by Wendy Knight
Shane followed her gaze to where Will led them all. Of course he did. “Yes, Ari. He’s happy. You’ve done a good job.”
“Me?” she asked in surprise, “I didn’t do this.”
Shane brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles. “Ari, you freed him. You loved him enough that he dared love someone else.”
“Snowballs.” Hunter groaned, thunking himself into a chair next to them. Shane smirked, amused that Hunter had picked up on Ari’s substitutions. “I’m so glad our wedding is going to be small.” He pulled Charity into his lap and she leaned her head tiredly against his shoulder.
“True that,” she said with the closest thing Charity had to a smirk.
“Your mother, too, seems happier than I remember her.” Shane motioned with his head to where Ada and Charise sat on the sidelines, laughing at the line dance.
Ari nodded. “She does.”
“There’s still a sadness there, though. I feel it even when she smiles,” Charity said.
It was true, and Ari knew why. Ada had never stopped loving Christian. Over the centuries, through all the war and the blame and the madness, she still believed her Christian was there somewhere. Ari was inclined to agree. The “Tristan” she’d known was volatile and angry and bossy and dangerous, but there was a kindness underneath it all. Ada had told her that Richard’s attempt to infuse Christian with Edren flames while simultaneously taking Christian’s Carules flames had driven him mad. You can learn the spells that aren’t yours, Ada had told Ari. I trained them. They were fine. But Richard wanted to house both flames -- red and blue. To do that, he had to take Christian’s, but first he had to see if it worked. So he put his flames into Christian, and drove him mad. But my Christian is still there, Ari. I saw him in the depths of that man’s eyes.
The party wound down in the wee hours of the morning. “Let’s send them off in true sorcerer style!” Ada called, sparks rising from her fingertips. The entire wedding party lined up, with Will and Dani waiting at the far end, and as one, shot sparks in an arc. Like Normals did, but with sparklers. The sorcerer version was a thousand times cooler. Dani picked up her skirts and Will took her hand and they ran through the tunnel laughing, to disappear into the night. Ari watched them go, smiling even though her cheeks were, once again, soaked with tears. She hadn’t gotten a chance to say goodbye. “I’m not sure how much more this mascara can take,” she muttered, scrubbing at her cheeks.
“Thank you, baby sister.”
Her head jerked up so fast she nearly broke her neck. Will stood in front of her, exhausted, happy. She threw her arms around him. “I love you, big brother.”
“I love you, too.”
They stayed to clean up. Thankfully, most of the colonists did, so clean up didn’t take hours and hours, but the sun was still rising as Shane, Hunter, Charity, and Ari wandered home. Charity held her skirt up out of the dust, leaning on Hunter’s arm. Ari’s skirt was short so she didn’t have to worry about dirt roads ruining it. Will had talked about paving the streets in the colony. She hoped he didn’t. She liked it just the way it was.
“What the snowball?” Hunter growled, low in his throat like a menacing animal. Shane looked up, shading his eyes against the rising sun.
A lone figure walked toward them, silhouetted against the light so Ari couldn’t see his face.
Charity frowned, dropping her skirts from her hand so she was free to fight, which would have been amusing if Ari wasn’t so tired. Charity was surrounded by sorcerers and still she readied herself to fight. “He’s right in front of the wards. No one can walk through wards except Ari.”
Ari’s eyes widened. “And Christian.”
They waited until he was near enough to confirm that it was, in fact, the boy/three-hundred-year-old man, they’d spent much of the last year looking for.
“You are a hard man to find,” Ari called as he neared them. He still dressed in the latest fashion, his jeans torn, black boots, denim jacket.
His lips quirked as his eyes fell on her. “Am I interrupting something?” Beside her, Shane stiffened. Sure, Christian had fought off Richard and nearly killed himself trying to heal Ari after Shane had killed her, but all Shane remembered was Christian kissing her. A guy gets a girl confused for her mother one time, and Shane never lets it go, Ari thought with a smirk.
“Christian?” Ari whirled as Ada’s voice floated past her. She hadn’t even heard her mother behind them, but she stood there, frozen in the twilight.
“Ada.” Now the rest of them completely ceased to exist as Christian cut through them, taking her hands. “I know I said I had to find my own life. I tried. I did. But I—” He looked down shyly before peering through his lashes. “I can’t. I don’t want to. Not without you.”
Ada sobbed, her shaking hand against her mouth. She threw herself into Christian’s arms and cried.
“This is a tad awkward.” Shane grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck.
Ari smiled, tugging on his hand. They had only taken about fifteen steps when another voice raised above Ada’s sobs.
“Christian?”
Ari froze. How could she have forgotten? She turned as if in slow motion as Charise-Charity, Christian’s long-lost sister, came slowly from the house they’d just passed. Ari’s gaze bounced from her to Christian and back again. Shane, Hunter, and Charity — her Charity, also stood frozen, watching.
Christian raised his head, turning enough to see who approached him but not enough to have to release Ada. He stared, his face losing all color as if he’d seen a ghost, which he very well might have thought he was, since he’d been led to believe his sister threw herself from a bridge three hundred years ago. “Charity?”
She came forward, shy, her fist clenching and unclenching in her skirts. “I’ve been searching for you.”
“Charity!” Now it was Christian’s turn to sob as Ada released him, pushing him toward his sister. He grabbed her, pulling her to him in a tight embrace. “Charity, I thought—”
“Ada saved me. She’s hidden me all these years. To protect me from Richard. But now that he is gone…”
“Mother never believed you were gone! She still waits for you, Charity.”
Charity turned to Ada, who stood in the background watching as silent tears streaked down her face. She opened her arm and Ada joined them, as they all laughed and cried together, centuries of pain washed away with their tears.
Shane leaned over, kissing Ari’s temple. “Look at that. That whole tragic story that no one thought could end happily. They were wrong.” Ari glanced up at him, but he still watched Ada, Christian, and Charity. “It looks like everyone gets a happy ever after, after all.”
About the Author
Bestselling author Wendy Knight was born and raised in Utah by a wonderful family who spoiled her rotten because she was the baby. Now she spends her time driving her husband crazy with her many eccentricities (no water after five, terror when faced with a live phone call, no touching the knives…you get the idea). She also enjoys chasing her three adorable kids, playing tennis, watching football, reading, and hiking. Camping is also big—her family is slowly working toward a goal of seeing all the National Parks in the U.S.
You can usually find her with at least one Pepsi nearby, wearing ridiculously high heels for whatever the occasion. And if everything works out just right, she will also be writing.
Also from Astraea Press
Chapter One
Sirena ran a comb through her long, flowing black hair before looking at the golden object in her hand. One didn't find many combs down here under the sea, golden or otherwise. She hadn't rescued it from a shipwreck like she had several of the other human items she had found over the years. This one had been a gift. From Kristian.
Thinking about him made her slender emerald green tail flip back and forth. Impatient, she swam laps around her small room. With a few underwater plants and the walls made of coral, her room was more a prison she longed to escape than a place
she enjoyed being in. Sirena wanted nothing more than to soar through the currents all the way up to the surface, but she had to wait for her sister.
Ten long minutes later, Cordula swam in, eating some seaweed.
"Thank Poseidon you're here! And thank you so much for—"
"Don't." Cordula gulped the rest of her meal down. With a grimace, she perched herself in front of Sirena's mirror. She picked a pebble off its sandy frame before leaning in to examine her face. "You know I don't approve."
"I know. That's why I really appreciate it." Sirena glided over and clasped Cordula's hands.
Her sister's eyebrows knitted together. "If Father ever found out—"
"He hasn't yet," Sirena said confidently.
Cordula snorted. Despite her rude behavior, she was still as regal as their other five sisters, all princesses, daughters of a descendant of Poseidon.
The smile on Sirena's face drooped a little. Cordula was the only sister to disapprove of her monthly visits to the surface, although Nami did think them strange.
Sirena had been six the first time the sun kissed her face. She had closed her eyes, enjoying a warmth that never ventured quite all the way down to their underwater domain. That was when she had first met and befriended the young Kristian. Sirena had visited him once a year, until she turned fourteen two years ago. Then she started to make monthly visits to see her human friend. The numerous visits required her sisters' aid covering for her.
"I don't see the allure." Cordula adjusted her purple seashells over her ample chest. "There's so much to explore down here. So many fish to see. So many mermen to meet." Wiggling her eyebrows, she knocked her fishy hip into Sirena's. "What do they have up there that you can't find down here?"
Sirena closed her eyes for a few seconds and willed herself not to blush. Ever since she began to visit Kristian more frequently, she was thinking of him differently, and more often. She was starting to think him as more than a friend — more like a lover…
"I've only ever gone the one time," Cordula continued. "Never had the desire to go back."
Their father, King Tritonion, allowed his daughters to make one visit to the surface on their eighteenth birthday. Cordula was twenty now. Their eldest sister, Cari, had made her journey almost eleven years ago. Cari's tales about the majestic sights had inspired Sirena's first visit.
Sirena shrugged. Her tail flipped with irritation as she forced herself to stay still and not bolt out of her dome-shaped room. "I'll make this up to you, I swear!"
"You better," Cordula grumbled. "Now go. I can tell you're about to burst."
Squealing, Sirena kissed her sister's cheek and zoomed out of her room. The rest of her sisters were doing various tasks about the castle, and she flicked her tail toward them in greeting as she whooshed past. The deep blue of the water became clearer and lighter until she broke through the white waves, her head above the surface.
There Kristian stood, waiting for her on the beach. The setting sun gave him a halo, adding blond highlights to his chestnut hair. She swam past a large rock, into his line of vision, and his face broke out into a wide smile.
"There you are!" he called as he ran into the water, the frothy waves licking his toes then kissing his ankles.
Sirena giggled. The sun dipped even lower in the sky, the water dark enough to conceal her tail from him.
Kristian swam out to greet her. "I almost thought you weren't coming."
She shook her head, causing her wet hair to sprinkle droplets of water everywhere. "I'll always come, you know that."
"But you were late."
Sirena cocked her head to the side. "Do you want me to promise I'll never be late again?" she teased.
"Yes."
"I never make promises." She hovered in place as the waves lifted and lowered her. Although she longed to be closer to him, she kept a slight distance between them. Lately, all she dreamed of was his arms around her, but if he ever held her, he would finally learn she was a mermaid, and she feared he would leave her if he learned her true nature.
"Never make promises?" He crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side. One corner of his lips curled upward slightly as he reached toward her.
"Nope." Sirena swatted his arm away and clung to a nearby boulder peeking above the frothy water.
"Why not?"
"I don't want to be bound to anything," she explained. He was staring at her so intently she wanted to look away but couldn't. His gaze enchanted her.
"You don't want to be bound to me?"
Was it her imagination or was the light in his sapphire eyes dimming a little?
She cleared her throat and choked back the words she wanted to say: Of course I'll be bound to you. I'd do anything for you.
A tightness formed in her chest as she said, "Fine. If it means so much to you, I promise—"
"Don't make a promise if you don't mean it." He held up his hands in protest.
Sirena released her grip on the rock and rubbed the tight feeling away from her chest. Her heart was pounding. She could not tear her gaze away from his. "I promise I'll never be late. Satisfied?"
Kristian stared at her for a long moment, his blank face hiding his feelings, although his eyes were full of emotion. Finally, he said, "For now."
Her heart skipped a beat. She circled around the boulder as Kristian inched toward her. It wasn't yet dark enough for them to be so close. "How is your family?"
He raised his eyebrows. "We never talk about my family."
"So I noticed. Do you have any siblings?" This wasn't the first time she had asked about his family. Come to think of it, on every other occasion, he had changed the subject.
"No." Using his muscular arms, he bolstered himself up onto the boulder. He leaned back, his arms supporting him, his face tilted up toward the sky.
"That's a pity." Sirena couldn't imagine growing up alone. She and her sisters might not swim tail to tail all the time, but they would do anything for her, and she for them. "I love my sisters."
Then again, was his reticence that strange, considering she couldn't recall if she had ever told him about her siblings before?
"Do you want to talk about our families, or do you want to know what would make me satisfied for longer than just now?" He shifted forward, his chin resting in his hand, elbow on his leg, watching her.
Sirena held so still she sank a little in the water. She moved her arms to raise herself up more. This teasing banter was what she lived for, only today there seemed to be a deeper meaning. During their childhood, they had played games in the water, tossed balls back and forth. They didn't talk about anything serious. Right around the time they decided to spend more time together, they shared some tidbits concerning their personal life, but Sirena still knew few details about his private life, and truthfully, he knew even less about hers.
Did she want to know what would satisfy him?
Of course — but only if the answer was her.
Unable to speak, she nodded.
His face broke out into a wide smile, and Sirena's heart pounded. He had never looked more handsome.
Kristian slid down the boulder to land beside her in the water. He threw his shoulders back in a confident manner. "Stay for dinner. Meet my family. They would love to meet you and—"
Sirena stared at the waves crashing against his firm chest. She shook her head, still unable to speak.
"Why not?"
The despair in his voice caused the tightness in her chest to grow, and she felt as if all the air had gone out of her lungs. Mermaids could breathe as humans did when not in the water, although they could not live long that way. The ocean was their home, the only place they could be complete. Underwater, the gills on their fins absorbed the oxygen they needed.
The two aspects of her being — the human part and the marine part — warred within her. She could not survive without the water, but more and more, she was no longer certain she could survive without Kristian. He claimed her every thought, and she coun
ted down the days until she could see him again.
Perhaps she was deluding herself. A mermaid and a man could never be together — not in the sense she wanted them to be.
"I can't." She winced at the bitterness in her tone.
"If not for an entire meal, then just come to the beach. I would love to introduce you—"
"I said I can't."
Kristian splashed with a little more force than he needed to in order to stay afloat. "Why not?" he repeated.
Sirena refused to answer. It was better this way — to fight and push him away. She couldn't give him what he wanted.
The tightness squeezed her heart and disagreed.
"Sirena…"
Hearing him say her name broke through the hastily built wall around her heart, and she broke down. A tear ran down her cheek.
He wiped it away, his touch gentle, belying the strength of his biceps and shoulders.
Sirena clasped his hand against her cheek and kept her fin behind her, where he couldn't see it. She tried to speak, but nothing came out.
Kristian caressed her cheek.
She shifted her head into his hand and kissed his palm. Swimming backward, she allowed the waves to ease her lower into the water.
Despite the darkness, she could see the haunted look in his eyes, and she couldn't bear to disappear without another word.
"You know I would stay if I could."
He closed his eyes, nodded, then opened them again. The haunted look was replaced by one of resignation. Shadows darkened his strong jawline.
"Will I see you next month?" he asked.
Sirena's lips curled into a smile. "I promise."
He returned her grin and crept forward to hold onto the boulder.
"Kristian! Come on, your mother's furious. You know she hates it when you're late for the royal supper," a voice called from the beach.
Sirena shifted her gaze from Kristian's happy face to the shore, where a young man about Kristian's age, which was a year or so older than her own sixteen years, waved frantically.