After she was asleep, I’d bandage the wound on her arm that she’d ignored. Then, I’d handle whatever shit Rayna needed me to do. My mate could rest safely in our sanctuary while I dealt with the kingdom’s messes. Hopefully, she would hate our situation less after I gave her some space.

eleven

ARIA

When I eventually opened my eyes, I had no idea how much time had passed. It felt like a lot, because my eyes were dry and gritty and my skin felt kind of itchy. I scratched the scales on my back without rolling over, then looked down at my chest in alarm as I checked to make sure they hadn’t fallen out.

If they fell out, I could get pregnant.

And I hadn’t been able to use Triton’s plant yet, so that would’ve been bad. Really bad.

A relieved breath escaped me when I found them firmly in place.

The itchiness must’ve been from something else.

I rolled over with a loud groan.

I was still crazy sore. More sore than I’d ever been before. I’d never been big on working out, but I’d been to the gym a few times in the past. The soreness I felt now was on an entirely different level than it had ever been. I could barely move.

Lifting my head, I scanned the room with a bleary gaze, expecting to find Triton sitting in a chair or something.

He wasn’t.

My forehead creased, and I blinked more sleep from my eyes.

That couldn’t be right.

But another look around confirmed it.

The king was gone.

“Triton?” I called out, hoping he was just in the water or something.

There was no response.

Shit.

I bit my cheek to stop myself from panicking.

Everything was fine. He’d probably just gone into the castle or something. He’d be back soon, right?

I wasn’t sure how to get out of the underground room, so I pretty much had to hope so. Theoretically, I could control that water tube we’d traveled through, but I wasn’t placing any bets on me being able to manipulate it like the king had.

Another wave of itchiness had me scratching my stomach roughly.

Something was clearly wrong. And Triton was gone, so I was going to have to figure it out on my own.

I forced myself to go through everything I’d learned about merrae yet again.

The bond meant I could reach out to him mentally with a question—but he felt further away than he had when we were swimming, and he definitely wasn’t hearing my thoughts at the moment. He would’ve said something. The man hated when I was uncomfortable.

So the distance must’ve changed the bond just a little. Maybe just while we were apart.

I continued trying to come up with an answer…

But yeah, I had nothing.