Chapter 17

Rose

" D o you have to go?" I asked, not for the first time… or the fifteenth.

As we sat down to eat breakfast, Will announced his intention to go spy on his father, and immediately, panic seized me, cinching my chest tight. Flashes of the time in the cave popped into my mind, the vacant-eyed, empty marionette that he'd become bright and brilliant and vivid before my eyes. It was all I could think of at the very notion of him going back, invisible or not. And after what just happened last night? After my dream?

No.

Just no.

Despite Will and Milo's reassurances and the fact that Will had done it nearly daily for months now, there was nothing they could say to make me feel better. The thought of Will going without me soured my stomach, making my food taste of ash on my tongue. What if it happened to him again? What if I lost him again?

Will and Milo exchanged a look. Since the moment we'd returned from my aunt's yesterday, there had been some sort of secret communication going on between them. When they turned back to me, their expressions were soft. There was something there, something unreadable, in their eyes, and while it certainly lessened my panic, it only replaced it with confusion.

I furrowed my brow, crossing my arms and suppressing a pout—badly. "What?"

They were a stunning vision standing next to each other, Milo in a pair of indecent grey sweatpants that did nothing to hide the outline of his, ahem , anatomy, and Will still in his pajama pants, which were only nominally better at obscuring his manhood. Neither wore shirts, and I was blessed with a gorgeous view of sculpted pecs and abs and biceps. It provided the most confusing and intense lady boner I'd ever had, given my anxiety at that moment.

"I'll be fine, I promise," said Will, again, for the twentieth… billionth… time. "I'll stay invisible, and with the pearl you gave me, my mind will be safe from him regardless."

Milo's gaze snapped to Will, then down to his necklace, his eyes going wide at the new addition to it. Once more, they exchanged a glance before turning their attention back to me. Though I guessed I had no right to be irritated by whatever secret communication they were sharing, it peeved me. They could at least not do it in front of me.

"Besides," Milo said, as if he hadn't had a whole interlude with the merman next to him, "I need to make a stop at Alexander to bring some packages over to Selena—the kelpie leader. We can ask her if there's anyone among her people who can help teach you the magic you need, and then we can stop off at the Noodle Baron for lunch and ask Tomas as well."

"And you can ask both of them if they will allow you to go to the Hearts of their islands to establish your bond with them," Will added, nodding in agreement.

Before I'd left my aunt's, I'd been given permission to share with Will and Milo the truth of my new role and what the skeleton key mark on my wrist was. The Heart had happily agreed before I even had the whole question out of my mouth.

"Oh, of course you must tell them!" she'd exclaimed, looking at Vi then back to me. "Their support is very important, especially in such a fraught time."

I couldn't disagree with her assessment, so I took the time to tell them the Cliff's Notes version over dinner. They'd been so encouraging and even delighted on my behalf. So to see that same enthusiasm and encouragement today in the form of being proactive? Well, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it aside from relieved that they weren't fighting me… unlike the way I was fighting Will at the moment.

"But what if something happens?" I pressed. "What will you do?"

"I swear nothing will happen. My father won't even know I was there," Will reassured me.

No amount of confidence in the world was going to make me feel like this was okay, and short of me being an irrational brat and forbidding him from going—not that I had the power to do such a thing—he was going to do what he wanted. The logical part of my brain, though scarcely available of late, knew we needed to keep tabs on Joseph. He was too dangerous to let him do as he wanted, yet the thought of him getting his hands on Will had me quaking.

Tears pricked at my eyes. It took several long breaths to blink them back before they could stupidly fall down my cheeks. I was an adult, as was Will. I wasn't going to cry just because he was determined to put himself in danger for me.

"Fine," I said with an overabundance of petulance that had me fighting the urge to stomp my foot. "But if something does happen to you, I'll be horrendously upset!"

Understatement of the century, that.

Will smiled at me, his features wistful in a way I'd never seen before. "I promise I will come back in one piece, with my mind intact. And if I don't, well, feel free to beat me from here to next year and back."

"I will!"

The two of them had the nerve to chuckle.

Milo clapped Will on the shoulder. "Well, I'm going to get dressed. Good luck, and be safe."

Their eyes met. There was that look again, like they were conferring with each other in some way I couldn't hear or understand, yet… it was tender. Gentle. I almost felt like I should look away, but the moment ended before I got the chance to. Milo slipped down the hall, leaving me with the forbidden merman.

Will glanced back at me, a wry smile sneaking across his face. "May I be dismissed, your highness?"

"And if I say no?" I retorted, but far softer than I'd wanted. I wasn't sure if it was from fear… or the way my heart stuttered as his gaze swept over me.

"Should I beg, then?"

I quirked an eyebrow. "Would you?"

"If I must." A wry smile had the corners of his lips tilting up. "Though I wasn't aware that was your thing."

The insinuation sparkling in his eyes made my cheeks burn. "You're a pervert, you know that, right?"

"Perhaps." He pushed off the back of the couch where he'd been perched and bowed at the waist like a courtier to their queen. "May I have your blessing to leave?"

Though fear spiked within me, worry for him rising to overcome nearly all sense, I forced myself to take a deep breath. And nod.

"Thank you." Will straightened, his eyes meeting mine with a gentleness I wasn't sure I deserved. "I'm doing this to keep you safe. I don't want to lose you again."

Well, when he said it like that… I sighed. Ugh . "I don't want it at the expense of your safety."

"I will be there and back again in time to meet you at Baron's for pasta. Hell, you probably won't even miss me."

Now that… that would never happen. Did he truly not know how my heart shattered when he left? How I mourned what could have been between us? How large of a hole he'd left in my heart?

How the gaping distance between us now was almost too much to handle?

"That's not even remotely true," I admitted before I could think better of it.

"Even more motivation for me, then, to return to you as soon as possible… as soon as you release me, of course."

I wanted to reach out, grab hold of the only piece of clothing he wore at the moment, and never let go. But I took another breath and nodded again. "Alright. But if anything happens to you…"

"You can kick my ass," he finished for me.

"Don't think I won't." I waggled my finger at him. "Now go, before I figure out how to lock you in the house with my magic."

"As my lady wishes."

His eyes flicked from mine, down to my lips. For a moment, for a mere breath, the air between us felt charged. He leaned down seemingly without thinking, just a little, as if he were going to kiss me, and my heart stopped. It would be so easy to close the distance between us. To slant my mouth over his and taste his lips. To remind myself, and him, of what we once had.

But then he straightened. He found another, less intimate, place for his gaze, and I mourned it like an idiot. With one last smile, Will turned and made his way to the door.

Every step he took away from me was like a rubber band being pulled taut, threatening to snap. My soul keened, reminded of when he'd walked away from me and never even looked back. And this time, he was headed toward danger rather than away from it.

What if Joseph gets to him?

What if I lose Will forever?

What if Will never comes back?

What if…

What if…

What if…

"Will, wait!" I cried out as his hand reached for the doorknob.

I was at his side in a blink, before I could even think about it, reaching up to wrap my hand around the chain of his necklace. Threads of my magic weaved through each link, curling around them until they glinted beneath my sapphire aura. I imbued it with the strength of the hardest diamonds, ensuring it could only be removed should he desire it to be removed. Then I did it a second time, just to be sure, before adding a bit of my own magic to the pearl housing the invisibility charm—not to change anything but to give it a bit more juice.

You will never lay your hand on him again, Joseph, I vowed as I finished.

That niggling little pull in my chest nudged me to add even more to the necklace, to protect him further with pearls enough to wrap around his throat tenfold. It would be so easy. But what could I give him? Short of making him immortal, I wasn't sure what was good enough.

This desire to add to his necklace still rode me when I spoke, my voice sounding far off. "This should safeguard your necklace against ever falling off, or it being taken off against your will."

Will's heart skipped a beat, the staccato of it pumping against his ribs and catching my attention. He wrapped a hand around my wrist, squeezing just a little, as his eyes met mine. "That means more to me than you know, Rose."

Now my heart stuttered—then again as he pulled my hand away from his necklace and kissed my fingers.

"Please… please be safe." My words were an airy whisper. "If anything were to happen to you…"

"I swear on my life nothing will happen to me," he promised. "Even if I must kill my own father, I will return to you."

"Good." I shored myself up, gathering all my strength and what little trust I had in the universe at large not to add to the fuckery in my life. I met his gaze, memorizing the swirling turquoise of them, and said, "You should go before I change my mind."

"Of course. I'll see you soon."

This time he didn't stop himself —couldn't stop himself, it seemed—when he leaned down and pressed a tender kiss to my forehead, lingering a little longer than was necessary. My breath caught and my heart fluttered, but I couldn't even berate myself for it. Not when the naturalness of it, the rightness , soothed some of my fraying nerves.

But it came to an end too soon, and I had to force myself to step out of the way. He said one last goodbye. Then he was gone.

From the window, I watched him walk down the lane and disappear from view. My anxiety only rose with every passing minute. All the possibilities, all the things that could go wrong… it would end me if he were hurt trying to protect me.

Milo came up from behind and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me close. "He's strong and capable, Rose. He'll be back soon."

I wanted to believe him. I really, really did. But when it came to Joseph, nothing was sacred.

Rainbow Lake was a long, winding drive from Alexander Port. The lake itself sat in the crater of the long-extinct volcano that had created the island. Its last eruption had caused one side of the mountain to collapse so that the eastern half of the island was a gentle upward slope while the western half stood tall, jutting up as much as seventy-five feet in some places above the lake's waterline. Depending on the time of day, the heights cast a shadow on one side or the other.

I forced myself to focus on the view before me, to take in the recently quite rare sunny day that made the water a brilliant azure contrasting against the deep emerald of the evergreens and the yellows, reds, and browns of the trees. Milo rolled the windows of our borrowed car down to let in the fresh air, and I took in the scent of the decaying leaves, fresh and salt water, and the changing seasons.

Little clusters of houses ran along the lip of the lake with a sizable parking space and sandy beach separating the two halves for tourists to view the beautiful sight. Though, as we drove closer, I saw a sign that specified no swimming in the lake. This confused me for all of one second before I kicked myself for not realizing that the families closest to the lake were likely all kelpies. There were dozens of houses there, and if they were anything like the selkies, they didn't readily allow humans to take up residence in their neighborhoods, to keep anyone from seeing their other forms. With the residents of Nora being housed wherever there was space, I had to wonder if they'd had to relax that rule like the selkies, too.

As Milo pulled into a driveway and cut the engine, my eyes snagged on the lake's namesake: a rainbow arced from the water, though how it was being formed without a spray of water or rain, I wasn't sure. I couldn't look away from the vibrant colors, not even as I got out of the car.

Milo chuckled. "I'll grab the boxes and take them up to Selena. Why don't you go take in the lake?" he suggested as he opened the back door to grab the packages.

"Are you sure?" I had assumed he'd brought me to help.

He smiled at me. "Very. Go on. It's not often we can come 'round to these parts."

I smiled and bounded over to kiss him on the cheek, only for him to turn his face at the last second and capture my lips with his. Instinct and months of prior kisses urged me to fall into his trap, my head going fuzzy as he mastered me, but I managed to pull away before either of us could become entirely indecent in view of the public. I nearly swatted him for it but held back. It wasn't his fault I was a lusty creature.

He shooed me off with a swat of his hand against my ass, then got the packages out of the car. I padded toward the beach, reminding myself to stay at a somewhat human pace… or so I thought. It was hard to tell. I wasn't even really sure what human pace was anymore, if I was being honest with myself.

The beach was only three houses down from Selena's, and my breath caught as I made my way towards the shore. Once I passed the parking lot and the asphalt gave way to sand, the view opened up before me, the irregular and asymmetrical rim of the mountain rising high above me. The waterline was higher than I remembered it being as a child—probably filled to the brim from all the recent rain. A river funneled out most of the excess into the ocean, otherwise the whole thing would overflow. I wondered if the kelpies had to work to ensure their homes didn't flood.

The crater itself was hundreds of feet deep in the center, with a stark drop-off visible even from where I stood. The water was so clear it looked almost like glass, and in the distance, the still-intact wall reflected in the mirror-like surface. The siren in me wanted to slip into the lake and shift so I could explore every inch of what lay below. Were there fish down there? Plants? What secrets could I uncover there?

I closed my eyes, the scene drenching me in serenity. The soft, bass-like hum drifted through my mind, a whisper of a somewhat familiar song on the air. It teased at my consciousness, asking for my attention, before a root-like tendril slipped up from the earth to curl around my ankle. Without opening my eyes, I smiled.

It was the Heart of Alexander.

I sent out my own roots, my own power, to meet it, entwining my awareness with it. Its elation was palpable, and the Heart's song swelled in an exuberant lilt that served as a soothing balm for my nerves. With its help, I could breathe a little easier.

I have long waited to meet you, Rose Sutton, whispered the Heart, its deep rumbling vibrating in my head. I would welcome you to my depths anytime you are ready.

I should wait to get permission. I think it might be rude to just disappear or step on toes, I replied, though I hated that idea.

A discontented hum passed between us. That is not how it was done before.

I know, but everything is out of order. Nothing's right. We're fractured —because Joseph was a wicked, greedy man— and I need to be careful with how things are handled. But please know that I would gladly bond with you right now if I could.

You will be a gracious leader, Rose Sutton.

I didn't know how to take that. Me? A leader of anything? I could barely stop being scared of my own shadow, let alone lead other people. Frankly, the very notion was absurd… right?

I don't know about that—

"The hell is she doing here?" a severe voice asked, startling me out of my conversation with the Heart.

With my own heart battering my ribs, I turned to see a woman I recognized from that day at Aeden's, when my predicament had been exposed to the Otherkind leaders—a woman I could now name as Selena Calo, the leader of the kelpies. She was a big woman, both in height and in brawn, around six feet tall and covered in muscle. Her hazel eyes were lit with anger as she stomped toward me, her dark brown ponytail bouncing with each furious step. The air around her crackled as I tried to keep myself in place rather than back up into the lake.

She stopped about a foot and a half from me, and all I could do was look up at her, confused. What had I done to her to get such a reaction? Why was she looking at me as if I were the source of all her woes?

"The fuck do you mean by that, Selena?" asked Milo, catching up a second later. "She's my mate."

"Mate or otherwise, she's not welcome here," Selena replied, not budging.

"What did I do?" I asked, still unsure of why I was the source of her aggression.

"One, you're a siren, and I've about had it with the merfolk fucking up my life with their shenanigans, and two, you're a Sutton. I know what you think your family does, and I'm here to tell you that I won't have you going anywhere near any part of my island, least of all the Heart," she said, crossing her arms as the Heart let out another, angrier hum that seemingly only I could hear. "I can't guarantee that your mind is safe from that asshole Joseph Kelley, and if he gets a wild hair across his ass, I'm not risking him taking Alexander for himself with your help ."

She spoke so fast I struggled to comprehend what she was saying, but when I finally caught up, all I could do was blink at her. Did she… did she really not know the difference between someone with their mind taken and someone who was fully autonomous? Or was there something else at play here?

More than that, though, the horrific insinuation finally sank in. She was right; if Joseph took my mind after I'd connected with the islands, then he'd have the power to make the Heart do as he wished through me. I shuddered, nearly throwing up.

No, Rose Sutton. It would not work in such a way, the Heart cut in before my thoughts spiraled out of control. We allow our power to be used as we wish and by who we wish. Should the worst come to fruition, we would be safe from him. Bonding with us, especially with a piece of us already within you, would protect us from being corrupted should he discover us.

The relief I felt was palpable. Are you certain?

More than certain. He would not be the first person to try to force Hearts to do his bidding. We've learned to protect ourselves from those greedy enough to use us for selfish reasons. A tendril of power curled around my ankle and gave a comforting squeeze. Fret not, sweet one.

I blinked back to the present as Milo countered Selena's argument. "Her mind is her own, and none of this was her fault. There's no reason to place the blame for any of this at her feet."

Selena's eyes flashed, as if a light was shining out from within them. "Even if it's not her specifically that caused any of this, she's still a fucking siren, and a powerful one at that. I'm not risking anything when it comes to my people. She needs to fucking go."

"My presence here isn't going to help or hinder when Joseph decides to take your island for himself," I said quietly, nursing the sting.

"The fuck does that mean?" She uncrossed her arms, her hands balling into fists at her sides like she'd start throwing punches if she didn't like what I was about to say. The air around her snapped with charged power, her magic readying to be used.

"Joseph's plan was always to take over the islands to make them his sanctuary. He was just biding his time until he had all his pieces in place. It shouldn't be me that concerns you. It should be him." I said no more, simply waiting for her reaction. It probably wasn't a good idea to push someone who was already five seconds from ripping me in half.

Suspicion twisted her face into an unrecognizable mask, one that sparked fear—and anger—in me. "And how do you know that?"

"I know that because he's my last Mark, and it's my business to know his mind," I replied, failing to keep that edge of rage from my own voice.

"Yet he's still alive."

Her words were damning. A condemnation. Shame bled into my emotions until my anger was dampened fully.

"He's alive because he holds people I care about hostage. They are bound to him so tightly that, should I kill him, they would be killed as well," I whispered, shoving back the echoes of their cries of pain clamoring in my head. "I don't know how to end his life without ending theirs, and I'm not so heartless that I don't care about twenty-six souls being given to Death before their time. Are you?"

There was a flicker of surprise in her eyes, a slight tensing of her muscles as she took this in. Then, as if she hadn't all but insulted me to my face, she looked over to Milo to see if I was lying. I suppressed a shudder.

"It's true," said Milo, his voice deepening as he fought to keep Beastie under control. "We wanted to ask if you or anyone here had knowledge on how to help. The sooner we get rid of this asshole, the sooner we can all go back to our lives."

Selena was quiet for a moment, her gaze hopping from Milo to me then back to Milo again. There was no room for hope when her expression didn't change; there was no softening of her stance. And when she spoke, she proved my assumption correct.

"There's no one here with that kind of knowledge," she said, her voice hard. Her gaze met mine, her rage ice cold. "And even if there was, I wouldn't allow them to teach you. We don't get involved in merfolk affairs."

My dream danced before my eyes. I wasn't sure what came over me, but my voice rose loud and clear, meeting her obvious challenge with a steel spine I wasn't sure was my own. "Are you seriously not worried about your people? Joseph won't stop at just Nora. He means to take all the Golden Isles for himself. Surely, you don't want you and yours to be forced from your homes."

Another pregnant pause. Another moment wondering if she'd raise the fists clenched at her sides and mete out justice for the perceived insult. I watched as the question percolated in her head… but it was like she couldn't comprehend what I was telling her. There was no recognition of the danger she and her people were in.

"Joseph Kelley has what he wants," she said finally, her tone brooking no argument. I truly couldn't tell if she meant what she was saying or if it was rehearsed. "He poses no threat to my people or our way of life."

That was it. The nail in the coffin of a potential allyship with her and anyone else under her. Even the Heart, who'd been holding on to me, seemed stunned before withdrawing politely with a brief mention of needing to commune with his siblings. Whatever had propped up my ability to speak in defense of our island slipped away before I could hold fast to it.

She looked at Milo again and let out a breath, the ice coming back to her eyes. "Listen, I respect you, Milo. You're a good leader, but I don't want sirens or any other of her kind near my people. Now leave before I throw you out myself."

What little pride I did have slunk into the recesses of my psyche as I took Milo's offered hand and walked away from Rainbow Lake. The sad murmur of the Heart chased every footstep back to our borrowed car and long after we boarded Milo's boat to head to Charlotte

A deep sense of shame battered me. I had failed.