Chapter 3

3

T ension rippled across Hudson’s shoulders in that delicious way that made her know she was alive. That recognition of her own strength made her who she was today. Every time she had found herself leaning into the power of her own body, she got one step closer to her goal.

Her name would live forever in the histories of her people. She would be known alongside the men of old. One of the war heroes of their people. The first mermaid to earn a title and make her tribe see beyond the limitations they had placed on them all for far too long.

She smiled into the darkness of her small cave. She had taken it as her own when she called for a temporary camp just beyond the edges of Talon space. They never stayed longer than a handful of nights and never the same place twice. She wouldn’t fall into the trap of the laziness of those of old.

Stretching and wriggling into the grainy sand on the floor she felt every tightened muscle and laughed. This feeling always premeditated great change. And she had been itching for more challenge.

“Hudson.” Mika’s voice reached her. His silhouette in the cave entrance pulled her back to her reality—something she definitely needed to change.

“Mika.” Hudson drawled his name as she moved upright and languidly made herself comfortable on the flat rock that sat in the center. She toyed with her body, running her fingers up and down her sides and lightly over her breasts as she watched him carefully. What was he thinking?

“You’ve returned sooner than I expected.” Her saccharine voice no longer fooled any of her men, but so many others bought into her slim build and golden hair thinking her weak for her sex. She was the one all the mer men vied for back in Talon, and she was going to be their undoing.

“It went well.” Mika’s voice trembled the slightest hint, and Hudson prepared herself for unexpected news. “Cryloc and the rest will arrive at the first light, and they bring two captives with them.”

“Captives?” Hudson smirked, a smile that lacked all warmth lifting up on her right side along with a single eyebrow. Excitement coursed through her. This must be the change she had felt.

“Um, yes.” Mika’s voice now dripped with nerves.

“Oh Mika.” Hudson chuckled and lifted herself from her rock. “You’re a messenger. Why are you so concerned about the captives?”

Mika lowered his head as Hudson drew closer. She lifted his chin and looked in his face, ensuring she smoothed her face into the least aggressive look she could. She was brutal and ruthless when needed, but her men should only fear her when she wanted them to. “They’re mermaids.”

“Truly.” Hudson recognized the electric shock that ran up and down her body. But she had long ago schooled her features to show nothing of her emotions except what she wanted.

“Yes.”

“Have they touched them?” Hudson asked.

“No. One was already damaged when Cryloc took them.” Was Mika trembling in fear?

“Very well.” Hudson already tired of Mika’s sniveling fear. A reminder of why he’d been placed in the position of swimmer, the one who went between her and her troops. If someone wanted to kill him, it wouldn’t be the devastation it might have been if Cryloc were taken from her ranks.

“Leave. Bring Cryloc and the captives directly to me when they arrive.”

“You don’t want to give Cryloc a rest first?”

Faster than Mika could react, Hudson twisted her body. Her right forearm came up and slammed against Mika’s throat as she pushed him against the wall of the cave.

“Did I say I wanted him to rest first?” Hudson hissed in Mika’s wide eyes.

“No.” He shook his head quickly.

“Go.” She snarled, turning away from him and returning to her rock as casually as she had swum to it earlier. As though her outburst hadn’t existed at all. Let the sniveling brat call her insane.

Hudson had wanted to be rid of him a long time ago. But at Cryloc’s encouragement, she had kept him on. Some days, Mika being Cryloc’s son was the only thing that kept him alive. She rolled her shoulders and refocused on that sensation in her body. The light would be in the water soon, and she would be interested to see why Talon would send mermaids out to spy on her.

By the time the first rays of light filtered to their camp, Hudson could no longer sit still. She was up out of the cave and watched as Cryloc led her men through to the small camp. After a quick scan to check her men seemed unchanged, arms still intact and flukes undamaged, she focused on her two captives.

They weren’t Talon. That was easy enough to discern by simply looking at them. But as Hudson looked, she couldn’t take her eyes from them. For a moment, brief but significant for her, she allowed her eyes to graze slowly over the unlikely pair.

The smaller of the mermaids was a warrior. A familiarity in her bearing had Hudson instantly on guard. But the damage to her torso kept it pushed far enough to the back of her mind to study her. Her arms were muscled, her shoulders wide and filled with a history and knowledge of fighting.

Her companion couldn’t have been more different. She was lithe and darker in coloring, her face open and innocent in a way Hudson hadn’t seen on anyone older than a small child. When her eyes met the larger of her captives, she understood her own error. The woman might not be a warrior, but her eyes burned with a fire that instantly intrigued Hudson.

Her own perceived innocence had been the downfall of many who had underestimated her. But it was a falsehood. This creature’s innocence still lingered in those eyes, mixed with the unknown strength within.

“Ah, our guests,” Hudson purred as she swam closer to the group. She had taken her small freedom to indulge her curiosity by lingering over the two, but now she had to play her role. A role she had been born to.

“Guests?” The smaller one snarled, though the fire in her eyes burned brighter than the weaker words she managed to force out. “Your men kidnapped us and dragged us here. If we’re guests , I’d hate to see how you treat intruders.”

“Oh, you would definitely not enjoy seeing that.” Hudson gave a happy little chuckle, a smile stretching her face. She was going to enjoy this one. She was feisty and furious, something Hudson understood well enough.

“Please.” The larger one’s voice was timid and soft, and Hudson pulled her eyes away from the feisty one and tilted her head toward her. “Are you Hudson?”

“Yes.” Hudson pursed her lips and stared over this captive’s head to see Cryloc pale at her stare. She would deal with that later.

“Then I beg of you, let me help my companion. She’s hurt and without my assistance, she won’t be any good to you as a captive or a guest.”

“How was she hurt?” Hudson swam closer to the larger, darker one, sniffing as she brushed her cheek along the bound mermaid’s arm.

There was sickness there. Hudson’s body hummed, her nipples hardening from being this close to another mer of her stature.

“Does it matter?” The words were a rumble Hudson could feel in the touch of her cheek still touching the mermaid’s skin.

“Yes.” Hudson moved quickly to the other mer, grabbing her beneath the chin and lifting it up from where it had dropped forward. She would give the warrior some credit, she held up well considering the pain she must be in.

For a moment, their eyes met and understanding flickered between them. An understanding that unsettled something within Hudson. Before the sensation could make her do something she might regret later, the mermaid finally answered her.

“I was hurt before your men collected us to be your guests.” That vehemence was still there, and it thrilled Hudson to no end.

“Ah.” Hudson nodded and smiled. That’s all it was. A warrior’s understanding of another warrior. She could accept that. She could understand it. But they weren’t the same. The people this warrior had come from, and she was certain she was a warrior from Reine, had never condemned her for her desire to fight. Never scoffed at her for wanting more from her life. They weren’t the same.

“Please. I need moss, and other healing herbs. Will you help me?”

“Why should I?” Hudson turned on the large mermaid again, drawing closer as she loomed.

“Stay away from her,” the smaller one ground out.

Hudson laughed. “Oh, are you afraid I might hurt your little innocent one? I’m sure she can defend herself if she wants to.”

“I won’t fight you.” The hostile spit of words was almost as shocking as the two being found together at all.

Hudson slowed down, facing the larger, unhurt mer. She swam closer, getting in her face again, brushing their cheeks as she whispered, “Not even to save your own life?”

The mermaid looked horrified, and for a moment, Hudson smiled, thinking she understood. This mermaid hadn’t realized until now the danger she was truly in.

“No. I won’t fight you or anyone else. Not even to save my own life.”

Hudson laughed again, though this time the swirl of curiosity inside of her was uncomfortable and new.

“Bring them to my cave.” Hudson swam off. She fought the urge to look back, to see how these two reacted to her words. But she knew better than to show any true interest, to show any curiosity beyond what she normally would.

In her cave, she swam directly to her collection of herbs and moss. She pulled out several of each, and after a moment, grabbed a few long strands of seaweed as well. By the time the two were escorted in, she sat calmly on her stone, the supplies hidden in the shadows beside her.

“Loosen the ties.” Hudson spoke before Cryloc could open his mouth.

“Hudson?”

“Are you questioning me, Cryloc?”

“No.” His word was a salute of honor, the way she demanded.

He untied the larger one first, probably because he thought she was the weaker one—but Hudson knew better. Instantly, she swam to the other’s side, pulling at the ties that bound her. Hudson watched, head tilted. Such an innocent, as though the words she spoke were actually the truth, without hidden agenda or other motive.

“She needs help now.” Innocent, but not weak. Hudson had never imagined such a thing possible before. The one had always meant the other.

“Yes.” Hudson nodded, and for a moment longer, she lingered on the image of this young lithe mermaid holding up her stronger though smaller and injured companion. “You can go, Cryloc.”

Cryloc opened his mouth, but a narrowed gaze in his direction shut it. He turned and swam away, fluke moving with force, sending waves of water back to her. She knew his concerns. But she wouldn’t ever again let a mer, man or maid, have her question her decisions. Not a single one of them.

“She’s going to die.” The larger mermaid laid her companion on the floor of the cave, gently resting the other’s lolling head against the wall. Such gentle care, in the same place Hudson had so recently pressed Mika to the wall, telling him not to question her again. The irony was not lost on her.

“No, she’s not.” Hudson chuckled and reached down into the shadows of her seat and plucked up the pile of supplies, all wrapped up in one of the longer strips of seaweed she had collected with the moss and herbs. “I have supplies enough to heal her.”

“Thank you.” She swam closer and reached for the pack.

Hudson pulled it back before it could be taken. “But you have to tell me something first.”

“What?” Her eyes were so wide and dark, they were disarming.

“What are your names?”

“I’m Kyree, and this is Honour.”

“Ah.” Hudson handed over the pack and nodded. She watched as Kyree swam to where Honour sat, her chin now on her chest, consciousness all but gone. It seemed almost too easy, until Hudson’s fingers strayed to the scars that raised the skin over the ribs on her right. It was the reminder she needed. None of this had ever been easy. She had fought for every step she took, and she would be a fool not to take this opportunity for what it was.

Pushing herself from her seat, she silently assisted Kyree in changing the dressings and mixing the herbs. After all, what was the point of having one of Reine’s best generals as a captive if she allowed her to die.

“Rest,” Hudson said as Kyree swayed and stumbled into her.

“Honour.”

“I’ll watch her. She’ll survive. I’ll make sure of it.” Hudson was glad none of her own men were in there to hear the softness in her voice, a tenderness that she had long outgrown.

“Okay.” The faith and trust Kyree’s voice held itched at Hudson’s skin. She wanted to tear it out of her and throw it to the deep soundings.

“You have to let us go.” Honour’s voice was weak, but the strength of her position still carried in her voice.

“I can’t do that.”

“We aren’t your enemy.” Honour’s eyes opened, and for a moment, Hudson was caught once more in the strength behind them, as familiar as they were foreign. “We have others in danger who need to be saved.”

“Always the hero.” Hudson’s top lip curled up in a scowl. She pushed back with one strong flap of her fluke. She moved away from Honour, but not far enough away that the pull between them didn’t continue to hum in the water between. “Well, Hero. You aren’t going anywhere. Not until I get what I want out of you.”

“And what’s that?” Honour snapped. “Because from where I stand, you’re nothing but a pup playing at grown-ups.”

“You should be thanking me, not antagonizing me.” Hudson clung to her calm with everything she had. How was it that this injured mermaid, this useless guard of a pathetic kingdom could cause such frustration with mere words? Words struggling to be formed and too weak to push the water far from their lips at that.

“Thanking you? For what?”

“For saving your life.” Hudson was back in Honour’s face. Her chest moved hard and fast, bubbles streaming thick from her mouth and tickling her lips.

“After you and your goons put it at risk in the first place? No, thanks.”

Hudson laughed wildly, getting even closer. Her lips nearly pressing against Honour’s. Their chests touched, Hudson’s breathing moving into Honour’s. “I don’t know how you’re going to help me yet, Honour. But trust me when I tell you, you don’t want to be on the wrong side of me when I don’t get what I want.”

Hudson laughed again at Honour’s blank stare. Hudson’s lips pulled back in her widest grin, her white teeth opened just enough for the bubbles of her laughter to continue to slip through. Oh, she was going to enjoy her new playthings. She had no doubt of that.