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Not that I was going to tell Kona that Kicking so to do than a Tempest one But when I pulled away, I realized Kona already knew It was in the sad save me

In the friendly way he squeezed my shoulder

In the kiss he brushed across my cheek instead of my lips

"Kona …"

"Don’t worry about it, Teht now"

"But--"

He put a finger ona stroke wondering where you are And I have a kingdom to run It’s not like I have tiht now, anyway"

Ouch His words hurt, even as I understood the truth in theht this thing that he was doing I could throw my arive hi to do that, this was the ti ht than you and I do Her inforreed, a sad look in his eyes, and I left after giving hiot into the water where Mahina aiting, I vowed to be there for Kona whenever he needed oing to need all the friends he could get No matter what happened with Mark or Hailana or this wholeto let him down

The scene at Coral Straits was just as miserable as the one at Kona’s house Maybe even ered close to death’s door I went to see her as soon as I got back and she barely recognized me She was shaky, weak, alone from a formidable, if old, opponent to a weak object of pity It made me feel awful

The next couple of weeks passed in a blur as I worked tirelessly to help get Coral Straits back in shape We upped our patrols, trained more soldiers, cleaned up the destruction Tiamat and Sabyn had left behind And tried to slowly put the pieces of our lives back together

I was having a hard ti to do the job of aas Hailana was alive, it would be hers When she died, if she died, I would think more about what my responsibilities were and what I wanted to do with them

I’d been back under the ocean about four weeks whento hang out with Mahina, go shopping, have fun, but in the end I did what I kneould do all along I swa to say, didn’t know if he would want anything to do with one a month without so much as a word to him, but we needed to talk Needed to see if the spark was still there If he still felt forto think I would always feel for hiht when I came ashore, and I was better prepared this ti and tank top out of my waterproof backpack, slipped them on over my swimsuit, then made my way slowly up the road to Mark’s house He lived only a few houses down frorown up in I was dying to see ain, but I had to do this first I’d traveled the whole world, yet after everything was said and done, I’d ended up falling for the boy next door after all

I knocked and his rehen she saw me, but she welcomed me in and ushered me to the backyard I knew exactly where Mark would be--next to the beach, his favorite place to think was a large, double hah, he was there, kicked back, arms folded behind his head as he studied the ht sky "I’ at one of the constellations

Mark jumped at the sound of my voice, then nearly fell out of the ha to his feet

"Yep"

He glanced back up at the sky, where I’d pointed "That’s Aquarius"