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So far, the score definitely seemed to be in Hailana’s favor

Kona didn’t understand because he was selkie--and selkies, in general, were honorable and compassionate Sure, there were exceptions to that rule--like Malu, the selkie I’d been forced to kill eight o to defend myself--but for the most part, the ones I’d met really did seem to care about each other and the world around them I’m not sure I could say the same about mermaids--at least notto know

But Hailana’s court didn’t represent all the mermaids in the world, I told myself It was just a small portion Which h to finish this death ed to survive--I could find acy, and all that comes with it, be damned

I often wondered why my mother had chosen to return here Could she really have been best friends with Hailana, like everyone said? I liked to iine that the stories were mistaken, that they couldn’t be true, but honestly, I wasn’t so sure My mother had abandoned her husband and three children without a backward glance A woman who could do that, who years later could still plot to use her only daughter for her ownthe disquieting thoughts out ofso I needed to be as close to Zen as I could get when I went in to see Hailana, or she would dig until she found my weakness and exploited it

Not this time, I assured myself as I stopped in front of her cha to let her rattle ? I’d play it by ear, see hoent If it was beneficial to me, and not just to her,et the infor on the door, I waited patiently to be ad open, thethere was definitely not like any servant I had ever seen

Dark and gorgeous and full of life, with piercing blue eyes that looked right through me, he exuded power froe, as my boyfriend was close to six and a half feet tall in his hu than that, though, was the series of dark blue tattoos covering nearly every inch of skin between his neck and his waist They weren’t the kind you got in a tattoo parlor

No, I thought as I tried to press forward into the rooloere like ifts fros of true oceanic power

I couldn’t help staring in astonishment Not because he was the first merman I’d ever seen with such marks--he wasn’t, of course But never before had I seen so many on one person Not even my mother or Hailana, or even Kona’s incredibly powerful father, had close to this number

Who is he? I wondered as I shifted unco at me like I was a present he couldn’t wait to open?

Chapter 7

Come in, Te uest was ed as I stepped into the large, opulent roo place while she was below the surface

I expected the merman to ht in the ainst hih s, and if we hadn’t been underwater I would have sworn that I’d been burned A quick, startled look at hi Only he didn’t look at all surprised

Who is he? I wondered again He didn’t look much older than I was, but I’d learned that, down here, looks could be deceiving After all, Kona--despite just having reached the end of selkies’ teenage years--was actually over two hundred years old

Even uy was, however, was the question of how Hailana was planning to use hiainst me Kona would think it was crazy ofenough now to know that she never did anything without a purpose And that purpose was always self-serving

Come over here, Hailana toldI’ve wastedaround for you to wake up