I was still staring at the rman’s very human, very muscular legs—not the middle one—trying to wrap my brain around the physics of it, when the temperature behind dropped to absolute zero.
The air didn’t just get cold; it felt like it was vibrating with sothing dangerous, sothing lurking in the air that made the hair on my neck stand up.
"Arinya." I heard a voice call out.
It was Fenric.
His voice wasn’t loud, but it had a fierce edge to it that I’d only heard when he was seconds away from ripping a beast to shreds.
I spun around, my heart nearly leaping out of my throat. Fenric and Damar were standing ten paces away, the animal they caught slipping from their traps and making a heavy thud sound as it hit the ground.
Their eyes were narrowed and alard as they stared at the scene in front of them.
Fenric looked like he would lung at the rman any second now. And beside him was Damar who looked like a ghost of pure fury.
I an a ghost literally.
His silver hair was whipping in the wind, and his skin was shimring with that dangerous, iridescent sheen he got right before he lunged his tail forward like a spear, aiming right for the vital spot.
His erald eyes weren’t looking at —they were pinned on the rman like two poisoned arrows.
They were going to go for the kill.
"Step away from her," Damar hissed. "Now."
But the rman didn’t move. He didn’t even look startled. He just stood there in all his sun-drenched, naked glory, his violet eyes shifting from to the two predators currently weighing up how to kill him.
This couldn’t go on if not soone was going to die.
"Wait! Wait, guys, it’s not what it looks like!" I scrambled to my feet, throwing myself into the middle of the standoff.
I was basically a shield between a homicidal snake, a dangerous snow tiger, and a very confused sea-god.
"He’s... he’s a friend!" I blurted out but had to rethink the whole thing. I didn’t even know his na. "Sort of! A patient!"
"A friend?" Fenric roared, stepping forward. "He’s standing over you unclothed, Arinya! Who is this? Where did he co from?"
"The water!" I gestured frantically at the sea. "He’s one of the r-folk! Rember Jael? He’s like Jael, but... taller. And with legs!"
Damar’s tail lashed out, cracking against a nearby palm tree like a whip and I flinched. That looked dangerous.
"Jael is a fish, Ari." He said, his tone going under. "This is a male on land. A male standing in front of my mate without a shred of sha." He turned his deadly gaze back to the rman. "Speak, stranger, before I feed your ’legs’ to the tide."
The rman, after remaining still and showing no concern for the situation, finally moved.
He didn’t cower, but rigidly bowed his head, as if he was not used to lowering his upper body in a space without water.
It was a movent that made his tanned muscles ripple—which I’m sure only made Fenric want to punch him more.
"I am Thalor," he said, his voice deep and lodic. "Prince of the sea."
I blinked.
A prince? He was a prince of the sea?
Oh my. I placed my hand over my mouth. I saved a dying prince.
Why does this seem more like The Little rmaid the more we dive into the plot? Well, in the reverse form, of course.
I shook my head. Snap out of it.
He says he’s a prince. So if a fight breaks out now from a misunderstanding and they hurt the prince of the sea, it will definitely create a conflict.
"Alright, prince of the sea," Fenric folded his arms, not falling into courtesy simply because he nad himself a prince. "Let’s say you really are from the sea." His gaze fell to Thalor’s legs and then back to his face, his frown deepening. "What are you doing here on land?"
"I have been saved." He said and I pursed my lips.
Co on, I did save you, but you weren’t even cautious. So how do you know it was ?
"And so, I have co to repay the Land-Mother for saving my breath when the bitter dust nearly took it. My life belongs to her now."
The silence that followed was terrifying. Fenric’s jaw was set so tight I thought his clenched teeth might crack.
"You’re what?" Fenric repeated, his voice dropping into a lethal whisper.
In that mont, I think I forgot to breathe. Or rather, I couldn’t breathe. I held my breath, looking from one to the other, wondering what sort of bizarre situation I had found myself in once more.
"You think you can just walk out of the sea and claim a debt to Arinya? You’re lucky I haven’t claid your head yet." Fenric snarled.
I looked at Thalor, who seed completely oblivious to the fact that he was about ten seconds away from being turned into shark bait, and then at my two very homicidal-looking husbands.
This was crazy. And even more so...
Why were we having this conversation while Thalor was displaying his third leg like an artifact?
I dropped my hand on my face.
I was literally five seconds away from a nervous breakdown.
My heart was thumping against my ribs, not because of the ’Prince of the Sea’ standing there like a bronze statue, but because I could practically see the rage steam coming off Fenric’s ears.
"Can soone get this fish sothing to wear?" I asked. "A hide! A blanket! A very large leaf! Anything!" I hissed, my eyes darting between Thalor’s oblivious, princely smile and the twitching muscle in Damar’s jaw.
Damar didn’t move to help. He didn’t even blink. He just stared at Thalor with a cold, predatory focus.
"He doesn’t need a blanket, Ari. He needs to go back into the hole he crawled out of. It’s either that or I help him get back." I saw his claws manifest and gulped.
"He’s a Prince, Damar! If you kill him, we’re going to have an underwater war troop on our doorstep!" I stepped closer to Thalor, trying to shield the ’view’, which was like trying to hide a mountain with a pebble. "And you! Thalor! Put your hands... I don’t know, sowhere! Do you have any concept of ’too much information’ in the ocean?"
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