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They’ll be joining hi to plan

I started to say soh, Te

What if I don’t want to do the next phase? Jared said--

Jared rong, which is why Sabyn is your trainer now Her voice dropped, lost its saccharine quality Became as harsh and vicious as she was You are here atthat

I don’t have to be here, you know

Oh, really? Are you planning to run back to Daddy, let hi, bad sea witch? Tiaured out he should run And Kona? She laughed You don’t actually think the selkies will accept a mermaid for a queen, do you? Oh, they all come down to play with the maids, but in the end, they marry their own kind Always Kona will never marry a non-selkie, and there’s no way his father would ever allow him to put a half-breed mermaid on the selkie throne--no matter hoell they put up with you now

It took every ounce of control I had to keep ed it I would never give her the satisfaction of knowing she’d gotten to me I don’t need anyone to take care of , but you don’t knohat you need You may have power, you may be as special as everyone says you are, you may even be the one ill kill Tia if you don’t understand how to manipulate that power Sabyn can show you much more than Jared ever could

I eyed her suspiciously I had trouble accepting that she would do anything to help er than you?

As if I would ever let that happen She got up from her jeweled throne, swam slowly toward me You’re a weapon, Tempest, she told me on our private line of communication A top-of-the-line, first-class weapon If you aren’t careful, if you don’t do exactly what I say, that’s all you’ll ever be One I wield and then discard once it’s finished being useful

I will never let you break an toone after the other Inside ht pressed in on it frohter until the pain was so excruciating I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think I tried not to react, tried to ignore what she was doing Butbeats, and I knew, absolutely, that if she didn’t stop soon, I would be dead

Please It was all I said, all I could get out, but it was enough She opened her fist and the pressure and pain dissipated Iidity--it was the only way I could have stayed upright in the aftermath of her attack

My whole body burned with mortification and hatred as I looked at her, this woman my mother had blindly served I wanted to walk aanted to tell her to go to hell The only thing that kept o before I could take her down

I glanced at Sabyn, saw hiainst the back wall, a look of amusement on his face as he watched my humiliation The bastard

I turned back to Hailana When do you want me to start?

PART TWO

The Split