Saving Her Destiny by Candice Gilmer Page A

want to blow up the Merrow Kingdom?” Kealan asked.
    â€œThat’s what we have to find out,” Keefe said.

Chapter Seven
    Duncan wondered if Cara had gotten away from her captor.
    They couldn’t find any blood trail when they exited the cave. Even with the help of another half dozen Brothers, there was no sign that she’d been taken anywhere.
    If fish had already eaten the evidence—or if there just wasn’t any more—well, Duncan didn’t know.
    It was like she’d vanished. It didn’t make any sense. There should have been blood…or lingering fish. Or something to signify that she’d been down there somewhere.
    He knew she was alive, because while the meter was getting an increasingly orange color, it hadn’t started making that warning noise yet. Besides, if the meter was wrong, and the scream had already erupted, the sonic blast would have echoed off all caverns underwater.
    She had to be somewhere. Yet Duncan couldn’t figure out where.
    He’d tried at least a dozen times to find her with his telepathy with no results—at least, nothing concrete.
    A couple of times he thought he felt her presence, but it was so brief he couldn’t track it long enough to figure out where it was coming from. Frustration raged through him. He was about ready to throw at least one of the princes in the nearest volcano if it would bring some sign of her.
    He gritted his teeth. Thinking like that wasn’t going to find her.
    He had to focus.
    Work the problem.
    Now he couldn’t feel her except for a fleeting second. So what did that mean? Well, if she was kept unconscious, he wouldn’t be able to feel her more than a moment.
    So it made sense that was likely what kept them apart.
    She was unconscious somewhere. Hopefully not too far away.
    The entire merrow home was shaped like a planet with rings. The rings were rows of residences, merchants, and their industrial areas. The outermost ring, however, held their military, and just inside that sat the royal palace, where Keefe and Kealan had brought Duncan to get him some food.
    Not that Duncan wanted to stop to eat, but he’d been getting lightheaded, and the two crown princes thought some time in air would help.
    While Duncan didn’t want to take a break, his stomach couldn’t be ignored.
    â€œThanks for this,” Duncan said, waving his hand at the pressurized dining room.
    Keefe shrugged. “You air breathers come around every once in a while.”
    â€œYeah, and we can be accommodating on occasion. When we feel like it.” Kealan sipped on his cup of tea. At least, that was what Duncan thought it was—tea. It had that coloring.
    But he wasn’t going to ask questions. The food tasted pretty decent—reminded him of sushi, but not. They ate on plates and sat at a table, and could have been any humans dining around a table after a swim.
    Duncan knew a merrow’s tail changed to legs on land, but he had no idea it changed so easily when exposed to air.
    When the room still had water in it, Keefe had been resting in a chair carved from rock, his fin bobbing. When Kealan had hit the control to pressurize the room, Duncan had been gobsmacked at the transformation. Almost like a wave, as the air hit their fins, the fins separated and became legs.
    While everything was damp, the pressurized room allowed the three of them to walk rather than swim. A technology the merrow had developed—not magic, Duncan noticed—made the pressurized room possible.
    Interesting tech they have down here . Duncan appreciated the change. He’d even let his wings out to stretch—which his two companions thought was amazing.
    The food had been delivered within moments of the room being pressurized. They discussed what to do when another merrow—a girl the two princes took a good five minutes to tease—before they got back to business.
    â€œSo what’s next?” Keefe