The Twice Lost by Sarah Porter Page B

to protect me?”
    “Of course I am. As usual. Not that you ever make it easy, Dorian. Or particularly pleasant.”
    Dorian grinned a little unsteadily at that. “I still don’t want to go back, though.”
    “And not because of Zoe, I’d imagine. Dorian, Luce won’t be returning here. I’m quite certain about that. Don’t waste your time waiting for her.”
    “I do actually
love
Zoe,” Dorian snapped.
    “And yet it wasn’t so long ago that you told me you were still in love with Luce. And you expressed that sentiment through some fairly dramatic behavior.” Ben Ellison was referring to the time he’d found Dorian dripping wet on the beach, after he’d broken up with Luce, after he’d tried to get her to drown him, after she’d vanished . . . Dorian glowered. So what if he
was
still in love with her? That wasn’t anybody’s business but his. Even Zoe didn’t need to know what he saw when he closed his eyes.
    Dorian decided to change the subject. “Why don’t you think Luce will come back here, anyway?”
    He’d asked the question casually enough, but its effect was immediate. Ben Ellison grimaced and looked away, cheeks flushing and mouth tight. Dorian stared at him, perplexed. If he didn’t know better, he’d think Ellison was ashamed of something.
    “Luce is very far south of here by now. That video was shot in Washington, and that was over a week ago. And she was clearly heading down the coast.” Ellison seemed to be keeping his voice as flat as possible.
    “So? She could still turn around.”
    “Dorian . . .” Now it was Ellison’s turn to change the subject. “Go back to Chicago. I’ve done everything I can to make it an attractive option for you.”
    “I don’t want to leave here, Mr. Ellison.”
    “I assume you know how unreasonable you’re being?”
    “And why would I care if some government assholes think I’m talking to mermaids, anyway? I wouldn’t be doing anything wrong. It’s not like hanging out with mermaids is against the
law
or anything.”
    For a long moment they stared at each other. Dorian watched shadows shifting and twisting in the brown depths of Ellison’s gaze, watched his lips compress with irritation and—Dorian felt more certain of it now—embarrassment. But that wouldn’t make any sense, unless . . .
    Unless Luce’s darkest fears had come to pass. Dorian forgot about the cemetery around him, envisioning Luce terrified, hunted, dashing through towering waves.
    “Dorian . . .” Ben Ellison sighed. Whatever Dorian had seen darting inside his eyes was hidden again; the older man just seemed world-weary, impatient, tired out by trying to reason with the irrational adolescent sitting across from him. “It might be.”
    Dorian’s thoughts were so far away that he was confused. “What might be what?”
    “Talking to mermaids. It might become illegal. There’s no applicable law now because there’s no official recognition that mermaids so much as exist, but that will probably change soon. And if it does, it would not be in your interest to set yourself up as an object of suspicion.”
    “Are you guys starting a
war
on them?”
    “I’ve told you before. There hasn’t been any decision made yet about how to deal with the mermaids, beyond warning ships away from areas where there are signs of—”
    “Is that why you’re so sure Luce won’t come back here?” Dorian’s tone was rising. “Did—I mean—did you start
killing
. . .”
    “No, Dorian. Of course not.” Ellison’s voice was tense and— Dorian thought—utterly false. Like the guy was too ashamed to even do a good job lying.
    No wonder Luce looked so hurt and exhausted in that video. Dorian didn’t know when he’d stood up. His legs wavered, and for the first time in months the sky and ground began to seem destabilized, as if they were possessed by the rise and fall of the ocean. “If you—if anyone—hurts her, I’ll—”
    “You seem to be going on the assumption