When I opened my eyes again, I was in our bed. I took a deep breath, then exhaled. My head was no longer spinning; nausea had subsided while I slept. I heard a soft intake of breath beside me, then a voice soothing and low. "You're awake. How are you feeling?"

Concern coated every word, and I could feel the worry emanating from Jonah's body. My muscles felt weak and shaky, but I pushed myself to sit. The movement left me sweating and gasping for water as I closed my eyes, nearly moaning in pleasure when I felt Jonah's cool hand against my flushed skin. "Tired," I finally responded.

I felt Jonah's steady hands fluff the pillows behind me, giving him a grateful smile as I sank back onto them. When I looked around, I realized we were the only ones in the suite. I last remembered hearing Waverly's voice before I lost consciousness.

Judging from the sun streaming through our windows, I would guess at least a day had passed. His hand returned to my cheek, stroking lightly. "Your parents and Drew were here a while ago, but they left to let you sleep. Waverly left soon after, promising to check on you later."

I let out a heavy breath, rubbing my face. "I just keep seeing Zander's face, frozen in shock. All I remember is a feeling of... relief. Even now, two years later, I still see it in my sleeping and waking thoughts." A bitter laugh bubbled up from somewhere deep inside me.

"All I feel now is hate. I hate Zander for forcing me to make that choice, and—probably worst of all—I hate myself. Aunt Nerissa told me that she'd been coerced to aid her father in his horrid acts, and she felt as if he'd stripped a part of her soul away. To this day, she still has nightmares about it. She told me once that sometimes she doesn't feel worthy of being queen—of being married to Uncle Jay."

Jonah squeezed my hand, waiting silently for me to continue. "Everyone in Aegrem looks at her with adoration and love—but there was a time when the opposite was true. Even though I know no one would blame me if they knew the truth, nor would it diminish me in their eyes, I blame myself."

My breaths turned sharp and heavy; my chest began heaving. Tears stung the corners of my eyes, but I furiously blinked them away. "You want to know the worst part? I can't find it in myself to feel even the tiniest shred of remorse. He deserved what he got. He deserved to die.

"All this time, I've told myself I did it to save Elle—and while that was part of the reason—the truth is much darker. More horrible." I felt Jonah come up beside me and gently take my hand. "I wanted to kill him. I wanted to look him in the eye as he took his dying breaths, knowing I was responsible for his death."

As the last word left my mouth, dripping with hatred and resentment, I faltered. Jonah caught me in his warm, strong arms. Something was stirring in me—something dark, twisted, and cruel. Something I'd only felt once before: when I'd killed Zander. "I feel so... empty. Like a part of my soul is missing."

I wasn't sure if it was the warring emotions inside me, the exhaustion, or something completely different, but a familiar vision surfaced before the words even finished echoing. I saw Jonah leaving and glimpsed his regretful face as he turned to look at me one last time. There was one subtle difference now, though. One that hadn't been there before—or I just hadn't noticed.

Either way, it was glaringly obvious now, hitting me like a punch in the gut. I looked just over his shoulder and froze as I looked into calm green eyes—eyes filled with malice the last time we'd seen each other. The face was harder and leaner than it had been, but there was no mistaking the glint in those eyes. It was the same glint that had been there when we'd met.

Leena. Her name all but knocked the water from my lungs. When Jonah touched my shoulder and pulled me out of the vision, tears filled my eyes. His eyes scanned my own, flicking down my body to my tail, then back to my face. "What is it? Are you okay?"

I couldn't speak. I'd known for a while there had been a possibility that the vision would come to pass, but I hadn't known when. The shouting outside made me jump, Jonah's eyes flicking to mine and then towards the window. In unison, we both swam to the window, peering out into the open water.

When I glimpsed coal-black hair, my heart skipped a beat, then slammed to a halt. Leena floated directly below our window, clutching the sleeve of a mermaid around my age. She silenced the mermaid's cries by placing the tip of a dagger into her neck and drawing a thin line of blood. The ashen look on the mermaid's face told me it wasn't the first time she'd cried out.

"Faye Mercer!" Leena raised her voice until she was all but shouting. "I don't want to have to kill this mermaid, but I will if you don't do as I say. Come out alone and unarmed."

I began to swim to the suite door, but Jonah intercepted me before I'd even taken two strokes. I could tell by the look on his face that he'd come to the same conclusion I had. Leena had been working for Zander all along. And now she was continuing his work. The only question was, what had he said to sway her to his side?

Jonah took a deep breath, his voice steady when he spoke. "I know you want to go out there and confront Leena, but we must be strategic about this. By now, word has probably spread about Zander's death. There will more than likely be those who were loyal to him trying to avenge him. Leena is one of many, and she may have others lying in wait. Who knows what she may have up her sleeve?"

His words were blunt yet accurate. If I went out there now, I may as well have been signing my death warrant. But I also knew that if I stayed, Leena would kill the mermaid, and the last thing I needed was yet another death on my conscience. I glanced helplessly out the window, then back at Jonah. I felt like I was being pulled in two different directions. Before I could open my mouth, Leena spoke again, her voice carrying out in the open water.

"I'll make you a deal. Come out now, and your husband won't have to see you die." Her words were dagger-sharp, hitting me with gut-wrenching accuracy. But it was what she said next that had me moving towards the suite door. "Neither will your family."

My heart stopped dead in my chest as all the blood simultaneously drained from my face. I was already at the suite door, but one look at Jonah's ashen face told me everything. Mom, Dad, and Drew were floating near Leena, faces blank and bodies tense.

Tears stung my eyes, but I furiously blinked them away. This was my fight, and I couldn't allow those I loved to pay the price. Not again. With a shuddering breath, I opened the suite door, closing it behind me with a barely audible click.

I was unarmed, as she'd ordered, but it left me jumpy and unnerved. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as I reached the entryway, but I kept my head high and my face blank.

When I emerged into the open water, I didn't know what to look at first. Mom, Dad, and Drew were floating near Leena, faces blank and bodies tense. Leena was floating a few feet away, her white-knuckled grip on the mermaid never faltering. The mermaid's face was deathly pale, and I couldn't tell if she was breathing. Though it pained me deeply, I ignored them and focused entirely on Leena. "Why are you doing this?"

She filled her voice with bitterness and hatred, but I could sense something deeper underneath it: pain. Deep, raw pain. "She never should have become friends with you. Everyone you love or become close with ends up dead. You're a cancer, Faye. And I should have dealt with you when I had the chance."

Confusion filled me as I stared, her words not sinking in right away. When they did, it was all I could do to stay upright. My voice shook when I spoke. "R-Raina... s-she was..." I trailed off, but Leena was happy to fill in the blanks.

"She was my niece. But you didn't know that, did you? You and she had one thing in common: both of you were such optimists. You both believed the best in everyone, even when those around you desperately tried to convince you otherwise. I begged Raina to cut off your friendship, convinced it would end in her untimely death. But she didn't listen. She saw a lonely, broken soul in need of healing and was too happy to get to know you.

"When I heard she was dead, it was like someone had reached inside me and torn out my heart. And yet, all I could think about was your mother. How she'd done the same thing, and how it had, eventually, resulted in her untimely death. That's why she was murdered, right? Because she was a Siren?" The pain in her voice was raw and real, but so was the bitterness and hatred. She genuinely believed that I was the cause of Raina's death.

I felt the implication like a physical blow, reeling back as I clutched my chest. Tears stung the corners of my eyes, but I pushed them back. I wouldn't allow Leena the satisfaction of seeing me break. Only when I was alone would I allow the torrents of grief, shame, and anger to be released. "I loved Raina like a sister. A bitter and vengeful merman murdered my sister, wanting nothing but to make his twin brother suffer as he had suffered."

I hated mentioning Uncle Jay and Uncle Noah, but it was all I could think of to make Leena listen. "Instead of retaliating and unleashing his anger and pain back upon his twin, my uncle became an honest and just leader, pardoning his brother and making amends with those he had wronged. Zander, however, had no remorse or shame whatsoever.

"He had allowed his bitterness and pain to infect his heart and mind, cutting himself off from those he loved. When he had the chance to make amends with his daughters, he allowed his anger and grief to get the best of him. Thanks to him, my oldest friend has to forever live with the guilt of not getting to know her sister." I swallowed hard, my voice finally breaking.

My breaths came fast and heavy; my chest was heaving as my heart pounded. Rather than softening as I'd hoped, Leena's face hardened, her eyes blazing with cruelty. "You thought that sob story would work on me, right? Pitiful. Now, you'll have yet another death on your conscience."

I heard Dad shout, and Mom cry out, but I couldn't move. My voice rose until it was a keening shriek as I begged and pleaded. "Don't do this. P-please. I d-did what you asked." My words fell on deaf ears. All I could see was the panicked expression on the mermaid's face and the tears in her eyes.

Her chest rose and fell one last time, followed by a grunt as Leena unearthed a hidden dagger and plunged it into the mermaid's chest. As soon as it made contact, she released the mermaid and zoomed away.

Dad was moving before I could even take a breath. He caught the mermaid just before she hit the seafloor, pressing one hand to the wound on her chest and leaning over to check her breathing. Later, I would find out that Leena missed her heart by mere inches, puncturing a lung in the process. But for now, all I saw was her limp in Dad's arms.

When he finally spoke, his voice was muffled, like someone had stuffed a sea sponge in both of my ears. "We need to get her to the infirmary. Maybe then we can identify her and then..." His voice trailed off, a loud roaring cutting off any outside noise.

I could only stare at the mermaid; her limp body was permanently burned into my brain as if someone had imprinted it behind my eyes. Jonah came up beside me, gently taking my hand. I didn't even flinch, not even when he pulled me close. I didn't want to leave her, but at the same time, it reminded me so much of Raina that I had to swallow against the nausea rising inside me.

I managed to keep a blank expression on my face until we reached our suite. The suppressed emotions that I'd tried so hard to keep buried resurfaced with a vengeance, resulting in an ear-splitting scream that ended in a broken sob. Shivers wracked my body as I sank to the ground, wrapping my arms around myself. Exhaustion tugged at me, but I knew that if I even attempted to sleep, visions of Raina and that nameless mermaid would haunt my restless sleep.

Jonah gently pulled me off the ground, wrapping his arms around me and leading me to our suite. He spoke as we entered our bedroom, but I didn't hear him. All I heard were Leena's words coated with bitterness and hatred. "'Everyone you love or become close with ends up dead. You're a cancer, Faye. And I should have dealt with you when I had the chance.'"

I closed my eyes as I collapsed in bed, begging sleep to overtake me quickly. To save me from the guilt, shame, and regret twisting my insides like poison seeping into my veins. I wondered how long it would be before I succumbed to it.

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