“When I tried to find it, it had vanished. I suppose the sea sought to punish me for all my lies.”
“That’s fine. We don’t need it. As long as you’re here and this curse doesn’t take you from me again.” He rose from the rug and helped her stand. “Let me take you to my chambers. You swam far too long to go without rest.”
“Your bedchamber? Joren, look at me. I’m hideous.”
“I don’t care if you’re…different. I don’t care if you never wear Coral Shell’s guise again. The woman in here is who I love.” He touched the center of her chest. “What you’ve shown me these three months is a woman filled with courage and compassion, fiercely protective of those weaker than she. Whatever reason you were punished in the past, Caecilia, you’re long past it. Your soul is beautiful, and I’ll do whatever is in my power to lift your curse.”
“What if—”
Whatever she wanted to say was of no consequence to Joren. He didn’t let her finish, tipping her face up with the touch of an index finger to her chin and kissing her fiercely.
Ten short weeks alongside his Coral Shell had been the happiest days of his life, a time when he felt adored for who he was, not what he could do, as if more than his title and status mattered. He thought of long hours playing chess on his yacht and long conversations over parchment on the Cannon. Her tireless dedication to his care on the Jolly Roger, and the risk she’d taken to save a servant girl’s life.
And he thought of her fury each time she’d capsized a ship from the Ridaeron Dynasty, and something tickled his memory of seeing her once before; meeting her not as a woman, but a serpent. The complete recollection eluded him.
Someone gasped, a servant eager to see to their needs perhaps, but Joren no longer cared. The moment was his to enjoy—having his Coral, his Caecilia, whatever name she chose to take.
As long as she was his.
Caecilia shifted her position and leaned into him with both hands on his shoulders. He dragged her closer, gentle with her fragile bones. Her kisses felt the same. As long as he awakened another morning with her beside him. All he needed was the opportunity to cure her.
Satisfied that she was still his Coral, even if the appearance of her body had changed, Joren leaned back to study her face, only to discover something peculiar.
Mystical light and magic bathed her skin, and cheeks that had been sunken with ill-health had filled again. Her lips were plump and rosy, a growing flush of health spreading down flesh that became increasingly bronzed with each passing second. Her brown hair grew lush and thick, the gray patches of her scalp no longer visible.
Life spread down her limbs, thickening them with muscle tone and fat until a shapely silhouette remained where a dusky hag had stood moments before.
* * *
Whatever self-effacing thing Caecilia had planned to utter, Joren disintegrated the thought in record time. His lips claimed hers, the kiss scorching through her and sizzling down her nerve endings, leaving nothing but warmth in their wake, heating through her cold limbs.
Caecilia opened her eyes to find Joren staring at her. “What?” she murmured, only to realize she was glowing silver, lit by moonlight spilling through the palace’s enormous picture windows and a thousand glittering sparks alight across her skin. Her limbs straightened, and she stood taller, knees no longer bowlegged and bare toes no longer gnarled.
“Joren!” she cried, the voice issuing from her mouth no longer the abrasive hiss of the past three centuries. “You broke the curse!”
“What? But how? I didn’t do anything.”
“You didn’t do anything? Joren, you did everything.” She shook with relief and lost the tenuous control over her emotions, a sob in her throat and tears spilling down her cheeks. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight.
“You loved me for who I was. You saw beauty in me even when I no longer saw it in myself. You saved me by just being you.” By doing the only thing that had drawn her to him to begin with. By being compassionate, loving, and showing kindness to others, he’d unraveled a centuries-old curse and set her free. With tears still spilling down her face, she rose on tiptoe and kissed him again.
“Then it’s over?”
“Yes!”
She could have stood forever before the hearth wrapped in his arms, reacquainting herself with the taste of him, if a draft against her bare skin didn’t remind Caecilia that she was quite indecently dressed in the queen’s palace.
“Ah,” Joren said, appearing to read her mind. His hand closed around one bare cheek, squeezing her ass. “Erm, these rags aren’t meant for you.”
“They aren’t.”
“Then I suggest we carry on with my original thought and head to my chambers. Only now, I think I should like to get them off you.”
Joren did that and more, carrying her, though it was no longer necessary, from the sitting room up to his private chambers. He bypassed the bed, startling her when they entered the bathroom and he set her on the sink.
“What are you doing?”
“You’re still shaking.”
“From happiness. Are you suggesting that I stink?”
“From near frostbite,” he countered, turning the knobs on the shower until it ran hot and rained steaming water into the glorious marble basin. “And no. Did you forget I’ve been a sailor almost all my life? I’ve smelled far, far worse. Still, you’re bloody trembling.”
“From joy,” she teased back, though she couldn’t deny how much she’d love a hot bath. “I’m trembling with joy and—” His shirt came off, and Caecilia needed no further motivation. Any excuses, any jests, all disintegrated when his trousers dropped next.
She made a tiny sound in her throat.
Of course, he grinned. “See something you like?”
“Everything.”
Joren peeled off her rags and carried her into the deep basin big enough to sit three or four people. A large umbrella-like fixture rained water on them from directly above, like a summer mist on the island. She tilted her face up to the spray as he set her on her feet and closed her eyes, surrounded by steam and his strong arms.
“Now that you’ve apologized to me, it’s only fair that I’m man enough to do the same. I’m sorry, Caecilia. Perhaps I had every right to feel betrayed, but storming away was childish.”
“We both made mistakes and learned from them.” She peered at him through the steam. “I’m still the same Coral I was before.”
“No. You’re not. You’re my Caecilia, and you’re far better, because now when I hold you like this…” He dragged her closer by a palmful of her ass and squeezed, earning a startled squeak before his hand slid down to her thigh and he hiked her leg up to his hip. “I can hear you make that sound. And later, when we’re in bed, when I talk to you, you can answer, letting me learn everything about you I’ve wondered all along. And tomorrow, when we’re out in the kingdom and I shout my love for you to all of Jonquilles, you can respond to each person we encounter who wishes us a happy future together.”
His kiss stole her breath. She’d thought the mulled wine from the partygoers had been ambrosia, sweet and spicy warmth on a cold night, but Joren’s kisses surpassed that.
“I could never understand why I felt drawn to you, why I wanted to get to know you and needed you near when we were on the ship. Gods, I felt a fool. Worse than that, untrue to the Coral I wanted to give my heart. Then I learned you were both the same woman, and it was you I admired all along.”
She moaned against his lips when the rock-hard girth of him brushed past her entrance. One shift of his hips, and he’d be inside her. “You admired me?” Her voice shook, lust tightening her core as he teased against her again.
“How could I not? You cared for the islanders as if they were your own, you sacrificed for them, and you aided our ships. That is why Caecilia will always be better than Coral,” he whispered against the corner of her mouth, still holding her closely. “I adored you as Coral, when you were my mute and ki
nd-hearted caretaker, but I love you even more as your true self. A compassionate warrior, loving mother to the islanders, and woman I was honored to fight alongside.”
And then he made love to her tirelessly, busy hands coaxing one cry after the next from her, until what little cold lingered in her bones was gone and only smoldering heat remained.
When she climaxed, tugging his hair with one hand and gripping his shoulder with the other, her back was against the polished tiles and legs wrapped around his waist. They wore nothing to bed, long limbs entwined as they murmured in the dark room lit by a single distant candle.
Caecilia slept in her prince’s arms that night, overjoyed to know there’d be many more passionate evenings and conversations ahead of them.
Their dreams of sailing the oceans together weren’t beyond reach.
* * *
Dawn had never been more beautiful than today. Caecilia stood on the shoreline with her face tilted toward the breeze and Joren close behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist. As the first golden rays warmed her face, she smiled.
“It’s still all so surreal, being here with you when I was certain I was about to meet my fate.”
“Your fate obviously wasn’t to die,” Joren murmured against her hair. “Is that why you wanted to take this walk instead of remaining curled up in bed? To be sure?”
“Maybe,” she admitted as she turned in his embrace and looped her arms around his neck. “Can you blame me?”
“No. No, I can’t.” He stroked her cheek with his knuckles and smiled. “Though I wouldn’t mind returning to the cuddling. Aren’t you cold?”
“It’s not as bad as it once was. With my magic returned to me, the cold seems less biting. I imagine I could swim in your frozen northern waters without much difficulty, though they’ll never beat the tropical warmth and beauty of the islands.”
“About that…”
She studied his face, guessing the thoughts on his mind. “I will go wherever you are, Joren.”
“I don’t want to keep you away from the sea and your home.”
“Nor should you, human prince.” The voice boomed through the air and made Caecilia go cold, while Joren tensed.
Energy buzzed through the air and raised the fine hairs on her arms and nape. The mounting wave rose, higher than should have been possible in the bay’s calm waters. Joren pulled her behind him in a desperate bid to shield her, but the water never crashed down over them.
Instead, it parted like a curtain and revealed an aquatic world beyond the imposing figure of her father wielding his mythical trident and appearing far, far taller than she remembered. He towered over her and Joren, impressive stature adorned by silver-plated armor and the flowing colors of cloths adapted from the Wai Alei.
“Triton,” Joren whispered in awe. He wavered a moment on his feet, bowed deeply at the waist, and then, still appearing undecided, started to kneel until Caecilia grasped him by the arm and held him upright, slipping her hand into his.
“Father, what are you doing here?”
“I came to see with my own eyes that it was true. That the curse I placed upon you has truly broken.”
Judging by her father’s cool tone, he wasn’t pleased. At least, he didn’t seem happy about her restoration.
“I am as I was,” she said. “Thanks to Joren. You needn’t worry I’ll try and come home and cause a mess again, because I’m perfectly happy to remain here.”
“Preposterous. You will return to Atlantis where you belong.”
Joren sucked in a sharp, quiet breath. She wondered what he must be thinking and feeling in this moment, faced with the god he worshipped, a deity he’d devoted his life to following and hoping to appease. Would he be disappointed with the reality?
“No, Father, I won’t.”
“To what purpose?” Triton demanded. “This human prince will wither and die. What will you do once the ocean breeze has dried his skin and shriveled him to bones, yet you remain the very vision you are today?”
“I’ll love him,” she murmured, gripping Joren’s hand tighter. “Even then.”
“And when he perishes, leaving you behind to mourn and bemoan those lost years, what then? A god’s heart may only be given once, Caecilia.”
“I realize that. A week ago, had you asked me the same question, I would have told you I planned to cherish each day with him and hold those memories close once he was gone.”
“And now?” her father pressed, cocking one dark brow.
“Now the only answer is clear. I…I don’t want to keep my divine powers, Father. I want to stay here with the mortals, on these legs.”
“You would forsake immortality to remain with a human?”
“I would. These days exploring the surface world alongside Joren have been the happiest moments of my life. There are so many more places I’ve left uncharted and experiences I’ve yet to uncover.” Caecilia swallowed the unyielding lump in her throat to little avail. It was stuck fast, a hard knot of apprehension.
Joren turned to face her and took both of her hands in his. “Perhaps it is now my turn to be noble. I can’t allow you to give up everything you are to have a simple life with me. I’m no one special, but you have a chance to return to your homeland now. You can move forward and be happy.”
“Yes, I can move forward. With you. You’ve already given me happiness.”
“I can’t let you do this.”
“I’m not asking your permission.” She turned back to her father. “This is what I want. A mortal life. I’ve spent two thousand years in the sea. Let me have my remaining fifty on dry land.”
“If your powers are lost, how will you help the people of Wai Alei?”
“It’s time for someone else to be their protector now. I will miss them so very much. There won’t be a day that I won’t think of Blue Heron’s sacrifice of her eyesight to restore her daughter’s vision, or Dancing Willow offering her own womb for her brother and his wife to have a healthy child. They’ve taught me the meaning of sacrifice. But they’ve also taught me to love myself again. I’ve done the best I can for centuries. I’m tired, and I want to enjoy life the way I never did as a Princess of Atlantis, Father.”
He studied her for a time, his jaw set and bright eyes studying them. “And you’ve made up your mind?”
“Yes.”
“Then I see there is only one thing I can do.” Triton leveled his trident and pointed the three-pronged end at Joren, steel in his eyes and an unspoken promise. It glowed with divine light and power pulsed from it, sailing out from the weapon in a brilliant white cone toward them both. Caecilia stumbled back and lost her grip on Joren’s hand as understanding dawned.
Her father meant to reclaim her for Atlantis the only way he could, by removing Joren from the equation.
“No!” She rushed toward him to disrupt the spell, pulse thundering in her ears and heart slamming fast, but her feet fused beneath her and she crashed to the sand on her hands and elbows. He’d stolen her legs, ripping away her bodily autonomy as only a god could. “Father, please! Don’t hurt him!”
Godly power washed over Joren, and he cried out as the tide swept in and claimed him, hauling him away into the sea. His arms flailed and he shouted her name while she lay weak as a baby in the sand.
“Joren!” she cried. “No! How could you, Father? How could you?”
The moment the water reached her, she pulled herself forward and tried to follow, but her father’s might restrained her when she reached deeper water, the tide buffeting against her body no matter how hard she flicked her tail. The more she fought, the harder the swirling waters tossed her back.
“Enough, daughter! Wait!” At his command, the ocean stilled. Before Caecilia could get her bearings, he took her by her shoulders and turned her, bringing Joren’s floating body into view.
As her father had always been a fan of the theatrical, it should have surprised her none. She peered through the slanted beams of light spilling through the waves,
and gasped at the sight of Joren with a sleek fishtail in lieu of his long legs, the muscular power of it having split his boots and breeches. Tatters of cloth drifted around his lower body and away in the current.
Her father hadn’t killed him, and he appeared as bewildered as her.
“I don’t understand. What in the blazes just happened to me? Why am I—?” Joren twisted in the water, golden hair flowing around his face. “I’m breathing underwater?”
“I couldn’t force you to choose,” Triton said in a quiet voice, “between your happiness and your family. I miss you, dear daughter, and I have never stopped missing you. And when your time came to pass from this world, I would have missed you even more.”
“Father, I truly don’t understand. What did you do?”
He gazed at them both. “I have taken your divine gift, not from anger but out of love, and shared a fraction of it with your chosen mate,” her father murmured, gazing at Joren. “You are a man of great integrity, compassion, and courage. I can think of no greater man to swim alongside my Caecilia.”
“I don’t know what to say, I—I don’t feel worthy.”
“It is precisely for this reason that you are worthy. Today, you are Prince Joren of Eisland. Soon, I hope to name you Prince Joren of Atlantis.”
She whipped around in the water to stare at her father, though it was short-lived and she found her gaze drawn back to Joren. Her prince’s mouth opened and closed, as fishlike as his magnificent lower half. The scales shimmered teal with mesmerizing streaks of complementing violet, so beautiful she couldn’t rip her gaze away again, despite the bomb her father had just dropped. How could he become Prince Joren of Atlantis…unless her father planned to elevate her to crown princess?
“But you may need this.” Triton opened his palm, revealing a stunning necklace with a glittering frost diamond at its center. He turned from Caecilia and offered the gift to Joren.
“My grandmother’s jewel. I—how did—you’re a god,” Joren babbled, appearing stunned as he accepted the gift. “Why am I even asking how you found it, or even knew I’d tossed it away? Thank you, Tri—Your Majesty. Thank you.” Her poor prince bowed his head, and had he legs, she thought he would have knelt again.
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