men in a headlock before anyone had enough time to react. Rio’s mouth opened to speak.
“Stop!” a woman’s voice shouted.
From behind the group of mermen, the owner of the voice began rambling in a musical language. Despite the beautiful inflections in her voice, I could tell she was not at all pleased.
The warriors lowered their weapons and stepped backward. Levent reluctantly released his hostage and straightening his damp cloak. Quietly, he inched over to stand beside me. Rio got to his feet as soon as the spears were retracted, dusting himself off and flicking his curls out of his face.
The crowd parted as the owner of the musical voice strode forward.
She was beautiful, but strange. It gave me chills to watch her move, a fluid dance as she crossed the stone floor.
Her skin was the nearly crystalline white-blue of the mer, but it had been nurtured to the point it shimmered. Dark hair curled around her shoulders and delicate crystals adorned her shell-shaped ears. Her eyes were dark and whiteless like the rest, but near her pupils they lightened to a familiar shade of blue.
I watched as she approached the half-blood. He froze as she reached up and ran her webbed fingers gently across his cheek. No one moved, just watching as she examined his face. My eyes widened. The resemblance between the mermaid and the half-blood was obvious.
After a moment, she met his gaze and murmured, “Hello, son of my sister.”
She smiled, gently taking Rio’s hand with her own. A quiet hum rose from the crowd of warriors as they looked to each other and nodded.
Then, the mermaid’s eyes narrowed and turned to the kin. He did not look away, and for a moment his wild eyes were locked with hers. The soldiers quickly followed her gaze, treating him to identical glares.
“Why have you come here, son of Ishralik?” She frowned, stepping closer.
Rio trailed beside her. He opened his mouth to speak, but she just pressed her fingers to his lips and shook her head.
“Let him speak,” she instructed before her face darkened again and inspected the kin’s defiant gaze. The staring contest lasted a full ten seconds before the kin politely backed down. His eyes went to the floor as he bowed his head.