Page 22 of Battle Fluke

“Get up. You’ll make everyone gossip.” Kaelin’s words were accompanied by the swishing of her body turning.

Kyree’s lips twitched as she straightened her body, and saw her ears hadn’t deceived her. Kaelin had turned her back on Kyree and moved away from her.

Hoping she read the nonverbal cues correctly, she followed Kaelin behind the reeds and into the small home that she and Zendalia shared.

Kyree had heard the rumors of the two of them together. She’d watched their interactions, and she was certain there was love between them. But why would Kaelin give up going home so easily?

“What do you want, Kyree?” Kaelin said, lounging on a stone that was probably large for Zendalia and small for her.

Kyree stayed put in the middle of the main living area. “I need to find Nylah.”

Kaelin shook her head slowly.

“My companion.” Kyree had missed Nylah, but being consumed with everything Hudson and Honour it had been easy to push the ache away. Now it reached inside of her chest and she wasn’t sure how she would find a way to breathe completely again until she found them again.

“You lost them?” Kaelin raised an eyebrow sharply, the disbelief written across her features.

“Not exactly.” Kyree bit her lip before settling onto the floor. “Soulara had a soul stone, Nylah’s stone. So I sent Nylah with her since she seemed to have their soul.”

“But now Soulara is missing.” Kaelin surmised with a sharp nod.

“How did you—”

“Sometimes there’s an advantage to being bonded with a mer who works closely with the royal family.” Kaelin stretched out her tail, flapping her fluke lightly.

“Nylah’s also missing. No one has seen them. I’ve tried connecting with them, but I haven’t been able to.” Kyree worried her lower lip again. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take today. She’d hoped that being in Reine again would ease at least that ache in her chest, but it had only made it worse.

And the fact was that when Honour had left her, it had gotten unbearable. Finding Kaelin was the only relief she could think of. She had no one else here. And no one who could understand the war she fought within herself.

“You need to clear your mind.” Kaelin settled more, a small blue octopus spinning circles around her.

Kyree instantly smiled, though tears came to her eyes. She recognized Kaelin’s companion for exactly that. She had given Nylah over, as difficult as it had been, knowing it was the rightthing to do. But it had not felt like the right thing, not for her own heart.

What she wouldn’t give to have Nylah back in her life. To be worthy enough to have the ray’s gentle brush of fin over her skin once more.

She took a deep breath and relaxed as much as she could. Holding her hands together in her lap she focused. Nylah came to her mind, their sleek lines, bright and beautiful coloring. But no matter how hard she tried, Kyree couldn’t sense where Nylah was.

Shaking her head, Kyree opened her eyes to find Kaelin staring at her oddly. “I can’t sense them.”

“Your mind is too clouded, Kyree.”

Kyree sighed heavily, though she appreciated the soft way Kaelin spoke her name. “So what if it is?”

“You’ll never be able to find them without clear focus.”

“How do you do it?” The question was out of her lips before she could stop it. Wincing, Kyree tried to rein things back in, tried to go back to how it was before then, but she couldn’t. She needed to know. “How did you give them all up?”

“I didn’t give them up,” Kaelin whispered, flicking her gaze toward the front entrance of her home. “They cast me out and refused to let me back in when I brought news to help them.”

Kyree frowned. That wasn’t what she had been told, what anyone had been told. Kaelin hadn’t returned home, had she? “You came back?”

“With Honour and Zendalia, when we first tried to warn the elders about the krakens in the deep soundings. But they cast me out again, refused to listen while I was there.” Kaelin tangled her fingers with Neyon’s tentacles. A vibration moved through the waters, one that was comforting, focused entirely on Kaelin.

“They didn’t.” Kyree couldn’t hide her shock and disgust. Not that she would even want to.

“They did.” Kaelin raised her chin defiantly. “I won’t go back there and beg for them to accept me. I found my place here, I have a woman I love, who loves me, and I have a home.” Kaelin’s voice broke on that word. “That’s all I ever wanted—a home—and now I have that.”

“But they’re our people.”