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The pool’s treated water hums against my skin, answering her, answering me. The tide shifts inside my ribs.
Phoebe.
I don’t expect mercy from Fate. I don’t even expect fairness.
But the sea—oldest thing I trust—points and says,there.
And for the first time since the reefs began to die, something in me unclenches.
Duty sharpens. Desire wakes.
The plan is still brutal.
The costs are still real.
But the ocean I have served all my life chooses her, and that is the only sign that has ever mattered to me.
I might be losing my magic. The realm might be limping. The crown might end up on another brother’s brow.
But the sea still showed me where to find her.
Viyella. Savior. Mine.
I have only to take.
Chapter 1
Phoebe
Jersey Shore Aquarium,Earth
Sometimes I think the ocean is the only thing that ever really loved me back.
Not this shallow tank of treated saltwater.
Not the squeaky pumps or the endless scent of disinfectant that clings to my clothes.
I mean the real thing—waves that could cradle you or kill you depending on their mood.
I grew up with sand between my toes, chasing seagulls on the Jersey Shore, believing the sea was infinite.
But standing here in an aquarium that sells “Meet the Sea Lion” experiences for ninety-five bucks a ticket? Infinite feels like a lie.
“Good girl,” I murmur, crouching at the edge of the pool.
Aggie—ourresident diva sea lion—barks and swishes her whiskers through the water.
She noses at my hip like a dog angling for a treat, and I oblige with a fish.
She deserves better.
They all do.
The official line is that we rehabilitate, conserve, and educate.
And sure, some of it’s true.
The penguins we patched up from an oil spill, the dolphins rescued after entanglement—they’re alive because of us.
