“What’s happened?”
He shook his head. “You haven’t answered my question.”
“I don’t know how to,” she admitted. “I think it would be a stretch to say I’m safe, but no one’s openly trying to kill me at present.” She gave a wry smile. “I even passed my test. My fourth year classes will start in a few weeks, at least theoretically. But everyone of relevance knows the position is a facade. I have about as much chance of becoming a record holder as you have of sprouting a merman’s tail.”
Heath smiled at her joke, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Merletta,” he said, his voice strained. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I knew the dragons were worked up over you. I should have told you that, instead of giving you useless veiled hints. Then you would never have gone to Wyvern Islands. But I was too selfish to be honest with you. I wanted you to stay, and I kept lying to myself, telling myself it was possible, that there was no barrier to you just joining my world.”
Merletta looked down quickly. “I don’t think I could ever do that, Heath,” she said. “Even though there’s a part of me that wants to so badly. I wish…”
“You have nothing to explain,” Heath said, when she trailed off. He lifted a hand, running the pad of his thumb down her cheek. “I’m the one at fault. I could tell you weren’t entirely comfortable there, and I understand why now.”
Merletta peered up at him. “You do?”
He nodded. “When you fled Wyvern Islands, Reka carried me to safety. I wasn’t unconscious like the time you were drying out, and Reka wasn’t determined to avoid you anymore. I had the opportunity to choose where to go. I knew we could catch up with you, help you on your journey. But I didn’t. I knew I was needed at home, and I couldn’t turn my back on that responsibility. I chose my family.” He swallowed, seeming ashamed at the admission. “I chose Valoria.”
“I don’t blame you,” Merletta told him quickly. “I understand better than anyone. For all the triple kingdoms’ faults and dysfunction, I can’t just turn my back on it. I don’t want to.”
“I know.” Heath gave a twisted smile. “Neither of us want to abandon our homes. We want to save them. And it will probably get us both killed.”
With a sigh, Merletta pitched back against him, closing her eyes and feeling the warmth of his skin through his tunic as she listened to his heartbeat.
“At least we’ve had exciting lives so far.”
Heath gave a hollow laugh, pulling her against him.
“I am grieved, Merletta.” Reka’s gravelly voice startled Merletta. She hadn’t expected him to initiate speech with her. “Grieved by my colony’s aggression toward you. It is not what I would have you—or any intelligent being—experience from my kind.”
Merletta blinked at him, amazed to hear him…well, not quite apologizing, but almost.
“Why do they hate me?” she whispered. “What have I done?”
“You haven’t done anything,” Heath said fiercely. “You’re not in the wrong. They’re prejudiced against your kind because of an old tale from their history, about sea creatures warped by tainted dragon magic. It’s complicated, but I’m convinced they’re wrong. I don’t think that’s your origin.”
“Then why do they think it is?” Merletta asked.
“I suppose when they saw your tail—” Heath started, but Reka cut him off.
“It is not just that. They sensed your magic.”
“But I don’t have magic,” Merletta objected.
“Not the way Heath and his family do,” Reka agreed. “But you are a creature of magic. Whatever the origin of your kind, it was certainly a process influenced by magic. Your ability to transform is not a naturally occurring phenomenon. It has been gifted to your kind at some point in the past. Gifted through magic. I can sense it lingering still.”
She frowned at him. “Are you saying you can feel magic around me? Like Heath can feel the magic of other power-wielders?”
For some reason, Heath was staring at her, some realization growing behind his eyes.
“I can feel it, too,” he whispered. “I sensed it the first time we met, although I didn’t identify that until later. It’s much fainter than the magic of the power-wielders. I…I’ve grown so used to your…your signature, I suppose, that I’ve stopped thinking of it as power. It’s so different from my family’s.”
“All right.” Merletta searched his eyes, confused. “Why do you look like that realization is upending your world?”
“Because.” Heath swallowed. “Because like a fool, I’d forgotten that there might be another source of magic, other than the dragons and the power-wielders.”
Merletta waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t. With a little shake of the head, he brought his attention back to her.
“That’s not what I came to talk about,” he said. “Merletta, it’s bad. I didn’t know how to warn you…I’ve been waiting for an opportunity, and when I saw you swimming here this morning…”