He was worried. Or maybe he was angry. It was hard to say.

“What does my queen think?” Triton made a show of looking over at me, so I met his eyes.

“I don’t know anything about your kingdom,” I said into his mind.

The selkies’ leader sputtered out something similar. “A merrae who was human a few days ago shouldn’t have⁠—”

I didn’t hear the rest, because Triton’s voice in my head was so confident.

And consuming.

“What do you think their relationship with the rest of the world is like after they refused to fight with everyone, Sweetheart?”

Ohh.

Right.

That did seem obvious.

Eila finished her rant, and I studied her.

Triton told me that I needed to prove that I could be queen. Channeling his confidence and take-no-shit attitude seemed like the way to do that, even if it was mostly all bluster for me.

“I’ve heard you didn’t participate in the Dragons’ War. How many of the other groups will be willing to trade with your people exclusively?” I asked.

The woman’s face went crimson red, and she took a threatening step toward us.

Triton’s power lit up the room, a wave of electricity tearing through the space.

I had to bite my cheek to stop a moan in response. Whatever his power did to me, it did it really, really well.

“Back away from my mate,” Triton said calmly.

The way the faces of everyone else in the room went ashen told me none of them wanted to know what he was going to do next.

Eila took a quick but clearly upset step backward.

Triton’s magic finally eased, though it didn’t disappear completely. It took everything I had not to react to the feeling of it by shivering or rubbing myself all over him or something.

“You seek to claim some of our power while our numbers are low, because you know we’ve started taking human mates,” Triton said. “We see it, and we won’t stand for it. If you can convince one more kingdom to trade with you, we will allow that, but we will hold the throne and the sea’s magic as we have from the beginning of time. If there is something you need from us other than power, I suggest you ask before the relationship between our people is ruined completely.”

Her glare burned us. “Watch yourself, King Triton.”

“She’s not going to give us answers. Tell her to leave,” Triton said into my mind.

He still wanted me involved in the conversation.

That was nice. Really nice.

“I think it would be best if you leave now. Before anything escalates,” I said.

After another moment’s glare, Eila finally jerked her head toward us in something that almost resembled a nod. Her people followed her to the doors, and they were escorted out of the room by a merrae holding a large spear.