“You, too?”
Arianna whirled around. Michael was kneeling behind the second bench. Had he somehow heard her silent words?
“I couldn’t sleep either,” he said, and Arianna’s heart was both relieved and broken at the same time. Swallowing her disappointment, she turned to go, but he reached out and caught her arm. “If it’s impropriety you’re concerned with, the holy man is in his study.” He nodded at the corner of the room, where the outline of a door was framed by the light of a fire on the other side.
“Do you mind my asking why I never see you here?”
Arianna studied him warily, but his expression wasn’t condescending or judgmental. Just curious.
“I know you go to the beach on holy days,” he said, letting go of her arm. “I also know that your brother was a man of faith.” He watched her for a moment longer. “What happened to you?” he whispered, “to make you stop believing?”
Michael couldn’t hear her through her silence, Arianna thought. But he wanted to, it seemed. She stared down at the red rugs beneath her bare feet. The only people who had ever tried so hard to hear her were her mother and Renata. And Rinaldo. Her heart clenched up as her brother’s face flashed in her mind.
“I must confess,” Michael said, looking back up at the stained-glass mural behind the altar, “it’s easier to remain faithful on days when life is good. And life hasn’t seemed good very often as of late. There are so many nights when I feel as though my prayers are bouncing off this ceiling.” He turned and met Arianna’s gaze, his eyes glinting like gold in the weak light of the candle. “But I know there is a purpose in all this. I wish I knew what it was, to be honest, but . . . there is one. There must be.”
Arianna only watched, confused.
“Our debts are due tomorrow,” he said in a voice nearly too quiet to hear. “I’ve put it off as long as I could. And your work with treasury numbers has helped, for sure. But that missive I received this morning was from the king of Tumen. He’ll be here in a week to collect his dues.” Michael’s neck flexed, and for a moment, fire burned in his eyes. “Or at least, what is actually due him. Not a dust mote more.”
Arianna sat at the edge of his bench and hesitantly placed her hand on his arm. What wasn’t he telling her?
He studied his hands. “Without the money we owe the Tumenians for our war debts, my mother and I will be replaced, and the king of Tumen will own our kingdom as well.” Arianna sharply drew in a breath, and he only shook his head and gave her a sad smile. “Just another fool contract made by my beloved grandfather. We’ve sold most of the household goods, or as much as we could, at least, without attracting more attention than necessary. My brother has shrunk the navy so that it’s as small as we can possibly function with. Most of the horses are gone. The staff is a fraction of what it was before the war.” He shook his head and ran a hand through his dark, messy curls. Arianna had to resist a sudden and strong urge to run her hand through them, too.
“I’ve done all I know how, but there is no protocol for this.” He surprised her then by taking her hand. She held her breath as he turned it over in his own. “I want to thank you for all you’ve done for us.”
Arianna looked at the floor again, her cheeks coloring. All she had done was fix his tired mathematical mistakes.
But he wasn’t done. “I suppose you are the reason we have lasted as long as we have. And I don’t mean just now. If you hadn’t saved me that day in the storm, my mother probably would have married the next dandy that came along. Don’t ever repeat a word of this to my mother, but she probably would have picked some ignoramus with the sense of a walrus.”
In spite of such a somber topic, Arianna giggled.
“Finally a smile. But in all seriousness,” he squeezed her hand, “you were our gift from the Maker. Never doubt that.” Then he stood. “I suppose we should get some sleep tonight. I’ve got some bad news to break to the household tomorrow. Might as well be rested first.” He held his hand out. “Coming?”
Everything in Arianna wanted to take that outstretched hand, but she shook her head instead.
“Well, then,” he said, “I will tell the guards to keep an eye out for you.”
Arianna gave him the biggest smile she could muster as he turned and left. Looking back up at the altar, she tried to find words for all the maelstroms and quiet pools of peace that were mixing about inside her heart.
I don’t know if that’s true, she finally told the Maker. I don’t know if I can believe that you have a plan for it all. But if you really mean it . . . If you meant that as a sign of some sort, then let this work. Please let this work.
For an idea was already forming. And it scared her to death.
24
A Risky Venture
Arianna put her shoes in their usual place behind the rocks and then went to stand at the edge of the water. The stars above her seemed particularly bright, despite the gray that was beginning to grow on the horizon, and she was overcome with a sudden desire to simply sit on the sand and stare up at them until dawn.
Still, she knew deep down that really what she wanted to do was stall. With a sigh, she slung her borrowed bag over her shoulder and put one foot in the water, then the other, trying to ignore the warning voice in her head that wondered what would happen if she didn’t change. The jellyfish that had recently taken to patrolling this section of the beach would be making his usual territorial rounds soon. If she didn’t start swimming, she would never make it past the creature in time. She had seen enough of the jellyfish in her last two trips out to sea to recognize the black cloud within its clear blob of a body. The little monster, no larger than her fist, had been to the Deeps.
All right, I’m ready, she told the Maker when her feet could hardly touch the ground. As though answering her, Arianna felt the prickle begin in her toes, and she dared to smile. The transformation was no longer as painful as it had once been. Whether she was simply becoming immune to the magic or not, she did not know. Just that she was grateful.
As soon as her tail was complete, she headed for the pearl farms. They were farther away than her old tower was, so Arianna slowed to pace herself as she began to pass familiar landmarks. She purposefully ignored the broken city to her left. The last time she’d dared to look, the ocean had already reclaimed the mansion and the houses and the streets. It was almost as if her family had never been there at all.
The sight of the pearl farms brightened her dark musings considerably. Usually, her people would have harvested them back when the air and water were still cool. But the oyster beds were ripe for harvest, as no merperson had attended them in a very long time. She should get a good haul if the pirates hadn’t found them already.
As a child, Arianna had begged her father on more than one occasion to let her work at the pearl farms. The framed boxes of the oyster beds were just higher than the water’s surface. She could very easily work with the oysters, Arianna had argued passionately. Even during the day! But as always, her father had said no.
The irony of her gathering the shells now was not lost on Arianna as she surveyed the dozens of raised oyster beds. The long rows of shells were just high enough to stick out of the water, which meant Arianna had to push her head and shoulders above the surface to gather them. Of course, being above the surface meant she could not see what was below the surface. As Arianna hurriedly shoved the oysters into her bag, she distracted herself from the danger by imagining what their arrival might change at the palace. Perhaps the oysters themselves would give Cook something new to work with that evening, a treat the Crown wouldn’t have to pay for. Perhaps the money would be enough to help pay back the Tumenian king. Perhaps they would make Michael smile.
As soon as her bag was heavy, Arianna slung it over her shoulder and started back to the palace. The sky began to turn from gray to coral pink, buoying Arianna’s spirits. Why hadn’t she tried this sooner?
A flash of blue floated to her right. Then it was gone.
; Arianna picked up her speed, but the bag was heavy and hard to pull, and her dress was getting in her tail’s way. The blue flashed again, this time below her. Arianna bolted, but it wasn’t fast enough. The jellyfish had found her.
It shouldn’t have been so fast! Jellyfish were slower than merpeople, Arianna thought, as if thinking the truth could make the monster change its form back to what it had been. But the jellyfish was keeping up, just a few parsecs behind her. She swerved back and forth, hoping the change in direction would throw it off, but the jellyfish followed easily.
Arianna was breathing hard as she passed the city and her tower. She swerved to the left and to the right, diving deep and racing to the surface. But nothing deterred the creature. Just as she began to tire, she noticed that the water was rapidly growing shallow. Change me! she begged the Maker. Change me! Please!
But no change came, and the jellyfish was almost to her.
Arianna began to drag herself onto the beach on her elbows, curling her tail up out of the water as much as possible. Knowing exactly what kind of pain she was about to experience and most likely die from in seconds, she scrunched her eyes shut as she crawled out of the water. So this is how I’m going to die.
But just as the sticky tentacles should have closed around her fins, two hands grabbed her firmly by the arms and yanked so hard that she flew out of the water and landed on a body. Whoever it was let out an Oof!
A moment passed before Arianna was able to force her eyes open. When she did, however, she realized that she was lying right on top of Michael. For a long time, they stared at one another in shock before Arianna had the courage to look back behind her. And just where she had been lying in the water, a gray blob floated up and down. It was watching her. Arianna shuddered at the thought.
Her shudder seemed to pull her savior from his stupor. He sat up and immediately wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her against his chest, muttering prayers of thanks to the Maker. Still too stunned to even attempt to pray, Arianna huddled in his warm, strong embrace and continued to stare at the jellyfish.
“What were you doing?” he finally groaned as he pulled back to examine her. Where there had been relief in his face only moments before, now he looked, well, livid. “What in the blazes convinced you that this was a good day to die?” Then he froze.
Arianna’s blue-green scales that stuck out from beneath her dress glinted in the direct sun of the morning. Out of water, they were nearly blinding. Immediately, she felt ashamed. As much as she might go about pretending to be a human woman, this was who she was. What she was. He had seen it once, of course, as a boy. But now he was a man, and men were, as Renata had assured her, very particular in their tastes. Mermen preferred the usual dark-haired, pearl-white beauties that all the other mermaids would grow to be. And Michael? Well, Arianna was sure his boyhood dreams of marriage had never involved someone with a tail.
As if in a daze, he reached out to touch, then pulled his hand back. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have. It’s just that . . . you’re beautiful.”
She was dreaming. She had to be dreaming. And yet, his words hung in the air like smoke as he continued to stare at her tail in awe.
Before he could go on with embarrassing either of them any more and saying things she knew he would later regret, she pulled the bag off her shoulder and handed it to him. Then she let herself fall onto the dry sand and soak up the reassuring rays of the sun, for each one reminded her that she was not dead.
“Arianna?” The strange tenor of Michael’s voice made Arianna open her eyes and prop herself up on her arms. Only then did she notice that her legs had finally returned. But that wasn’t what he was staring at. “You risked yourself for my kingdom?” His voice was incredulous as he held the bag open.
Of course she had. Arianna frowned at him, but he ignored her expression and drew her up into his arms again. Stop, Arianna wanted to plead. Stop before you say something we’ll both regret. But she couldn’t find it in her to pull away from his embrace. She could feel his heart beating through his soaked shirt. Had she ever felt another heart this close before?
No, she realized. And now that she had, she didn’t want it to stop.
As if to make her heartache double, he kissed her hair once before whispering,
“No pearls are worth your life. You must never do anything like that again. But . . . thank you.”
Her hope wanted so desperately to flutter, to take off like the little butterflies she’d seen in the garden. But instead, she pressed it down, too afraid to let it rise.
25
While I Have You
The ocean looked so peaceful from above. Arianna smiled to herself as she followed the girls along the shore. The afternoon was waning, dry and hot, and she had decided as soon as she’d set foot out the door that she would pay no heed to the monsters in the water. In fact, she would pretend they weren’t there at all. As long as she and the girls stayed on dry ground, they could wander wherever they pleased. Today, that meant going to look at the tide pools north of the palace, or so the girls had informed her.
“Care for some company?”
Arianna turned back to see Michael following them. He was still in the same formal clothes he usually wore, but today his trousers were rolled up to just below his knees, and the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows. Had he planned to join them? The thought sent a wave of silly nerves through Arianna’s stomach, and she tried to smother them. He was just looking after his nieces. Wasn’t he?
Still, Arianna felt a ridiculous grin spreading across her face as Michael caught up to her.
“So where are we off to today?” he asked.
Arianna drew a circle with her hands, then made her fingers wiggle inside the circle.
“The tide pools?”
Arianna nodded. He was getting better.
Michael stretched his arms wide and twisted his torso a few times as they walked. “Sounds perfect. I’ve spent all day cooped up in my study with no one but ugly men surrounding me, asking for pearls or money. I could use some pretty faces to distract me.”
Arianna tried to calm her racing heart. He was talking about his nieces.
“Three pretty faces, to be exact.”
Arianna gave up on trying to steady her heart and focused on keeping her eyes straight ahead. But it was hard not to notice the way the powerful muscles in his lower legs flexed as he walked, making his gait smooth and confident. So different from mermen’s tails, which were exactly the same as their female counterparts’ tails, except longer.
“So what’s so special about that necklace?” Michael pointed at the conch shell Arianna had reached up to stroke. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you without it.”
Arianna paused, then removed the green fiber string from her neck. Taking his arm, she stood still and held the little conch up to his ear.
Michael’s eyes looked like they might pop. “Who is that?” He stared down at the little conch. “I’ve never heard anything so beautiful.”
Arianna nodded and put the necklace back on with a sigh. What she wouldn’t do for a voice to tell him. She thought about trying the new skill she’d been secretly practicing, but the wind was too loud.
Then his face lit up. “I forgot!” He pulled a folded parchment, quill, and little inkbottle from his pocket. “Claire! Lucy!” he called, cupping a hand by his mouth. “Let’s stop and play here for a few minutes.”
“But we want to see the tide pools!” Lucy yelled back.
“We will. But I want to show something to Miss Arianna. You can play on the dunes. Just stay out of the water.” Then, taking her by the hand, Michael led Arianna over to the shore near the water’s edge.
Arianna held her breath as they sat down. Holding his hand now somehow felt even better than it had that first time when he’d helped her out of the boat. His skin held the same delicious warmth as the sun, and his fingers were calloused and rough, as was the top of his palm. What kind of activi
ty calloused just part of the hand?
She didn’t have long to wonder, for as soon as they were sitting he let go of her hand to open the parchment. Arianna wanted to groan as his fingers left hers, until he presented her with a completely blank piece of paper, as well as the inkbottle and quill.
“You’ve done so much for us,” he said, holding her gaze, all laughter gone from his face. “I wish . . . I wish I could repay you in earnest, but this is the best I can do . . . for now. Your pearls have afforded me a new stack of parchment.”
She looked down at the blank piece of paper in awe.
“And,” he added, suddenly looking slightly sheepish, his eyes twinkling, “I might also be a selfish creature. It would be very nice to hear you speak for an afternoon.”
It was a moment before Arianna could look away from his eyes long enough to focus on the paper. When she took up the quill, however, she found that her hand didn’t want to stop.
My aunt gave me this necklace when I was little. I had trouble sleeping, so she told me to wear the charm around my neck. It is her voice that you hear, singing my lullaby. She infused enough of her power into the song so that it stays in the shell, and I can hear it whenever I want. It is all I have left of her since she disappeared.
Michael took the paper. Upon reading it, his mouth turned down. “I’m sorry,” he murmured, then gave her a half smile. “I would give anything to hear my father’s voice in something like that.” He held his right hand up and pulled the ring off his finger. When he held it up, a gold band glinted in the dying sun.
“This was my father’s. It’s not even worth that much, but it was his . . .” He swallowed. “My father was the youngest prince of Ashland. He and each of his siblings received one of these rings from their father.” He turned the ring over, revealing a single round blue stone embedded in the gold. “I wanted to be like him. I’ve tried. But it’s like I’m stuck in my grandfather’s footprints, and my own feet won’t move.”
Silent Mermaid: A Retelling of The Little Mermaid (The Classical Kingdoms Collection Book 5) Page 16