And he’s such an illustrious storyteller, I’m afraid he’ll get too excited and pull the trigger by accident.

“So when Antonis sent another messenger to Reder, I decided to take advantage of it. Can you guess who the messenger was?” By his expectant expression, he’s waiting for an answer.

“Jagen?”

Tyrden slaps his knee. “Correct!” He shakes his head. “Jagen and I hit it off as soon as we met. He understood that Neptune—and the kingdoms, of course—were capable of so much more. It’s adorable how some people are just contented to exist, isn’t it?”

As for me, I’d love to keep existing. And so far, asking questions is doing the job. “So you and Jagen wanted to … improve the kingdoms?”

“And Neptune,” he says.

“How?”

“By improving the leadership, obviously.”

In other words, by taking over and running things how they saw fit.

“You see, Jagen saw how poorly your grandfather ruled. The only reason he sent messengers to land was because he was constantly looking for news of your mother. Otherwise, I believe he would have severed his relationship with Neptune as well. Old fool.”

My grandfather did become a recluse after my mom disappeared. I’m not saying it was right or wrong; I’m just saying it was understandable. Grief does strange things to people.

“We couldn’t get close to Antonis in order to overtake him, but we could get close to Grom. As luck would have it, he was in need of a mate, and Jagen just happened to have a daughter of age.”

“Paca.”

“Paca,” Tyrden says gleefully.

“So you’re the one who taught her how to train dolphins? When she disappeared on land, she came to Neptune?”

“Oh, no, of course not. Do I look like I know how to train dolphins?” He huffs. “I taught her how to act human, dress human, do human things. Then I sent her to Florida to learn how to train the dolphins.”

Toraf said he tracked Paca to the coast of Florida after she had gone “missing.” So that’s where she learned the hand signals she used to convince the entire Archive council—even Grom—that she had the Gift of Poseidon. She was purposely found after she had learned her skill. And so started the conspiracy to take over the Triton kingdom. Of course, the reappearance of my mother, the long lost Poseidon princess threw a huge wrench in those plans. What would have happened if Mom didn’t show up? If Grom had remained mated to Paca?

“But Grom still would have been king,” I say. “I don’t think he would have agreed to—”

“How dare you interrupt me,” Tyrden says in a low, calm voice. The look in his eyes has changed from carefree and pleasant to cold and calculating. “Do you think I’m a fool?”

“Sorry,” I say quickly. “I think you’re brilliant.” And I think you have a gun pointed at me. “But I was just wondering how Grom played into all this.”

Tyrden sneers. “He doesn’t. We were going to kill him.”

38

REED TAKES the cup of water and dumps it onto his forearm, then starts rubbing the damp skin furiously. Galen admits that he’s just as enraptured as Kennedy—the idea of a Half-Breed with the ability to Blend is beyond Galen’s wildest imaginings. Even Dr. Milligan had dismissed the possibility.

Will he be surprised, Galen thinks to himself. If I ever get the chance to tell him.

After what seems like enough time for the friction to cause a small fire, Reed’s skin begins to camouflage itself. Kennedy gasps, and Galen wonders if Reed used the same trick to impress Emma.

What he concludes is probably. And he wonders if Emma can do it, too.

Reed starts to breathe heavily with his exertions. “If I stop rubbing, it will turn back to normal,” he explains to Kennedy.

“Why?” Kennedy wonders aloud.

“I don’t have a clue,” Reed admits.

Kennedy nods, thoughtful. “Does your whole body have this ability?”

Reed shrugs, stretching out his arm. “My arms, legs, and stomach do. I assume the rest of it is fair game.”

“We’ll see about that.” Kennedy turns on his heel to face Galen. “Can you Blend, Galen?”

“I can Blend, but I have to be completely submerged,” Galen lies. He does need water, but not a whole lot of it. And he doesn’t need to rub five layers of his skin off, like Reed does.

“Hmm,” Kennedy says. “I’m guessing it’s some sort of defense mechanism. Like the way an octopus cloaks itself by changing color?”

Galen shrugs, uninterested. “Sorry. I haven’t had the opportunity to ask an octopus how it Blends.”

Kennedy raises a brow. “You’re not very likable, are you, Galen? Tell me, Reed, is this all you can do?”

Reed nods, rubbing his arm now for comfort instead of necessity. “That’s all I can do. But him?” He nods toward Galen. “He can do something even more special than Blend. Galen has the Gift of Triton.”

And the plan is officially in action.

“The gift of … of Triton? What on earth is that?”

“Tell him, Galen,” Reed says.

“No,” Galen says with finality.

Kennedy doesn’t like this answer. “Galen, I feel there’s a lack of communication between us. It would be in your best interest if we resolved it quickly.”

“I already told you. I’m not afraid of you and your scary metal lock.”