by Nikki Dean
“On that note, I suppose this is improper until we’re officially married,” Belle teased, as though they hadn’t lived together, unwed and unchaperoned, for months. Indeed, the cries of pleasure that Sam occasionally heard coming from his brother’s chamber told him that the time for propriety between them had long since passed.
Still, Belle gave him a kiss and scooted off of his lap, then went to the door. “I would like to meet your Celeste, if there’s ever an opportunity. I’ve heard of a lot of things, but never a mermaid.”
“Or a siren. What’s the difference between them, anyway?”
Tossing back the rest of his brandy, Sam shrugged and took Sebastian’s empty glass. “The book said that a siren is a mermaid, but a mermaid isn’t necessarily a siren, if that makes sense. Apparently sirens can control the ocean and her inhabitants with the power of their voices, and those creatures have to do their bidding. I’ve seen Celeste control even the water itself.”
“That’s impressive. I wouldn’t want to make her angry.”
“No, it’s quite terrifying. She almost killed me one night when Lahni got into my boat, but stopped. This is after she saved my life the first time we met.”
Sebastian’s eyes had narrowed as he growled, sounding every bit the beast that Sam had seen him shift into. He even looked bigger as he sat in the chair, its arms creaking beneath his grip.
“She almost killed you?”
“Calm down, Seb. She didn’t hurt me, and I doubt she would have killed me. It was merely an expression.”
“I somehow don’t believe you.”
“Lahni never would have allowed it, anyway. You don’t have to worry, truly.”
“You better be right.”
You have no idea, Sam had thought.
Splashes pulled Sam from his reverie and he looked around. The ocean was calm and quiet around him, sadly without any blue glows from Lahni’s charm. He looked up at the stars and realized that he’d been there for hours, just waiting for someone to show up.
“I suppose they’re not coming, then,” he said to himself as he reached up to adjust the little sail on his boat. It was a tiny thing, only suited for one or two people, but perfect for his night-time excursions.
The wind caught it and began to pull him along. He kept the lines tight as he looked around, unable to shake the feeling that he was being watched.
Suddenly he saw blue flashes directly below him, keeping pace with his boat. He began to loosen the sail, intending to slow when she suddenly veered upward, coming at him quickly.
Too quickly.
She’s in trouble again. He wrapped the line around his hand and pulled the sail taut once more, trusting the little mermaid to catch up to him. The hair on the back of his neck was nearly standing on end as she erupted from the water, throwing herself into the boat with startling accuracy.
“Go!” she needlessly ordered as a spear came flying out after her. It fell short of its mark, already left behind as the sailboat gained speed once more. Lahni sat up and hummed a tune, lifting her hand into the air.
The wind strengthened from a breeze to a gust nearly instantly, throwing Sam back in his seat as they hurtled toward the shoreline. Two more spears bobbed out of the waves, but neither had a chance of reaching them at their speed.
“Are you all right?” Sam called to her over the wind. “Where’s Celeste?!”
She didn’t answer at first, instead staring out at the waves, and the figures within them. He followed her gaze to count at least three, no four, mermaids outlined in the waves by the setting sun.
“What happened?” he tried again. “Are you hurt, or is Celeste?”
Lahni brushed tears, or maybe just saltwater, from her cheek and replied, “She was injured, but she’s recovering. She’s safe at home, in the… It doesn’t matter now. I’m certain that she’ll eventually come for me, if she can, but until then, I need your help. I need,” she paused with a nervous glance toward the sandy shore, “you to hide me, if you can.”
“Hide you?” Sam could only stare at her, dumbfounded as the bottom of his boat hit the sand, nearly turning them both out into the surf.
“Come on, we have to hurry! They’ll be here any minute, but I, I’ll need you to carry me once we get up there. Please.”
He nodded and leapt into the water, shuddering as it went up past his waist. Lahni dove in as well, then swept his feet out from under him and pulled him along, swimming the last dozen feet or so much faster than he could walk along the sandy bottom.
Finally he got his feet under him and pulled her up into his arms, carrying her across his shoulder as he sprinted up the beach. A howl of rage sounded behind him and he looked back to see a half dozen mermaids, or more, watching them from just beyond the surf.
“Bring her back,” one of them called. “We won’t hurt either of you if you do.”
“Come swim with us,” another voice rang out. “Lahni is only playing a game with us. You should play, too.”
“Don’t listen,” Lahni whispered to him as she covered his ears with her hands. “They’re trying to compel you, and not doing a very good job of it. None of their Voices are very strong.”
“Clearly,” he replied with a snort. “Come on, Little Otter. Let’s figure out what to do with you.”
A loud crack sounded behind them, drawing both of their gazes. Sam’s sailboat was sinking, with a large hole ripped in its hull. Soon enough only the mast remained, sticking out of the water like a lonely little gravemarker until it too was gone, tumbled over by the relentless pushing of the waves.
“I’m sorry. That’s the second boat you’ve lost because of me,” Lahni said miserably.
“It’s all right. I have more.”
“More? Why?” She wrinkled her nose as she leaned back and looked at him.
“Well, Little Otter, I have a few things to tell you.”
Chapter 10
Celeste
Celeste had been awake for three days. Lahni had been missing for four. No one knew if she had run away or was taken, but the lack of personal belongings suggested the former. Celeste didn’t believe it, unless she had been running from something. Then again, no one else seemed to believe that a fairy had been involved in the fight that confined her to her bed for nearly a week, either.
She had just gotten back to the castle to get a half-dose of pain medication and few hours of sleep before she went out to resume her search. So far, no one knew anything regarding Lahni’s whereabouts, or why she had disappeared at all.
I can only hope she ran away, and wasn’t taken. The idiots that attacked us were completely incompetent, but that fairy… She was a different matter, entirely. But why was she here? Why take Lahni, unless as a means of leverage over the King? Why bother with that, when fairies are so powerful on their own?
Someone knocked on the door, causing her to jump and snatch up her spear. She wouldn’t be caught unaware again.
“Royal guard,” a mermaid announced from the other side. “The king demands your presence.”
Now? I don’t have time for this. “Please inform the king that I have a lead on Lahni’s whereabouts, and need to follow it immediately.” It was a lie, of course, but that didn’t matter to Celeste. The only way she would discover any leads was to get back out there and search for them, so it could possibly be true, if luck was with her.
“He has been waiting impatiently for your return, and instructed me to escort you to his throne room, no matter what.”
Celeste jerked the door open with a snarl. “Did you not hear what I said? Her life could be in danger.”
“I understand,” the guard answered as she swam backward, keeping her spear between them. “But the king specifically ordered me not to accept no for an answer, Princess.”
“Don’t call me that.”
The guard floated there, unmoving as she waited. Celeste bared her teeth and gestured for her to proceed, unwilling to turn her back on an unknown mermaid so soon after the attac
k.
“You’ll follow me?” she asked, clearly suspicious.
“You’ll find out, won’t you?” It wasn’t really a question, but Celeste was in no mood for any of this. She should be resting, or questioning someone. Anything to try to find her little sister.
She’d already been to the spot where they had rendezvoused with Sam a week ago, and so far his little boat hadn’t reappeared, despite nightly checks. But that doesn’t mean anything, she told herself. He promised to come back every seven days, unless a float is set out. I don’t want to do anything to call attention to him in case someone is watching, and so far, Lahni hasn’t either. Where in the world could she be?
They reached the throne room and her escort swam aside to allow Celeste to enter first.
“Where is she?” King Tidus demanded as soon as the door closed behind her, his voice sending chills down Celeste’s spine. She hadn’t seen him like this before, hyper-focused on her answer, whereas before he had been loose with his fury, brashly intimidating. Now, he was the calm before the storm personified, his demeanor promising dire consequences to any that refused to do his bidding.
“I don’t know.” She refused to cringe as she gave him the answer he least wanted to hear.
“You don’t know?” he repeated, as though giving her an opportunity to change her response. It was too bad that she couldn’t.
“No, Your Highness. I don’t know. No one that I’ve questioned knows anything, and I haven’t been able to compel any answers from the sea life.”
“Are you telling me that my youngest daughter, the heir to the throne, has simply disappeared?!” Sand drifted from the ceiling as his control slipped and percussion waves flowed through the circular room. “And you have no idea how to get her back?! What are you doing here, then?!”
“I only came to get a few hours of rest, and then I’ll keep looking.” She hated to admit even this weakness, and would be damned if she also told him that her side felt as though it was on fire, having only recently healed enough to allow her out of her sleeping nest. The poison that the fairy used on her had been potent.
“You were her guard! You, of all mermaids, would know where she has gone, or did you even fail at that? You constantly demanded that she be allowed to roam free, and now that she is, you don’t have the slightest idea of where to find her!”
Celeste gaped at him, completely taken aback. “Are you not even considering that she could have been taken by force, or at least coerced into leaving the castle? I told you that we were attacked in her room, and a fairy was involved! A fairy, Father. Let that sink in! And you are sitting here demanding that I find her, as though she has merely run away in a fit of irritation!”
“You’re her guard! How could you allow such a thing to happen, if indeed it did? Her captors, as you say, would had to have been adept enough to sneak her past three sets of guards, as well as dozens of other mer, all of whom have been thoroughly interviewed. None of them saw anything at all unusual. Now tell me, Celeste, which is more likely? That a spoiled siren child ran away in a fit of pique, compelling her guards to look the other way for a moment, or that someone infiltrated the castle so thoroughly as to snatch her up from beneath our noses?”
The room trembled again, and a steady current began to swirl along the curved walls. It intensified quickly, showing Celeste without words just how frightened the king was that this had been exactly the case.
“A fairy could have done it. Portals are the travel methods of choice for the fae, and they wouldn’t have needed to sneak her past anyone. The more I think about it, the likelier it seems.” Currents help her if that is what happened, though. I have no idea how I’ll find her if a fairy has her. But Sam might know - he said that a fairy has been causing havoc on land for years now. I’ll have to go meet him tonight.
King Tidus’s mask of rage slipped, revealing the shattered grief beneath for a moment. Seeing it nearly broke Celeste’s heart, for even if they didn’t get along, they both loved that little mermaid.
“I’ll find her, I swear.”
Her promise brought some of the fire back into the King’s eyes, and he sat a little straighter in his throne. “See that you do.”
The boat had been destroyed. A fist-sized hole adorned part of the hull, and it looked as though it had been sailed as close to the beach as possible, regardless of the nearby reefs and rocks that would damage it.
Why would Sam have treated it so poorly, unless he were in a desperate hurry? Was Lahni on board? Did they make it to shore? These questions burning in her mind, she could only think of one person that could possibly know the answers.
Ridley.
Celeste had been avoiding going to question the old sea witch, although she knew that eventually, she would have to. Ridley’s magic was fickle at best, granting potion drinkers and charm users a wide variety of results that may or may not have been included with the original request, and always came with a high price. Sometimes too high, and Celeste had wondered if Lahni had ever visited her. She’d certainly been curious enough, and Lahni wasn’t good at controlling her curiosity.
Not that it mattered now.
Ridley’s grotto was at the base of an underwater mountain, part of a series of caverns and chasms that riddled its heart. Celeste tried not to look too much into that as she swam inside, calling the old witch’s name.
“Ridley? Ridley, are you here? I’m Celeste Alomar, a guard from the castle. I need to ask you a few questions.”
“I know who you are, Destroyer.” The voice came from the top of the cavern, where the two walls met in a peak. “I’ve been wondering when you would come to see me.”
“Why?” Celeste was immediately on alert. “What do you know?”
A green-haired mermaid laughed as she descended from a small hole in the ceiling. Celeste squinted at it, for it looked much too small for anyone to have been hiding in, and Ridley looked much too young to be the mermaid she was looking for.
“I know many things, Destroyer. You’ll have to be more specific.”
“Are you Ridley? My sister has disappeared, and I need to find her. Can you help me?”
“Ah, the elusive Lahni.” Ridley tut-tutted, swimming leisurely to a small table. “I’ve seen her. She’s fine. And yes, I really am Ridley. I can see from your face that you don’t quite believe me. You were expecting someone older, I take it?”
Celeste didn’t answer, and Ridley laughed.
“Such is the art of magic, my dear. I can look however I want.”
“When did you see her, and why didn’t you alert the royal guard?!” Celeste demanded. “You obviously knew that she’s missing. Take me to her, now!”
“I can’t.”
Celeste darted to her, not caring about the foolishness of attacking a sea witch. “What do you mean, you can’t? I suggest you figure out a way, or I’ll be forced to hurt you.”
Ridley raised her eyebrows with a quirk of her lips, completely unfazed by either Celeste’s tone or the tip of the spear pointed at her chest. “I mean, I can’t. You little sister has decided to go to the one place that I cannot follow. And neither can you, like this.”
“Explain yourself.” Celeste pressed a little harder with her spear and felt a jolt of triumph when Ridley at least growled at her.
“Not until you remove that, and show some respect. Where do you think she went?” Ridley asked as she waved her fingers through the water, conjuring a little ball of light. She touched it to the end of the spear and it shot backwards, its butt hitting Celeste’s injured side.
Celeste tried not to flinch, but it proved to be impossible. Ridley smirked as a new bruise began to darken the area that had only been halfway healed.
“Why should I help you? All you’ve done is barge into my home, uninvited, I might add, and demand my assistance without any offer of payment. Tell me, Destroyer, what do you have to offer me?”
The spear came back up in a flash, and Celeste drove it forward. Ridley dodged once, twi
ce, and was caught in the middle of her third attempt, her mesh shirt pinned to the wall by Celeste’s dagger.
“Your life. All I want is information, which costs you nothing to give. I don’t see why you want payment when it involves the wellbeing of the princess. Indeed, not telling me is a sure way to earn the wrath of the king, himself.”
Ridley swallowed. “The information is free, but the spell that you’ll demand after you listen is what you’ll need to pay for.”
“Don’t you ever get tired of speaking in riddles?” Celeste demanded. “Just tell me where she is, and if she’s safe.”
“She’s safe enough, for now. But I’m afraid it’s difficult to say exactly where she is, as it’s not any cove that I’ve seen before.”
“A cove?”
Ridley nodded. “Completely cut off from the sea except where the water filters in to fill it, the cove is surrounded by land and rocks. My best guess is that rocks weren’t always there, and the opening was either filled to keep her within, or something else happened before she arrived. Still, the only way to access it is by land.”
By land… That must mean that she was in the boat, and they survived. Thank the gods. “How am I supposed to get to her?”
“Well, Destroyer, I’m afraid to say that you’ll have to walk.”
Chapter 11
Celeste
Celeste snapped her teeth together in frustration. “How exactly am I supposed to do that?”
“With a spell.”
Leaning back, Celeste regarded Ridley with deep suspicion. “You can do that?”
The sea witch nodded and tugged her shirt free, her lips tightening as she saw the hole that the dagger had left in the fabric. “Of course. You’d be able to get your sister back without a problem, as long as you can find her. But the price is steep.”