To Enchant a Mermaid

by S. L. Williams

  I pulled the cover over my face and inhaled the sweet woodsy aroma of the sheets. I felt safe here. The silence was blissful.

  Cyntheria returned with a glass full of sparkling green tonic. It was bitter, but as soon as the last drop touched my tongue, the pain in my leg vanished.

  “Kamryn asked me to bring up a bath and something for you to wear.” With a sweep of her hand, a wooden tub full of fragrant steaming water appeared from thin air. “Do you need help bathing?”

  I shook my head and eyed the tub. When I threw my legs over the edge of the bed and stood, I swayed on my feet, but Cyntheria managed to catch my elbow before I could fall on my face.

  “Here, let me help.” She wrapped her arm around my waist and walked me to the bath. “Your robe was destroyed, and if you were wearing jewelry, it’s gone. The pixies love shiny things, and they have very sticky fingers, the little thieves.”

  She removed my shift and threw it on a chair. I slipped into the water and sighed with pleasure. The water was a lover’s caress. It rejuvenated my skin and helped clear the fog from my brain. I closed my eyes and slid all the way to the bottom. The soothing warmth enveloped me, and I felt myself slowly drifting off. It wasn’t the sea, but it would do.

  What felt like minutes later, I felt a tap reverberate through the tub. I opened my eyes and looked up. Cyntheria was staring down at me with vivid concern.

  I rose from the water, my braids heavy with the weight. “What is wrong?” I mouthed.

  “It’s been an hour. Dinner is ready.”

  I couldn’t believe it had been an hour. I didn’t want to get out. If it wasn’t for the slow burn of hunger in the pit of my stomach, I would have slipped back in and slept for the rest of the night.

  I finished bathing, stepped out of the tub, and dried off with a fluffy towel I could wrap around my body twice.

  “Your clothes are on the bed. We can go down to dinner once you’re dressed.” Cyntheria happily chatted as she helped dry my braids. “Your hair is so thick and healthy. It’s beautiful.”

  I looked back and smiled. “Thank you.”

  It didn’t take me long to dress. I slid on a pair of loose black linen pants and a corset top with a heart-shaped neckline and loose sleeves. She gave me a pair of leather shoes called sandals and clasped a simple gold chain around the ankle of my good leg. It looked beautiful against my purple-blue scales.

  “Ready?” My stomach answered for me, and she burst into laughter. “Then let’s go.”

  I followed her down a narrow hall lined with portraits that seemed to move when I looked at them from the corner of my eye. I jumped when a painting of an old man with one tooth and four eyes winked at me.

  When we finally made it to the dining room, I sighed with relief. The table was groaning beneath the weight of food.

  “About time.” Kamryn appeared from nowhere. “I thought you ran away again.”

  “I didn’t run away the first time.” I clenched my fist. “I got lost.”

  “Mhmm.” He offered his hand.

  I drew back, surprised by the nice gesture. He lowered his hand, shrugged, and went to the tall ornamental chair that sat at the head of the table.

  “Here, we serve ourselves.” Cyntheria dug into a bowl with a large fork.

  I followed her lead and grabbed a bowl that was full of soft orange squares that were covered in a brown syrup. I scooped a small pile of the fragrant mix onto my plate.

  “You can have more candied sweet potatoes than that.” Kamryn eyed my plate.

  “I want to taste a little of everything,” I mouthed as I stabbed a piece of meat that was coated in a thick yellow sauce.

  “What do you normally eat at home?” Cyntheria passed me a bowl with warm bread.

  “Kelp, fish, sea vegetables, and sometimes whale.” I cut a piece of the tender meat with my fork. It dissolved as soon as it hit my tongue. “This is delicious.”

  “Thank you. It took two days for it to marinate.” Kamryn took a bite off his fork.

  I almost choked on my food. “You made this?”

  He nodded and laughed at my expression. “A man has to feed himself, and I enjoy coming up with new dishes.”

  “You just don’t seem like the type to cook,” I admitted. “You seem like you don’t like to do anything.”

  “Ah, because everyone is perfect and happy every day of their lives.”

  “I didn’t say that.” I rolled my eyes and turned back to my plate.

  “Done.” Cyntheria pushed her dish to the side and jumped to her feet. “I’m gonna go set up shop. Thank you for the food.” She bowed toward Kamryn before turning and smiling at me. “It was nice officially meeting you.”

  We both watched as she quickly left the room. I thought back on the day I first arrived and how she’d been able to stick her arm through my chest. Today, she’d helped me dress and dry my hair with no issue. “She looks different. What changed?”

  “I don’t know.” He shifted in his seat.

  “You tend to lie a lot,” I pointed out.

  “And you tend to put yourself in dangerous situations,” he countered.

  An awkward silence fell over us. I grabbed another piece of bread and broke it in half. I dipped it in the yellow sauce and popped it in my mouth. After I chewed and swallowed, I lifted my glass and took a drink of my ice-cold water.

  He sighed and looked at me with low-lidded eyes. “Is it true you use your voice to lure men into the sea?”

  I choked on my drink. “Of course not. They see a pretty face and lose all common sense. We cannot save them, so they drown.”

  “You watch them die?” His eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. “You don’t look like the type to enjoy such…sport.”

  “We don’t sit and watch. That’s barbaric. We leave them to the sea. She decides whether they live or die. We don’t interfere.”

  It was the way of life. All the gods required some sort of sacrifice to keep them happy. It wasn’t for us to judge whether it was right or wrong.

  “You have before.” He waved his spoon in the air.

  I froze, my fork halfway to my mouth. “What?”

  “You saved a man from drowning before. Why him and not the others?”

  A rush of blood filled my ears. “Who told you that?"

  He raised a nicely arched brow. “The stars. They see and hear it all. They are the best storytellers around.”

  Memories rushed forward, and I was thrown back into the churning sea. I could taste the salt on my tongue and hear the roar of the wind in my ears. I remembered it all as if it had happened that morning.

  “Did the stars tell you it was your brother?” A knot formed in my throat.

  Kamryn looked at me with a strange expression on his face. “Yes.” He shook his head. “You don’t know why he was out there, do you?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” I sat my fork down. “The past is in the past.”

  “The past is important. Sometimes it comes back to bite us,” he murmured and looked down at his plate.

  “Why are you harassing me?” I didn’t want to talk to him about Etan or how a simple song had flipped my world upside down. “Why do you care if I did save him or not? Be happy he is alive.”

  “We will be related soon. I should get to know my future sister-in-law.”

  I didn’t like the way he said soon, as if the wedding was planned for next week. He didn’t have to sit there and act like he wanted to get to know me for his brother’s benefit. He was being nosey.

  “You know what needs to be known. Anything else is irrelevant.”

  “It matters to me. I can’t have just anyone in my home.” He picked up his wine glass.

  “I am a princess of Rotan, mistress of song, and daughter to the most powerful king to rule an ocean.” I wasn’t just anyone, and just because my voice was gone, that didn’t mean I wasn’t a princess. I was born into royalty, and it didn’t matter if I walked on land or swam in the sea. I would always be royalt
y.

  “Yeah, and I am Kamryn, master of shadow and illusion, son of Lunis of Irkalla. A title means nothing.” He waved a hand in the air. “Who would you be if you didn’t have those titles?”

  “I would still be me.” I pushed away from the table. “I’m done eating.”

  “Sarai.” He said my name for the first time I could recall. I shivered at the sound. “One can only take so much before they break.”

  “Only weak things break beneath pressure.” I wasn’t weak. I was just down on my luck. Once I figured things out, everything would fall into place.

  “I have seen mighty trees toppled during storms while the low-growing bushes remained intact. It isn’t a matter of weakness. It’s circumstance,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Did you know you sleep talk?”

  I looked at him in horror. My sisters always seemed to know things I didn’t recall telling them. After a week of me believing they could read minds, Akello finally admitted they heard me mumbling in my sleep. After that day, I demanded my own room far from the others.

  “I know.” I tapped my nails against the table.

  “You miss home.” He looked at me with an odd expression on his face. “And your family.”

  “Of course I do.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m capable of emotion, unlike others.”

  Kamryn slid a filled glass towards me and sat back in his seat.

  “Share a drink with me.” He raised his glass in the air. “It will help you relax.”

  I drank half of the wine, and was swaying in my seat a few minutes later. My body felt light, and all the anger and frustration I felt melted away.

  “Careful,” Kamryn warned. “Summer wine tends to reach one’s head rather quickly.”

  “I am not a child.” I sat the glass down and shook my head. “I don’t need you to take care of me.”

  “I didn’t mean any offense.” He frowned. “I know you aren’t used to things up here—"

  I raised my hand before he could assume. “You don’t know me or how I feel about all this.”

  “I’m trying to see it from your point of view, but you don’t understand the depth of the situation at hand. The nine sea kingdoms are in turmoil. Why has the king locked himself away?”

  “I don’t know.” I looked down at my lap.

  “Your grandmother sits on the throne, and none of the merfolk are happy about it. They threaten to go to war with Rotan. That doesn’t concern you?”

  Of course, I was worried. War meant death, and the loss of any life was devastating. There wasn’t anything I could do. I was hundreds of miles away from home, and even if I were back, I would be of no use. I would be at Sitario’s side, locked away in a prison of the worst kind.

  “They won’t.” I took another sip. “She has Sitario. His armies are the most feared in the nine seas. And no one is stupid enough to go against Grandmother.” I pushed the empty glass across the table.

  “Why would she start a war? What does she have to gain?” He refilled it and slid it back.

  “Grandmother is power hungry and ruthless. She would take me out to the open ocean and have me practice my magic on our warriors. She made me sing them into a trance, then sent them out into a shiver of great whites with open wounds on their bodies. They wouldn’t defend themselves. They couldn’t.”

  “That’s disgusting.” Pity softened his features. “I’m sorry you were put through that.”

  “It made me stronger,” I lied and lifted the glass to my lips.

  I still heard their horrible screams at night. I would never erase the image of the savagery that occurred on those hated expeditions from my mind.

  Embarrassed by my outburst, I lowered my eyes and stared at the table. I could feel Kamryn’s eyes on me, but I was afraid of what I would see. Shame? Disgust?

  “You were only a child.” He finally broke the tense silence. “You are still young.”

  I wiped the tears from my cheeks and looked at him. He stared back with that unreadable expression on his face. He didn’t seem much older than me, but his eyes were those of an old man.

  “Just because someone is family doesn’t mean they have a right to use you.” He shook his head. “I am sorry you dealt with that.”

  “Me too.” I grabbed the glass and chugged down the rest of the wine. “Now I fear my little sisters will be used in the same way.”

  He refilled the flute. “Why would your grandmother treat you that way?”

  I looked down at my hands. “She feels like we owe her for Father’s mistake. She hated that he married Mother. Now I know why.”

  “Your mother was an amazing woman.”

  “Yes, she was.” I picked up my glass and looked at him over the rim.

  “She and my mother were close friends. They kept in contact with each other even after she…left.”

  “I didn’t know much about her.”

  He shook his head sadly. “A shame, really. Your family history goes back for centuries. The Sirensia were one of the first to walk these lands.”

  My nails dug into the palms of my hands. This man knew more about my mother and her history than I did. I always thought we had been close, that she was my best friend. It hurt to know I hardly knew her. “I’m an awful daughter.”

  “Don’t say that,” he tried to soothe me. “Guilt won’t change the past. Now it is time to think about the future. Focus on you.”

  “Focus on me?” I put my hand against my chest. “Think about myself when my sisters are in danger?”

  “How can you help them if you need help yourself?”

  “I have to go back home. I need that locket.”

  “You’re going to run back to the ones who broke you?” He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know whether to call you brave or foolish. And the problem isn’t the locket. Your voice isn’t locked away in a piece of jewelry.”

  “Then what am I supposed to do?” My knuckles were white from gripping the edge of the table.

  “There is Sirensia. An entire kingdom has been waiting on your return.” He looked at my hands and coughed.

  I pulled my nails out of the wood. “They waited on Mother. They know nothing about me.”

  “The Sirensia are very intuitive. I’m sure they will see something in you that you don’t see in yourself.” He swept his hand in my direction. “They will know you are one of them.”

  “I don’t have that something anymore.” I shook my head. “I’m done with this conversation. I need to lay down.” The screech of the chair against stone made me grind my teeth.

  “Very well.” He stood up, walked to my side, and offered me his arm.

  I pulled away. “I know my way back. Thank you for dinner.”

  “It was my pleasure. Thank you for the company.” He walked to the door and held it open for me. “Good night. Don’t let the wood sprites bite.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Kamryn

  I found myself back in the garden after dinner. The night was warm, and the heavy scent of honeysuckle filled the air. Fireflies and fairies danced in the bushes, and frogs croaked from lily pads. It had been a long time since I had last sat down and spoken to Mother’s statue, but tonight I needed to be heard.

  “Momma, I don’t understand this feeling,” I admitted. “I can’t think when she’s around.”

  I pulled the dried vines off the base of the statue. “When I first saw her, I felt as if the warmth of the Sun Goddess herself filled me. A sense of peace like no other came over me. For the first time since you transitioned, I felt grounded.”

  I cleared the rest of the overgrowth and laid my back against the cold stone. “When I found her in the forest, I felt a coldness inside me like I had never felt before. I lost all sense of control. The was nothing but ash when I came to. What if I had hurt her?”

  I’d been going through Mother’s old scrolls when Cyntheria burst into the room claiming that two oak nymphs were crying for help at the gates. They’d claimed a Sobasam was chasing a young woman thro
ugh the forest. I knew who it was as soon as they mentioned the jewel-toned scales on her legs. Everything went black, and the next thing I knew, I was holding Sarai in my arms.

  A gentle breeze touched my cheek. “What I feel is irrational. I don’t know her, but I would do anything to protect her.”

  A bush rustled, and a small white fox trotted into view

  “Welcome home, Naga. It is nice to see you again.” I stood and bowed. “It appears you have been on a few adventures.”

  Naga was a cursed star that was doomed to fall from the sky time after time. From the beginning of the world until it ended, Naga would see it all.

  “You should have stopped him. Etan doesn’t know what he’s gotten into.”

  He cocked his foxy head and let out a shrill bark. He knew what was happening, and he didn’t agree with Etan’s decision. Naga usually stayed out of our business and helped when he felt the need. If he was here, something had to be wrong.

  “I know. I know.” I ran a hand through my hair. “I feel bad for her.”

  He barked and scratched at the ground three times before trotting over to Mother’s statue and running his head against its legs. He did it every time he came by. It was his way of showing her respect. Naga adored Mother, and she’d loved him like he was one of her own children. The two had been inseparable.

  When he was done, he walked to my side and sat down on his haunches. He placed his head in the palm of my hand and looked up at me with wide, black eyes.

  “She’s a good woman. She hasn’t had it easy.”

  Naga growled, lowered his head, and whined. Don’t get attached? How could we not when she was so easy to talk to? I wanted to know everything about her. What color did she like? What was her favorite food? Did she like animals? After that encounter with the Sobasom, I was sure she wouldn’t enjoy a walk through the forest. Maybe she would enjoy a visit to a lake.

  Naga growled and nipped at my fingers, upset with the lack of attention I was paying to the back of his ear. I scratched his head and ran a hand down the length of his sleek body.