The water beneath Mamta exploded upward.
She reacted before thought fully formed.
The dagger slashed sideways through dark water just as something lunged beneath her.
The blade hit resistance.
Not flesh.
Armor.
Scales.
A sharp metallic sound vibrated through the sea itself.
Mamta's eyes widened underwater.
What the hell—
A massive shape twisted beneath her with impossible speed. The scavenger creature vanished instantly, fleeing downward into darkness so quickly it almost looked dragged away.
Not retreating.
Escaping.
Mamta surfaced hard again, gasping violently for air.
The waves around her had changed.
Before, the water felt empty.
Now it felt occupied.
Something moved below her.
Large enough to alter the current itself.
Mamta spun immediately, dagger raised despite her shaking arms.
Nothing surfaced.
Only black ocean.
Only distant Thornmere lanterns high above the cliffs.
Then—
A voice came from beneath the water.
Calm.
Male.
Annoyed.
"You stabbed him."
Mamta nearly inhaled seawater.
Her head snapped downward.
A face emerged slowly beneath the surface glow.
Blue.
Not human blue.
Not paint.
Not sickness.
Living color.
Bioluminescent markings traced across sharp cheekbones and down the visible line of his throat, glowing faintly beneath seawater like moving current-light.
His eyes reflected silver.
Not metaphorically.
Actually reflected.
Mamta's brain stalled for one catastrophic second.
Because no amount of hearing the word merrow prepared a person for one calmly existing two feet away from them.
Long dark-blue hair drifted around him in the water like ink spreading through glass. Webbed fins curved subtly backward from his ears. The upper planes of his shoulders disappeared beneath black waves, but she caught glimpses of scaled skin shifting beneath the surface.
Not a tail.
Do not think about the tail.
Unfortunately, her brain immediately thought about the tail.
Mamta blinked once.
Twice.
Then very calmly said:
"What."
The merman stared at her.
Then glanced toward the dagger in her hand.
Then back to her face.
"You stabbed him," he repeated.
Mamta looked down at the blade instinctively.
"Oh."
A pause.
"I thought you were the weed thing."
The silence that followed felt deeply judgmental.
Then, unexpectedly, one corner of his mouth twitched upward.
Not quite a smile.
More like his composure cracked briefly against his will.
"You attacked first."
"You surfaced dramatically beneath me in murder water."
That almost earned a real expression.
Almost.
The merman studied her carefully now.
Not openly hostile.
Assessing.
His gaze flicked once toward her injured ankle still bleeding faintly into the sea.
Then back upward to the Thornmere cliffs.
Then toward the distant harbor bells still ringing somewhere across the water.
Mamta noticed every single calculation happen in real time.
Which scared her slightly more.
Because intelligent predators were worse.
Way worse.
The sea shifted again beneath them.
The merman's attention sharpened instantly.
"There are scavengers nearby."
"I noticed."
"You smell injured."
Mamta stared at him.
"...that sounded ruder than you intended, I hope."
His eyes returned to hers immediately.
"It was factual."
Great.
Fantastic.
Socially devastating underwater people.
Excellent.
Before she could answer, another shape cut through the water behind him with terrifying speed.
Mamta jerked backward instinctively.
This one surfaced fully.
And for one dizzying second, her brain completely failed to process proportions correctly.
Tall.
Lean.
Brighter markings.
Peacock-blue scales flashing beneath the surface.
He moved with such unnatural speed the water barely displaced around him.
His eyes landed on Mamta immediately.
Then widened slightly.
"That's the human?"
Human.
Not surface-dweller.
Not outsider.
Human.
Like she was an entirely separate category.
Rude.
Accurate.
The second merman circled once around her effortlessly while speaking to the first in a language Mamta didn't understand.
Fast syllables.
Fluid sounds.
Sharp consonants softened strangely by water.
The first one replied flatly.
The second immediately looked amused.
Which somehow made Mamta nervous.
"You nearly drowned?" the second one asked her suddenly in accented but clear trade language.
Mamta frowned. "Observant."
His grin appeared instantly.
Sharp canines.
Not enough to look monstrous.
Enough to remind her these people absolutely were not human.
"Oh she's awake awake."
The first one looked tired already.
"You talk too much."
"And you look too much like a funeral procession."
Mamta stared between them.
Because what she expected from terrifying ocean civilizations was many things.
This was not one of them.
The second merman moved closer suddenly.
Fast enough that Mamta instinctively raised the dagger again.
He stopped immediately.
Both hands visible.
Eyes flicking once toward the weapon with obvious interest.
Then toward her face again.
"You hold blades strangely."
Mamta narrowed her eyes. "What does that mean."
"Like somebody expecting betrayal."
Her stomach tightened.
The words landed too accurately.
The first merman noticed immediately.
Of course he did.
These people observed everything.
Fantastic.
The second one tilted his head slightly while studying her.
"You're Aryavartan."
Not a question.
Mamta's heartbeat stumbled once.
Externally, she stayed calm.
Mostly.
"I've been called worse."
Another almost-smile.
This one less restrained.
"We sent word already."
Mamta froze internally.
Sent word?
To who?
About WHAT exactly??
The first merman finally spoke again.
"Kesh representatives will arrive soon."
That meant nothing to her.
Which was becoming a problem because everyone around her kept saying words like she was supposed to understand them.
Mamta carefully chose her next sentence.
"...should I know what that means."
Both mermen went still.
Tiny pause.
Dangerous pause.
The faster one spoke first.
"You don't know Kesh."
Mamta's survival instincts screamed instantly.
Wrong answer territory.
She forced herself to shrug lightly despite floating in nightmare water beside two biologically unfair sea men.
"I know rumors."
Technically true.
The first merman's silver gaze stayed fixed on her face.
Watching.
Measuring.
Not convinced.
Mamta's pulse kicked harder.
Because THAT expression she recognized.
That was the face of someone realizing a puzzle piece did not fit correctly.
Then suddenly his eyes shifted downward.
Past her shoulder.
His expression changed instantly.
Not fear.
Alertness.
The faster one noticed too.
Both turned sharply toward the deeper water beyond the cliff shadows.
Mamta followed their gaze automatically.
At first she saw nothing.
Then the darkness moved.
Not metaphorically.
Actually moved.
Something enormous passed beneath them far below the surface.
Too large to fully comprehend.
Mamta stopped breathing.
The faster merman swore quietly in his own language.
The first one's voice turned flat immediately.
"We need to leave."
Mamta managed one intelligent response:
"...that's big."
Neither of them laughed.
Which felt extremely concerning.
Then suddenly the faster one moved directly in front of her.
Close.
Way too close.
Waterlight flickered across sharp blue markings running beneath his eyes and along his throat.
Beautiful.
Dangerous.
Completely unreal.
And then he said:
"Human, if I tell you not to scream underwater, can you do that?"