Tempest Unleashed (19 page)

I stared at him blankly. I was so out of it, so caught up in the nightmare I had witnessed in Cecily’s cave, that I hadn’t even seen him.

Where have you been?
he repeated.
I was worried.
His face was inches from mine, and he looked more disturbed than I had ever seen him.

It was that distress that finally got through to me, finally yanked me from my own reverie and back into the present. I reached out a soothing hand, laid it on his cheek.
I’ve been out. Exploring. I needed to take a break. Why?

I thought you might be with Sabyn.

I shook my head incredulously.
After everything I’ve done to placate you about Sabyn, you really thought I would spend extra time with him. Seriously?

I don’t know. You disappear for hours without a word, even knowing how worried I am. I looked everywhere for you—and him—and
neither of you were around. What else could I assume but that you were together?

Though it so wasn’t the time or place, I wondered fleetingly where Sabyn had gone—since he obviously hadn’t been with me—but then that thought drowned in the tidal wave of my indignation at being interrogated when I really needed my boyfriend to just be there for me.

What else could you assume? Oh, I don’t know, Kona, maybe that
you
could trust
me
like you expect me to trust you? Or maybe you could assume that I know how worried you are about me even being near him and that I would never, ever, do anything to deliberately hurt you like that?

I sighed, tried to figure out a way to make him understand that I was being careful. I knew he was acting like this because he was worried, because just the thought of Sabyn being near me stressed him to the breaking point, but something had to give. We couldn’t go on like this.

Maybe you could have assumed that after all your warnings, and knowing how freaked out you are by Sabyn even being here, that I would never go behind your back with him? Those would have all been good assumptions.

I turned away from him, started to move in the other direction.

Don’t swim away from me, Tempest
, he said furiously, reaching for me again. I wasn’t taking it this time, though, and I lashed out, sent a mild surge of power straight at him that wouldn’t hurt but did slam him back a good four feet. It worked only because he wasn’t expecting it, but I didn’t care. Never in my life had I put up with a guy manhandling me, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to start now.

Don’t touch me, Kona.

What is with you?
he demanded.

I think that’s my question, isn’t it? You’re the one being completely irrational.

We squared off across a small oyster bed, both of us confused. Both of us angrier than the situation warranted. I knew it, just as I knew I should tamp down on my temper and actually talk to him. Yet I didn’t want to do that right now, not over something so trivial and yet so important. He was the one who’d grabbed me, who’d spewed ridiculous accusations all over me. And he was the one who was acting like a total ass.

Look
, I told him.
I’m not doing this with you. I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t even know what happened between Sabyn and Annalise, because you won’t tell me. Which is fine—your family, your privilege, whatever. But that means I don’t have to tell you everything going on in my life either. And you don’t get to jump down my throat every time I turn around just because I don’t report to you every second of the day.

I was just worried.

Were you really?
I looked him up and down contemptuously.
Are you sure about that? Because I’m about to shatter into a thousand pieces here and it doesn’t look like you give a damn. It doesn’t look like you care about anything but your hatred for Sabyn.

That got to him. I could see it in the way Kona’s shoulders slumped and in the shamed look he couldn’t hide. He ran a hand over his face, across the back of his neck, and when he lifted his head again there was concern, real concern, in his eyes.
What happened, Tempest?

You don’t actually expect me to answer that, do you?

Please. I’m sorry.
He reached a beseeching hand out to me.

I knocked it away before he could touch me.
You’re saying
that a lot lately, but it doesn’t seem to matter, does it? Five minutes later you’re jumping to the same wrong conclusions. I’m sick of it.

Sabyn chose that moment to swim by.
Trouble in paradise, Tempest?
He ran a hand down my arm and across my lower back, and I jumped at the shock of electricity that pulsed through me at his touch. Like always, it paralyzed me for a second, made every brain cell I had freeze up. Before I could recover, he leaned down and whispered,
Whenever you get sick of whiny ass over here and want to try for a real man, remember I’m first in line.

I shrugged him off, started to
tell
him off, since I was completely disgusted with the way he was using me to get to Kona. But it was too late. Before I could even say a word, Kona launched himself at Sabyn with a roar. Then the two of them were rolling across the ocean floor, pounding on each other for all they were worth.

A crowd was gathering, and rather than deal with everything
that
entailed, I turned and just swam away. My training session could obviously wait, and with the way I was feeling, if I didn’t see Kona for a month, it would probably be too soon.

The jerk.

I had planned on stopping by the refugee tents to visit Liam and Mahina—she had been working there every day—but found myself coasting up to the castle instead. It turned out the person I most wanted to see right now was Hailana. She knew more about this thing between Kona and Sabyn than she had told me, and I wanted answers.

She was in her chambers with her secretary, drafting some kind of letter to the other clans. Asking for solidarity against Tiamat was my guess, but then, I’d been wrong before. About a lot of things.

She looked up as I entered the room.
Tempest, come in.

I can check back later, if I’m interrupting something.

No, not at all.
She nodded to her secretary, who hustled out of the room with the large chalkboard she was using to take dictation. Later, the notes would be transcribed onto a special seaweed paper that held up for years against the harsh salt water of the ocean.

I’ve been waiting for you.
She waved her hand, beckoned me closer.

I approached warily, ready to bolt at the first sign that she was going to try that whole squeezing my heart thing again. But she seemed calm, almost happy. Although her fingers trembled a little as she reached for her bottle of passion fruit iced tea, and again I was reminded of just how old she was. And just what was expected of me when she finally died.

Sabyn tells me you’ve been doing very well in training
. She beamed at me.
Which is saying something, as he’s not prone to giving compliments.

Yeah, well, I think he might be exaggerating.
I took a seat in the chair across from her desk—it was a little lower than Hailana’s, to ensure that her visitors were never taller than she was.

Oh, I don’t know. I watched you out there myself yesterday. You looked very good.
She paused.
Although, I admit, I was hoping for a little more.

More?
I asked, confused.
You mean, more energy?

Perhaps. Although, to be honest, I was thinking along the lines of another talent.
She eyed me closely.
I know you can call storms, bring down lightning. And that you wield energy in quite a powerful manner.

Isn’t that enough?

Of course, except …
She sighed.
Your mother could do so much more.

As I sat there, waiting for her to get to the point, I got the distinct feeling she was playing me, in the exact same way Sabyn liked to play Kona. But even knowing that, I fell for it, leaning forward in my chair like an eager puppy dog. She was just that good.

Thoughts of what I had seen in the cave, of what my mother had done, filled my head. My stomach pitched and rolled and for a second I thought I was going to be sick again, despite my empty stomach. I told myself to ignore it, to let the image go. I had to if I hoped to hold my own against Hailana.

You know
, she continued,
usually the more time passes after a mermaid’s seventeenth birthday, the more powers she gets. That you had so much power so quickly made me think that you were going to have a lot of surprises in store for us.

She quirked one perfectly shaped eyebrow and I couldn’t help it. I thought of the electricity thing I’d done with Tiamat’s goons.

Of Kona explaining how rare that kind of magic was.

Of the voice deep inside myself that had warned me not to tell Hailana.

Did Hailana somehow know about it? Had I slipped up in practice, used it without realizing? I racked my brain, tried to think of every move I’d made, but nothing came to mind. I didn’t remember wielding electricity against Sabyn or anyone else he’d brought in to train with us. Except …

Except that nearly every time Sabyn touched me, we both lit up like the Electric Light Parade my mother used to drag us to see at Disneyland every summer. I’d thought it was a training thing, something that wasn’t all that unusual. But what if it was the giveaway? Was that bizarre reaction between us what had tipped off Sabyn and, in turn, Hailana?

I fought the urge to scream in frustration. I hated this. Hated not knowing all the things I should, all the bits and pieces that went into life down here. On land, it wasn’t easy—especially with all the mermaid stuff that had grown almost impossible to hide—but at least up there I understood what was expected of me. What I needed to do to keep myself safe and sane. Down below, it was a whole different story, and I kept feeling like I was a couple of scenes behind the pack.

I studied Hailana, tried to gauge what she was getting at. If she were fishing and I didn’t react to it, maybe she would let the subject drop. I hoped so, because everything inside me said that if she knew of my most recent talent, how easily I had killed those men, that I would find myself following even more closely in my mother’s footsteps.

I didn’t want to do that,
couldn’t
do that. For seven years I’d sworn I wouldn’t be like my mother, wouldn’t make the same choices she had. And yet, here I was, in her city, with her queen, living her life—or as close to it as Hailana could get me. Again I thought of those people I’d seen my mother kill remorselessly, again I shoved the memory away.

Tried to focus instead on the problem at hand.

I didn’t know what to do, didn’t have a clue what to say to her. I needed Kona, who knew so much more about this life than I did. I had questions for him, needed answers, but he was so wrapped up in protecting me from the perceived threat of Sabyn that he’d forgotten the ways in which I really needed him.

Tempest? Are you listening to me?
Hailana’s voice, much sharper than it had been before, dragged me back to the present. From the impatient look on her face she’d been talking for quite some time, while I’d been drifting in la-la-land, trying to make some sense of the world that was slowly crumbling around me.

Sorry, Hailana. It’s been a rough couple of days. Sabyn’s a tough trainer.

That’s why he’s good for you. Jared wasn’t pushing you, and that isn’t going to do us any good. When Tiamat comes back for you, she’s going to come with everything she’s got.

I know.
It was pretty hard to forget, what with everyone reminding me of that fact every time I turned around.

There was a long silence as the merQueen waited for me to say what I had come to say. But it was harder than I thought to just blurt it out now that I was in front of her. Looking down, I traced patterns on Hailana’s desk as I tried to get my thoughts in order.

Are you okay, Tempest?
she finally asked.

Yeah, of course. I was just …
I looked up into her narrowed gaze and knew that it was now or never. If I didn’t ask her my questions soon, I never would.
Did you choose Sabyn on purpose? Because you knew it would upset Kona?

Mmmmm, now we get to the heart of the matter. Is the selkie prince threatened by such a strong, handsome merman spending so much time with you?

The selkie prince
, I repeated,
is upset because he doesn’t like Sabyn. But I think you know that.
I watched her carefully, trying to catch any flicker in her expression. She didn’t so much as blink.

Is he still beating that drum?
she asked.
It was an accident—Annalise fell and injured herself severely—with Tiamat’s help. Sabyn tried to save her, but he couldn’t. Everyone knows that but Kona.

I was reeling a little bit at the knowledge of how Kona’s sister had died, but I wouldn’t give Hailana the satisfaction of seeing he’d never shared the details with me.

So you knew about Sabyn’s history with Kona, how Kona felt about him, and you decided to have me train with him anyway?
I asked, just to clarify things. I already knew it was true, even before she answered. Hailana did what she wanted, when she wanted to do it, and to hell with anyone else’s feelings.

I don’t make decisions for my clan based on keeping the selkie prince happy
, she told me blandly.
I’m truly sorry if my choices have caused any stress between you.

Yeah, and if I believed that … I didn’t need to see the sudden cagey look in her eye to know that she was playing me. Of course, a lot of what she’d done lately seemed to have been with the express intention of causing trouble between Kona and me. The fact that we were letting her, that we were falling right into line with her schemes, was no one’s fault but Kona’s and mine. I would even bet that Sabyn was making all those crazy comments to me, not just to get under Kona’s skin, but on direct order from her. The straightforward approach wasn’t really Hailana’s style.