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 get like this when she talks about my dad, and he’s only been dead for a little more than two years now. To her, Grom has been dead for decades.

“Let me guess. They told you Grom lived through the explosion, right?” She’s almost shaking with anger. “Well, I’m telling you that he didn’t. When I woke up, he was gone. I couldn’t sense him anymore.”

“That’s exactly what Galen said about you. That you were nowhere to be found.”

She mulls over this for a minute, then says, “Emma, when a Syrena dies, you can’t sense them anymore. Grom and I could sense each other half the world apart, sweetie. We were just … connected in that way.”

This hurts me. Galen had said Grom and Nalia seemed meant for each other from the very beginning. I thought it was ridiculously romantic. But that was before I knew Nalia and my mother were the same person. Did she not care about my dad at all?

“So you didn’t even look for him? You just assumed the worst and headed toward land?” Somehow, it makes me feel a little better to say it like that.

“Emma, I didn’t sense him—”

“Did you ever stop to think the explosion might have messed up your sensing abilities?” I blurt. “Because Galen said Grom’s were screwy for a little while after the explosion. But even the Trackers stopped sensing you.”

She blinks at me. Opens her mouth, then closes it. Then her face gets all red, and I can see the proverbial dead bolt slide into place. So much for show-and-tell. “Grom is dead, Emma. Galen used you to get to me.”

I fling my legs over the side of the bed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, Emma, that Galen developed this whole little romance with you to earn your trust, to turn you against me. Galen is a Triton Royal, sweetie. There’s no way he would attach himself to…”

“A Half-Breed,” I say, anger and hurt roiling in my stomach. By Syrena standards, Half-Breeds are abominations. I think of all the kisses, the touches, the tingles that passed between me and Galen. The absolute fire I feel when he simply brushes against me by accident. Could he really be capable of acting that way toward someone he truly loathed? He did lie to me before. Could this be another lie? Did he just change his story to keep me hanging on?

All I can really count on right now is that someone I love is lying to me and there’s only one way to find out who it is: get them face-to-face.

I know for a fact that if Galen went through all this trouble in seducing me to get to my mother, he will certainly send his hound dog, Rachel, to sniff us out. Galen will come for us, I’m certain of it. And when he does, he’ll either bring Grom with him like he claims, or he’ll bring the Syrena party to arrest my mom.

If I let it slip to Mom that he’ll give chase, she’ll keep on fleeing. She thinks she’s in danger and she thinks I’m in danger. She won’t ever stop. And somehow, I’ve got to find a way to bring them together and keep us safe at the same time.

Life just got sucky.

Real tears well in my eyes, but not the kind Mom is hoping for. She nods, misled sympathy etched into her features. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I know you really cared about him.”

I nod, too, and force the next words out of my mouth. Words that may or may not be true. “I’ve been so stupid, Mom. I believed everything he said. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Mom gets up from the chair and sits next to me on the bed, pulling me to her with one arm. “Sweetie, you don’t have anything to apologize for. It was your first taste of love, and Galen took advantage of you. I’d like to say that’s only a Syrena trait, but it could have happened with any human boy, too. I’m here for you. We’ve got to stick together, you and me.”

The sincerity in her voice makes me feel as big as a thimble. Not only is she hurting for herself, and reliving Grom’s loss, but she’s hurting for me, and what she perceives as my loss of Galen. Whether it really is my loss of Galen remains to be seen, but I let her hold me anyway because I’m not brave enough to look into her eyes. Finally, she says, “I’m going to take a shower and wash the travel off me. Then we’ll see about dinner, and make a game plan together. Sound good?”