C3

“Why should I believe you’re a princess?” he says, his grin tight. He lifts the pendant. “If you really want this, come and get it.”

Taking a deep breath, I wade into the water. It’s shockingly cold. He’s holding on to the log with one hand, the other still dangling my pendant in front of me, luring me like a fish to the hook.

In a quick motion, he hangs my pendant around his neck and reaches for me, grabbing my wrist—the one without the iron bracelet.

His hand is cold, ice seeping into my flesh where he’s holding me, and it makes me feel sick. He’s not human. But his grip is like a steel manacle around my wrist, dragging me inexorably toward him. Up close, he’s even more impressive, with shoulders like bulwarks and a chest made of hard lines, broad and muscular. And his eyes… they are like chips of the sky, a blue so vibrant and true that it mesmerizes me.

Those eyes dip to my mouth and his lips part on an inhale. Then he hauls me against him and I cry out in surprise.

He kisses me.

His lips are on mine, soft and insistent, his face so close I can see every detail—the sweep of his dark lashes over his eyes, the dark brows, the light flush on his cheekbones.

I want to fight it, but at the same time, I don’t. His chest is cold as ice, and his tail splashes behind him, reminding me of what he truly is, but his lips move over mine and pleasure courses through me. I find my arms winding up around his neck as his tongue parts my lips and delves into my mouth, sending more shocking pleasure down, down the core of me, letting it pool between my legs.

Even with the cold water lapping at my thighs, seeping into my undergarments, his cold hold on me, heat flares inside me. I’ve never felt anything like it before. Is this magic or is it desire, plain and simple? It’s so hard to tell.

So hard tothinkwhen he’s still kissing me, a sound rumbling in his throat, his hand releasing my wrist to curl around the small of my back and haul me closer. Merman or not, I can feel how aroused he is, that rod of flesh I’d seen earlier grown very large and hard now, pressing into my stomach. It makes the heat in me flare hotter.

I may be a sheltered princess, but I know about cocks and that they give men pleasure. I’ve seen things at the palace growing up. It seems that mermen are no different.

And it’s fascinating and I want to touch it, but he distracts me when he licks the roof of my mouth, exploring every secret place that makes me moan with need. His other hand comes between us and finds my breast over my bodice, stroking it through the fabric of my gown. My nipple pebbles and need unlike any I’ve ever felt pools in my belly, between my legs. I never thought that having a man touching me there would feel so good.

He nips at my lips as he kisses me, his fingers toying with my nipple, and I cling to his neck, lost in the sensations rushing through me. He’s rocking against me, I realize, his hard cock rubbing against my belly, and that feels so good, too. I’m caught between his hand and his cock, while his mouth plunders my mouth again and again. The pressure between my legs is painful and I need… I need him to…

A flick of his thumb over my nipple sends a jolt of lightning through me, and the pressure breaks, the pleasure drawing me under, drowning me. I moan brokenly against his lips, rubbing myself against his hard body, and…

Oh Gods. What am I doing? What…?I pull my mouth away and he growls, his gaze very dark and dazed. “Stop.”

“Selina…”

“Let me go,” I demand, putting my hands on his cold, hard chest and pushing.

It does nothing, it’s like pushing at a brick wall, but after a long moment, he removes his hand from inside my gown and releases me.

I stumble backward in the water, panting hard, still dazed from the pleasure he made me feel.

He licks at his lips, frowning at me. That mighty tail hits the water of the lake, splashing more water, wetting my clothes.

“You lied,” I whisper. “Kissing didn’t work.”

“It’s working,” he says mildly. “The curse isn’t easily lifted. It takes time. It takes work.”

“Time?” Gathering my sodden skirts, I stumble out of the water, away from him. “If you think I’ll let you kiss me again, you’re out of your mind.”

Kiss me and touch me and pleasure me like this… Like I never thought possible.

His brows knit. Gone is the easy grin from before. “I will wait. Until you come back.”

“Why should I?”

“Because I am a damn good kisser. Because I can make you come so hard, you’ll see stars.” He shrugs. “And because I’m not giving you the pendant back just yet. So that you will return.”

“You can’t do that!” I shout as he swims backward and starts sinking into the lake. “It’s not fair.”

He laughs.

“Wait! I don’t even know your name? Who are you?”

“Adar,” he says, his voice floating over to me as he sinks lower and lower, his braid floating on the surface before sinking. “King Adaren of the Opal Court. Goodbye, princess.”

“Goodbye,” I whisper, shaking with cold, shock, and confusion.

What am I going to do now?

SELINA

It has to be a spell, I think as I hurry back to the town and the palace, my mind spinning. A spell he put on me to kiss him, to want him like that. That pleasure was overwhelming. It felt as if my body was coming apart.

But then why didn’t he use magic from the start, if that was what he wanted? It was as if he wanted to convince me to kiss him, to want it. To want him.

And Gods help me, I did. I do.

He’s beautiful—from the waist up. Even with those strange Fae ears that remind me of wild animals, turning him into a sort of feral creature, both frightening and amazing.

And his hard cock, rubbing against me… Why was that so fascinating? So arousing?

Was what he told me true? Can my kisses cure him?

What if he lied to me? He wanted me to kiss him. Maybe the kiss won’t lift his curse. If that part about the curse was true. How to sift through truth and lies?

They say the Fae can’t lie but what if that bit isn’t true, either?

One thing is for sure, I think as I pull my hood lower over my head and rush into the palace, heading for my room. I still don’t have the pendant, and the visit of my suitor is coming up fast.

“Selina!” My cousin Lily is waiting outside my door. “Where were you? I looked everywhere for you.”

“I was out for a walk to clear my head.” I open the door to my room and she follows me inside. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m just…” She wrings her hands together. “I was worried. Ever since Mina fell sick and was taken away, I’m worried the same fate might befall us, too.”

“We’re okay, though. You feel okay, right?”

“Yes, yes, but…” She frowns. “Your gown is wet, Your shoes, too. And you have a smudge on your face.” She comes up to me and wipes her fingers over my cheek. “You smell like… muddy water.”

“Muddy water has a smell? I didn’t know that.” I move away from her and shiver. “I stepped too close to a man carrying buckets of water and he dropped one. I was right beside him. Got soaking wet.”

“I can see that. I’ll call the servants to run you a hot bath or you’ll catch your death.”

I let her take over, sitting down in my favorite chair by the window sill where my flowers are blooming in their pots, trying to let the tension seep out of me.

There is no way around it. I have to go back to the woods tomorrow, try to get my pendant back. I only have a few more days before Prince Iason arrives. Can’t ignore this. It’s important.

You just want to see the merman again, a voice whispers at the back of my mind.You want him to kiss you again, to touch you, you want to stand so close to him that you can feel his breath on your face, see those sky-blue eyes and the strong lines of his face, feel his strength as he holds you.

Feel how much he wants you.

Gods. Heat returns to my face and I put my hands on my cheeks. My palms are shockingly cold against the hot flush.Stop.

The only reason I will ever return to those woods, to that lake, is to retrieve my pendant and save my honor, ensure my future. That’s all there is to it.

The Fae are dangerous and the merman just proved it by manipulating me into touching him, kissing him. I’ll be lucky if I don’t get sick and die. Maybe I’m sick already. Maybe that would explain the heat in my cheeks.

Not because I’m attracted to a wicked, half-fish Fae trapped in a lake.

Never.

But when I return to the lake the next day, he’s not there.

Frustrated, scared and angry, I pace the shore, fingering my iron bracelet. This is the same spot as yesterday. There are the brambles, there is the log. So where is he?

“Adar!” I shout into the stillness and glance uneasily around in case Lesser Faeries are lurking there to jump on me. “Where are you? Adar!”

There is no reply. A bird flies over the lake, a black line over the mirror. Gods, is my pendant gone forever? What am I going to tell Prince Iason? That I lost it in the woods? That’s not a good first impression. He’ll believe that I’m not interested in him.

Can’t afford that. I won’t let it happen. I’ve already told my parents that Iason is the one I want, and he’s a good match. His kingdom isn’t far, it’s rich, and his family looks like nice people. There are only so many young princes one can choose from, after all, and my mother has been pressing me to get married. She says if I grow older, I won’t be desired anymore.

Which is weird. I’m barely an adult. Yet this is the world of royalty. Your age and looks are paramount, just as important as your inheritance, when a prince comes looking for a wife to bear his babies.

The question of children again.

Ugh.

You don’t hate children, I tell myself.You’ll be happy when they’re there. Prince Iason will make a wonderful father.

But what about what I want? Who I want?

These strange thoughts shouldn’t plague me now, not with my suitor’s visit looming, and my pendant in the hands of a merman.

“Adar! Come out right now!”

A ripple goes through the lake as if something large has moved underwater. A shiver racks me but I make myself stand still and watch. The ripple widens, heading toward the shore, and my body betrays me, my feet stumbling backward. I’ve never seen anything like it, and although I can guess what is coming at me, my mind refuses to believe it.

The merman breaks out of the lake in a spray of cold water, grabbing onto the log with his powerful arms and turning to look at me. Tendrils of blue hair stick to his neck and temples, and his braid drips.

“You’re back,” he says in that low, seductive voice of his and I try to hide how my knees are shaking. “Selina.”

“Where were you?”

“Hunting,” he says and his mouth pulls into that grin, the one that sends waves of heat through me, causing those dimples in his lean cheeks, putting a sparkle in his eyes.

“Oh.”

“One has to eat.” Releasing the log, he lowers himself back into the water and swims to the shallows, stopping right in front of me. He props himself on his hands, muscles rippling in his arms and chest. His blue braid swings over his shoulder. “Eat or die.”

“What do you eat here?”

“Fish. Birds. Raw and bloody. Yum.” He grins wider when I grimace, his dimples deepening. “Too savage for you, princess?”