Everblue

Chapter 41 - Fin

FIN

 

When I phased into legs and entered our house, Mom rushed me and hugged my neck so hard I thought it would break. Even though everything that had transpired only occurred over a few days, it felt like a lifetime since I'd last seen her.

"Finley," she said with a small sob, "I'm so glad you're safe."

"Mom." I let out a deep sigh and rested my chin on her shoulder, exhausted from the emotional journey. "I'm so sorry about everything."

She pulled back and studied my eyes. "What do you have to be sorry about? This is not your fault."

"But it is. I left Natatoria not once, but twice."

She laughed lightly, a gentle sound that cleansed my wounds. "Don't you think their reaction is a little extreme? What did they say your supposed crimes were?"

I looked back questioningly. "I—I left unchaperoned. That's against the law."

"Tahoe is your home and your uncle is there watching over things. You should be able to go there freely. Besides, you're practically eighteen. What are two months going to change? Nothing horrible happened."

But something did go wrong. "Mom, they aren't taking my crimes lightly. They put a bracelet on me so I can't leave Natatoria," I said with wide eyes. "Tatch has to stay in the freaking palace until it's time for her ceremony to Azor. We need to get word to Dad to stop it. Where is he?!"

Mom gently pushed aside a lock of damp hair off my forehead, then took both my hands with a smile that didn't reach the uncertainty behind her eyes. "I don't know where he is."

"Can't we find out who does? Someone has to know."

Mom sighed, all the fight taken from her. "It won't be so bad. Once you partake of the bond, everything will change and you'll be happy with Lily. It's a beautiful thing."

"A beautiful thing?" I looked at her wrist to make sure she wasn't wearing some kind of mind altering bracelet herself. How could she be okay with this? "Mom, did you forget? Tatch hates Azor and I'm—" I looked away. The longing for Ashlyn burned an inferno I could no longer contain, threatening to consume all my logic. "Can someone be promised to more than one mer at a time?"

She dropped my hands and her eyes tightened. "Why are you asking this?"

I gulped as the fear of what I'd done gripped my stomach like a vice. "I've already kissed someone else."

Mom blanched. "Who? When did this happen?"

"It was an accident," I said and proceeded to fill her in on what happened with Ash.

She ran her hand through her hair when I finished and sighed. "Great Poseidon."

This time, I was the one consoling her. "It's not too late. If only we could get this bracelet off, then I could escape through another gate and find Dad. He'd stop Tatch's promising ceremony and we could all go back to Tahoe together."

She took my arm and traced her fingers over the Natatorian emblem. "How does it keep you here?"

"It'll inject me with poison if I leave a gate, or if I try to dismantle it."

She closed her eyes and held my wrist. "They're determined to break us."

"They don't have to win."

She turned around and kneaded her neck. "I've been trying to keep a good attitude and look at the bright side of things, but it's been one thing after another. First the mission, and now this—" she pointed to the bracelet. "I didn't want to believe Phaleon had it in for us, but we should have gotten word from your father by now and we haven't. Dad has no clue what's happening. This is Phaleon's revenge. His subtle plot to ruin our family."