Of Poseidon 02: Of Triton Read Free Page A

you finished?”
    I sit up, rippling the bedspread around me like a flash-frozen lake. The room spins, which is on my top-ten list of unpleasant scenarios. “With what, exactly?”
    “I need you to be serious right now.”
    “Probably you shouldn’t have drugged me, then.”
    She rolls her eyes and waves in dismissal. “It was chloroform. You’ll be fine.”
    “And Rayna?”
    She knows what I’m asking, and she nods. “She should be waking up right about now.” Mom sits back in her chair. “That girl has the personality of a mako shark.”
    “Says the nut job who chloroformed her own daughter.”
    She sighs. “One day you’ll understand why I did that. Today is obviously not that day.”
    “No, no, no,” I say, palming the air with the universal “don’t even” sign. “You don’t get to play the responsible parent card. Let’s not forget the little matter of the last eighteen-freaking-years, Nalia. ” There. I said it. This conversation is finally going to happen. I can tell by the expression on her face, by the way her mouth puckers in guilt.
    Nalia, the Poseidon princess, folds her hands in her lap with irritating calm. “And it would appear that you’ve been keeping a few secrets yourself. I’m ready to show and tell, if you are.”
    I lean back on my elbows. “My secrets are your secrets, remember?”
    “No.” She shakes her head. “I’m not talking about what you are. I’m talking about who you’ve been with. And what they’ve been telling you.”
    “Galen told you everything before he left to get Grom. You know as much as I do.”
    “Oh, Emma,” she says, her tone saturated with pity. “They’re lying. Grom is dead.”
    This is unexpected. “Why would you think that?”
    “Because I killed him.”
    I feel my eyes get wide. “Um. What?”
    “It was an accident, and it was a long time ago. But I’m sure your new friends don’t believe that. Galen and Toraf didn’t leave to get Grom, Emma. I’m positive they were bringing a Syrena party back to arrest me. Why else would they leave Rayna behind to guard me?”
    “Because you were acting like a psycho?”
    “If only it were that.”
    It takes a few minutes to process this and Mom gives me some space from the conversation to do it. Over and over, I repeat to myself that Mom thinks Grom is dead. Like, really and truly believes that he is. Which forces me to reconsider a few things.
    I’ve never actually seen Grom. All I know about him is what Galen told me. Thing is, Galen has lied to me before. My gut somersaults with the realization that he could still be lying. But why would he? To make sure I didn’t help Mom escape?
    Could Galen and Toraf be so terrible that they would trick me again, in order to have my mother arrested?
    On the other hand, I can’t forget the fact that my own mother lied to me, too. For eighteen-freaking-years. Then she drugged me, kidnapped me, and planted me in some dumpy motel that smells like 1977. Still, it’s the middle of the week, which means I’m missing school and she’s missing work. She wouldn’t just haul us out of our lives if she didn’t think the situation was serious.
    More than that, her confession seems to ripen her to old age, to drag down her mouth and eyes and make her whole body sag in the chair. She truly believes Grom is dead.
    When she doesn’t say anything else, I shrug at her. “Could you please just tell me everything? This whole one-tidbit-at-a-time thing is killing me.” Seriously.
    “Right. Sorry.” She tightens her ponytail for the ninth time. “Okay. Since you know about Grom, I’m assuming you know we were supposed to be mated.”
    “Yes. And I know about your argument and the mine explosion.”
    My mother’s bottom lip quivers. Mom is not a crier. It’s hard to believe that something that happened so long ago still affects her like this. And I kind of resent it, on behalf of my dad. After all, she’s mourning another man. Well, mer-man. She doesn’t