by Sophie Moss
“Don’t do this, Glenna,” Brigid pleaded. “If you choose this path, there will be no turning back.”
But she needed to do it! She needed to! Someone had to pay for all this suffering! Her gaze shifted back to her mother. It was time to end this.
“Glenna,” Sam said quietly. “You promised.”
“What?” Glenna snapped. “What did I promise?”
Sam leaned on Dominic as he limped into the surf. “You promised to come back to me.”
Come back to me? The eels darted in front of her, putting themselves between her and the two men. But as they came closer, Glenna saw Sam—really saw him—for the first time. He had burn marks on his arms. Ash and sand clung to his wet clothes. Dark smudges of soot covered his face.
“You still owe me a night out,” Sam said quietly.
A night…out?
“You promised to let me take you out when this was over.” Sam waded out until the water came up to his waist. “You said you’d wear a red dress.”
A red dress?
“You promised, Glenna.” Sam let go of Dominic, using the water to steady himself. “You said you’d come back to me.” He kept walking, closing the distance between them. “I’m not going to let you break that promise.”
Glenna felt the pull of the darkness, the pulsing beat of the sea witch’s lair calling her home. She looked at her mother lying helpless on the sand, then back at her friends.
“It’s too late,” she breathed.
“No.” Sam shook his head. “It’s never too late.”
A faint light glimmered inside her, cracking through the darkness seeping into her soul. Sam took a step closer. His arms were badly burned. He could barely stand on his own. But he had survived.
“Glenna.” Sam took another step closer. “I love you. I will never stop loving you. But this”—he nodded to her mother—“is not you.”
The glimmer spread inside her, turning into a glow. Hadn’t he said that no matter how many spells she put on him, no matter how many times she tried to get rid of him, and no matter how many roses outside his house turned black, he would never leave her?
Sam held out his hand. “I love you. Come back to me.”
Kelsey broke away from Tara and ran to Dominic’s side. Dominic lifted her into his arms, and Glenna saw that Kelsey was crying.
“You promised,” Kelsey whispered brokenly.
“What?” Glenna took a tentative step toward her. “What did I promise you?”
“You promised to teach me to paint.”
Glenna felt the eels edging closer. Their eyes blazed up at her—the same color as the light building inside her, flooding through the darkness.
Caitlin rose to her feet at the edge of the beach. She stood between Brigid and Liam, clutching Owen to her side. “You promised to be in our wedding,” she said softly, “to be my maid of honor.”
Tara crossed the beach slowly to stand beside Dominic and Kelsey. “We love you, Glenna. Come back to us.”
Glenna’s hand shook as she reached for Sam. The dark roots cracked, crumbling inside her. Sam caught her, pulling her into his arms.
In the distance, an explosion echoed over the sea. The eels screamed as they ignited, turning to ash in the water. Huge black rocks floated up to the surface as the sea witch’s lair was destroyed.
Moira fell back onto the sand, gasping for air.
Glenna clung to Sam as the sea waves washed over her, seizing the darkness, scattering it until it was nothing but smoke rising off the horizon. “I love you, too.”
Aftershocks of the volcanic explosion rippled through the sea. Black rose petals washed over the sand and Glenna flicked them away with her fins. She could feel Sam’s heartbeat through his wet shirt as they lay in the shallow surf.
Dominic and Tara walked over to Moira, gazing down at the woman wrapped in the knotted kelp. “What should we do with her?”
Selkies climbed onto the rocks, barking at the mermaids, no longer afraid of them. The mermaids picked up their spears as one of the guards swam up to the beach. “We will take Moira back to our king. He will decide what to do with her.”
Brigid walked slowly across the sand. A few fires still smoldered on the beach and she could see her sister’s haunted face in the dying flames. “What do you think he’ll do with her?”
“Lock her up,” the guard answered. “Somewhere she can never hurt anyone ever again.”
Brigid lifted her eyes to Glenna’s. They both knew what it felt like to be locked up, to be trapped in a cage. Glenna felt Sam’s arms tighten around her as she deferred to her aunt. “What do you want to do?”
Brigid gazed back down at her sister. “We spared her life, but that is all the forgiveness I have inside me.”
Moira opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. She flailed, gasping like a fish on the sand.
Brigid turned away. “Let them take her.”
Dominic grabbed Moira by the elbow, hauling her up. Liam strode over, taking her other arm. Kelp and seaweed slid off her, dripping to the beach. Her heels dug into the sand and she shook her head wildly as they dragged her into the surf.
The guards seized her, shoving her into the waves. They dove, their glittering tails arching out of the water in unison. Moonlight glinted off their fins as they splashed, disappearing beneath the surface.
The sea churned, roiling as the rest of the mermaids dove, following the guards back to their kingdom. Glenna’s hand found Sam’s as the swish of a thousand fins faded into the night. She gazed at the last two mermen, the king’s guards treading water just beyond the breaking point.
“Your king made an agreement with my mother,” Glenna said. “To free the selkies and drop the boundaries in exchange for the woman who murdered his son. Will he honor that agreement?”
The guards nodded. “The king has what he wants.”
Brigid raised her voice over the waves. “And what about Glenna?”
The guards looked back at Glenna. “We will allow you to live if you promise never to return to the sea.”
“I have no desire to return to the sea.”
“Then so be it.”
Glenna bowed her head and pinpricks of golden light danced over her tail. The veins in her fins flooded with color and streams of sunlight shot out from her tail, covering the sand in a golden dust.
Tara rushed over to Glenna, laying a blanket over her legs as her body arched, seething with pain. Glenna felt her tail sever and she shuddered, her wet hair falling down around her face. A wave crashed over the sand, the bubbling salt water washing away the last peels of seal-skin.
The mermen dove, vanishing into the dark waters. A cool winter breeze blew over the island, and Glenna edged a single foot out from under the blanket, her toes tingling as they curled into the wet sand.
BRIGID AND SAM helped Glenna to her feet as the clouds swept away, revealing a brilliant full moon. Brigid grasped her niece’s hand, gazing at the two men walking back up the beach slowly. They were staring at her, their expressions guarded. She felt a strange tightening in her chest when they paused a few feet away from her, looking at her hesitantly, unsure if they should come any closer.
Brigid stared back at them. Moonlight bathed their faces in a silvery glow. She felt a glimmer of recognition when she looked at the one wearing glasses—he was the same man who had helped her out of the boat. He must be the injured boy’s father. “Your son,” she said, scanning the beach and finding the red-head rocking the dark-haired boy in her arms. “Is he going to be okay?”
The man nodded. “He’ll be fine.”
“Owen,” Brigid said softly, her gaze lingering on the boy and his mother who were both watching her with strange—almost hopeful—expressions. “He said his name was Owen.” She looked back at the tall man standing before her. “And his father’s name was Liam.”
He nodded again and took a tentative step closer. “My name is Liam O’Sullivan. And this is my brother, Dominic.”
“Liam?” Brigid breathed, looking back and forth between them. “Dominic?”
Liam nodded.
She lifted a shaking hand to Liam’s face, brushing her fingers uncertainly over his cheek. “I had…two sons once…named Liam and Dominic O’Sullivan.”
“Mother,” Liam whispered.
A sob caught in her throat as she reached for him, as she grabbed both of them and pulled them into her arms. “I thought I’d lost you!”
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she gazed up at their beautiful, precious faces. She took Dominic’s face in her hands, tracing every line, every scar. “My children.”
Movements—shadows in the sand—had her glancing down. Hundreds of seals pulled their sleek bodies from the waves and slipped from the rocks, gathering around them. “What are they doing?”
Dominic’s gray eyes, so bright moments ago, filled with sadness. “I think,” he said quietly, “they want to take you home.”
“Home?” Brigid shook her head. “No. I want to stay here. With you.”
“We have your pelt,” Liam said softly.
“No.” Brigid continued to shake her head as the selkies surrounded her on all sides. She had just found her sons! Her babies! She could not leave them now! She looked frantically for her niece. “Glenna, I don’t understand.”
“You are the queen.” Tears shimmered in Glenna’s eyes. “The queen of the selkies.”
Queen? Brigid’s heart raced. She combed the beach for someone, anyone who could help her. She spotted a woman separated from the rest of the islanders, wrapped in a wool blanket beside the curragh. Her hair was white-blond and waterfall straight. She was the only one on the beach not looking back at her. Instead, her eyes were locked on Owen.
Brigid took a step toward her. She was the one who’d led her here—the same selkie who’d met her on the beach in Clifden. Those eyes—those pale eyes—she recognized them now. She remembered. “Nuala.”
Nuala’s grief-stricken gaze flickered briefly to Brigid’s.
Brigid picked her way across the sand through the crowd of selkies. They lifted their heads, baying confused notes of displeasure as she paused before Nuala. “You are a white selkie.”
“I am,” Nuala whispered.
“You were the one who was born when I was sixteen.”
Nuala nodded.
“Why are you not queen?”
Nuala’s pale eyes shifted to Liam. “I failed,” she said softly. “I failed in my task of bringing a land-man into the sea.”
“How is that possible?” Brigid asked. “A white selkie has never failed.”
“Moira,” Nuala whispered.
Brigid released a long breath. A few small driftwood fires still burned on the beach. Smoke still billowed from some of the cottages along the coast. Was there no end to her sister’s destruction? Brigid held out her hand and Nuala took it hesitantly. “I met my true love at the celebration of your birth,” Brigid said. “You were the only reason I ever got to meet him.”
“It was my fault.” Nuala looked down. “If I had not been born—”
“No,” Brigid said, taking Nuala’s chin in her hand and lifting her face back to hers. “I do not regret that night, or a single moment after. But he is gone, and all I have now is my family.” She looked over her shoulder at Glenna, Dominic and Liam. “Let me be with them.”
Nuala shook her head, confused. “How?”
“I can never give you back what my sister took from you. But I can give you back what was once yours. What still belongs to you.”
Nuala’s eyes widened, darting around the beach as a distressed baying rose from the selkies. “They will never accept this,” Nuala whispered. “I have made mistakes. I have done wrong.”
“What?” Brigid pressed. “What have you done?”
“I…I stole a child—an infant—from his home and his family.” Her gaze shifted to Owen. “I never meant to hurt anyone. I…I thought it would be better to take a child with no memories, than a grown man. I never wanted to…cause anyone pain.”
“This child,” Brigid said slowly, realization dawning as she followed Nuala’s gaze to Owen. “Is he back with his real family now?”
Nuala nodded.
Brigid squeezed her hand. “Then I forgive you.”
Nuala tried to tug her hand away. She tried to back away from Brigid, but Brigid held on. “This,” Brigid said, raising her voice so everyone on the beach could hear her, “is my first and last command as your leader.” She pulled Nuala to her feet. “You are the last white selkie, and I choose you as my queen.”
Nuala opened her mouth to speak, but Brigid knelt, bowing her head. Gradually, one by one, the selkies began to move. They shuffled over the beach, gathering around Nuala. Closing their eyes, they rested their chins in the sand at her feet.
NUALA’S HANDS SHOOK as she reached into the curragh and pulled out Owen’s pelt. Across the beach, Caitlin’s arms tightened around her son when she saw what Nuala held. But Nuala walked slowly toward them, her heart breaking as her fingers curled around the pelt.
“I am sorry,” she said to Caitlin. “For everything I did to you.” She looked up as Liam walked up behind Caitlin, laying a protective hand on her shoulder. “To both of you.” Tears swam into her eyes as she gazed down at Owen. “I should never have taken you away from them.”
He blinked up at her with those sweet, trusting eyes and she felt a tear slip. She released her grip on his pelt, letting it drop into the smoldering fire at her feet.
Caitlin sucked in a breath and Liam jerked back.
“Wait!” Owen tried to scramble away, but Caitlin grabbed him, holding him tight. “What are you doing?”
“What I should have done a long time ago,” Nuala whispered. The leather cracked as it went up in flames. “You belong with them, Owen. With your real parents.”
Owen struggled against his mother’s arms, staring at his burning seal-skin. “But what if I want to visit you?”
“I will always be with you. I will never stop loving you or protecting you from my place in the sea.” Nuala knelt, and Caitlin let him go. Owen rushed to her, wrapping his arms around her neck. She closed her eyes, hugging him back.
The song of the sea rose over the waves, a restless, breathless rhythm calling her home. She pulled back, taking his small face in her hands. “I love you, Owen.”
“I love you, too,” he whispered, his fingers clinging to the blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
She pressed her lips to his forehead. “Goodbye,” she whispered brokenly. She stood, turning away from him. She walked back across the sand to the curragh and pulled out her own pelt. It was white again. It had changed back the moment Moira’s powers had drained. Everything that was rightfully hers had been returned.
She lifted her eyes to the sea, to the sparkle of moonlight glimmering over the surface. All around her, selkies slipped into the water, sliding from rocks into the waves, shuffling over the sand to follow her back to the kingdom.
She walked into the waves, wading out into the surf until the cool water lapped at her waist. With one last look back at the island, she dove, letting the song of the sea carry her home.
Four months later
Glenna and Sam stood at the railing of Seal Island’s brand new passenger ferry. The islanders whistled and clapped as Liam dipped Caitlin under the arch of yellow roses, sealing their marriage with a dramatic kiss. Dominic popped open a bottle of champagne as Caitlin came up blushing. Tara laughed, tossing rose petals on the bride and groom as they made their way through the small gathering of friends and neighbors.
Finn clapped Liam on the back and walked to the helm, revving the engine and steering them out of the harbor for a tour around the island. The pale yellow ribbons and fuchsia vines strung along the rail fluttered in the wind. Seagulls rode the fresh spring breezes, their cries echoing over the soaring cliffs.
“You know,” Sam leaned down as they each took a glass of champagne. “This is the second wed
ding we’ve been to together.”
Glenna arched a brow. “I’m not sure we were together at Tara and Dom’s wedding.”
“No?” Sam asked, feigning surprise.
Glenna took a sip of champagne, eyeing him over the lip of her glass. “All I was thinking about then was how to get rid of you.”
Sam smiled. “I guess I’m not that easy to shake, after all.”
“No.” Glenna lowered her glass. “You’re not.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing,” he suggested, the wind blowing his blond hair back from his face.
“I think,” she said, lacing their fingers together, “it’s one of your best traits.”
Sam laughed as Liam and Caitlin walked up to them. Caitlin’s red curls were swept back from her face with two pearl-encrusted combs. Her blue eyes were shining and her cheeks were flushed with color.
“The dress is perfect,” Glenna said, picking rose petals out of Caitlin’s hair.
Caitlin smiled, running a hand down the blue empire-waist coat that Sarah had embroidered for her to wear over Fiona’s simple lace wedding dress. “And look,” she said, lifting the hem of the dress and wiggling her white satin slipper. “I got away without wearing heels.”
OWEN SWIPED A piece of wedding cake from Kelsey and wandered over to the railing. He picked at the almond icing with his fingers, gazing at the wakes fanning out behind the boat. When Ronan walked up to stand beside him, he tensed.
“Hey,” Ronan said.
“Hey.” Owen continued to gaze down into the water. Ronan’s family had moved back to the island a few weeks ago. They’d been staying with relatives in Cork since their house had burned down and had to be rebuilt. So far, he’d kept his distance. But Owen knew it was only a matter of time.
“So…” Ronan hooked his arm over the railing. “I heard you went after one of those mermen.”
Owen pinched off a corner of the cake, popping it in his mouth. “Yeah.”