The ocean was bouncy and salty. Southern Florida was as warm as a heated swimming pool this time of year, and the sandy beach below Elyssa stretched for miles.

Was it always so bright and clear? Could she always see schools of fish far away, suspended like flocks of birds against an endless blue sky? It had been a long time since she’d been brave enough to open her eyes underwater. So, maybe.

The transmitter earrings Aya gave her so they could track her location made an annoying, high-pitched humming in her ears.

She tried to take a breath.

Hot seawater slammed into the back of her throat. Her nose clogged. She gagged.

Elyssa thrashed for the surface.

The maroon-tattooed warrior known as Iyen hauled her out of the water and into Kadir’s strong arms. Her throat burned hotter than when she choked on the nectar. Was there an instruction manual?

Kadir rubbed her back. “Breathe.”

Everyone was watching. Aya. Her parents. The documentary crew and all the employees. Elyssa would transform. She would.

“Try again.” Kadir shucked his jeans and trench coat and slid into the water. He helped her in and effortlessly treaded water. His gaze was so intense. Like he needed her to do this right. “Transform your body first.”

They ducked under the surface.

He bent one leg at his knee to show her his foot. In the water, his toes flattened and elongated, and the thickly folded skin between them stretched tight. Webbing flared between fingers. Silver tattoos scrolled across the thin, delicate skin. His tattoos turned iridescent as a fish.

Her feet didn’t flatten or turn into scuba fins. Her fingers did not grow webbing.

While the hours ticked past, Elyssa failed to accomplish anything more than holding her breath for a long time. And that was only when she forgot to think about it.

Even the mermen grew concerned.

Soren swam above her while she doggedly floated, holding her breath and focusing on her not-webbed hands. “Kadir, she is not trying.”

She wanted to cry. If she tried any harder, she was going to burst a blood vessel.

“Give her time,” Kadir rumbled beneath her, in a voice that both soothed and tingled, like a fingertip drizzling massage oil down her spine.

She had been so excited to do this, and so fearful of messing up in front of Kadir. And now, Kadir was her rock. Focused, calm, undefeatable. His faith never wavered. She would transform. If it were just the two of them, she almost thought maybe it would be possible.

He hung upside down. With his mouth closed in an encouraging smile, he somehow spoke to her. His voice vibrated inside her chest. “Now release the air trapped in your mouth and try to speak.”

She opened her mouth. “I…agh…tr…agh.” Air bubbles gurgled out and seawater choked the back of her throat. She gagged and bolted for the surface.

Soren’s voice chased her. “She spilled all the nectar. You should have selected a brighter bride.”

She broke free of the water and grabbed onto the dock. Gagging disguised her free flowing tears.

Her parents sat on shaded benches at the private company marina. Employees sprawled nearby. The scuba diver film crew had already used up their tanks of air and left.

Only Aya remained on the dock. Her face was red with heat, and her nose and ears were pink with sunburn, but she wasn’t going home until Elyssa was.

“Hang in there.” Aya patted Elyssa’s hot, wet back twice. She was seriously worried. “Lucy said the first transformation is the hardest.”

“Not this hard.” Elyssa sniffed the salty wetness.

Kadir should have chosen Aya. She wouldn’t have gotten distracted by introducing her parents. Aya would have drunk the nectar and been half way to Atlantis by now.

“I’ll try Lucy again.” Aya dialed her cell phone.

Elyssa thought she had pumped Lucy and Torun for everything they knew during the yacht ride from the Gulf of Mexico back to Florida, but obviously, she had missed a few steps. If she had been a bride pageant contestant, she would have attended their special training a week ago. Instead, Elyssa took them out for dinner afterward and chatted about silly, pointless things.

Kadir’s head popped above the water. He addressed Aya. “Elyssa has failed to transform. I must return to Atlantis.”

Elyssa cringed. He had to go back to Atlantis alone. The entire project failed. All because of her.

Aya stopped the call and scrambled to her feet. “No. You signed an agreement. You can’t go back alone.”

“I do not take orders from you.”

“Take them from yourself! You signed—”

“It’s my fault.” Elyssa stopped the argument over the lump in her throat. “I can’t transform.”

Aya tore her gaze to Elyssa with effort. Her determination shone. “Yes, you can.”

“We have wasted too much time on this.” Kadir spoke the heaviness in Elyssa’s own heart. “I will return to Atlantis and cultivate a second flower.”

Elyssa hated this. But it was the only thing they could do. “Ok—”

“No!” Aya shook her head violently. She took it personally as if Kadir were insulting Elyssa. “Something’s already changed. Elyssa, you’ve been underwater for more than nine-minute stretches.”

“I’ve always been good at holding my breath.”

“Not that good. The world breath-holding championship for women — without oxygen — is eight.”

That couldn’t be right.

Kadir frowned. “You believe there has been a change?”

“Yes. You are this close.” Aya held her fingers together so they were almost touching. “And if you don’t try a little bit harder, I’ll be disappointed in the both of you.”

Elyssa scrubbed her face.

She could go under again. She’d swallow a hundred gallons of seawater if it actually made a difference.

But Aya was fooling herself. In trying to encourage Elyssa, she was just making things worse. Elyssa was going to disappoint everyone. Kadir, the warriors, her parents, Aya … and herself.

He spoke gently. “Elyssa. Your light is dimming.”

And now, on top of everything, her light was dimming. “I’m sorry. I really am trying. It feels like I’m drowning. My throat hurts.”

“Don’t give up,” Aya insisted.

His brows drew together. “Perhaps we may increase the nectar’s power by increasing your resonance.”

“Yes!” Aya latched onto the solution. “Increase resonance. What increases resonance?”

He thought hard.

Elyssa’s chest rose. Maybe she was giving up too soon. Maybe there was still hope.

“It is something you are born with. I will conference with my warriors.” He slipped beneath the waves.

Her hope crashed. The resonance studies also showed that resonance was something people had or they didn’t. Those who had greater resonance responded to the medicinal effects of the Sea Opals. People who didn’t, didn’t.

She rested her forehead on the wet dock. The waves pushed her toward the shore. See? Even the tide rejected her. She pinched the planks. “Kadir’s bride should have been you.”

Aya was silent for a long moment.

Then, her voice was distant. “I’m sorry, Elyssa. But it couldn’t have been me.”

“Hmm?”

“For awhile, I thought maybe I could do it. But, no. In all honesty, I could never be a merman’s queen.”

She lifted her head. “What do you mean?”

Aya fixed on her. Trouble crossed her face. “There’s something about this contract that you still don’t seem to have realized.”

What did that mean? “I read the whole thing.”

Although there were an awful lot of pages, and she had been skimming while fantasizing about leaping like Flipper through the waves.

Aya grimaced and opened her mouth to speak.

Kadir burst through the surface beside Elyssa. The raw, fluid power of him in his element stole her breath and made her chest ache. She wanted to move powerfully like a mermaid. She wanted to do so with him.

She wanted it.

He coughed and wiped his face, sluicing the water away. His fine, silver-flecked eyes sought hers with an almost magnetic power. He had new answers. He focused intently on sharing them with her.

“My warriors reminded me that although we are all born with a set level of resonance, some actions can activate our deepest strengths.” He held up his hand to enumerate them. As the water dripped off, the subtle webbing between his fingers melted back from his knuckles until they were completely separate, the same as any human’s. “Vows of honor. Protecting the innocent. Joining with a bride. Pledging to defend the Life Tree.”

Vows. Honor. Protection.

Joining.

She shivered. It was like reading a list of his best qualities. What could she do on that list? Vow something? She’d already promised to become his queen.

Maybe she just had to mean it.

She wanted to do this. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to be a queen.

He focused on her with brilliant intensity. “Continue.”

“Connections,” Aya mused aloud. “That’s what all these have in common. Each act forges or strengthens the connections between people and strengthens the bonds of community.”

Connections. Elyssa needed to strengthen her bond to Kadir by forging more connections.

Wait. She had a brilliant idea.

Elyssa turned to him. “Go on a date with me.”