others was paying attention to where we were going, because there was no way I was opening my eyes.
I felt myself being pulled upward. After thirty seconds that felt like a million years, my head breeched the surface. I gripped onto the males’ arms and let loose the scream I had been unable to scream. After my little amount of breath ran out, I floated there, gasping.
I blinked, my eyelashes wet. I saw a stone ceiling far above me.
“Well, thanks for that, m’lady,” Rio said.
I was sure he was smirking, but I closed my eyes, bathing in the glorious oxygen for a moment.
“Good thing it was a clear passage,” the kin muttered.
“Thanks for thinking about our welfare so carefully before you nabbed your treasure,” the half-blood prodded.
I decided it would be a bad move to point out that we had run into a monster on our last expedition in a shrine.
Levent made guttural noise, and I finally opened my eyes. Looking around, we seemed to be surrounded by merpeople.
“Oh, hello,” I said to them.
They looked different from those that lived above the water, their eyes darker somehow. One smiled shyly before they swam away.
“Come on, m’lady, we don’t need to associate with this fiend,” Rio said playfully, tugging me away from the kin.
“’Fiend’?” Levent said.
“I don’t want to swim anymore,” I whined. I was tired of water.
“Let’s get you on land, then,” Rio said.
I clutched onto his shoulders as he swam toward the tower. It was a lot further than it looked. Levent followed, much slower as his cloak soaked with water.
Merpeople congregated on the edge of the bridge to the temple, peering across the water as we approached. By the time I scrambled up on the shore, King Julreus and Queen Ixnia stood above us.
I looked up, surprised to see Julreus smiling.
“Find something?” he said.
“Y-yes?” I said, not sure what he meant.