Chapter 23

23

K yree watched with growing nausea twisting in her stomach as Honour’s tail moved with a ferocity she had never seen before. At least not from behind.

She was leaving her.

She was leaving them.

“I have to get back to my men.” On the surface, Hudson’s voice seemed entirely unaffected by anything that had just happened—Honour’s leaving, and the words that had cut Kyree to the core.

“I want to fix this.” Desperation leaked into Kyree’s words. Fear latched onto her heart, and it was digging its claws in deep. Honour leaving was one thing. But Hudson? It really would plunge Kyree into isolation. She wouldn’t ever be able to get back home or to who she was before them. They had changed her.

Wholly. Completely.

“You can’t, Kyree. None of it can be fixed. We’ve kept our secrets and our real purposes. We treated Honour like she was an idiot.” Hudson threw her hands up in the air and shook her head. “We made our bed.”

“And that’s okay with you?” Now desperation entered the conversation. Tears stung Kyree’s eyes, but she refused to let them loose. The entire ocean was falling apart around her, and she was witnessing it in slow motion. This wasn’t just about a war. It was about mermaids. And connection. Relationships.

They could come together to fight, but they couldn’t ever do anything beyond that. Could they? They were the essence of why the mermaid race was broken and shattered and would never become one again.

“I don’t have the privilege of playing games. My people are relying on me.” Hudson made a fist and planted it right in the center of her chest. Her eyes were dark, serious.

“Games?” Kyree furrowed her brow. She’d never been more confused than she was right now.

Hudson rolled her eyes, and Kyree wondered how many more stabs to the chest she could survive. She should stop while she was ahead. She should go back to the deep soundings and beg for them to accept her back into the tribe.

But there was something else in Hudson’s face. Was that hurt?

“You really agree with Honour? You think I’ve got some other agenda?” The words tasted rotten on her tongue. She hated that she was asking this, but was it really the issue? The one they needed to get out in the water between them?

“Of course you do. We all do.” Hudson twisted around and began swimming off in the opposite direction to Honour. Over her shoulder, she sent her parting words. “Even Honour does. She just isn’t sure what that is yet.”

“Wait…” Kyree said, but the word died as soon as it left her lips. Was Hudson really gone just like that? No fight? No goodbye? Just gone.

The second person Kyree had ever truly felt a real connection with swam away from her, devastating her. She’d needed them. And now they were both gone. She’d given them her life, and they didn’t even seem to care.

They didn’t seem to understand her decision or the consequences of the choice she’d made for them.

It was all for them.

And honestly, how could she have told them about the soul stone? She wasn’t even sure if the stories were true. She’d spent years listening to the elders tell them, search for the soul stones, but she’d never fully believed they were real.

She hadn’t come to save the war. She’d come to show her support, to fight and help in whatever way she could. And this was how she could do that. She’d finally found her purpose.

She’d never thought that she’d find herself in the middle of a relationship—not when she’d left the deep soundings. But she had. She had finally found home. A real home where she belonged. Between the arms and bodies of these two beautiful warriors.

How stupid could she be?

Kyree with her high ideals and beliefs.

The ripples in the water that lapped toward her made her heart beat for a moment in hope. Had Honour come back for her? Hudson?

But it wasn’t warming that touched her. It was the cool smooth skin of her familiar. Nylah brushed their fin against her arm and then her cheek. Wiping away the tears she’d spilled. Giving her the sweet comfort she needed from Hudson and Honour, not from Nylah.

“Oh Nylah,” Kyree murmured, lifting her hand up and brushing her fingers along Nylah’s back. They’d never been particularly friendly with each other. They’d tolerated her presence, and Kyree had known as soon as she’d met Soulara that Nylah was hers. “No one understands the deep soundings but you.”

Nylah flapped their fin on Kyree’s skin. But Kyree wasn’t sure if it was in opposition to what she’d said or agreement. They weren’t connected like that, not unless Kyree worked really hard to focus on Nylah’s thoughts and feelings.

“Hello, my friend. Do you have another message from Soulara?” That’s the only reason Nylah would be there, to protect Soulara.

The message was clear and sharp in her mind. It sent waves of nausea rippling through Kyree’s body, from her head down to her fluke fins. Instinctively, Kyree snuggled into her familiar and the overwhelming warmth and comfort of love filled her. That was what she was missing in her life—but she couldn’t focus on that now.

She began to swim toward Reine. This was the information the king would need, that all of them needed to know about. After three strong kicks of her fluke, she stopped. Staring into the dark water in front of her, Kyree shook her head. She hesitated.

Without Hudson, Honour wouldn’t listen to her. Honour would think it was yet another lie, a ploy by Kyree in an attempt to manipulate Honour and Reine. The king wouldn’t get the information because it would never get past his general.

And they wouldn’t tell Hudson and her men. They wouldn’t even know to. Beyond that, this could be how they could show Honour what mattered most. That Kyree wasn’t trying to hide the truth.

Flipping around in an instant, Kyree followed her intuition. She pushed harder, hoping Hudson’s trail hadn’t yet gone cold.

Hudson’s words rang in her head. Was that another ulterior motive, one of those agendas Hudson had been talking about?

Maybe.

Probably.

But Kyree had no intention of hiding this agenda.

“Hudson!” Kyree called out the moment she became positive that the cluster of mers in front of her were indeed Hudson and her men. “Damn it, Hudson. Stop.”

Hudson turned around, her men following suit as they continued to flank her. “What the hell are you doing?”

“We can fix it.” Kyree’s lungs burned. She had forced herself to keep up her speed, keep her pace going even as pain radiated through her side.

“What the hell?” Hudson shook her head, confusion and skepticism marring her features. “I assumed you’d gone off back to Reine, chasing Honour.”

“We can fix it, Hudson.” Gaining back her ability to speak more easily, Kyree pinned Hudson with a knowing look.

“I heard you the first time. But what makes you think so? Or makes you think I want to?” Hudson’s shoulders pushed back, and the men surrounding her leaned in, taking in every word.

“Because I know when the next attack is going to be. And the humans are throwing everything they have at it.” Kyree opened her eyes wide, hoping that Hudson would see the truth in her words.

“Hudson, we’ve gotta be in on that one.” A mer at Hudson’s right shoulder became animated as he spoke.

“And since when did you give the orders?” Hudson turned toward him. Kyree caught the raised eyebrows before Hudson’s face moved out of view.

The man shrank back and lowered his head.

Despite the pain and twists within her at the last confrontation with Honour, Kyree couldn’t stop her body reacting to this show of power and dominance. Her core warmed and her slit fluttered. Ignoring the heat in her cheeks, she moved closer to Hudson, using the other mer’s body to shield her arousal from the men who had all shifted back a little.

“Men.” Hudson’s eyes locked with Kyree though she continued to speak to the mers hovering behind her. “We’re leaving.”

Shuffling and mutters came from behind them.

Hudson turned with a sharp twist of her body.

“I said…” She growled and pushed away from Kyree but didn’t shift to allow the men a better or closer look at her. “Get your shit together. We’re leaving. Whoever choses to remain when the next wave comes won’t just be left behind, but will be left with a gash for the krill to feast on.”

The men moved without another word of protest. Hudson didn’t turn around.

Kyree expected she would watch the men as they swam out of sight. But she couldn’t take her eyes off of Hudson.

It made her shiver, the pleasure that filled her body at seeing this warrior floating tall and in charge. She’d always been a pacifist. She would prefer to live in harmony, and yet here she was flooded with arousal over one warrior and eager to go win back the trust of another. And here she was, passing along information that would get hundreds of mer and humans killed.

She had lied to herself the entire time.

She’d never be welcomed home.

She was the deep sounding sacrifice.

Eventually Hudson turned toward her, her face soft and her eyes filled with a sadness that threatened to break Kyree’s heart all over again.

“Please, we can show her.” Kyree’s voice was soft and gentle. Not for any kind of manipulation but because she wanted this. She wanted Hudson and Honour, and she wanted her own life to finally begin.

“Why are you so sure I want to? What makes you think I even care?” Hudson’s face belied the words. She scowled as though reading the truth in Kyree’s face.

“Because I can see it.” Kyree lifted one palm and traced lightly along Hudson’s sharp cheek bone. For the briefest of moments, Hudson’s eye lids fluttered down and the scowl on her face dropped away. As though she forgot to be the warrior and the leader of those men. And remembered what it was like to just be Hudson. “You care. You don’t want to lose, but you do care.”

Kyree’s heart swelled. This was why she loved the warriors. They were so much more than that.

Wait, love?

“You need to stop living in this ideal fairytale. It doesn’t exist. You can’t have both, Kyree. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

“Of course you can.” Kyree moved her body even closer to Hudson, enjoying the gasped intake of breath from the mer. “And I can show you how.”

“How?” Hudson’s voice came out in a small croak.

“Show her that she matters. And tell her everything you plan, everything you want from this world. And tell me.”

“Everything?” Hudson scoffed, shaking her head and moving back a little farther.

But Kyree noticed Hudson’s own slit peeking through just a little beneath her scales.

“Yes. And I’ll give you both everything that I am in return. I’ll show you everything I can do.”

“The animals?”

“Yes.” Kyree smiled.

“Hmm.” Hudson purred and drew closer again to Kyree. “Tempting. You’ve always been so tempting.”

“Yes. But I want to be more than just that.”

“You are,” Hudson whispered and pushed herself all the way back, making sure she couldn’t be reached no matter how tempting she had confessed Kyree to be.

“And what makes you think everything we are will ever be enough for Honour?”

“I don’t know.” Kyree shook her head, grateful for the distance between them, the distraction of Hudson’s physical touch. “But I want to try. I want to do everything I can to show her what she means. And if it’s not enough, then so be it. But I won’t have her thinking I ever thought her less than enough for me.”

“So why do you need me?” The begging in Hudson’s eyes was raw and real.

“Because we belong together, all of us. And you’re enough to fight for. Not just with, but for, and I will fight for you.”

“I need to fight for my men, to fight the Talons and give freedom to my people.” Hudson shook her head slowly.

Kyree nodded. The lump in her throat was painful to swallow over, but she couldn’t hold back now. Not if she expected so much from Hudson.

“Then I’ll help you.”

“And what if I don’t give you and Honour what you want?”

“You already have.”

For a moment, Hudson seemed frozen in the water. They stared at each other, Hudson’s brain no doubt clicking through what Kyree had just said in the same way that Kyree’s was. She was so close to confessing everything. The words were on the tip of her tongue, and she was damn near ready.

Hudson swam forward, locking her hand around Kyree’s wrist and holding firmly. She pressed their cheeks together, and Kyree felt the hot tears in the water against her skin. She heard Hudson’s ragged breathing, felt her lips against her ear when Hudson turned into her even more.

“Don’t let me regret this,” Hudson murmured.

“I pray you don’t.” Kyree moved slightly, enough that she could see Hudson’s light brown eyes, the golden hues in them. “I don’t want you to.”

She pressed their mouths together hard, teeth gnashing and tongues sliding against each other. Kyree’s hand was in Hudson’s hair, holding her firm and fast. She’d never truly been the one to initiate. She’d always waited, but feeling this full force of power, of the arousal that coiled through her, Kyree wasn’t ever going to give this up.

Hudson broke away sharply. Her chest rose and fell rapidly. She raised her hand to her lips and brushed her fingertips across them. The corner of her mouth quirked up as her eyes lit with joy. “The men will be ready in a moment.”