A Thousand Salt Kisses Later (Book 2 of Salt Kiss series)

Did I get It Wrong?

I dropped onto the jade sofa-rock no sooner had we had reached the palace, and Jasper collapsed next to me, resting his head on my shoulder.

"I'm knackered," he wheezed.

"Oh, my gosh!" I managed to exclaim wearily. "You used my word."

"I am getting more human by the minute," he admitted, sitting up again and reaching behind the sofa-rock. He pulled out the box of camuls that was still left there, from our pre-party chatter the other evening.

Nephys and Bright flew at us as soon as they saw us tucking in, and I was soon immersed in a camul frenzy. In all fairness, it had been quite a day!

"Spirit, come and have some," said Nephys, summoning him from where he sat on the opposite sofa-rock.

"I'll just wait until you savages are done," said Spirit coolly, without a hint of humor.

Ugh, I'd forgotten all about his strange, sarcastic ways, so entrenched have I been in my stupid crush. He seems like he's in full jerk-mode tonight as well, I thought, as I watched him stare moodily into the distance. He's probably sulking that he was wrenched away from his little hippie mountain mer, I thought, now full of resentment. How did he even manage to attract a free-spirited creature like her with that miserable face?

He must have felt my eyes on him because he turned and looked at me suddenly, an eyebrow raised inquisitively.

I looked away again. I hope he didn't think that that had been a loving gaze.

"Well, maids and mers" said Bright suddenly. "I am also 'knackered,' I'm going to retire."

"You and me both," said Nephys quickly. "I feel as though I could sleep like a log after a touch of alcohol. Takes the edge off things, doesn't it my treasures?"

We all said goodnight, and then we were three. It momentarily crossed my mind that Nephys and Bright had been spending an awful lot of time together alone, since they had come back from their expedition into the Ocean Forest. In fact, last night in Nephys's chambers, Bright had lingered behind after I had left, despite having said he was exhausted just two seconds before this.

Anyway, I mustn't jump to conclusions; I had to remember I did not know these mers that well, even though in some ways, I felt like I'd known them forever. They could have always spent time together alone, for all I knew. Maybe they liked a little sneaky gossip here and there, just the two of them. Maybe they were even going to discuss how guilty they felt about what they had put me through. Hmm, my first suspicion is likelier.

I was happy Jasper was still here because Spirit was not on top friendly form. At least, Jasper's presence may be able to, in the words of Nephys, 'take the edge off things.'

Suddenly there was a rippling snore in my ear, and I jumped. Jasper was asleep on my shoulder. Great, now it really is just the two of us.

We sat in silence. Should I say something?

I looked over at him; he now had his tail stretched out across the sofa-rock, while his misty-blue eyes stared out into thin water. He genuinely appeared to be thinking about something. My mind traveled to that day with the eel, when I had taken his joke about eating it for dinner seriously.

I had to try to remember that he wasn't as bad as he came across. Maybe I should even try and talk to him about what happened before, try and iron out any creases and start afresh.

"So, did you have a nice time in the mountains?" I began. My tone was intended to be light and upbeat, but it came out strained and squeaky. I cringed.

He looked at me. "Yes, thank you. It was... enlightening," he replied.