Prologue
“Emma...” she mumbled.
The assassin sighed.
This was the first time Emma had ever seen Cecilia like this. Drunk. Vulnerable. Almost completely unlike the sharp-tongued mermaid she had come to know.
Just how much did she drink?
Emma had never treated a person this carefully before.
She crouched beside the bed and carefully removed the drunken blonde’s shoes, setting them aside. The moment her fingers brushed Cecilia’s bare foot, Emma felt the unnatural cold radiating from her skin.
Damn.
She frowned.
Cecilia winced softly as Emma eased her onto the bed, handling her as though she were something fragile—something that needed to be treated with the utmost care.
For a moment, Emma simply stood there.
Then she looked down at her.
Moonlight spilled through the window, bathing Cecilia in silver. Her golden hair spread across the pillow, while faint, translucent scales shimmered across her skin beneath the pale light. Her mermaid magic had awakened, leaving an otherworldly glow upon her body.
And yet, Emma remained unaffected.
She should have been.
Mermaid magic was infamous for its ability to ensnare the hearts and minds of those who looked upon it. Humans had fallen helplessly under its influence. Supernatural beings were not always immune, either.
But Emma was.
At least, she had always believed she was.
So why was her heart behaving differently now?
Why did the sight of Cecilia make something inside her shift?
Was it Cecilia’s mermaid magic finally beginning to affect her?
Or was it...
something else?
“Emma...”
The assassin’s thoughts snapped apart.
Cecilia’s eyes slowly fluttered open, though sleep still clung heavily to them. She looked at Emma through half-lidded eyes, unfocused and vulnerable.
Then, without warning, Cecilia reached up.
Her arms slipped around Emma’s neck.
Emma froze.
Before she could react, Cecilia pulled her closer.
Their faces were suddenly only inches apart.
For the first time in years, Emma’s heartbeat betrayed her.
Once.
Then again.
Uneven.
Unsteady.
She stared into Cecilia’s crystalline eyes, unable to move.
Neither of them spoke.
The room seemed to disappear around them.
There was only the moonlight.
The warmth of Cecilia’s breath against her skin.
The faint shimmer of scales.
And the invisible force pulling them toward one another.
Emma didn’t understand what was happening.
She only knew that she didn’t want to pull away.
And perhaps, somewhere beneath the haze of Cecilia’s drunken mind, Cecilia felt it too.
Something neither of them could name.
Something neither of them could resist.
Something that had already begun binding them together long before either of them realized it.
They couldnever hold each other back...
