Biting his tongue to keep from laughing, Ethan said, “But what about my kitchen?”
“I'll pay for the repairs, Ethan. It was nothing, but don't yell at her again.” He didn't wait for the old man to answer him and lightly pushed Mireilla with one arm behind her back, to take her to her bedroom. “Come on. You're exhausted, you must rest.”
Mentally exhausted, Mireilla followed him, walking past the caretaker and slowly up the stairs, tucked in by his imposing presence.
They climbed in silence to the second floor, and as they passed by the door to her room, Mireilla stopped.
“What are you doing?” he asked her.
“I want to get some sleep, and why do I have to justify myself? This is my room,” she replied.
Nathaniel tensed. His intention when he went up to the second floor was to take her to his bedroom and make her his. He wanted her badly, but seeing the state she was in after the scare in the kitchen, his heart softened, and he decided to let her go for the night.
So, struggling not to show the frustration he felt, Nathaniel nodded and chivalrously opened the door for her, taking a quick glance into the bedroom and finding the diary on the bedside table.
“Good night, princess. I hope you will join me for breakfast tomorrow. We don't want to scare old Ethan again.”
Mireilla smiled, taking a step toward her room and entering it. She looked over her shoulder at her bed and was tempted to invite him in to join her, but her body wasn't up to the task. She felt too tired.
“Will you come down to breakfast with me?”
Mireilla looked at him.
Shall I risk it? Well, we've already kissed. As long as I don't open my heart to you, everything will be fine. I've never had an affair. I think it's time, she convinced herself, showing a sincere smile that dazzled the man.
“All right, I'll go with you, but on one condition.”
“What's that?”
“You will show me the north side of the island.”
Nathaniel frowned; could it be that the human woman had deciphered his father's diary? The staff was somewhere on that island; his guardian had entrusted it to him before he died. But he could never tell her the exact place, since he didn't know it, as the diary indicated it.
“What do you want to see?”
“A cave.”
She knows. Nathaniel looked at her with different eyes, conceding a point in her favor by having been able to decipher the diary. If you've discovered our secret, I'll have to...
Before continuing along that line, Nathaniel bid her farewell, wishing her goodnight, almost fleeing to the safety of the solitude of his room.
Everything was happening so fast.
He did not recognize himself.
He wanted her, but he would have to finish her off for having discovered the secret of his race's existence. He swore to himself that his first goal in life would be to achieve the desired revenge, but now, he found himself wishing for a quiet day together with the human.
What is happening to me?
CHAPTER 9
Mireilla could not sleep well. She tossed and turned all night without sleeping a wink. She was extremely nervous, as if her request to visit the cave mentioned in the diary was a date.
Mireilla smiled in front of the mirror that was covered by a layer of steam.
Not even when she was getting ready for her first date with her ex was she this nervous. Her heart was pounding, and she felt exhilarated. Desired.
It seemed like she was living a dream, where a handsome, nice man who made her laugh with his jokes and left her gasping and trembling with his kisses, had noticed her.
He had kissed her! He had defended her!
Mireilla let out a joyful laugh, leaving the bathroom to get dressed. She still had time. She had gotten up at dawn after trying in vain to get some rest.
She reached for her suitcase and pulled out all the clothes she had, discarding most of them as she didn't like the way they fit. In the end, she opted for a pair of jean shorts that ended above her thigh. They were a dark gray color, ripped and old looking. But they looked good on her. They lengthened her legs and slimmed them. Matching her flip-flops, she put on a red tank top and underneath a dark blue bikini that matched her eyes.
Before leaving the bedroom, she took one last look at herself in the mirror, accepting that she hadn't looked too bad. She had dried her hair with the small hand dryer she brought on every trip she took, and it looked straight and shiny, framing her oval face. Her eyes sparkled like never before. The joy she felt that she had not even remembered possessing for years made her look more beautiful, radiant.
Still smiling and carrying the small diary in a permeable bag that she carried on her back as a shoulder bag, she left the room and went down to the dining room.
At the dining room doors, the smell of freshly fried bacon accompanied by delicious fried eggs greeted her. Standing there waiting for her, Nathaniel was chatting amicably with Ethan.
When both men turned at the sound of her arrival, Nathaniel's mouth dropped open as his gaze wandered up and down her body, lingering on her legs and the cleavage of her halter top.
Mireilla smiled internally.
She knew that look. It was one of surprise, interspersed with hunger, and she would be the main course.
Breakfast was pleasant, where they shared jokes and advice with Ethan. The old man was considered a hermit by the inhabitants of the island. They were wrong. What was happening was that he did not feel safe to leave the motel because of his blindness. At the motel, he felt safe because he knew every corner of the place.
As she talked to the old man, she discovered that he was a nice man, a little depressed after the death of his wife, but a good man.
Between Nathaniel and her, they picked up everything and washed the dishes they used, before leaving Ethan listening to the radio to go to the island's port.
Nathaniel was telling her the story of the island, the one that was not in the books. Mireilla noticed the looks the islanders gave them when they passed them, but she preferred to ignore them when she saw that he glared at them with his eyes, as if it bothered him to be the center of attention.
Aren't you used to it? You're the kind of guy who would attract attention even in the middle of a baseball stadium full of people.
But his gestures and the tension in his shoulders showed her that he wasn't used to being looked at that way.
How wrong she was.
Nathaniel didn't mind being stared at. He would pass by the humans who followed him with their eyes, but this morning, he was furious and all because the men who crossed his path greeted him with a hint of mockery on their faces and then undressed his female with their eyes.
On several occasions, he was about to take her in his arms and kiss her until he made her lose all sense of time and space to show those humans that she was his.
Without ceasing to wish the death of the men who crossed his path, he took her to the port where he helped her to get on his boat, a thirteen-foot boat that he paid for with the money he got after selling the pearls he collected one night.
After making sure she was safely seated next to him at the helm, he started the boat and set off for the cave the young woman wanted to know about.
But not as much as I want to know her, he thought, staring at the horizon. The sea was calling him. The waves danced around the boat, recognizing its true nature, inviting him with their silent bubbling to join them.
He would not. That day would be spent with her. Exclusively. Forgetting his beloved sea for her.
“Wait, wait! It's that cave, the one almost hidden by those rocks. Do you see it?”
Nathaniel stopped the boat and dropped the anchor. He looked where Mireilla was pointing and saw it, a small cave embedded in one of the rocks. At high tide, it looked like a small hole in the rock. He sharpened his hearing and heard how the water entered the cave and did not come out until after a few minutes. It was a few inches long.
>
“Do you see it?” Mireilla repeated, pointing and leaning against the railing of the boat. Her hair was tied back in a low ponytail after seeing that the wind from the sea was strong and kept stirring her hair, whipping her forehead with unruly strands.
”Yes, I see it. We'll have to swim closer.”
“Swimming?” Nathaniel sensed fear in her tone.
“Can't you swim?”
Mireilla was slow to answer but confirmed his suspicions.
“Not very well.”
“Don't worry, I won't let you sink. Come on!”
She looked at the man's outstretched hand.
“Now?”
“Yes, of course. The tide is high, it's the best time to go in. That water level is as high as it reaches.”
Mireilla nodded.
“So we won't drown because the water level in the cave won't rise any higher.”
“Exactly. Ready?”
“No. But if I don't go, I'll regret it for the rest of my life.”
“What's that cave hiding that you're so interested in? Blackbeard's old treasure?” he joked to hide his nervousness at her answer.
Mireilla looked at him with her head cocked to one side.
Could she tell him? She hardly knew him, but she felt she could trust him.
“In that cave there is, or I hope it is, the discovery of the century.”
The water was cold, and as soon as she entered she sank, but as promised, he helped her stay afloat. With a somewhat strange speed, it was obvious that he was exercising; he brought her closer to the cave without allowing her head to go under the water. She was grateful for that. She was a little afraid of the water. As a child, her sisters had thrown her into the pool at home, and she had swallowed so much water that she thought she would drown.
Nathaniel stretched out his legs as he jumped into the water. He held Mireilla by the waist and closed his eyes to make the switch. His legs came together and slowly, a long, scaly tail appeared. He endured the pain, gritting his teeth, and before he recovered, he was on his way to the cave. Mireilla stirred restlessly in his arms. She looked nervous and fearful, and he didn't like that. He wanted her to enjoy the journey, but if she was afraid of the water, the best thing to do was to get her to dry land as soon as possible.
It didn't take him long to reach the cave, and he entered carefully, avoiding the rocks that protected her, swimming against the current.
She let out a surprised gasp as she saw the inside of the cave. The sunlight streaming through the cracks in the rock cast shadows that illuminated the cave with flashes of color.
They reached the bottom of the cave, and she was grateful that Nathaniel helped her to climb onto the rock that was above the water level. When she came out of the sea, she began to shiver and stretched out on her back on the floor of the cave, breathing, filling her lungs completely.
She turned around and saw that he was still in the water.
“Aren't you coming?”
“No, not yet. I'm going to look at the bottom of the cave in case I find your discovery that will make you famous.”
“I don't want fame. What I want is to know the truth. If indeed…” she paused.
“If what?” Nathaniel asked, wagging his tail from side to side and staying afloat thanks to the force he was exerting against the water.
“They exist. They really exist.”
“Who?”
Mireilla bit her lower lip.
“It may sound silly to you, but I found an old diary that says that in this cave there is evidence of the existence of mermaids.”
Mireilla expected him to laugh, to make fun of her and think she was crazy, but he didn't; he just told her to wait there and that he would be back soon.
When she found herself alone, she got up and began to look around. At first glance, there was no clue that would lead her to think that the diary was correct. The cave wall was rough and dripping with water, but there were no strange marks or signs written on it.
She felt a little disappointed, but the day was not lost. She was having a great time by his side, even if she was in the middle of a claustrophobic cave surrounded by water, shivering with cold and soaked from top to bottom.
But the peace that enveloped her was shattered when two men who were fighting fiercely with each other emerged from the water.
“Nathaniel?” she hesitated when she saw the faces of the men... “Are you a triton?!”
When he dived to look for the staff at the bottom of the cave, Nathaniel did not expect to be attacked by a warrior from the court of the new Triton King, who cornered him against the wall, hitting him with a bluirt.
“You are under arrest, Klaider, by order of the King.”
“I know that phrase. Surrender now, or we can do this the hard way.”
The triton warrior laughed and threatened him with the bluirt, placing it at the level of his face.
“I have been ordered to take your lifeless body to them.”
“Well, then I guess you'll be fired,” Nathaniel mocked before attacking him, taking him by surprise by throwing him out of the water with the force of his momentum.
The blow against the hard floor of the cave above sea level brought a groan of pain from both tritons. The gravity exerted by the earth on their bodies was painful for inhabitants of the seas. The pain was concentrated in the waist and pelvis and radiated to the tips of their tails.
But they both got over it when they heard the gasp of surprise from the human who looked at them with open mouth and wild eyes.
“Mermaids and tritons exist!”
The court warrior reared up on his tail, like a rattlesnake ready to attack his prey.
“You won't live to tell the tale, human.”
Seeing how he threatened his female, Nathaniel lost control and charged at him. From the blow, the warrior lost his bluirt, which rolled on the ground until it fell at Mireilla's feet.
While both tritons fought hand to hand trying to overtake their opponent, Mireilla took the strange trident and raised it with trembling hands. When she saw her chance, she thrust it at the triton that was threatening Nathaniel, managing to seriously wound him.
Nathaniel took advantage of her timely intervention to deliver a blow to his opponent's neck, killing him on the spot. The silence that followed was broken by the sound of the warrior's lifeless body falling.
“Are you all right?”
“Are you real? Are you really a triton?” When she saw the long tail wagging on the surface of the cave floor, her question sounded absurd. “Are you going to kill me?” she asked fearfully as she remembered the words of the triton lying dead a few inches away from her.
Nathaniel smelled her fear, and it was understandable. It was not every day that she witnessed a fight between two mythological beings.
“I should kill you,” he said softly. Mireilla began to cry. Seeing her tears and feeling pain in his chest at the sadness in her eyes, he knew he was doing the right thing, even if it meant losing the crown forever. A triton who consorted with a human was banished forever. He could not return to Atleintais. “But I can't.”
Nathaniel held out his hand, and Mireilla walked toward him, leaning into his arms.
“I can't end your life. I can't. May my parents forgive me, but I can't lose you!” he murmured in his native language, burying his face in her hair.
CHAPTER 10
The triton's lifeless body was left in the cave, hidden behind some rocks at the back of the cave. If they threw it into the sea, they ran the risk of it being carried by the tide and being seen by some other warrior. Then they would not be safe on the island. They would be hunted down and captured.
Mireilla let herself be led back to the boat and gawked as Nathaniel lost his tail, and in its place appeared a pair of legs. The change was beautiful, not as she had imagined it but beautiful just the same. In a flash, the long tail shrank, the blue-green scales disappearing, being replaced by soft, golden skin. When he was fully tra
nsformed, it was as if nothing had happened, except that he was completely naked. Somehow, she had not noticed that he had taken off his shirt and jeans before they had jumped into the sea before their swim to the cave. Perhaps it was her fear of the water.
She wanted to ask him thousands of questions that circulated through her mind, but she was unable.
She was still in shock. Despite having the answer to the questions that arose as she read the diary, she could not believe it. She had never believed in supernatural beings, and now, to have a triton in the flesh, to have kissed him, touched him, it was amazing.
On the boat, Nathaniel looked for the jeans and put them on, then finished dressing in the T-shirt. Then he turned and held out a dry towel for her to cover herself with, as she was shivering from head to toe. She was soaking wet, and the cold was soaking into her bones, leaving her shivering. And the sea breeze didn't help at all; on the contrary, it crept through the cracks that remained when she wrapped herself in the towel and gave her goose bumps, making the hair on her arms stand on end.
“Hold on, you'll be in a hot shower in no time,” he assured her.
Mireilla sneezed.
Nathaniel let out a curse. His trips to the sea did not make him sick. He was used to the low sea temperatures, but the human was shivering and sneezed every few minutes. He couldn't risk her getting sick. He should have thought about the fact that she wasn't like the females he was used to. The human’s body was weaker than a mermaid's; they endured less pain and exhausted themselves more quickly. But he had not taken this into account. He had embarked on this crazy adventure, excited by the woman's innocent joy and her interest in discovering the exact location of the staff of power.
He started the engine and set the boat in motion. The boat skirted the waves, dancing over them, rapidly bringing them toward the coast. A few miles away, the harbor could be seen, where passenger boats entered and left. The most important festivities of the island and those that brought the largest number of visitors were over; the tourists, exhausted after several days of music, dance and alcohol surrounded by costumed islanders, were returning to the routine of their lives, taking with them good memories of their stay.
The King Triton Page 5