I ignored his pet name for me and all but jumped out of bed, crossing the king’s room quickly. There was no door to the main bathroom, only to the small toilet room, so I couldn’t lock him out.

Stepping in front of the mirror, I stared at my reflection for a long moment.

Hot damn, I looked like an alt.

My skin had smoothed, my pores basically vanishing. My eyes looked a little bigger and a lot brighter, framed by eyelashes that were much longer than they had ever been before. I didn’t look any taller, but something about me looked stronger anyway.

And my hair?

It was blue.

Multiple shades of it.

At the roots, it was dark enough to nearly resemble my natural black, but it lightened on its way down to a pale blue at the ends. There were brighter streaks and darker streaks, almost making it look like a hairdresser had created a masterpiece with the strands.

Alterrae was the hairdresser.

Or Triton’s magical freaking mate bond was.

Honestly, the blue looked stunning against my new and improved pale skin, but it still freaked me out. The white tattoo on my shoulder looked awesome too, but I wasn’t any more comfortable with it than I was with the hair.

Triton stepped into the doorway, leaning against it as he took me in from behind. I hadn’t put on any extra clothes when I woke up, so there was plenty to see. All I was wearing was a bralette and panties.

“The magic suits you,” he said.

“I liked the way I looked before.” I didn’t meet his gaze.

The last thing I needed was to feel more attraction toward him.

I needed space. So much space.

I was still drooling over the mental image of his naked body I had seen when he was getting dressed, which was just messed up.

I shouldn’t have even been looking at him.

“So did I,” he said.

I scowled.

“You don’t believe me?” he sounded surprised. “I’m the king.”

“You’re not my king. And everyone knows politicians lie.”

“A king is not a politician in Alterrae.” He covered the distance between us in two large steps, and placed his hands on my hips.

My gaze immediately went to the place he was touching me.

Something about the sight of his hands on my body made me warm. I bit my lip to stop myself from reacting.

“You seemed like a politician when that kelpie guy was being weird on the beach.”

His grip tightened. “The alternative was to kill him for using his magic on you and ignite the war that’s been brewing between merrae and selkies for the last few months.”

“Another war?” Guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that a bunch of monsters were on the verge of fighting.