Page 65 of The Hunted

How could he possibly just know that?

Eryx’s grip around the railing of the bow tightened when the ship rocked with the waves. He heard the footsteps approaching behind him, but he didn’t bother to turn away from his current position when he didn’t care at all if he seemed approachable.

He was a prince.

He didn’t have to be approachable.

Eryx released his grip on the railing. Corval’s chuckles reached his spot with the man’s final footsteps before they, too, came to a stop. “The wait is always the worst,” Corval said.

“I’m enjoying the weather, actually.”

“Yes, another rare event. You’re bleeding.”

Eryx glanced down at his hand, which he’d simply left hanging over the railing. The last few droplets of blood from his cut palm fell to the water below. Almost instantly, the red-purple stain disappeared with the waves that lapped against the ship’s bow. He’d even run his bleeding hand along the railings, wanting that scent to carry as far as it could on the wind.

Because if he could smell it …

She could, too.

It smelled like them.

Him and her.

“Caught my hand on a splinter earlier,” Eryx murmured. “Nothing to be concerned—”

Boom.

Boom.

Eryx’s head lifted high at the sounds of the cannons.

Not one.

Two.

Which meant the ship from outside the bay caught sight of activity that could possibly be a mermaid. The second cannon firing, however, meant the mermaid was close enough to the surface of the sea that they could see her swimming.

Eryx didn’t need to be told.

Didn’t need to see her to know …

He could feel it in his chest; in the way his heart slowed, and his breathing came a bit easier. How his mind finally started to settle, and everything came into sharp focus.

She was here.

Here.

It’d worked.

“Aye! Get the fucking ropes—on the nets, you assholes! I want them pulled as soon as she’s passed them!” Corval’s shouts echoed over the suddenly silent ship. From across the mouth of the opening to the bay, Eryx could hear the man’s partner yelling the same sentiments to his men. “And you, Prince … do us all a favor, and stay put for the next little bit, yes?”

Eryx didn’t reply.

He was too busy watching the water … waiting.

The wait wasn’t for long.

The red hair and olive-toned skin kissed by the sun could have been any mermaid swimming a foot beneath the surface of the water, but it was her fin that he looked for. Those black markings on her fin that was so distinct, they could only be her.