by A. K. Koonce
“Can I be honest with you?” she asks in a quiet voice.
We trail through the maze of roses, each a brilliant shade of pink. My mother loved pink roses...
I nod and she looks about the empty area. Nothing but flowers and twisting vines surround us.
The breeze pulls at a loose curl, sending it across her pretty face, catching at the corner of her lip. Hesitantly I push it back, my hand lingering against her smooth neck before I finally drop it quickly back to my side. Her attention shifts, searching my eyes, attempting to look through my own thoughts that not even I can make sense of.
“I don’t understand Lord Turningten.” A frustrated sigh tumbles from her, her pace quickening as we enter a path of perfectly trimmed hedges. The open garden becomes more private as we walk along the walls of hedges. “Is that really how men act when they like someone?” Her chest heaves against her gray gown, my attention lingers along her perfect breasts before trailing up her long pale neck and finally meeting her eyes again.
“No.” A chuckle shakes through me.
“Maybe I’m just missing his signals. Are you experienced with women, Cormac?”
A full smile slashes across my face as I recall the hundreds of women who threw themselves at me when I was a Prince of Aveil. All of the benefits with none of the responsibilities. What a great life that was…
“Yes, a little.” I reign in the wolfish smile as I look at her with concern. A small crease forms between her brows. A look she should never have. I could kill Nash just for pushing self-doubt into her beautiful body.
I turn, leaning a little closer to her. It’s almost as if she’s magnetic and I’m just a scrap of metal clinging to her. She doesn’t even realize her pull. She doesn’t even see her beauty. I’ve met thousands of pretty girls in my life. None are like her, though.
“When a guy likes a you,” I run my tongue along my lips as I skim my fingers up her arm, a shiver shakes her perfect posture, sending adrenaline spiraling right through me, “he won’t be able to take his eyes off you, nor his hands,” I run my palm up to her neck, tangling my fingers through her soft locks, “nor his lips.” The whisper feathers over my mouth as I lean into her.
The stubble of my beard brushes against her smooth cheek and I press a gentle kiss to the base of her neck. A rewarding gasp slips from her mouth. Her hand rests right across my thrashing heart as we lock eyes, her gaze burning like a flame as she stares at me.
My dick twitches and it’s painfully difficult to pull back from her, the warm scent of lavender clinging to her skin and now my mouth.
I roll my tongue across my lower lip and offer her my arm once more as she stands gaping at me.
“Shall we?” I ask, nodding to the rest of the garden that I haven’t yet explored. A garden I haven’t walked through in over a century. There was a time the roses were the most beautiful thing in this castle.
That was before Princess Wren stepped foot among the flowers.
Chapter Seven
A Mermaid
Wren
Hazel’s emerald eyes fume with jealousy.
“He kissed your neck?” Her voice is shrill and far too loud.
“Shut up,” I hiss in a nervous whisper. I glance anxiously around the yard but only a guard is out today.
She grips my arm tightly with an excited smile pulling across her pretty face. “Then what did he do?” she asks in an anxious whisper.
A shy smile tilts my mouth and a fluttering feeling stirs in my belly.
“Then he walked the garden with me.”
Her face falls, a frown tipping her red lips where a smile just was.
“That’s it?” She searches my face as I nod, as if I might be hiding something important from her. “He didn’t…” She pauses for me to fill in the blanks. I shrug, making the line between her brows become a little deeper. “That’s it?”
“Yes, that’s it. What more is there?”
“Lots! There’s a lot more, Wren.” She drops my arm as she huffs with impatience. “I have to go, daddy will be picking me up soon. Next time a guy kisses your neck, don’t let him pull away.” She stands, smoothing her blue dress, studying her slim figure as she turns this way and that.
“What—what am I supposed to do?”
With polished nails, she runs her fingers through her long blonde hair. “Test him.”
My chest grows tight as I realize I have no idea what she’s talking about.
“Test him how?”
She rolls her clear eyes at the sky as if the clouds are the source of her frustration. “If you’re seated, place your hand on his leg and lean into him.”
“Then what?”
“Then wait.”
For what?
I stare up at her with wide eyes, hundreds of questions circling my mind but I nod anyway as if I understand.
She turns on her heels, her attention set on the guard a few feet away.
“Walk with me?” She sends my guard a flirty smile that makes him shift on his feet. With a coy look she begins to walk down the rocky lane. My guard trails behind her and suddenly I realize I’m alone.
Without hesitation, I scurry away, sneaking down to the shore. Within ten minutes, I’m sinking my toes into the cool sand. I let the cold waves drift across my feet as I walk along the ocean, only the seagulls squawk at me for company. It’s nice. Relaxing. A little boring and a bit lonely.
The port is up ahead and I nearly turn back for fear of coming across one of my father’s men, when I hear laughter.
I take a few more steps and just like when I first found them, Cohen, Cason, and Cormac are in the sea. The three of them swim out past the dock, their strong arms slashing through the water as if they were made from it.
My damp dress drags along the worn boards and my eyes never leave them as I take a seat at the end of the long dock.
Cormac jumps on Cason’s wide back as if he might dunk his brother but at the last minute Cason leans back, practically drowning Cormac in the deep water.
He surfaces with a smile, pushing his shaggy dark locks from his face. His eyes match the ocean and it only takes a moment before they land on me. He licks the water droplets from his lips and swims the few laps over to me.
The other two follow until the three of them are leaning up on the dock, surrounding me with their large bodies.
“Good morning, Princess,” Cason says with a kind smile.
“Good morning.” I pull my knees to my chest as my heart begins to pound wildly. My hands are unsure what to do with themselves so I clasp them tightly together.
Cormac runs a damp finger across the toe of my black boot, leaving a streak of water along the leather. “What are you doing out this morning,” he asks, his arms flexing as he clings to the wooden plank at my feet.
I do my best not to let my eyes wander down their wet abdomens. Luckily the shadows of the dock and the light reflecting off the water hides their lower bodies from me… not that I checked...
“Just walking.”
“Alone? Without a guard? That doesn’t sound very safe. Your father will not be happy,” Cormac says with a wicked smile.
His smile sends a tingling feeling through me that settles restlessly in my stomach.
“Well, that’s what you’re here for,” I say with a cheeky smirk.
Did I really just say that?
My face flames red which only makes them smile more.
“Why do you always come here?” Cohen asks, wiping his hand down his face. Water clings to his dark lashes, making his eyes appear lighter like honey.
I shrug as the wind picks up, sending a shiver down my arms. “I guess I just want a little excitement. A little adventure away from my mundane life.”
Cohen’s features become serious and the other two send him a look that has me waiting for one of them to say what they’re all thinking.
“Can you keep a secret, Princess?” Cohen searches my face.
My heart picks up its pace, racing throu
gh my chest. I nod, my eyes wide as I hang on his every word.
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course.”
And with that, he leaps up and grips my hand, pulling me into the cold ocean. My frantic arms thrash through the water and in an instant Cohen helps me back to the surface. I gasp, pushing my long hair back from my eyes.
“You jerk,” I say in an angry breath, the layers of my green dress wafts around me.
“Ssshhh, I’m sorry. Just trust me.” he squeezes my hand and I suddenly realize his body is pressed against mine. His strong arm is wrapped around my waist as he holds us both above water.
“Ready?”
My brows pull low, but I hesitantly nod.
He takes a breath, holding it in his lungs and nods to me. I do the same and before I know it the four of us are under water. Cohen holds me against his side as he pushes from the surface, bringing us a bit deeper. When the water stills around us I open my eyes, my lungs burning slightly. My long hair drifts around us like fuming smoke.
A swift movement catches my eye, my hand clings tighter to Cohen’s. I turn and come face to face with a young beautiful girl with eyes the color of the sea. As she swims closer I realize she isn’t normal. There’s something terribly wrong with the child.
Attached at her waist are scales. They shine green and white until they end in a delicate wafting fin where her feet should be. I shove back from Cohen, his strong arms grappling for me as I slash erratically through the water. I shriek into the waves, the ocean swallowing up my voice into a muffled and quiet sound of fear. Once I’m out of his arms, I realize he’s just like her, complete with a swaying fin.
Fear crawls through my body, making my hands shake at my sides.
My feet kick and kick until I surface and even then I don’t stop until I’m running up the shore. My dress clings to my calves but it doesn’t stop me.
My father was right to keep me locked away within the castle. The things beneath the surface of the ocean are not what they seem...
“Wrenley, wait,” Cohen calls out to me but it only forces me to run faster.
His warm hand slips around my arm.
“Please wait. I’m sorry. I just didn’t think you’d believe me unless you saw it for yourself.”
“Saw what? What was that? What are you?” I push back from him and he releases me, letting me stumble away. He’s gloriously naked on the sandy beach for the second time since I’ve met him. He has legs once again, standing unashamed before me.
“She… was a mermaid.” He stares down at the sand as if he’s counting every grain. “She’s my sister.”
Chapter Eight
The Rightful Heir
Cason
Together sitting in Wren’s room, the three of us stare at her soaked figure, not caring that we’re leaving a mess of water dripping off of us onto her polished floors. I ran and got us all our pants the moment we reached the castle. Her father would cut off our heads if he found us naked with her… Again.
Her ghostly pale face is a stark contrast to her damp midnight hair that I so fondly admire.
All I want is to whisk her up into my arms. Comfort her. But I suppose so do my brothers. Cohen sits at her feet, his legs bent under him as he kneels before her. Cormac lounges across the bed behind her, sober for once. Her blankets are wrinkled and wet, water drips carelessly off of him on to her bedsheets.
“Wren, please. We need you,” Cohen says. I can barely hear him speaking from where I awkwardly stand in the corner of the room. Cohen gently rests his head in her lap, his eyes squeezing shut.
He looks entirely defeated. He’s bending to her mercy literally.
Wren absentmindedly strokes his short hair and I look away to hide the feeling, the longing to be in his place. The silence in the room is beginning to ring in my ears.
Abruptly her hands halt, tension filling her delicate fingers as she apparently realizes what she’s doing. Slowly she pulls her hand back from Cohen’s head, attempting to disengage altogether.
A tremor shakes through her fingers without anything to distract her and she immediately clasps them together in her lap. Cohen leans back from her, waiting for her to say something. We’re all waiting…
“Who are you?” Her beautiful eyes skip from Cohen to Cormac to me.
My heart pounds in my chest knowing this is it. She’ll either help us or leave us. In this moment she holds our future.
“My name’s Cohen Trenton Ryken.” Cohen’s dark eyes never leave her. Her chest rises and falls, the drenched fabric clings to her lithe body.
“As in… a descendant of King Ryken?”
“As in the son of King Thomas Ryken.”
My attention shifts to Cormac and I know we’re both thinking the same thing: he left out the bit about him being the rightful heir to Aveil. I’m sure Princess Wren is smart enough to realize that, as well.
Her gaze hardens as she stares at the man at her feet.
“That’s impossible. The son of Thomas Ryken would be—”
“A hundred and twenty-three.” He finishes for her. A smile creases his lips. “But who’s counting, right?”
Her breath catches as she looks at him as if seeing him for the first time. Her gaze darts toward a painting above the mantle and I realize it’s our family portrait. This room has always been the bedchamber of the firstborn. It was once Cohens…
Now it’s Wrenley’s.
Chapter Nine
An Innocent Woman
Wren
“Forgive me, Prince Cohen. Had I known I was in the presence of ancient royalty, I would have worn a drier gown.”
Cormac’s laughter cracks the tension in the room, but the thin line of my lips never moves. My jaw’s strung so tight it hurts.
I trusted them. I don’t even know them.
“That’s not what this is,” Cohen says as he slowly closes his eyes, his fingers pressing to the center of his temple. He opens his eyes and his amber gaze is so warm it almost melts the frustration that’s boiling within me. “We need your help, Princess. We’re not lying, we’re not here for a handout, and we’re not here for a throne that none of us care about anymore.”
“Can you just turn into mermen whenever you like? Tell me everything.”
He remains at my feet, staring up at me with nothing but honesty lining his desperate face.
“We turn the moment the sea welcomes us back; the moment we’re submerged into the ocean.” He sighs like that was the easy part to explain. “My father killed an innocent woman when he was king.” The sentence is spoken with a heaviness that pains my heart. “He was cursed for it. We all were. We were sent to live in the one place he feared the most.”
“The ocean,” I whisper.
He nods, no longer looking at me but studying the water dripping from the hem of my dress. A small puddle lingers beneath my feet but the mess we’re making is the furthest thing from my mind.
“We were cursed to live a hundred years beneath the sea. If we survived as mermen for a hundred years, three of us would be given the chance to redeem our family’s name. We have a hundred days to reverse the curse.”
“How do you know you have a hundred days?“ My lips purse firmly together before I add, “And what does that have to do with me?”
“The sea witch—”
“The sea witch?”
“A sea witch… a mermaid who was once a witch…” He pauses as if it’s completely logical. “She was cursed as well, but for her own dark deeds.”
I raise a brow at his definition but I keep silent as he tells his odd story.
“The sea witch granted us a hundred days. Her magic gave us a chance to be mortal men again. She said our families must fix the errors of our ancestors.”
“What does that mean?”
“My father killed your great, great-grandmother. She was the innocent woman he killed.”
I glare at his beautiful face as if he himself harmed my family.
“I’m sorr
y, Wren.” His hand slips up my thigh, blazing warmth into me as he settles his large palm against the back of my hands. “I know this is… confusing, but we need you.”
“We only have a hundred days to fix this shit, or we’re fish food again.” Cormac’s hair clings to his big eyes, pleading with his sorrow filled gaze.
The image of the girl at the bottom of the ocean, the girl with the fins, flits through my mind. That beautiful girl might haunt my nightmares for several years to come.
Cohen isn’t lying. I believe him.
“What do you need me to do?”
Cohen’s brilliant smile washes away any doubt that was lingering in me.
“I have no idea,” he says in a shaking breath.
Chapter Ten
Betrothed
Wren
A muted sun hiding behind clouds attempts to shine in through my pink curtains, casting a blush tone over my bed. Sinking deeper into the bedding, my skin crawls at the thought of starting the day. The silk of my nightgown caresses my skin begging me to stay in bed a while longer.
I stared at my ceiling late into the night thinking about what the Ryken brothers told me. The memory of their sister stains my thoughts. She’s someone I’ll never forget. She’ll be cursed to live at the bottom of the ocean for the rest of her life unless I can help her...
I groan, hearing a soft knock on my bedroom door.
“No,” I say loud enough for the guest outside my room to hear.
The hinges whistle as the door slowly opens. Not bothering to look at whomever might be asking for my presence, I roll covering my face with my plump feather pillow.
Gently the pillow is pulled from my face and I squint up into the light revealing Cormac's grin. “Hey, sleeping beauty.”
Frowning at him, I turn away, not ready for whatever he has for me now.
“One of the maids just stopped by, you missed your tutor this morning. Your Dad is… well, his usual unhappy self.”
I know I missed my tutor. I just don't care.
Feeling overwhelmed by the information I was given last night, I just need some time to process. Cormac sits on the bed, his weight creating a hill that asks my body to turn with it. I look up at him, my lips still unpleasantly turned down, and I’m at a loss for words.