The return journey to the spires of the palace was a slow, agonizing procession of humiliation. The silver mists of the Neverend River clung to the soldiers' clothes like a funeral shroud. Thorn and his elite guard had shifted back into their human guises—tall, striking men with predatory eyes and a cold, aristocratic bearing—but their humanity was a thin veneer.
Behind them, Robert staggered under a weight he was never meant to carry.
The mermaid, now a fragile human woman, was too weak to stand. The transformation from scales to skin had drained her of her life force, leaving her limbs heavy and her spirit shattered. Thorn had refused to let her be covered, and he had refused to let his "superior" soldiers touch her "filthy" human-shifted skin. Thus, the task fell to Robert.
