“Don’t ever say that word again.”
“If you don’t dance with me who will?” I asked, knowing that would make him give in and change his mind. He didn’t want any trouble on his ship, and if someone else even tried to dance with me, there would be trouble. He’d made that clear, so I began looking around for a partner.
Aiden scowled. “Fine. But don’t expect a lot out of me.”
I squealed with delight as I dragged him to where his crew was dancing. The moment we joined them, the music turned into a jumble of flat off-key notes and stopped. Aiden froze and closed his eyes, pulling his eyebrows together. I looked around to see his crew was staring at us, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. They were shocked. Could it be Aiden had never danced with them before? Judging by the irritated and slightly embarrassed look on his face when he opened his eyes and looked at me, it was true. He had a reputation to uphold on his ship, but he was putting it at risk for me. He shook his head and tightened his grip on my waist.
I lifted a hand and placed it on his face as I smiled up at him, amused he looked out of place with all his crew’s eyes on him. “Dance with me, Aiden.”
There was a moment of indecision where he looked as if he might say no. It wouldn’t have surprised me because he was stubborn and looked really uncomfortable. Instead, he smiled crookedly at me than began shouting at his crew. “What are you staring at, lads? Get back to dancing!” His voice was gruff and commanding, but he smiled as he said the words.
His crew began to yell and clap. The music picked up and they danced around, smiling at the two of us and thanking Aiden for joining them.
“Finally you’re having some fun again,” one of them said.
It made me wonder what sort of fun he could have been talking about because Aiden seemed like a no nonsense sort of man for the most part. I cocked an eyebrow at him, but he leaned in to speak. “Don’t listen to them; they don’t know what they are talking about.”
“Whatever you say,” I laughed and began to dance.
The music filled me as I twirled around, trying not to stumble from the rum. Dancing was odd with the unfamiliar pair of legs, but I didn’t let it stop me. I imagined my tail again, fins splashing the water, twirling me around to the tune of the music. For several minutes, Aiden just swayed back and forth in front of me, eyes watching me with caution as if I would fall over and he would need to catch me.
“Is that really all you’ve got?” I challenged.
The corners of his lips moved into a devilish grin as he grabbed me and swirled me around. Delightful laughter rose from my lips, and I gripped him tightly so I wouldn’t fall to the ground. He smiled back at me, and soon the laughter was coming from him too. We danced throughout the night with the crew around us, forgetting there was anything unusual about the scene—he a deadly pirate captain and me a royal mermaid princess.
It wasn’t until one of the crewmen backed into me and pushed me into Aiden that our world was interrupted. In fact, the world froze around us. The music seemed to stop, the sounds of the crew fading to a faraway mumble. As I fell against him, there was a moment when his gaze turned into a scowl, but then it faded. Any harsh words he wanted to say to the man stopped.
He felt it too. Felt the world stop as hands took a hold of me and we found ourselves closer than we had ever been before. My hands caught themselves on his shoulders, and I couldn’t find the strength to take them away. My pulse raced with a ferocity I hadn’t known before. My stomach flipped in a disturbing way. His striking eyes stared down at me in confusion, his lips only inches away from mine.
All of my fears and worries slipped away from me, leaving me alone and awash in a sea of something unfamiliar. Something inside of me clicked, and I realized Aiden was just a man who found a way to live through piracy for some reason. I had no clue what his past was, why he would choose to live such a life, especially since he didn’t blend in with the rest of them. He was different. A passionate fire lit up his eyes with promises of excitement to come. Protective and mysterious. Perhaps it had been wrong of me to assume the worst of him.
“Aiden.” His name fell from my lips before I registered I’d even spoken. I wanted to find out what this feeling was.
I began to close the distance between us, but Aiden pursed his lips in frustration and pulled back from me, a pained look on his face. “Rae, as much as I want to shower you with kisses, I’m not going to take advantage of the situation…Gods what is wrong with me?” His last words were growled as he let go of me and stepped back. He ran his hand down his face, defeated, and took a few deep breaths before looking back at me. “But one day I will ravish you. Believe me.”
Whatever spell had been over me was broken.
Anger boiled up inside me at his rejection. He had done nothing but flirt with me the entire time I had been on his ship, and now when I decided to kiss him, he was going to tell me no? No one refused me before when I wanted a kiss. I was a mermaid for goodness sake, and he made me feel like a whale.
I threw my hands out in front of me to push him. I had to get away. “You are an idiot, Aiden, and I hate you.”
The crewmen began to whisper around me, talking about our disagreement as if it were any of their business. They chuckled loudly, entertained at the spectacle they witnessed.
One of them laughed and whirled me around to face him. “You thought you had the cap’n wrapped around your lil finger didn’t you? He does as he pleases.”
I jerked my arm from his grasp and tried to hide the embarrassed red flaming in my face. I was surrounded by a bunch of low life pirates and making a fool of myself.
There was only one place I would be safe and feel like myself again. Without another thought, I ran toward the edge of the ship and threw myself overboard.
Chapter Nine
The dive down was graceful, even with two awkward legs protruding from my torso—until my body flipped in the air and my legs flailed outward. I hit the dark water below with a hard splash that knocked the breath from my lungs. My vision darkened and blurred. I tried to focus and breathe again as I kicked in the water. The legs didn’t work right, not like my fins did, and I sank. Panic set in, flowed through my body in a second. I couldn’t even use my night vision. It was gone.
And so was my ability to breathe underwater.
The water rushed into my mouth and smothered me. Everything was wrong. So wrong. I fought to push it back out, but it was stuck inside me, choking me, and trying to make me sink even further into the water. I kicked and threw my arms about, trying to swim to the surface, but unable to do so for the force of the waves and inability to get my legs to cooperate. I opened my mouth to scream for help, but I couldn’t even speak underwater. The ability was gone, and water flooded into my open mouth.
Just as the world began to darken, my consciousness losing hold, a splash hit the water above me. A pair of bright eyes called to me in the darkness. A strong pair of arms grasped for me, pulled me back from oblivion, and lifted me out of the water.
When we hit the surface, I grasped for the person who saved me. My nails dug into the skin of my savior as I laid my head against him and continued to cough.
“Shhh, lass, it’s going to be okay.”
Aiden.
He wrapped his arms around my stomach and gave me a hard squeeze. Water forced its way out of my lungs, and I started to cough uncontrollably as my body violently tried to rid itself of the water. My breath came in hard gasps as my lungs tried to find air again.
He began to yell. “Cast down the ropes, mate, hurry.”
Why was he yelling at the sky?
Nothing made sense, not a thing he said, not a thing he did. I couldn’t focus my vision or gather my thoughts. Nothing was working right.
“What…”
“Hush, Rae, I’m going to wrap this around your waist, and we are going to get back aboard the ship.”
The ship?
“No!” I exclaimed and tried to fight back, but my body was weak. That w
as right, I remembered now. I was angry with him. He made a fool of me in front of his men, made me feel like less of a woman because he wouldn’t kiss me. A silly reason to jump into the sea, I supposed, but I truly thought I would be safe. The sea was my home, but my body was no longer made for it. I had proof now.
“Stop fighting me, woman,” he growled and pulled me closer as he wrapped the rope around us.
I coughed up the last of the water and held tight to him as we began to rise from the surface. It was too late now; there was no escape. I had no choice but to go with him back onto the ship until I could figure out another plan.
When we reached the edge of the ship, he pulled me over it with him and into his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hid my face in his shoulder. I couldn’t look at any of his men because I was too ashamed. When I was on the dance floor with him, I lost too much of myself, drank too much rum, and looked like a fool jumping into the ocean. I still couldn’t get my thoughts straight. My body still shook in fear from almost losing my life as I clung to him, unable to stand steadily even though I wanted to.
He marched straight to his cabin and shut the door behind us. He dropped his right arm slowly, lowering me to the floor. My feet touched the wood, but gave out underneath me. I had no strength to stand up.
“Whoa, lass,” he exclaimed and tightened his grip on me. He sank to the floor with me and gathered me back into his arms. One of his hands snaked through my hair to comfort me.
I let him hold me, unable to pull away from him because of the tired feeling in my body. “You saved me.”
“Of course I did.”
“You had no reason to do that.”
Aiden didn’t respond.
We sat in silence on the hard wooden floor for what seemed like forever, but my body slowly began to stop shaking. I felt safe there in his arms. My mind began to clear and my breathing became even again. I wasn’t sure why he would save me and risk his own life. After all, I was his captive, no one of importance to him. I pushed against him and his arms gave way enough for me to look at him.
“Why did you save me?” I demanded.
“I told you, my dear, you aren’t dying on my watch. You are safe with me, but you don’t believe me. You still don’t, do you?” There was intensity in his gaze, but the hard set of his jaw showed he was trying to hide something else.
“No.” It was partially a lie. I trusted him now more than ever, though I didn’t want to. I still feared what he would do if he found out I was a mermaid. He couldn’t know I was growing fond of him.
His jaw tightened even more, and he let me go to stand up. He growled angrily as he walked over to his desk and slammed his hands down on the papers, throwing them around the room. The chair was the next victim to his anger as he picked it up and threw it across the room. He yelled, right before it hit the wood and broke into several pieces. Without a word, he stomped over to the washroom and walked inside. The door slammed behind him.
I couldn’t move. His open display of wrath and rage was obviously directed at me, something I dreaded from the moment I saw how violent he could be. Surprisingly, he hadn’t hurt me. Aiden removed himself the moment he lost his temper and took it off on everything else around him.
He emerged from the washroom clad in a pair of black cloth pants with a towel in his hand. His hair was still wet, but his body was dry, only a few drops of water left on his skin. As he walked past me, he threw the towel down in my lap.
“Dry yourself off and get dressed. You’re going to end up sick. You look like a drenched pussycat.”
I opened my mouth to thank him but as he reached for the door, I could see the scarring down his back. It stood out underneath his tanned skin and trailed in random splotches down the center of his perfectly built back.
“What happened to you?” I asked, my words rushed as I jumped to my feet and ran over to where he was, determined to run my fingers over the light tissue. There was concern in my voice that surprised me.
Aiden whirled around before I could touch him and grabbed my hands. The anger was still in his eyes. “You are bloody crazy, lass. You can’t just be jumping into the ocean off a pirate ship in the middle of the night!”
“You jumped in after me!”
“That’s because you make me absolutely mad, woman,” he snarled and let go of my hand. He ran his hand down his face in frustration before looking at me again. His voice was calmer as he spoke this time. “Please, just dry yourself off and then come to me when you are ready.” With that, he left the cabin and slammed the door behind him.
I was left speechless.
I quickly dried off and changed into my nightgown. I sat on the window seat, once again yearning to return home even though for now it wasn’t possible. Going back on deck to find Aiden wasn’t something I was ready to do yet. I felt angry and confused, unattractive and lonely. So lonely I was becoming a part of Aiden’s world and letting him lure me into a false sense of security. This boat wasn’t my home. The ocean was. It had all been a mistake, to make a move on Aiden and try to give him what he wanted. He was the one in charge, not me. He made it clear several times before, and I supposed it included relationships with the opposite sex. I wasn’t okay with that.
But Goddess I was so very intrigued with just the thought of his lips on mine. I couldn’t seem to shut off those thoughts or think of anything else. Aiden took over my mind like the sight of gold, and I was determined to blame the rum. I will never drink it again.
Leaning back on the wall, I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to steady myself. I had to calm down, get a hold of myself, so I could refocus on how I could ever escape. That had been my goal, not to sit around and spend time with the one who took me hostage, but it hadn’t worked out that way. The ocean was supposed to keep me safe when I jumped. My voice should have called out to my people to save me. The plan had failed. Everything mermaid about me was gone.
I had given it up to remain alive. The moon took my fins, my night vision, and my ability to speak or breathe under water. I began to fear she took everything from me. What if I could no longer heal others? What if…what if I was stuck as a human and my wishes upon the moon no longer worked? None of my people wished to be human or have legs since we were driven to the sea. It was possible our magic didn’t work the same anymore. I could be stuck as a human.
The tears began to fill up my eyes, even though I wiped desperately at them with my hands. I couldn’t cry here and now. It wasn’t the time. I couldn’t be weak. I needed to be strong, but the thought of never seeing my family hurt so bad I almost couldn’t breathe. What would become of me? I couldn’t stay a human, couldn’t be trapped in this awful body with legs.
A hard pounding on the door snapped me out of my thoughts.
“Rae?” Aiden’s voice came from the other side.
“Go away!” I called, hoping he’d do as I asked. I couldn’t let him see me on the verge of hysterical tears.
“I need to speak with you. This is my quarters if you will remember.”
“Not now!” I exclaimed.
He grew quiet for a moment before he responded. “Are you okay in there?”
I didn’t answer, hoping if I didn’t, he would give up and leave. Let him think I was dying in there; I didn’t care. After a few moments of precious silence, I thought he left. Then, Aiden pushed the door open and then slammed it behind him. He picked the lock.
“What are you doing in here?” he demanded as he stomped over to where I was.
“I—uh—”
“I thought you would come and join me when you were dry. Are you alright?” His eyes were confused but worried. His demeanor showed he was truly concerned about me, different from when he stormed off. I was under the impression that he didn’t care about me in any way except for a conquest. His actions tonight made me wonder otherwise—wonder if all our flirting was really harmless. There was something about him that didn’t align with all a pirate should be, and clearly there was m
ore to him than what his reputation showed. He’d saved me, with no reason to.
“Yeah I’m fine.” My words were a lot nicer than I suspected, thrown off by the way he was acting.
“Well then,” he said, his body straightening up to hide the concern that filled him just moments ago. He was good at hiding his feelings, playing the one who didn’t care, and he was doing it again. He waved a hand in the air carelessly. “Alright, since that is settled. I suppose I will go back on deck.”
He turned to leave, but I reached out to take a hold of his arm, trying to avoid staring at his scars. I had the sudden urge for him to stay with me. I no longer wanted to be alone after almost losing my life.
He turned back to me and eyed me questionably, his voice irritated. “What?”
“Would you consider staying with me?”
He took a moment to think about his answer, finally settling on, “I suppose.”
Aiden took a seat beside me on the window seat and gazed out onto the open sea. “Is this what you do all day long?”
I nodded slowly as I gazed out at the sea. The tears once again threatened to flow from my eyes, but I squeezed them tightly shut and hoped they would stay away. I felt safer there in the cabin with him. A part of me wanted to tell him why I often stared out at the sea, but I sat silent. The other part of me reminded myself that he couldn’t know the truth.
He lifted my chin with his knuckle and looked into my eyes. “Why, lass, don’t cry. It was a simple question.” His eyes grew wide for a moment as if he saw something rather interesting, and then leaned in closer to me. “Your eyes…they’re an awfully odd shade of blue.”
It was a reminder of who I was, where I belonged. Where I might not be able to return. I pulled myself out of his grip and turned my head away.
“They’re more like violet. Can you tell me, how that is?”
I had no answer for him.
My eyes traveled out the window again, this time looking up at the stars in the sky and wondering if Tristen was looking up at them too. It was one of the things we used do at night when slipping out of the king’s watchful eye and doing as we pleased throughout the night.
The Mermaid's Pearl (Tears of the Deep Book 1) Page 6