend. If he thought he was going to get away with beating his chest and acting like a total caveman around me, he was going to be sorely disappointed.
Kona glared at me as he tried to accept the fact that I wasn’t going to bow and scrape for him. I glared right back, refusing to give an inch. Finally, with a sigh, he closed his eyes and buried his face against my neck.
“I’m sorry, Tempest. The idea of you in danger makes me crazy.”
“Obviously.” I stayed stiff against him, not willing to relax just yet. “Don’t ever do that again—you know how I feel about you reading my mind.”
“I didn’t—”
“You know what I mean.”
He sighed. “Yes. And I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
His obvious sincerity, coupled with the torment I’d seen in his eyes, was enough to make me relent. “I was about halfway back to Hailana’s waters when they ambushed me. We fought, I killed three of them, and the last two ran away.”
My synopsis of the events didn’t exactly explain everything that had happened, but unlike Kona—who had grown up with servants everywhere—I wasn’t used to airing my private business in public. Some sixth sense kept urging me to be quiet about the electric thing, to not let anyone but Kona know about it.
I finally spoke to him using our private line of communication. Kona, can you please trust me on this? I swear I’ll tell you everything later.
You’d better. He didn’t look happy, but he gave in, asking only a couple of benign questions for show. Of course, that just meant he was going to be in my face about this as soon as I got out of here.
“That should do it for the stitches,” Zarek finally said.
“Thank God.” I glanced down at my tail, saw he’d done such a good job that already the cut was barely visible. “Thank you,” I told him sincerely. “I’m sorry I was such a pain.”
Zarek grinned. “I’ve had much worse patients.” He looked meaningfully at Kona, who was suddenly very interested in the striped pattern of the wallpaper. Which totally piqued my curiosity …
But before I could ask what Zarek meant, he continued. “Besides, I got my entertainment for the week. It does my old heart good to see Kona being led on such a merry chase.”
Kona groaned. “Don’t encourage her. If she leads me on any more of a chase, I’ll end up lost somewhere in the darkest depths of the ocean.”
I ignored him. “Can I leave now?”
“After I go over the rules with you.” Zarek gave me a stern look.