deep breath before saying, “It was my fire blast that hit Aliz last. I was the one that pissed her off and made her want…” Still not looking down at my father’s head, I gulped, “This. Vengeance.”
Caspian lightly touched my arm. “No, Zan, it wasn’t your fault. Chill the fuck out. If anything it was this dolphin dick that didn’t hold up his side of the bargain.”
“You motherfucker…” I tuned my brother out as his voice rose to a piercing octave. I took a breath and realized Kai was now in front of me. I swallowed, taking in his new form as a human on two legs. He was stunning, and that was the understatement of the year. His dark green scales seemed shinier as they wrapped him from neck to chest. Skin that was once as sallow as a Siren’s was now a brushed sable that begged me to touch it. One glance downward revealed that someone, probably my brother, had loaned him a pair of shorts that somehow enhanced his new legs, already muscular and chiseled.
He’d clearly gotten through the hardest part of the healing, though there were still scars and welts from where Aliz had him restrained.
His golden eyes bore deep into mine as he bent slightly, trying to reach for my father’s head but I wrenched it back. I wasn’t ready to let go of it... not yet, however morbid that may be.
“I can’t…” I said and found empathy in Kai’s face.
Over his shoulder, I saw Caspian and Llyr still going at it. I couldn’t quite make out their voices, as if I was in a dream. I saw Pearl, who stood on the outskirts of what was now a semi-boxing match, her arms crossed over her chest as though she were barely restraining herself from entering the ring.
“Bullshit, you fucking gray whale.” Llyr spit at Caspian, “If you had just killed your mother the first time, like you were supposed to, we could’ve gotten Kai and my father out of there. But you chickened out like the pussy I knew you were.”
Each time a verbal blow was dealt, they got closer and closer to each other until their noses touched and their chests were bumping like two male bull sharks vying for one female.
“If your father had kept his big, forked stick to himself, we wouldn’t be here in the first place,” Caspian shouted back, some spittle escaping.
“You know what?” Llyr said, squaring off his shoulders like he’d won, though I saw no such victory. “This is all shark shit. I’m the King of the fucking Under now—the ruler of Atlantis—the first and the last word. I won’t be treated like this. You’re just a prince, and from what your mom says, a pathetic one at that.”
Caspian’s fist flew through the air, but to his dismay, my brother dodged it last second, moving his body to the left with a smirk on his face.
“Come on Llyr, kick his Siren ass!” Pearl goaded my brother, making a fist and jutting it in the air. Though, from the looks of her she would never even punch a seahorse, let alone a Siren.
“Stop it! Both of you!” I screamed, causing Kai to flinch, but it was no use. “They won’t stop,” I whispered to Kai, who groaned.
I knew something that might stop them. I looked down at my hand, the one fisting my father’s salty hair. My knuckles had gone white from holding it so tight. I blew out a breath and tossed it to the ground. It landed with a squish, splattering blood and popping the mouth open. I grimaced but couldn’t look away. My father’s eyes were enlarged and it seemed that his last emotion before Aliz had killed him must’ve been shock. His crown clanged on the floor while the head kept rolling, an awful rhythm of squelching as it moved.
Pearl dry heaved, turning her head away from the men in case she hurled, her face going from blushing to seaweed green in an instant.
Caspian covered his mouth and stepped back as the head rolled right between them, just where I wanted it.
“Now that I have your fucking attention, let’s stop playing the blame game and get this shit figured out. Raise your fucking hand if you think Aliz is going to stop her tirade with my father.”
No one did. “That’s right. She’s not. We all know her well enough to realize that this isn’t enough to avenge Baltic.”
At the mention of his brother’s name,