Chapter 1

1

“ H onour…”

Kyree’s heart clenched. Blood poured from Honour’s body as she floated toward the floor of the ocean from the surface. The large clanging metal machine disappeared, and it didn’t submerge back into the water looking for Honour.

Pushing her fluke down, Kyree propelled herself forward as swiftly as possible. She swam to Honour, wrapping her arms around Honour’s chest and immediately flipped them backward. She didn’t dare stop to see exactly what Honour’s wounds were.

Her longer fluke took them swiftly into the darker water. Kyree settled next to a mound of dense coral, pushing Honour into the deepest spot she could find. Flipping around, she stared up at the surface of the water, worry still eating its way into her soul as she waited for the monster to come back.

That fear had never left her. From the first time Honour had come to her people and begged them for help to now, Kyree had been saturated with fear. She breathed in deeply, the scent of blood rushing her nostrils. Turning back to Honour, she panicked anew.

The damage to her abdomen and chest was massive. It looked as though the giant claw monster had ripped half of her away. And the blood—Kyree stopped at that. If she didn’t get that under control, there were other predators they would have to worry about.

Swimming off, Kyree went in search of supplies. What she had in her small bag wasn’t going to be enough to help. It was barely enough, actually. She moved swiftly, always looking over her shoulder to see if she could still make out Honour in the distance. When she’d collected the right mosses and found a sharp rock and some thin seaweed, she made her way back.

The water surrounding Honour was tinged red with her blood. Kyree wasn’t sure Honour would even make it back to Reine, but she had no idea what to tell the king. She hadn’t seen what had happened, and the only one who had returned to the water was Honour.

Soulara and Autumn were gone.

Kyree said a prayer over the items she’d taken, begging for the spirits to allow them to be used to save Honour’s life. She didn’t want to end up like Kaelin, banished for eternity because of murder. Right now she was only exiled because she’d chosen to help the upper sounding mermaids. Wincing, Kyree re-centered her thoughts. Right now, she had to use what knowledge she had as a healer and save Honour.

She worked quickly, pressing the moss into Honour’s side and mopping up the blood, stanching the bleeding. The moss worked perfectly, the small spores clinging onto the wound and tightening the injuries so they wouldn’t bleed as much.

“One problem out of the way,” Kyree murmured to herself.

She started humming a lullaby, one that her second mother had always sung to her when she’d been sick or injured or scared as a child. It had brought her an immense amount of comfort, both the words and the tune. She continued to sing while she worked, thinning the seaweed even more and using a sharpened needle-like rock to make rudimentary holes in Honour’s flesh to sew her skin together.

Her back ached, but she didn’t move as she continued to work. She must have sat there for hours, sewing Honour back together one stitch at a time. When she finished, she took more moss and covered the injury, saying a prayer of healing as she wrapped her tightly in wide flat seaweed that would help keep the moss in place for now.

Stretching out her aching muscles, Kyree looked around. The light had faded, and the water around them was darker, much darker. It was similar to Kyree’s home, where it was dark all the time. She reveled in this time of the day, but it seemed the mermaids from Reine didn’t. They preferred the light.

Biting her lip, Kyree sniffed the water, scenting any blood that was left around them. The coral wasn’t a great hiding place, but it had done its job while they were there. A few small fish swam by, and Kyree held out her hand for them to play with her fingers. Saying yet another prayer for safety, Kyree pulled Honour into her arms and cradled her against her chest.

She hadn’t woken yet.

And that scared Kyree more than anything.

Honour should have stirred by now, if she was going to make it. But her steady heartbeat, no matter how slow it was, gave Kyree some solace. Kyree swam deeper into the ocean. There had been no sign of the monster since the attack, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still looking for them. It had seemed hell-bent on taking Honour with it.

Why would it leave her alone now?

Biting her lip, Kyree swam. She didn’t want them to be found, and she certainly couldn’t make it back to Reine tonight, not carrying Honour, and not without some answers. Going there might result in the same as if she’d brought Honour to her own people.

Exile.

Death.

Banishment.

She’d seen how it had turned out for Kaelin to do that, the struggle it had been for Kaelin’s family left behind. Kyree had left on good terms, exiled but for purpose. Her family wouldn’t be shamed for her leaving, but honored. She’d left for a cause.

Kaelin hadn’t.

And if Kyree ended up banished from Reine and her purpose never completed, then she would be shamed, and she would be exiled in the same manner that Kaelin had been. Dragging in a deep breath, she found a rock shelf and rested along the side of it.

Kyree wasn’t familiar with the territory here. She’d used Honour’s ability to know where they were at all times, trying to remember what everything looked like, but with the light bothering her eyes so much, it was difficult to remember what all the brightness looked like. It was much easier to see now that it was dark.

She was going to need food, and she was going to need more moss to change out the dressing on Honour’s wound when they settled somewhere safe for the night. Leaving Honour tucked into the side of the rock shelf, Kyree went out to forage again.

Digging her fingers into the sand, she felt around. She waited for the feeling of the grains of sand moving without her intrusion before following the movement and snagging up a couple sea slugs. She put them into her satchel and went back to see if there were more.

The moss to heal Honour was easier to find here in the deeper depths. She shoved as much as she could into the bag along with the slugs and found a few more plants they could nibble on as soon as Honour woke up. Not wanting to stay away too long, Kyree swam back to Honour’s side, smiling when she saw Honour’s golden eyes half-cracked in her direction.

“You’re awake.”

“Can’t move,” Honour muttered, pain lacing her words.

Kyree wished she had something for that, but she didn’t. They would have to swim very deep into the ocean for her to find a plant that would help relieve the pain instantly, or even a sting from a ray would help.

Nylah.

Closing her eyes, Kyree remembered the small ray. She brought an image of Nylah to the forefront of her mind and beckoned the creature to find them. Surely she wasn’t with Soulara and Autumn when they were taken.

“You’re injured,” Kyree said, finally responding to Honour’s inquisitive gaze.

“The ship tried to take me.” Honour tensed. “Soulara—”

“Was taken. Along with Autumn. Were they killed?”

Honour shook her head. “No, I think they’re too valuable for that.” Honour hissed as she shifted, reaching up and pressing her entire hand to her side. “How bad is it?”

“Bad,” Kyree answered, not lying. She would never lie, not even to protect Honour.

Nodding, Honour relaxed back into the rock. “Where are we?”

“I do not know.” Kyree glanced around them. “I swam deeper to get away from the machine and find a place for you to heal before carrying on.”

“Kidnapping me?” Honour chortled lightly before hissing in pain again. “Note to self—laughing is not recommended.”

“Your ribs are broken.” Kyree pressed her fingers lightly to Honour’s side. “Here and here. Most of the injury is superficial but painful. I needed to sew you together.”

Honour grunted her agreement with Kyree. “I can’t see anything to figure out where we are.”

“We’re not leaving until morning. Well, not to Reine anyway. We do need someplace more sheltered for the night.” And for you to rest , Kyree thought, though she didn’t add in that last bit. She had a feeling Honour would rebel against the thought if she did say it.

“Where are we?” Honour repeated her earlier question.

Kyree instantly was on high alert. Had she missed an injury? Reaching forward, she slid her hand along Honour’s scalp, brushing her fingers through Honour’s long black hair to the back of her head. Her fingers palpated Honour’s head, looking for anything that didn’t feel right and using her instincts to try and find those places.

When she found none, she leaned back and stared down into Honour’s already closed eyes. Maybe it was just a brief lapse of memory. Biting her lip again, Kyree closed her eyes. She hadn’t expected this responsibility when she’d come here. She’d thought she would offer wisdom and understanding of the deep sounding mermaids and that would be it.

She hadn’t thought she’d end up smack in the middle of a war.

“Come on,” Kyree whispered to Honour, even though she wasn’t going to hear. She pulled Honour back into her arms, cradling her once more, and she swam.

They moved slowly, Kyree checking out several different places for them to rest. She finally settled on an overhanging shelf of rock, one that was deep and cool underneath. It would be the perfect way for them to hide and not be found, although Kyree would have preferred a cave of some sort.

They would have been more protected then.

Setting Honour down onto her good side, Kyree started to change the dressing. She pushed the used moss under the rock and buried it in the sand to try and prevent other predators from smelling it and coming after them. Then she placed the new moss against Honour’s skin and cinched the seaweed tight across her chest again. That would hold until the morning for sure. Then perhaps Honour wouldn’t need more moss.

Kyree curled against Honour’s back, careful of where she put her hands and her body so as not to trigger the injuries any more than they were. Kyree was hyper aware of all the noises going on around them, but they were relatively calm. Her eyes fluttered shut as the exhaustion from the day took its toll.

She was going to need good rest to carry Honour back to Reine in the morning anyway. If they could even make it that far in one day. Her breathing slowed and she settled in even more. The warmth from Honour’s body seeped into her in such an odd way. Kyree had never felt that before. Her people were cold to the touch—warmer than the sea, but certainly not as hot as Honour was.

A strange sound woke her. She hadn’t even realized she’d drifted to sleep, but the water was still dark, so it mustn’t have been for long. Kyree stayed completely still, listening again for the sound that had alerted her ears. She couldn’t make anything out, not again anyway.

But her skin prickled with that age-old fear.

The elders would find her, see Honour, and they would banish her like they had Kaelin.

Tensing, she shifted closer to Honour, who was still sound asleep. Her breathing was regular, her hands and arms were relaxed, and her wounds felt okay to the touch. Again Kyree tried to summon Nylah just with her thoughts, even though she knew it was futile. They had no special connection, and she had no soul stone to help her communicate.

What if they’d taken Nylah too?

She’d be dead in the open air.

Sadness washed through Kyree, nearly consuming her. She couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes again without knowing that Nylah would be there, without knowing that Honour would be fine, without knowing exactly how they were going to get back to Reine in the morning.

Pressing her face into Honour’s shoulders, Kyree tried to stifle her sadness. But Honour’s scent wrapped around her, filling her nostrils and bringing a sense of comfort she’d never felt before with another mer—at least one who wasn’t immediate family.

That same tune came to her, and Kyree started humming it. At least she’d managed to get some rest while she waited for the sun to rise and Honour to wake up again.

Again that sound.

What is it?

Kyree tensed her entire body. Someone else was out there. It wasn’t a machine—they were too noisy for this kind of stealth—but it was someone. Staying as still as possible, she listened to the waters and what they were telling her. She couldn’t let Honour be taken again. She couldn’t let the machines and humans find them.

The hand across her face burned, covering her nose and her mouth together. She went to scream, but she couldn’t breathe. She reached up, digging her fingers into the hand but to no avail. Flapping her fluke hard, she tried to push away, but it was useless.

Something hard hit the back of her head. Sparkles swam in front of her eyes, her ears ringing so loud that she could barely hear the water rustling around her. She reached for Honour’s hand, clasping their fingers together as total and complete darkness took over her gaze.

Her ears perked up just briefly as the high-pitched, maniacal voice, muttered, “Got you.”