The destruction of the Life Tree sliced a cord in Torun’s heart. Pain spilled into his chest cavity.

But more importantly, the others were distracted. They, like Lucy, stared at the fallen Life Tree with horror and grief.

He had already sworn to act after they unmanned him. Despite his disfigurement and pain, he would seize the moment to save Lucy and escape.

Instead, Lucy had saved him with her power. His manhood remained intact and unharmed. And now he was released.

He kicked free of his boneless captors and gripped the punishment dagger in his human feet. He sliced his bonds and flew to Lucy. “Put your arms around me.”

She shook herself. His cracked house seed dropped from her fingers.

Lassie darted free of the nets, snatched the seed, and bolted past the shocked mermen. The house guardian disappeared over the edge of the arena, swimming back to the castle to return the seed to its home.

Lucy remained stunned.

“Lucy!” He shook her. “We must leave.”

His countrymen moaned and swam to the fallen tree.

“Torun.” She struggled to obey. Her voice in her chest thrummed with quiet grief. “I am the evil destroyer they warned against.”

“No, Lucy.” But she would not let go of this sadness soon. Neither would he. He secured her hands. “Come.”

Torun flew from the arena. The others would follow. He needed to put as much distance between them as possible.

She rested her head on his chest and cried.

He thanked her for her tears. She expressed his sadness, grieving for both of them. Bidding farewell to his old life as an honored warlord of Sireno, and farewell to the Life Tree that he had tried to save.

“We failed,” she sobbed. “Now you’re all going to die.”

Like the dead king, he had striven to give hope. Lucy was that hope. She was not a destroyer.

Or, she was not only that.

They swam hard and far. His muscles ached. Only recently he had journeyed hard and fast; now, before he was fully rested, he had to swim harder and faster yet. His blood beat in his bones. He would not rest until he carried his queen to safety.

She sobbed herself to sleep and nestled against him. The depths changed as he traversed the sea, rising and also crossing great gulfs. The ocean song wrapped around them, so ordinary and so soothing. Despite their tragedy and the loss of his city, the world continued to turn.

When she awoke, calm replaced her uncontrollable grief. Her fingers traced his pectorals. “You really don’t blame me for what happened.”

“I do not.”

She thrashed as though he had blamed her. In fact, she blamed herself. “I couldn’t let them hurt you! I didn’t mean to break anything. Or shout so loud. Only stop them.”

“You acted as a queen.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No.” He risked slowing them by lifting his hand to stroke her sinuous back. “Never apologize for protecting our castle.”

She buried her face in his shoulder. “I don’t even know how I did it.”

“Females have a great capacity for power. In the ancient tales, four females once defended a city from attack. The warriors were drawn off, the castles all fell, and no defenders remained. The females gathered their young fry around the Life Tree. They resonated with such force, no invader could approach. As a young male, I thought the story a ridiculous parable. Now, I have seen your power and I understand it is historical truth.”

“They were defending their Life Tree. I destroyed it.”

“You protected me.”

“What will happen now?”

“Now….” He didn’t wish to tell her. Not in this state.

“Tell me.”

He sighed. “First, the empty dais will turn black and fall to the ocean floor. The castles will wither and follow. It will happen quickly, before we reach your boat.”

“And then you’ll die?” she whispered.

“We will disperse to other cities. Dragon Mar is closest. If their Life Tree accepts us, it will put forth blossoms. If their Life Tree is as sickly as ours, then it may not be able to put forth blossoms, and then yes, we will die.”

Why hadn’t he collapsed already?

The failure of the Sireno Life Tree ought to suck away his strength, turning his muscles to muck and his bones to glass. Had his connection to Lucy given him this unnatural, almost normal level of strength?

She froze with horror and melted into sadness. “I should never have come.”

“Only you could come.” If only he could slow and comfort her, soothe her raw pain and recrimination. “Another would have failed.”

“I wish….” She closed off, but he heard the rest of the words. She wished she would have failed.

“Lucy, the Life Tree was old. It was also wise. It resonated with your soul and gave the last of its power to protect us. To protect our house. The Life Tree said you are a worthy mer, even more worthy than its own.”

“Will the rest of your city see it that way?”

“I will not go back to Sireno.”

“Right. Because I destroyed it. God!”

“No!” He twirled with her, breaking her from her spiral. “Because now I know the truth. I showed them a bride who breathes underwater and chooses us and is willing to stay. I showed them a bride who befriends a house guardian and defends a castle and eagerly joins with a mer. I show them a bride who shines like a star and commands the resonance of the Life Tree! And what do they do?”

She swallowed.

“They criticize your fins!” He bit his words, seething with the memory. “Ask me how many times we must practice when we first go to land. Ask me!” He shook his head, changing their direction, and dove again to recapture the swift current. “Our kind are too covenant-bound and stupid to be saved.”

“Perhaps if I became pregnant….”

“Not even then.”

He must someday find another city. Another Life Tree. One to heal her, one where she could join him.

Her fingers stilled. “Hey, Torun?”

“Yes, my Lucy?”

“If I hadn’t been able to stop the, uh, procedure, and I was miraculously already healed and pregnant, what would have happened?”

“I would have been exiled,” he said. “Weaponless and injured, beyond the towers of the reef, I would have quickly succumbed to predators and died. You would have been cared for by another, probably the king, until you had your son.”

She shuddered. “He was awful.”

Oh, he kept forgetting that the king was not Jolan. “Yes. He was once my favorite elder. He always said running into battle is rash. Instead, he freezes us all in place to death.”

“So I would have raised our baby with him?”

“You would have borne our young fry. Then, you would have been returned to the surface, and he would have raised our son. It is the custom.”

She clenched him tighter. “He would have killed you and stolen our baby.”

This made her light shine brighter. The deep, protective love that she had apologized for and wished away she now reaffirmed. He stroked her. “He is king and a father. He once raised a worthy son.”

“By shafting the mom.” She huffed. “Which ‘worthy son’ did this great guy raise?”

“My father. And, after my father passed on, me.”

Lucy’s shock reverberated through the water. “You said he was your favorite elder.”

“He was.”

“Your own grandfather just tried to cut off your genes.”

“We have long stopped hunting from the same schools.” He shrugged, changing their shape and direction in the fast, rising currents. “He accepted a Council position to leave our castle to me. The harder he advised the king away from Kadir’s ideas, the more I fought his guidance. Perhaps he does now hate me. I no longer feel bound by him.”

“I would have gone into exile with you.”

“They would never have allowed that.”

“Then I would have waited until I could make my escape, and then I would have found you.”

“Lucy.” He squeezed her. “It is too dangerous. In the open ocean, alone, there are many predators. We are only safe on known currents, which are guarded and protected.”

“We could make it together.”

“Everyone must sleep sometime. The mer city would imprison you to protect you. You chose us.”

“Oh, no. I didn’t choose your stupid city. I chose you.”

A strange tingling moved through his body. He had tried to convince her to join the mer, and his city, to gain the powers and riches of his undersea world. She had seen injustice and supported his idea to make their world better. Joining with any mer could prove the young lord of Atlantis right, and accomplish his goal.

But she chose him. Not any mer. Him.

“Lucy.” How to put his emotion into words? He struggled. “You would have stayed with me even if I had been sterilized?”

“Of course.”

“Now the Life Tree has been destroyed, it cannot heal you.”

“I know.”

“It also cannot make you a mer permanently. Soon, you will try to make the change, and you will remain human.”

“I got it.” She shook off the heaviness of the conversation. “I’m sorry I’m going to lose these awesome powers. But I’ve been telling you from the beginning our relationship is doomed. You’ll have to find another woman.”

Why did she continue to push him to take another mate? Did she not feel their connection as deeply as he did? He would never consent for her to join with another warrior. The thought made his muscles clench for his trident.

“Don’t look so frowny,” she said.

“You speak as if separating were easy for you.”

“I’m just telling you that I understand. You have to do what you have to do.”

“I will not leave you.”

“But when you do, I get it. Your species is dying.”

He growled. “You are the one I want.”

“God, don’t you get it?” She smacked his chest. “I’m being noble over here. If you stay with me, you might as well have been castrated by your Council. Okay? I can’t have kids.”

That stopped his growl in his throat.

She had tried to make him face this many times. He had been so certain the Life Tree would heal her. Now, as an exile without a Life Tree, staying with Lucy would accomplish the Council’s same wish to sterilize him.

Her expression said it all.

Only she had believed in him. Believed in his vision and been willing to try. Now, her face clenched with agony. She was unable to give him the one thing he needed for his race to survive. It was killing her inside.

He never wanted to see that level of pain again. Never. He held her close, burying her face in his shoulder, trying to physically transfer the burden of her agony to himself. “I will solve this.”

“I already told you the easy solution.”

“No other woman will replace you.”

“You say that now.” She turned away. “Give it five years.”

Curse the human male who had damaged her. Torun would not want a new woman in five years. Lucy was his heart, his life, his soul. Without her, there was no him. They were one until death. Or, beyond it.

“Lucy—”

“Hey.” She stared up at the surface, shimmering finally, after all this time. “That’s not our trawler.”

He stopped his promise and examined the growing shape. Yes, it was larger and more elongated, had an unblemished underside, and the anchor chain was a different shape.

“How long exactly was I gone?” she asked.

“In human time? Almost two weeks.”

She swore. “No way Gracie and Cash stayed. This must be someone else’s yacht. Maybe one chartered by Elyssa.” Her light dimmed. “You know, Elyssa can have kids. And, she already believes you’re a merman.”

“I am not able to join with Elyssa. We are not resonant.”

Her light brightened.

“I am glad that pleases you.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Mm.”

The broke the surface. Lucy smiled in the sunlight.

And started to choke.

He assisted her with the transition, emptying her lungs and relearning how to draw in air. This was, in many ways, the real test. She had adapted well to living underwater, but now she returned to air again. Would she remember her natural preference and refuse to descend with him again?

She gasped, mouth open, like a beached fish.

“Are you okay?” His voice sounded weird in the air. Higher pitched and tinny.

She nodded, red-faced and choking. “It’s a…heck of a…kick.”

“It will become easier.” He helped her to the low rungs of the sleek, white ladder bobbing on the surface. “Like clearing your snorkel.”

She nodded, trusting him, and gripped the ladder. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Lucy.” He stopped her. “You were willing to give up everything to be with me.” He held her hand. “Thank you.”

“I’m not that selfless.” She tried to tug her hand free.

He was going to say something else, but her comment side-tracked him. “You promised to leave the air world behind and join me in the undersea kingdom.”

“Yeah, but you were on the outs with your Council. I thought there was pretty good chance you might want to take a few long vacations Stateside, and I could introduce you to my parents and stock up on whatever foods I craved, or make it official on our side.”

He couldn’t follow her. The implications left him stunned. “You wished to marry me? According to the rites of your people?”

“You helped me recover my passion and reclaim my true self. Our marriage would have been way better than my last one.”

She spoke in the past, as though she were already grateful to be in the air again, and no longer wished to marry him now that he was an exile.

The fact that she had ever wished it made his chest tighten. He cleared his throat of pesky seawater, fighting the emotion. “I will never forget this.”

“Yeah. Sure.” She hacked and spat. “Well, let’s find the owner and get out of here before your city guards catch up.”

They climbed the ladder. On the deck, she called out. “Hello?”

Menace whistled through the slow, non-conductive air. “There is something wrong on this vessel.”

She picked up her expedition T-shirt. “You mean like this?”

“That is from your ship.”

“Yes, exactly. And this yacht is not Elyssa’s nor Mel’s.”

She started for the wheelhouse. A cup of coffee steamed beside the wheel but the door was locked.

Someone was here.

More than that, mer were here.

Torun shouted. “Lucy! Run.”

The waters frothed with warriors from his city. They surged onto the boat. He swung his bare fists at a powerful male, but someone behind him knocked him to the deck.

Warlord Ailan, leader of Sireno’s second unit, put the sharp trident blades to his throat. “Exile Torun. You have broken the covenant. Face your end with honor.”

Two warriors started for Lucy.

Torun roared. “Do not touch my queen!”

They hesitated.

Ailan shoved the flat side into his throat, choking off his rage. “She is not your queen.”

Torun struggled, choking.

He had trained Ailan like many others. The male had always impressed him with his care to be correct. Ailan’s methods were slow, careful, and exact as a judge. He held the rulebook of the Council in his heart and recited it with perfect correctness.

And now, he was judging Torun.

“What are you doing?” Lucy stormed up to Ailan. “Let him up. Now.”

In the air, her brilliance dispersed. Ailan faced her wrath like a steel rod facing a tidal wave. Unbent and unbowed. “He must face judgement for his blasphemy.”

“What the heck are you talking about?”

Ailan’s lieutenant reached out to pull her away.

She slapped at him. “Get your hands off me!”

The males retreated.

Ailan straightened. “Torun must face judgement before the Council for—”

“We already faced your stupid Council,” Lucy screamed, frightening the other males awfully. “And Torun’s still got his balls, so guess who came out ahead?”

Ailan lifted his chin even farther. “Torun broke the covenant.”

“Yadda yadda sacred brides, secret existence.” She waved him away. “What are you doing on this boat? Exposing yourselves to everyone?”

“Warlord Torun did it first.”

“Oh, please. Nobody believes one crazy guy. You’re a whole army of mermen.”

Ailan’s mouth pinched.

“It’s a little late for secrecy.” A new voice spoke from the wheelhouse doorway.

Lucy whitened. “Blake.”

A thin man emerged onto the deck. “Hi, honey.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Protecting my investments.” His cold gaze flicked over the mermen. “Which means we have to talk.”