Free Tempest Unleashed by Tracy Deebs Page A

unyielding, as a rock. And as she looked me over, I knew she was being meticulous in her search for a weakness. She found it in my almost completely healed tail. Did one of Tiamat’s soldiers do that to you? she asked.
    Yes. I straightened my shoulders, tried to look as healthy as possible. If she sensed I still wasn’t 100 percent, she’d poke at me until I was too weak to continue. But it’s fine now.
    Well, I guess we’ll see about that, won’t we?
    Shit. I obviously hadn’t done as good a job of faking it as I thought. What do you want, Hailana?
    Queen Hailana or Your Majesty! she snapped back at me.
    I stared at her with a look that was deliberately insolent. Of course. Your Majesty .
    She looked ready to take offense at my provocation—which I knew was juvenile but so satisfying—when the merman cleared his throat.
    Hailana looked at him and some of the fire died out of her eyes. Tempest, I called you here to introduce you to my grandnephew, Sabyn. Sabyn, this is Cecily’s daughter, Tempest.
    Nice to meet you, Tempest. He stuck his hand out to shake mine, a friendly look on his face that did nothing to put me at ease. I’d learned from bitter experience with Hailana that sometimes smiles were sweetest right before you got stabbed in the back.
    Even worse, the second our hands touched, electricity once again rocketed through me.
    Sorry , he told me, so softly that I knew he didn’t want his aunt to hear.
    No problem, I answered, though half my body ached from our contact.
    Sabyn is going to take over your training , the queen said.
    This startled me enough that I spoke without thinking. But why? Jared and I are doing great together.
    Yes, well, Sabyn has much more experience with mermaids of your … ilk. As for Jared, he’s been transferred up to the Alaskan borders. I think he’ll do well there, don’t you?
    I fought to keep my face free of the turmoil churning inside of me. Besides Mahina, Jared was my closest friend here—which was probably why the old hag had banished him. She was working overtime trying to bend me to her will, and the more I struggled to remain my own person, the worse it became for me.
    Hailana could use whatever excuse she wanted, but I knew the truth. Jared was gone because he was one of my staunchest allies, and as such, was not to be trusted. What about his family? I asked, because I had to know. Jared adored his wife and infant daughter. Did they go with him?
    The queen looked amused—and very satisfied—meaning I hadn’t sounded as nonchalant as I had hoped. But sometimes it was hard to keep my mouth shut. She was so heinous, so determined to get me to fall into line behind her, that she never missed a chance to exert her authority.
    They’ll be joining him within a few months, if things go according to plan.
    I started to say something else, but she cut me off. Enough, Tempest. We need to talk about this next phase of your training.
    What if I don’t want to do the next phase? Jared said—
    Jared was wrong, which is why Sabyn is your trainer now. Her voice dropped, lost its saccharine quality. Became as harsh and vicious as she was. You are here at my behest, Tempest. I think you’re forgetting that.
    I don’t have to be here, you know.
    Oh, really? Are you planning to run back to Daddy, let him take care of you against the big, bad sea witch? Tiamat would rip him apart before he even figured out he should run. And Kona? She laughed. You don’t actually think the selkies will accept a mermaid for a queen, do you? Oh, they all come down to play with the maids, but in the end, they marry their own kind. Always. Kona will never marry a non-selkie, and there’s no way his father would ever allow him to put a half-breed mermaid on the selkie throne—no matter how well they put up with you now.
    It took every ounce of control I had to keep my jaw muscles loose, relaxed. But I managed it. I would never give her the satisfaction of knowing she’d gotten to me. I don’t