Taming their Tailfins: Howls Romance

by Marianne Morea

  “Wait. What are you doing? I thought you said we weren’t swimming.”

  Adrian moved to Zale’s side, sparing a wink for Valerie. “You’re not swimming. Zale and I were made for this, and it’s been way too long.”

  Valerie watched as each launch a perfect jackknife into the azure water. In seconds, two mighty tailfins breached the water, silver blue and green and shimmering in the soft lichen light.

  She swallowed the anxious lump in her throat, hoping the display was her sea gods and not some leviathan from the deep.

  “Aren’t my boys magnificent?” Sam asked, the pride in his voice obvious.

  The cave turned a soft shade of lavender, but Val didn’t move her eyes from the water. It had stilled and she held her breath. “Where are they? What’s happening?”

  Aggie touched her shoulder “The portal is mood sensitive, love. Lavender is a calming shade. Zale and Adrian are fine. Give them a moment. They’re acclimating. Like they said, it’s been a while.”

  “Are you sure? I’m starting to freak a little.”

  Aggie squeezed her shoulder. “I’m positive. They’ll surface, if only to blow you a kiss, but after that we really need to get moving ourselves. Time and tide wait for no one.”

  The water rippled, and both men broke the surface. Valerie’s breath locked in her throat. The were magnificent. Aquaman come to life, times two! On two legs they were impressive, but in their aquatic form they were awe-inspiring. Mythological. God-like.

  They kept their differences, dark and light, but everything about them was augmented. The size of their shoulders. Their muscled arms. The gleam in their eyes, and the luster of their long hair. The only marked difference was the sheen of their skin. It shimmered. Iridescent and glorious. Not at all scaly or fish-like. And their massive, muscular tails! Neptune…eat your heart out.

  The twin marks on their forearms, their tridents, shimmered even brighter than their skin. When they raised their fingers to their lips to blow her a kiss, her own forearm tingled. No mark, but a prickle or promise.

  “See you on the flip side, babe,” Adrian teased, winking again. With a graceful swish, he disappeared below the surface.

  Zale bobbed in the water for a moment longer. “No worries, love. Sam and Aggie will deliver you safe and sound to us in Oloris. Such delights await.”

  His smile was brilliant, and full on gorgeous. With a swift nod, he disappeared into the depths as well.

  Valerie exhaled the breath she held. “They’re going to swim twenty thousand leagues under the sea. Won’t the pressure crush them?”

  The old woman let go of Valerie’s shoulder and held her hand out for Sam. “They were made for the journey, dear. Only the Gorgónes, specifically, the Gemini, can withstand the depths and the pressure. They’ll be fine. In fact, they’ll be so amped, you’re in for the ride of your life. I hope you took my advice and packed lube.”

  “Aggie!” Valerie felt her face flush at Sam’s snicker.

  “No secrets between friends here, sweetheart. I’d be disappointed in my boys if they didn’t ride you bowlegged.”

  “Ugh. Stop now. It’s like talking about sex with my grandparents! No. Just—” She shook her head, making a face, until she saw Sam help Aggie over the stone ring into the water.

  “What are you, nuts?! You just said you had to be a Gemini Gorgona to withstand the dive.” She grabbed Aggie’s arm, only stopping when the old woman’s foot stayed on the water’s surface like something biblical.

  “How? You’re a Draakki. Or is there something else you haven’t mentioned?” She let her arm drop from Aggie’s jacket, and then blinked, staring at the surface. “You mean, it’s solid?”

  “We told you it was a portal.” Sam positioned himself to help Valerie over the stones next.

  She looked at Aggie standing on the water like a bible story come to life. “But the guys just dove below the surface. I watched them transform and swim. It was water. H2O. The wet stuff.”

  “It was water because the boys are Gemini. The same way the portal knew to shift the light to a calming lavender, it knows how best to serve in transporting our people to Oloris. Neither Aggie, you nor I can make the dive, so it changed to what we need.” He nodded to the watery-looking yet solid surface, motioning for Valerie to step over the ring.

  “We really need to go, or this chamber will fill with the Aegean faster than you can scream for help.” Aggie held her hand out for Valerie.

  A wide grin split Val’s mouth, and she slipped her hand into Aggie’s waiting palm. “This is so cool! Tell me this doesn’t look like the entrance to a Leviathan’s lair?”

  “Funny, Hannah said the same thing. Right before she turned green.” Aggie laughed. “I had to give her a special potion. Happy juice, as Zale called it. You don’t need it. Just do as Sam instructs, and you’ll see your hunky hotties on the other side.”

  “On two legs, or do I need a mermaid suit?”

  Aggie snorted a laugh this time. “You’ll see. Be patient.”

  Sam joined them and they stepped forward together. “Take a hand,” he said. “Don’t let go.”

  The azure water glistened, and a dark navy formed at the center taking on a translucent hue.

  Aggie nodded to Val. “Remember, it’s a portal. It’s safe and fast, allowing travel to the depths. No fear.”

  “Afraid? This is cooler than the pipeline in Oahu! Rollercoaster ancient Greek style!”

  “Just don’t let go to put up your arms. There’s no telling where you’ll spin off to, and we won’t be able to save you.”

  Sam’s warning threw cold water on her sudden surfer girl stance, but exhilaration still coursed through her making her giggle. “Duly noted, but this is still cool!”

  The shimmering navy ring within a ring had stilled to a translucent glass-like surface. Valerie peered through the luminous membrane to the other side.

  “Holy mer-people! It’s a domed city! A glowing, honest to God, underwater Atlantis!”

  Aggie squeezed her hand. “Aelantedes. The other is a myth.”

  “It’s time,” Sam said, interrupting.

  They jumped with their hands linked. Not a single splash, since it wasn’t water, but the portal sucked them through a tunneled vortex with a fierce tug.

  Cold air sent shivers across Valerie’s body, but she didn’t let go of Aggie’s hand. They swirled, winging and ringing the underwater vortex, the pressure building as they ventured farther into the depths.

  Valerie coughed, and all excitement left as her fingers gripped her throat. She made the sign for choking, at the same time trying not to panic.

  “It’s the pressure, Val. Just relax and breathe.” Aggie squeezed her hand again.

  Valerie winced against the thick, crushing feel.

  “Focus. Relax your muscles and will your mind to calm,” Aggie tried again. “Short breaths. Until your lungs can expand for more. It’s the pressure playing tricks on your brain. We’re almost there.”

  The underwater vortex seemed to narrow and thicken, and the pulling slowed. Valerie dragged in a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

  The dark navy center of the ring reappeared again, but it was no longer translucent. The three waited as its iridescence receded until it vanished completely, and the floor was solid.

  The portal went dark completely, leaving them standing on the sand. A rush of water echoed as Sam moved toward what looked to be a metallic door.

  Aggie smiled. “Welcome to Aelantedes, Valerie. Capital city of Oloris.”

  Chapter Eight

  Valerie’s eyes took in the tall, handsome man waiting for them on the opposite side of the door.

  “Draakki,” Zale said, taking a step closer. His eyes went wary, but this time they stayed green.

  The man inclined his head. “That’s right. I’m Rylan Draakki, alpha of my clan. You must be Zale Gorgóna, Alpha of the Gemini. He extended his hand. “Welcome home. Oloris has missed you.”

  Adrian pushed p
ast his friend and accepted the outstretched gesture. “Thank you, Rylan. It’s been a long time coming.”

  Zale’s gaze took in the man and the familiar features he noted. Features he saw every day when he looked in the mirror. They had the same shaped nose and mouth. Draakki features. Traits he got from his mother, Calliope.

  Adrian released the man’s hand, and Rylan extended it again to Zale, and this time he took the offering but didn’t say a word.

  “C’mon,” Aggie motioned for them to follow again. “The palace is waiting. Let’s get you three settled.”

  They followed Aggie through the busy hub. Valerie didn’t know which way to look first. At the floating baggage carriers or at the marine creatures swimming leisurely outside the phosphorescent dome.

  “Nice, a palace built on top of a deep sea Penn Station. Must be convenient for the king and his court to go out for a late night swim.”

  Rylan grinned. “Draic Gorgóna and his wife, Theda, have a private dock in a separate hub. The palace is connected, but only through a specific lift system.” He spread an arm out to an ornate set of silver doors set into a chrome façade.

  The doors slid open immediately, as if waiting for them specifically. “Cool. Elevators on demand. No waiting. No piped in muzak,” Valerie joked.

  “The lift was programmed to recognize you. Aggie has been given special clearance to use the royal entrance,” Rylan continued. “The king would have been here himself, but the queen is due to deliver their baby any day now. He’s on baby watch, and since this is a matter for the royal houses of Draakki and Clan Gemini, he thought it would be best if I greeted you when you arrived.”

  “Are you a king?” Valerie asked.

  Aggie looked from Rylan to the Gemini boys and back. “Rylan is the alpha of the Draakki. The same way Zale is the rightful alpha of the Gemini. They are equal in status.”

  “So you’re related to Soren, then,” Valerie replied back. “He’s married to my best friend. Hannah.”

  They filed into the elevator, and Rylan nodded. “Yes. She’s lovely. Soren and I are related, but only distantly. This situation is usual. If Soren hadn’t been cursed he would be very, very old.” He gave a chin pop to the Gemini alpha and omega. “Sort of like Zale and Adrian. Their time on Earth put their aging process into a suspended state. To be honest, Soren is more closely related to Zale, than I am to either of them.”

  Valerie spared a glance for the dark-haired Gemini. “So I’ve heard.”

  The awkward silence that followed was practically deafening. The lift doors slid shut and she watched the silent faces in the chrome interior, each trying not to make eye contact.

  “Ever notice it’s the same dude signing all the maintenance reports in the elevators in New York? I wonder if his name is here, too, somewhere.” She scanned the four walls for some sort of floor panel. “Hey, no buttons. Is there only one floor?”

  “You won’t see a lift panel in any elevator in the palace. Technically this isn’t even an elevator,” Aggie replied. “We call it that because it’s easier for surface guests to understand. All you do is say where you wish to go and whoosh, you’re off. Anywhere in the space hub, or in the case of this elevator bank, anywhere in the palace or surrounding grounds.”

  “Communicator, the gardens,” Aggie stated.

  “Working.”

  Valerie looked from Zale to Adrian before tapping Aggie on the shoulder. “We’re not moving. Is the elevator broken?”

  “Arrived,” a digitized voice announced.

  Valerie’s mouth opened slightly. “How? We didn’t even move.”

  Rylan chuckled at her amazed face. “There’s moving, and then there’s moving Oloris style.” His smile spread. “If you think that’s pretty cool, wait until you see your suite.”

  She snorted. “Why? Are they going to compress and crush me like the trash deck in Star Wars?”

  Aggie tapped her on the shoulder, shaking her head. “They won’t get your movie reference, dear. Oloris rarely gets entertainment feeds from the surface. As technological advanced as we seem, we are still very much an ancient culture. A culture that predates the ancient Minoans.”

  The lift opened into an extravagant living area. Sofas and rich furnishings lined the large room. Tapestries hung on the walls that changed scenes as though telling a story in real time.

  “What the—” Valerie said, walking in. “Are those tapestries…live?”

  Zale grinned. “Sam told us about the tapestries at the palace on Gemini Mountain. They changed stories depending on what their owner was daydreaming.”

  “This place is amazing!” Valerie said, walking toward the window. The glass disappeared, giving her total access to the veranda and the view of the city of Aelantedes, and the haze of forest in the distance. All under the phosphorescent glow of the Oloris dome.

  Zale and Adrian joined her, each slipping their arms around her waist.

  “Look, Zale.” Adrian pointed to the horizon and the shadow scraping the sky below the dome. “Home.”

  Zale inhaled, tightening his grip on Val’s waist. He lifted a hand. “When you see Gemini Mountain for the first time, it will feel that way for us, as well. Technically we were born in the palace, but we were taken from our home and raised in secrecy, until we were old enough to escape with Aggie and Sam.”

  “Zale and I, our memories of home and family are hazy at best. Sometimes the stories Sam told us over the years seem more real than our actual truth.”

  She squinted into the distance. “Where is your palace? I can’t see it at the top because of cloud cover.”

  “Merfolk don’t do well at great heights. The air is too thin and its too far away from the water. Gemini Palace is built into the steppes at the base of the mountain. When the Gemini split from the Draakki, too many millenniums ago to count, we found a way to make the mountain home. We adapted.”

  “Split?” she asked.

  “I mentioned the Gorgónes share a common ancestry with the Draakki. Like I said, we had to adapt. The Gorgónes intermixed with other dual-natured marine life. Selkies, specifically. It’s where we get our tails, but our iridescence and our scales come from our dragon heritage,” Zale explained. “My mother, Calliope, was able to mate with my father and his omega because of that shared heritage. It’s why you saw wings in my tall, dark and scary moments. They lurk in shadow form but have yet to emerge. I doubt they ever will.”

  “You, too?” She looked at Adrian.

  He shrugged in reply. “I doubt it. My bloodline had Draakki as well, but not as much as Zale.”

  “Is your family still on the mountain?”

  “We were children when we escaped to the surface. After that, we had no contact with any of our kind except Aggie and Sam. They were isolated as well. Sam cared for us on the surface since Aggie was cursed with poverty and pain. He joined her in her misery once the two of us were old enough to take care of ourselves in your world. We helped where we could, but we had to be vigilant not to cross the line or Aggie’s pain would worsen. The Draakki exile wrought on her was insidious. Like Tantalus in Homer’s Odyssey. He was up to his neck in water, but if he bent to drink, it flowed away from him, leaving him with an unending thirst. Aggie was surrounded by comfort, warmth, food, but if she partook, her pain was agonizing.”

  “But Hannah brough them food all the time,” Valerie said, incredulous.

  Zale nodded. “And Aggie would distribute it to the other homeless in the park where she lived, keeping just enough for herself not to cause more pain.”

  Anger flared hot, and she pulled away from both men. “I know my world is cold and cruel, but this is ridiculous! You two need to do something to stop this kind of bullshit from happening.”

  “That’s the plan, love.” Zale kissed her temple.

  “To answer your question, Aggie and Sam brought us news of home once they were able to return to Oloris. They told us our people had retreated to the caves at the mountain’s interior. Close enough
to the open ocean if they needed to escape.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a good thing.”

  Zale shook his head. “No, love. That’s not a good thing. Even with the cave’s natural luminescence. I’m sure they miss the air and the dual stars bright in the azure sky.”

  “You said natural luminescence. Is that anything like what makes Oloris’s dome glow?”

  “It’s related, but not exactly.”

  She smirked. “Again with the not exactly bit. Just tell me.”

  “There are crystals deep in our caves,” Zale continued. “They are sacred to the Gemini, a source of our powers.” He flashed her a sheepish grin. “Like in the elevator, when you were worried people would discover us.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ve got it covered,” she parroted.

  Adrian nodded. “It’s also how we keep the surface island hosting the Gorgónes Caves secret from the surface world.”

  “Wow.” She didn’t know what to say.

  He nodded. “Yes. Once Zale and I unlock the power of the crystals, the Gemini can exist anywhere in comfort, even on the surface.”

  Clouds cleared slightly and the vista brightened. “Holy twice-the-sunscreen, Batman! You have two suns!” Valerie marveled at the glinting orbs high above the palace turrets.

  “Not suns, technically. Twin stars. Gemini stars. Ones linked to us in such a way their brightness is strong enough to penetrate the depth and allow our hidden world.”

  So, who’s ready to unpack?” Aggie asked, walking out onto the veranda with Sam and Rylan. “This is a four-bedroom suite. One for each of you, plus a fourth with a bed big enough for all three of you to play peekaboo under the sheets. Plus, a few extras I asked for just for fun.”

  Valerie rolled her eyes. “Dirty old broad strikes again.”

  “You’re just figuring that out?” Zale laughed as the three headed back inside.

  She chuckled. “Right now, I want a quick bath, and then I want to see Hannah.”

  “We’ll go with you.” Adrian nodded. “Might as well get all the introductions out of the way at once. After all, you said the ball was ours, right?”