“Very,” he chokes out. He clears his throat. “Paca, what about these flounder here on the bottom? What can you make them do?”

Paca sulks. “I thought you wanted to see the dolphins.”

“You’ve done well with them. Very well. But I’d like to see the flounders do something funny. Can you make them swim in circles, too?”

“My prince, that’s not how the Gift of Poseidon works,” Jagen cuts in. “It’s limited to certain—”

“Liar!” Rayna yells, startling everyone. The dolphins get skittish and dart.

“Rayna,” Grom says.

“Ow,” she wails. “You’re hurting me.”

Galen sighs, his heart sinking. “Let her go, Grom. She’s telling the truth. Paca doesn’t have the Gift of Poseidon.” Grom releases her and scowls at his brother. Rayna swims to the sanctity of Galen’s back.

“Don’t tell me she’s talked you into her little game,” Grom tells him.

“This is outrageous!” Jagen bellows. “Grom, you need to get your siblings under control before I do it myself.”

Galen rolls his eyes. Jagen is over 150 years old. If he wants to tussle with Galen, he’s more than welcome to come closer. “Grom, the Gift of Poseidon isn’t limited to a few species of fish. The Gift was meant to feed all of us. What about the Cave of Memories? There are no dolphins that deep. How would she feed the Archives if she needed to?”

Grom crosses his arms, his face like stone. “I think you need to stick to what you know best, little brother. The humans. And take your sister with you. I can’t look at her.”

“What?” Galen says, swimming closer to his brother. “You’re telling me to leave?”

“You’ve both caused enough hard feelings today. We’ll have a long talk about it after the ceremony.”

“That’s what we’re trying to tell you!” Rayna says. “There shouldn’t be a mating ceremony.”

“Rayna,” Galen says gently. “I’ll handle this. Please.”

“No, you won’t, Galen,” Grom says. “You’ve insulted my future queen—your future queen—all over your own narrow-minded opinion.”

“My opinion?” Galen says, irate.

“Watch your tone, brother. Don’t make me expel you. It’s just your opinion unless you can prove otherwise. There’s no evidence to say Paca doesn’t have the Gift of Poseidon.”

Expel me? “She’s using her hands!” Galen shouts. “She’s trained those dolphins to respond to hand signals. The real Gift of Poseidon is by voice alone.”

Grom raises a brow. “Really? Can you prove it?”

Galen opens his mouth, then shuts it again. Not without Emma. “Well—”

“No, he can’t prove it,” Rayna blurts. She won’t look at Galen, even though he’s staring her down. What is she doing?

She swims over to him. “He’ll never believe you about Emma, Galen,” she whispers. “Don’t even tell them. He won’t stop the ceremony to wait for you to go get her. Look at him. He’s made up his mind,” she whispers.

“I know he can’t prove it,” Grom growls. “And if he could, then he should have brought it to everyone’s attention sooner. It’s a little late to take an interest in it now, don’t you think?”

“Why are you doing this? Why are you being so hardheaded?” Galen says. “Is this about Nalia? Taking a mate won’t make you forget about her. I hope that’s not what you’re trying to do.”

It’s Rayna’s turn to gasp. Galen crossed the line, but he doesn’t care. Grom is being very unreasonable. Grom is being very un-Grom.

Grom becomes stiff and cold as an iceberg. “Leave. Both of you. Now.”

“That’s it then?” Galen says lacing his hands behind his head. “We’re expelled?”

Grom nods slowly.

“Let’s go, Rayna.” Galen says, still looking at Grom. “Let’s go home.”

*   *   *

By the time they reach shore, Galen’s exhausted. In a hurry to see Emma, he’d carried Rayna on his back the whole way home for the sake of speed. He finds a pair of trunks he’d anchored under a rock and pulls them on. Rayna finds her own pair of bottoms a few yards down.

He didn’t sense Emma or Toraf in the water, so he makes his way for the house, hoping against hope Emma is there for some reason, waiting for him. She isn’t. But Toraf is. And he doesn’t look happy.

“How’d it go? We need to talk,” Toraf blurts.

Galen stops cold. “Where’s Emma? Is she okay?”

“She’s home with her mom. She’s fine. But there’s a problem.”

“In case you didn’t notice, I’m not interrupting you,” Galen says, his jaw clenched so tight it might lock up. “Feel free to keep talking.”

Toraf wrings his hands. “Don’t get too upset.”

“Too late.”

“Fine, be upset then. But I did it for your own good.”

“Triton’s trident, Toraf!” Rayna shouts. “What did you do? We’ve had a long day!”

Toraf lets his breath out in a gust. “I asked Yudor to come and help me. I explained that I either didn’t recognize the stalker, or that I was getting the stalker’s pulse mixed up with someone else’s. I didn’t tell him anything else.”