Chapter 14

14

A lightness stole over Kyree’s heart, lifting her from the pit she’d found herself in before she’d left Reine. Nylah . She wouldn’t allow the possibly temporary nature of the connection to drag her down. Not only did she have her companion with her once more, she had two amazing mermaids who seemed as taken with her as she was with them.

She looked at them from the corner of her eye and the way they awkwardly stayed in each other’s presence. What exactly she had interrupted when she saw Nylah? She’d been so excited that she hadn’t even managed to pause and take stock of what was happening.

If she wasn’t mistaken, they seemed far more taken with each other than previously. Had it just been the camaraderie of battle? The memory made her shudder. She wanted never to be in the middle of another one, but she also understood that this war for their home was far from over. Heaviness threatened to weigh down her heart once more. But Nylah danced in front of her, their energy electric in the water, and now bordering on impatient.

“Yes, we can connect and reach out to find your stone.” Kyree chuckled.

“How does it work?” Honour asked. The question was hesitant on her lips, but it filled Kyree with warmth, and if the look on Hudson’s face was anything to go by, she enjoyed seeing Honour’s curiosity as well.

“We meditate and hopefully I’ll be able to become one with Nylah for a short time. We should be able to find Soulara again if she still has the soul stone. They might even be looking for us. That might be why Nylah is here.” Warmth continued to fill Kyree, wrapping her up. Was that just her own elation, or was it Nylah’s mingling with hers?

“And all your animals have a soul floating around the waters?” Honour asked, reaching out tentatively to touch Nylah’s back.

“Companions are different from every other creature that swims in the sea. These companions are raised, brought up within our community. You remember Neyon, right? The companion with Kaelin?” Kyree looked directly at Honour, hoping she knew what Kyree was talking about. “The soul stones were lost many years ago. It’s been many generations since we’ve seen one, aside from Zendalia’s. The memory of them has been nearly lost and we’ve had only rumors of their existence. It wasn’t until Zendalia came to the deep sounding tribe that we realized the stories were true.”

“Oh.” Honour’s eyebrows furrowed together.

“That’s fucked,” Hudson said.

Kyree laughed, and it felt wonderful—the open freedom to be herself with the two most unconventional mers she could have ever imagined. More so because this entire experience was well beyond anything her life had ever prepared her for. And she couldn’t find an ounce of worry in herself.

“Yes.” Kyree settled down in the sand. “No one knows how the stones were lost. Those stories have died with our ancestors.”

“How can we help?” Hudson asked.

“Sit with me.” Kyree met Hudson’s eyes and then turned her gaze to Honour. “Both of you.”

“That’ll help you?” Honour asked, already coming in to join Kyree and slide next to her.

“Yes.” Kyree nodded as they both settled down into the sand with her, tails brushing against her fluke as she sat between them. Nylah seemed to enjoy the closeness of the other two mers as well as they danced in the center of the trio. “It takes a lot of energy and focus.”

“Can you take our energy?” Hudson asked.

“Is that possible?” Honour’s eyes were wide, her mouth curved open in the most delicious O.

“It’s possible. May I have the permission to do so?” Kyree moved her hands down the sides of their flukes, fingers sliding over their scales and warming from their bodies.

“Yes,” both answered immediately.

“Then we’ll begin. As long as we are all touching, I’ll be able to filter some of your strength. But I’ll only use what I have to.” That settled feeling moved into the center of her chest, filling her completely. Kyree wasn’t quite sure what it meant, but she liked it—whatever it was. She wanted to have more of it in her life—she wanted to keep it forever.

“Okay.” Honour’s serious expression made Kyree want to reach over, take her face in her hands, and kiss her. But there were more important things to do.

Kyree closed her eyes and focused on the energy that swirled around Nylah as she continued to float between her two mers, the two who would root her back down if she started to float away, the two who would come find her if she was lost. She knew that now, even without them explicitly saying that.

Kyree wasn’t certain if the movements Nylah made were her own form of meditation or if the ray had knowledge long lost to their mer companions. It might have been minutes or hours. Kyree forced herself to breathe slowly and deliberately, the water tickling as it brushed over her lips with each intake and exhale.

Soon, too soon, she reached out to Hudson and Honour at the same time. Just a little, she siphoned some energy from their strength. The movement of the water reached her, and she smiled, eyes still closed, hearing Nylah’s excitement inside her mind and her heart.

Can you find her, sweet Nylah?

Nylah’s excitement and thrill grew, and in her mind, Kyree could see, though the light stung her eyes and the restrictions she saw made her own body, her free body, ache for those in front of her eyes, those in front of Nylah’s soul.

“I’ve found them,” Kyree whispered, and both of her hands were squeezed tightly as Hudson and Honour reached fingers toward her.

“Are they okay?” Honour asked.

“They’re alive. But they’re in cages.” Kyree heard the trembling in her own voice. “Confined in some bright torture. It’s so hard to see.” The ache behind Kyree’s skull was already a dull roar, like the first time she’d come to the upper soundings.

“Soulara and Nylah’s soul?” Hudson asked.

“Soulara and Autumn.”

“The human who’s been helping us.” Honour filled in for Hudson. Kyree wasn’t certain if Hudson needed the clarification, but she enjoyed Honour’s willingness to give it without prompting.

“Can you speak to her? Is she really okay?”

“Nylah’s soul has been trying, but something is blocking them from reaching her.” Kyree pulled on more strength from her two mermaids, searching for more information more details. “Oh.”

“What is it?” concern and worry filled Honour’s question.

“She doesn’t have the stone. They took it.”

“But if she’s made contact before, does she really need the stone?” Hudson asked.

“I have heard whispers of those who don’t need the stone to contact their companions’ souls, but I’ve never seen it. Our people have lost too many of the stones through the years. We no longer communicate the way we used to, but our companions do still talk to us and help us.”

“I…” Honour started and then hesitated.

“You what?” Hudson asked.

Kyree wasn’t sure if the two of them still kept their eyes closed, but she was hesitant to open her own, to break the tenuous connection she had to Soulara and Autumn.

“I might know where there are some soul stones.”

The words were enough to have Kyree’s eyes fly open, the connection snapping in an instant.

She stared at Honour, and saw from the periphery of her vision that Hudson stared at her with as much shock and alarm on her face as Kyree felt within her.

“You—” Kyree’s voice choked for a moment, the words not truly finding a way to sit comfortably in all she had ever been taught, all she had ever known. “You know where there are soul stones?”

“Perhaps.” Honour’s face reddened, and she rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. “I know where Soulara got her stone from, and I suspect it’s the same place she received Zendalia’s.”

“Soulara gave the soul stone to Zendalia?” At Honour’s nod, Kyree continued, “Where?”

“Will they help if we can find them?” Honour asked, hope and fear warring in her eyes.

“I don’t know. Soulara is the connection to Nylah, not to all the companions we have. But to have more connection to our companions…” Kyree trailed off. Would they finally be able to speak to them again? To commune with them?

“Okay.” Honour took a deep breath, and Hudson reached out and take Honour’s hand.

Kyree’s heart felt as though it might burst. So many emotions raced through her. She took deep gulps of water and pushed slow bubbles out of her mouth. The war needed her focus—Soulara and Nylah needed her focus.

But how could she ignore the feelings that continued to grow and shift within her whenever she looked at Hudson and Honour?

“Milan lives a little way out of Riene. But I know the way.”

“Milan?” Hudson asked.

“Soulara’s mother.” Honour’s reply didn’t bode well of her opinion of the mermaid, but Kyree could see the strength and dedication Honour mustered. She would lead them to Milan, no matter what she thought of the mermaid herself.

“All right.” Kyree nodded. She would focus on the task at hand. “No reason for us to delay then.”

“No,” Honour murmured as she led the way. “No reason at all.”

Hudson chuckled darkly as she followed behind Kyree.

At first they swam in silence, a line being led to their doom, but soon the tension lifted and Hudson, because of course it would be Hudson, brought a lightness as she asked the questions others refused to. Questions that weren’t asked in polite conversation.

“So, what’s the big bad story with Milan?” Hudson asked as she flipped over and swam beneath Kyree, sticking her tongue out playfully as her face reached Kyree’s.

Kyree giggled, unable to stop herself.

“Sorry?” Honour turned to see the two of them.

Kyree pulled her head up and watched as Honour swam backward, facing them with her fluke bent as though she sat on the water itself. The core strength to hold the position let alone to keep them moving, though slower than before, must have been phenomenal. And it seemed as though her re-injured wound wasn’t bothering her after some rest.

Hudson sped up and swam beneath Honour, reaching up and brushing her fingers along the back of Honour’s tail as she now took the lead. Honour flipped around and caught Hudson’s hand before she got too far ahead.

“Milan left the kingdom, and Soulara, a long time ago.”

“But she gave Soulara the soul stones?”

“No.” Honour shook her head. “Not until recently. They’d been estranged, but Soulara reached out to her mother and they’ve been reconnecting. Milan has been teaching Soulara some…new things.”

“And you disagree with that?” Kyree asked.

She swam up beside Honour, brushing her shoulder along Honour’s as they watched Hudson try to copy the twirls and tricks Nylah did in the water in front of them. Hudson failed spectacularly at a move requiring Nylah’s fins. Honour chuckled and reached forward to cup Hudson’s cheek in her palm in a comfort for her failure.

“I don’t disagree with them reconnecting,” Honour spoke slowly, pondering what words to choose next. “I’m more cautious than Soulara, and more wary. I remember clearly Milan leaving, being older than Soulara, and it was a tense time in the kingdom.”

“Why did Milan leave?” Kyree asked, not that it was any of her business. She wanted more information before she swam into Milan’s circle and begged for the soul stones to be returned to their proper place.

“There are many theories, but I can’t say any of them particularly rang true for me. So, I’m really not sure.” Honour worried her lower lip, glancing from Hudson to Kyree before swimming forward again.

“Is Soulara happier knowing her mother?” Hudson asked, though her attention remained focused on Nylah.

“Sometimes.” Honour pondered again as Hudson tried another one of Nylah’s easy turns. “I think she’s still trying to work it all out.”

“And that doesn’t always pan out well for those in power,” Hudson commented.

“She’s not yet, which is a good thing. I think it’s better she works through it now, before King Pregtox is no longer capable of leading.”

“Spoken like a true diplomat.” Kyree looked over and winked at Honour.

“It’s not far now.” Honour returned the smile, attraction and joy in her own expression.

“Will we all be welcome?” Hudson asked, her attention back on Honour, despite Nylah’s continuing show of dance moves.

“I’m not certain any of us will be entirely welcome.” Honour swallowed audibly, and a knot tightened in Kyree’s stomach.

“You’re on bad terms with her?” Kyree asked.

The way Honour’s face paled, even more than her normal light coloring, told Kyree the answer. There was more that Honour wasn’t sharing, which forced Kyree to consider the possibility they were swimming into a trap. One that could result in their deaths.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to help get Soulara back,” Honour said confidently.

“Of course you will.” Hudson’s tone was filled with her usual bark, but there was no hint of bite behind the words.

“We can all help to get the best advantage we can with this war on the humans,” Kyree added, trying to soften whatever blow Honour had just felt. But she needed more information—at least she wanted it—before she went into this conversation with Milan. If she was going to be the one begging for the soul stones, which she was sure she would be, then she wanted the best advantage she could have.

“Absolutely.” Hudson met them, a hand on each of their cheeks. “We’re all in this together.”

The remark sizzled in the water between the three of them. Kyree parted her lips to say something, but Honour spoke first.

“We’re here.”