His mer body rose like a bubble in water, spreading through his human form and reverting it back to what nature had gifted him with at birth. His legs tensed against their bonds, trying to draw together despite the cuffs.
The change could not be stopped now. He screamed into the gag as bolts of pain soared up both legs, knees grinding in their joints as his flesh began to merge and grow scales. Leg bones creaked and cracked before becoming blessedly gelid. He screamed again, biting hard on the fabric in his mouth and feeling tears run down into his hairline. This won’t kill me. This won’t kill me.
The merging of flesh continued, reaching the leather cuffs on his ankles. The flesh there bloated, bulging around the top of the cuffs brutally and pushing them down.
Thrashing his head from side to side, Liam tried to gulp in air through his nose. This won’t kill me, this won’t kill me. Oh GODS—
His changing flesh surged under the cuffs, swelling beyond the leather’s ability to resist. The cuffs tore open with a harsh ripping noise. Liam shrieked in both pain and relief as the change finished, and his fluke rolled out on either side, flapping against the bulkhead and off the bunk.
He didn’t have time to recover. Biting deeper into the gag, he pulled on the cuffs holding his arms to the bunk. The more flexible mer bones in his wrists and hands compressed painfully, but it was enough to let him yank his hands through the cuffs, leaving skin behind.
Panting hard, he spat out the gag and then sat up. His stomach churned and he leaned over, vomiting bile onto the carpeted deck. Wiping his mouth and chin with the ball of his hand, he sucked in a ragged, acid-tinged breath, then focused on his tail.
Split, split, return to legs. Grant me human form.
Slowly, his tail began to recede, fluke rolling up and paling as it split into two rough foot shapes. He panted through the rest of the change, painfully swinging his legs out over the edge of the bunk until his feet hit the deck.
Shards of pain lanced up through his regenerated leg bones, but he forced himself to stand. Stumbling across the cabin, he grabbed the scalpel Whitfield had so generously left on the other table and staggered for the cabin door.
He paused in the shadowed area before the steps leading up, listening to Whitfield order someone to drop their knives.
He then heard a familiar voice say that he didn’t have any. Col. Please gods, let that mean Kasos is with him.
He crept up the stairs as quietly as possible, getting a good grip on the knife. When Whitfield threatened to blow Kasos’s guts over the deck, he cleared the last step, looming up behind the shorter human.
“It’s possible to be disarmed.”
Grimacing, Liam slipped his right hand around Whitfield’s neck, digging the blade into the human’s flesh before pulling it back and slicing open his throat. Whitfield made a wet, gobbling noise, one hand coming up to clap around the gushing wound.
But the other still held the gun.
This is for Nick. Spinning the blade in his fist, Liam punched it deep into Whitfield’s spinal column, feeling the sick crunch vibrate up his arm as the steel bit through nerves and cartilage. The human shuddered and slowly dropped to the deck, gun tumbling from his hand. He twisted as he landed and Liam saw the madness in his eyes drain away, changing to confusion. And then nothing.
Gut still rolling, he leaned against the bulkhead. “He’s dead.”
Kasos had yanked Col to the deck, crouching over him protectively. “You sure?”
“Slit his throat and punctured his spine. I’m sure.”
The triton stood, hauling Col to his feet before padding over to Whitfield’s body. “Not bad,” he said approvingly. “You sure you want to be an Elder, councilor? You might be better suited in the rangers.”
The nausea returned in full force. Liam lurched to the rail, vomiting over it.
“And then again, maybe not.”
He turned, wiping his mouth. “I’m not cut out for the rangers. Pun intended,” he managed.
Kasos smirked at that, then toed Whitfield’s body. “Do we need this for anything?”
“Not that I can think of.”
“Good. I’ll get rid of the trash.” The triton bent, hoisting the body over a shoulder and bringing it to the rail. With a grunt, he heaved the corpse over the side. It splashed into the water and sank. “What now?”
Liam tried to think. “We need to get back to the grotto. They may have more news about Nick and Aidan.”
Kasos’s mouth twisted. “And then her ladyship tosses you into the smallest cell she can find in the name of ‘protective custody’. Not acceptable.”
“If you can think of a way to get news about my mates without returning to the grotto, I would be happy to hear it.”
The triton’s grin was sharkish. “It’s quite simple. We reconnoiter from a distance. Let me contact my second and see if there’s any news.” He touched a large black stone on his neckband. “Lysandros, this is Kasos. Can you hear me?”
A soft voice emanated from the stone. “Gods, commander, it’s good to hear from you. Where are you?”
“I’ll explain later. Any news on Counselor Liam’s missing mates?”
“They’ve been tracked to a wrecked human ship. Captain Fergus of the Bright Water rangers requested two squads for an extraction.”
Kasos’s dark eyes flashed. “Coordinates?”
The soft voice rattled off a string of numbers. “Will you be joining us, commander?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for all the fish in the sea. Kasos out.” He let go of the stone. “Well, then. It looks as though we have a fight on our hands.”
Liam reluctantly sank into one of the deck chairs. “I don’t know if I can swim very far tonight,” he confessed.
“You don’t have to.” Kasos spread his hands, gesturing at the yacht. “Not after your troublesome human was so kind as to provide us with his lovely little boat. You two stay down here and get some rest. I’ll let you know when we’re close.”
He headed for the ladder that led to the pilot house, but Col caught his wrist. “Commander, thank you,” the brown-eyed mer said. “For everything.”
The triton gazed down at Liam’s friend, suddenly inscrutable. “It’s my duty as a triton, mer,” he said, sounding clipped. “But you’re welcome.”
With another nod to Liam, he climbed the short ladder to the pilot’s house. After a few minutes, the engines rumbled to life and the yacht began to move again.
Col dropped into the chair next to Liam. “I don’t mean to be harsh, my friend, but you look like shit,” he said. “Do you want to go down below and rest? I’m guessing this tub has a bed or two somewhere.”
Liam shuddered at the thought of returning to the main cabin and the scene of his torture. “I’d rather stay up here.”
He could sense the questions going through the other mer’s mind, but mercifully Col dropped the subject. “Try not to worry, Li. Aidan is a damn good ranger. He’s not going to let anything happen to Nick. You’ll be with your mates before you know it.”
The ship suddenly listed to the side, scribing a wide half-circle in the moonlight water. Kasos had obviously figured out how to pilot it.
Settling back in the deck chair, Liam stared at the starry sky overhead and sent up a prayer to any gods listening.
Chapter Fourteen
Nick felt the skin on the nape of his neck prickle. He twisted in the water and saw Thetis floating in the doorway of the hold, Halkyone at her side.
“What have you learned from your patient so far, doctor?” the Nereid said sweetly.
He wished the Rod actually was a weapon. If he had the chance to blast Thetis into molecules, he’d take it in a heartbeat. “Your venom is infiltrating her cells and rewriting the DNA there, causing her to mutate.”
Thetis surged forward eagerly. “DNA. What is that?”
“It’s the code in every living thing’s cells that tells it how to grow.” He’d been mildly surprised that gods had DNA in the first pla
ce. “But your venom can rewrite that code and insert its own changes. If I may ask, my lady, how did you make your venom do that?”
The Nereid’s expression blanked, and she swam to the side, picking idly at the rags floating around her. “I was poisoned by your kind, covered in a filthy sludge that destroyed my beauty and ate away at my body,” she said tersely. “But now I can control your own weapon and use it against you and anyone who stands against me.”
She’d cleverly skirted his question. My God, does she even know how she’s doing it? “But what kind of weapon is it?” he pressed. “Was it a poison, or a microbe, or some kind of chemical? How did you learn to control it?”
She whirled on him, eyes bugged and utterly mad. “I don’t know!”
The mermaids cowered in their cells. Even Halkyone cringed away from her mistress. With a visible effort, Thetis regained her calm. “I don’t know,” she said in a more even tone. “That’s what I want you to tell me. What is it about my venom that changes the lower creatures?” She drifted closer, and he tried to breathe shallowly against her stink. “How can I refine it and create more thinking minions like Halkyone?”
Nick tried to ignore the small ember of hope. If Thetis didn’t know how to control the nanites in her venom, it would make it more difficult for her to create more creatures like her handmaiden. Halkyone must have been a happy accident, so to speak.
He glanced back at Claire. She’d given up on trying to purge the venom from her body and drifted in her cell now, twitching occasionally as the black slick crawled through her cells one by one and rewrote their code. Her body was already starting to swell, and her jaw had begun to change shape. A scattering of white teeth at the bottom of the cage indicated that new, triangular teeth were on their way.
Most disturbing of all, her eyes had lost all traces of the sclera and were a solid, shark-like black now. He couldn’t read them, and could only pray that she still remembered what they’d discussed, along with their agreement.
He turned back to the Nereid. “I’m still not sure how the venom does its work,” he lied. “I can see it at work, but I don’t know how it knows what to do when injected into one of your v—minions.”
Her nostrils flared. “Then what use are you to me? Perhaps I should just take your Rod and feed you to Halkyone now.”
He bowed his head. The last thing he wanted was for her to pull him out of the hold—that was undoubtedly his death warrant. “I’ve never done anything like this before, my lady,” he said humbly. “If you permit me to observe the process until its conclusion, I should be able to tell you more about how your venom works.”
He could feel the weight of her stare, and hoped that part of her mind was still sane enough to recognize the logic in his words. “All right,” she finally said. “But when my new minion is brought over, I expect to know more about the process.” She paused, curving her lips in a smile that was as false as it was sweet. “If you find the key to my venom, I shall spare your life and the lives of your mates. You shall be gods in my new world and rule in my name. How does that sound to you, Bearer?”
Like a fate worse than death. He bowed his head lower. “That would be an unexpected honor, my lady,” he said.
She leered at him. “Ah, I thought that might take your fancy. Keep that in mind as you work, Bearer.” She whirled, a grumpy-looking Halkyone in her wake, and swam out of the hold.
Nick let go of the breath he was holding, gripping the Rod like a baton. Pythia raised her head, resting it on his finger. That was close, she whispered. Too close.
I can’t tell her about the nanites. If she figures out how to control them—
She would be unstoppable, Pythia finished grimly. At least you know the truth about her venom.
Only part of it. I still have to find out how she got them in the first place. His headache flared up again, and his stomach rumbled painfully. God, I would kill or die for a burger right now.
The snake’s tongue flicked lightly against his skin. I know, Bearer. I’m sorry for your discomfort.
No, don’t. He gazed into the sea goddess’s cage, at her slowly transforming body. She’s the one who deserves your pity, Pythia. Not me.
****
Outside the wreck, Aidan and Fergus were discussing possible lines of attack, when tritons began to filter out of the blue darkness. A tall triton with a deep grey tail and a silver band around his neck swam up to the mers.
“I am Captain Lysandros, second in command of the Bright Water tritons,” he said, nodding at Aidan. “We were informed your mate is inside the wreck and being held by the Nereid Thetis.”
Aidan glanced at his captain. Fergus bristled slightly but remained quiet. “Yes, but we haven’t been able to get close to the wreck to scout where he is,” he said.
“Ilkothelloi?”
“At every entrance.”
Lysandros grunted at that. “Anything else we should be aware of?”
“It seems that Thetis has been experimenting with more than mers. We saw a pair of poisoned orcas patrolling with the ilkothelloi,” Fergus said. “They’re half again as large as normal orcas. We have to assume they have shark teeth and venom as well.”
The triton’s expression turned grim. “Maddened orcas will be extremely dangerous. We’ll have to take them out as soon as possible.” He flicked a glance at Aidan. “Your other mate is on his way with my commander and another mer.”
Aidan felt fear wash through him. “Why is Liam coming here? He needs to get back to the damn grotto!”
“He wasn’t at the grotto,” Lysandros said. “The commander says we should keep an ear out for surface sounds. Apparently they’re arriving by human ship.”
“What?”
The triton shook his head. “Kasos said it was a long story. I’ll send scouts up to signal us when they arrive. That will be our signal to storm the wreck. We’re going to draw off as many ilkothelloi as we can, and then I’ll send in a strike team to rescue your mate.”
Aidan tensed. “I want to go with them.”
“As I assumed.” Lysandros waved up another triton. “Brief the ranger on strike team tactics and signals, and make sure he’s armed.”
****
Liam felt the ship slow, then come to a stop. He opened his eyes. Overhead, the sky was still thick with stars, but there was a faint ridge of rose gold along the eastern horizon. Dawn was no more than an hour away.
He heard a thump and turned to see Col just climbing off the ladder to the pilot house. “Kasos said that we’re within swimming range of the wreck,” the mer said. “We’re supposed to head down and link up with his platoon.”
Liam nodded and tried to stand, sucking in a pained breath. His leg bones still ached abominably from the damage he’d inflicted on them in the cabin.
Col gave him a worried look. “Are you all right?”
“Just a little stiff,” Liam lied, leaning down and rubbing a calf muscle. “I’ll be fine once I get into the water.”
Col didn’t seem convinced but nodded as Kasos slid down the pilot house ladder. “I’ve released the sea anchor so this tub should stay in place long enough,” he said, tightening the straps of his knife sheathes. “We’ve got a platoon of tritons and at least two squads of rangers down there, including your mate, councilor.”
“Is he all right?”
“He’s fine according to my second, but your human mate is still being held by Thetis. We’re going to launch on attack on her monsters while your other mate and one of my tactical teams infiltrate the wreck and rescue him.”
Liam knew there was no way Aidan would allow himself to be kept off that team. He also hated the fact that there was nothing practical he could do to help. “Can I be of assistance, commander? I’ll do anything.”
Kasos studied him. “As a matter of fact, councilor, there is.”
****
Lysandros handed Aidan a speaker neckband. “These are all connected to each other and to an operator back at base,” he said, ta
pping his own. “Try to keep the chatter to a minimum—important intel only.”
Aidan fastened the thick band around his throat, then touched the central black stone. It tingled slightly under his touch.
“It looks good on you.”
He whirled. Liam floated there, giving him a tired grin. “You bastard,” Aidan growled, throwing himself into the taller mer’s arms and kissing him. “Dammit, you shouldn’t be here.”
“But I am,” Liam said quietly, staring into his eyes. “There is no way in Tartarus I’m going to sit back at the grotto while you and Nick are in danger.”
Something about his expression was very off. “Are you all right? What happened?”
Liam shook his head. “We’ll talk about it when we get Nick back. Right now, focus on him.”
Aidan didn’t like the sound of that, but nodded. Lysandros waved him over to the strike team, and he gave Liam a last, lingering kiss before joining the squad of eight tritons.
“All right, listen up. We’re running a poke and grab op,” Lysandros explained. “Commander Kasos and Captain Fergus are going to engage Thetis’s forces and draw their attention. Once that’s underway, we infiltrate the ship, find this mer’s mate, a human named Nick Gardiner, and get him out. Our goal is minimum interaction with the enemy, but take out any ilkothelloi or attackers as necessary.”
“Lieutenant,” one of the tritons said, “did you say a human? Are you sure he’s still alive down here?”
Aidan scowled at that, but Lysandros said, “He has Poseidon’s Kiss, so he can breathe in water. Aidan, what does your mate look like?”
“Short dark hair, blue eyes, a little shorter than me, pale and muscled,” Aidan said. “He’ll probably be holding a rod with a snake wrapped around it.” At the incredulous look from the tritons, he explained about Asclepius’s Rod. “So he has the blessing of two gods. And I know he’s still alive.” He tapped his chest. “He’s my agapetos. I’d feel it here if he was dead.”
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