The Siren and the Deep Blue Sea

by Kerrelyn Sparks

  Unfortunately, the bad visions returned, and the Seer became more and more desperate. Brody winced when he read the entry in which the Seer’s thoughts took a wrong turn . . .

  Late autumn, Year 678.

  At last, after six months, I had a third good vision. But instead of relief, I feel agitated to the point that I cannot eat or sleep. For I know in my heart that I cannot bear any more bad visions. I will not! Not when I know peace and prosperity are possible. Why did the goddesses give me those good visions if I am not to act upon them? Surely that must be their intent. They are calling me to change the world for the better.

  It has taken me a long time to realize this, for I have always believed it was my place to dwell in the shadows, doing nothing more than warning the people of Aerthlan whenever devastation was around the corner. But I have been doing that for fifty-five years, and in that time, the world has remained a dark and violent place.

  No more! I, Burien of Aerland, now believe the visions are telling me to step out of the shadows and do whatever I can to make sure the era of peace and prosperity begins as soon as possible.

  Early spring, 679.

  I am now convinced that I am right, that the goddesses have called me to action. For they have sent someone who will help me. Her name is Cahira.

  She arrived this morning in the guise of a dolphin. When I saw that she had beached herself, I hurried to help her, believing her to be a dolphin in trouble. But when I reached her, she shifted into human form. The most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Granted, I have lived alone most of my life, so I have not seen many women, but I feel quite confident in insisting that she is the most beautiful woman on Aerthlan. She is quite powerful, too, for as she shifted, she manifested herself a lovely gown of shimmering sea-green cloth that matched the color of her eyes.

  To my amazement, she claimed to be the last living female of the ancient race of sorcerers from the lost continent of Aerland. She had sought me out, sensing that I was the last male of our race. We immediately felt a closeness, a connection, not just through our shared blood, but through our shared dreams. She, too, wants to dedicate herself to making the world a place of peace.

  Brody sighed as he continued to read. Over the next few months, the Seer had become completely enthralled with Cahira. He’d believed her, trusted her, fallen in love with her. And all the time, Cahira had manipulated him, using his ideas to form the Circle of Five, so she and her evil cohorts could take over the world.

  As much as he hated reading about Cahira, he carefully studied all the passages, for he needed to know everything in order to fool the woman into believing he was actually the Seer.

  He groaned when he read about the Seer’s joy when Cahira told him she was with child. If his theory was correct, that babe was Maeve. The timing was right. Cahira would have given birth in the year 680, and now it was the year 700, when Maeve would turn twenty years old. Maeve even had sea-green eyes like Cahira did.

  Dammit, he had promised to give Maeve the answers she wanted tonight. But this was something he could never let her know. How could he tell her that her mother had used her father in an attempt to take over the world?

  He would have to convince her, somehow, to return to Ebton Palace. There she would be safe from danger. And safe from the truth.

  * * *

  Once again, Maeve found herself floating across a dark blue ocean, headed for an island. Not the Isle of Mist, she thought, for the sky was clear, the air warm, and the island lush with vegetation. As she moved over the isle, she spotted thick forests, sparkling lakes, and then finally signs of civilization. Some farmland. A few people.

  A castle. Built of weathered gray stone, it dominated the highest bluff on the island. As Maeve approached, she noted an unusual garden, where dense bushes had been clipped into the shapes of fish, seals, and dolphins. Hedges, shaped to look like the waves of an ocean, led her to two adjoining ponds. How odd. The water in one pond was blue, but green in the other. Where the two ponds joined, a statue of a dolphin shot a spray of water into the air.

  A breeze from the nearby ocean caught Maeve and sent her flying toward the castle and the long balcony that overlooked the ponds and garden. Whoosh, she was swept through an open door, suspended in the air as long purple curtains rippled around her in the breeze.

  She landed on a smooth floor of polished green marble, and to her surprise, she discovered she was now wearing a beautiful gown and slippers of shimmering gold satin. The castle seemed empty, she thought, as she wandered down the hallway. To her right, purple curtains billowed in the air from the open doorways that led onto the balcony. To her left, the wall held a number of portraits, their frames decorated with golden shells.

  At the end of the hallway, she found a set of golden doors, open as if to invite her inside. She eased through the doors and stopped, her mouth dropping open. The room was huge. Enormous pillars of green marble soared up to an arched ceiling painted to look like the sky. In the middle of the ceiling, a circular glass dome let the afternoon sun shine in.

  The floor was even more amazing. Tiny shards of stone in shades of blue and green had been put together in a mosaic to look like the waves of an ocean. As rays of sunshine filtered through the glass ceiling, they struck the floor and made the waves look as if they were moving.

  Enthralled, she walked slowly across the floor, noting that the mosaic included a fish every now and then, made of red or orange bits of shiny glass. Directly beneath the glass-domed ceiling, there was a circle of dolphins, swimming around a purple octopus. Its eight tentacles wound through the greenish waves, each tip crushing a fish in a death grip.

  Maeve winced at the violence marring such a beautiful work of art. She glanced up and noted the dais at the end of the room. The bright colors drew her closer, and she was surprised to find all the decorations were made of glass. The floor of the dais was scattered with giant clams in vibrant green and purple glass. More glass was shaped and curled to look like coral and flowing seaweed. It was as if the entire dais was under the sea.

  In the middle of the dais sat a large chair, solid gold, its back in the shape of the body of an octopus. Eight golden tentacles, four on each side, curled and twisted around the chair. A purple velvet cushion rested on the seat, and the armrests were shaped like seals.

  This is a throne room, Maeve thought. The most amazing throne room she’d ever seen. But who was the ruler of this island?

  “Ah, there you are.” A woman’s voice spoke behind her, and Maeve whirled about. The woman was standing outside the golden doors, in the shadows where Maeve couldn’t see her face.

  Still, a word slipped from her mouth. “Mother.”

  With a jolt, Maeve woke and sat up in bed. Good goddesses! Mother? Why on Aerthlan had she said that? She breathed heavily for a moment, her gaze flitting about the room. She was still at the convent. Still in her old room.

  Thank the goddesses. But what a bizarre dream! Mother? After living twenty years without a mother, why would she dream of one now?

  She eased onto her feet, annoyed that her legs were shaking. Why was she having such strange dreams lately? Did the island in her dream actually exist? Could it be the one she was looking for, the Isle of Secrets?

  Calm yourself. She took a deep breath. No doubt her dream was nothing more than wishful thinking. She was so eager to discover another island that her imagination had cooked one up for her. And her dream had included the colors purple and green because the memory of the Telling Stones had been on her mind. That had to be it. Her Embraced gift was seal-shifting, not seeing the unknown.

  But why had her imagination placed her mother on the island? And in such a strange castle?

  She wandered over to the window and peered out at the familiar courtyard, the same courtyard she’d seen every day of her childhood. Just a dream, she reminded herself. She needed to shake it off and focus on reality.

  The sun was nearing the horizon; soon the two full moons would be rising. Hopefully, that
meant that soon she would be seeing Brody. He would probably arrive as a seal, but she would need to talk to him in human form so she could convince him to help her search for the Isle of Secrets. That meant she would need clothes for him. And food. Brody was always hungry whenever he became human.

  She rushed to the dining hall to pack a basket of food. Then she hurried to the storeroom where the sisters kept a variety of clothing for their charity work. As she picked out a pair of linen breeches and a shirt for Brody, she wondered if the old sailor, Lobby, had come for clothes. Back in her room, she wrapped up a towel and the men’s clothing in a blanket.

  The sisters didn’t expect her to attend the moonrise mass or midnight mass, since they all knew she had to shift into a seal on the night of the full moons. So none of them would think twice about her spending the entire night at the nearby beach.

  Her heart raced as she carried the bundled blanket and basket of food to the secluded beach. Even though she’d frolicked with Brody before in the ocean and the Ebe River, she’d always been in seal form, and he had always been a seal or river otter. Naturally, there had been no talking. They’d simply taken turns chasing each other or catching fish. He didn’t even realize that she knew it was he.

  But tonight would be different. Tonight, she would confront him as a human. And for the first time ever, she would be alone with the human Brody.

  Chapter 6

  The sun had set and the full moons were rising over the horizon by the time Brody winged his way to the Isle of Moon. He always arrived late whenever he came to play with Maeve, so she could have privacy while she shifted into a seal.

  Of course, as far as she knew, he was just another seal or an otter, so she wouldn’t think twice about disrobing and shifting in front of him. But damn, he’d spent too much of his life as an animal. He couldn’t trust himself to turn away during those few seconds when she was naked. Not when he knew she would be beautiful. Not when he longed to touch her. Hold her. Kiss—

  Stop! He put a screeching halt to those thoughts. She could never be his, not as long as he was cursed.

  So tonight, he had to remain aloof. No matter what she said or did, he had to remember that his sole purpose for this visit was to convince her to go back to Ebton. And that meant he would have to talk to her. As a human.

  Shit. She was going to know his secret now, that he had been the one coming to see her every month. And then she might rightly assume that he had feelings for her.

  He would have to convince her otherwise. Hell, he might even have to be rude. He had to do whatever it took to make her leave. Even if he ended up hurting her feelings. Dammit.

  He flew over the Isle of Moon, then began his descent toward the southern coast. The weathered stone buildings of the convent came into view. Beyond it, sharp cliffs gave way to a dark ocean dappled with silver sparkles from the rising twin moons. Just west of the convent lay Seal Cove and the secluded beach where Maeve had shifted for the first time at the age of sixteen.

  It had been painful for her, that first time. In seal form, he had waited behind a rocky outcropping, out of sight but not out of hearing. Her cries had nearly broken his heart. Even her sisters, who had accompanied her, had started crying. Her seal friends, gathered on a flat rock in the small bay, had barked their encouragement to her.

  Finally, the noise had faded away, and Brody had peeked around the rocks. Gwennore and Sorcha were alone on the beach, watching the ocean. With a splash, the seals dove into the water. Were they greeting Maeve? Had she completed her shift?

  He had swum toward them, wending his way through the crowd of seals until he saw her, beautiful, black, and sleek. He’d known instantly it was Maeve. He had circled around her, and she’d joined in, gliding closer and closer to him until their slick skins had brushed against each other.

  And with that one touch, he had known that his heart was lost. There could be no woman for him other than Maeve. But there could be no happy ending, either. Not with this curse. So he had resigned himself to the fate of enduring a lifelong unrequited love for her. At the same time, he couldn’t allow her to fall for him and suffer the same fate. So he had settled for seeing her once a month in disguise. That way, she would never know it was he. Never know how he truly felt.

  The noise of barking seals jerked him back to the present, and as he flew over Seal Cove, he spotted her, already in seal form, lounging on the flat rock with her friends. It looked like a happy reunion, with all the seals trying to talk to her at once.

  He landed on a nearby cliff and waited while their conversation went on and on. Whatever she was asking was certainly garnering some lengthy replies.

  Enough. Wasn’t he the one she was anxious to see?

  He took off and flew around the bend. Then he folded his wings and dove toward the water. Just before he hit the surface, he shifted into a seal.

  Splash. He swam into the cove and surfaced a few yards from the rock. The annoying seals were still talking to Maeve, monopolizing her time. It’s me she wants to see! But they didn’t hear him or notice him. He slapped the water’s surface with his fore-flipper, and while the water splashed around him, he gave a loud bark.

  Instantly, Maeve turned toward him. After giving a quick yip, she plunged into the water. His heart began to pound. She was hurrying to see him! She recognized him! You fool, she only recognizes the seal she used to play with. Not you.

  He sank into the water to watch her approach. Ah, Maeve. Even the way she moved was beautiful. Graceful. And sensual, as if she enjoyed the undulating motion of her body and the caress of water against her skin. She circled around him, and he rotated in the water, admiring the view as she came closer and closer. Close enough he could reach out a flipper to touch her.

  But he resisted. He wasn’t here to flirt with her. He was here to get rid of her.

  Then, to his surprise, she lunged toward him and pressed her nose against his.

  Was that a seal kiss? He gasped, a stupid thing to do underwater. Sputtering, he surfaced and gulped down some air.

  She surfaced beside him, her eyes glimmering with amusement in the moonlight. With a quick bark, she dove back underwater.

  Ah, she wants to play chase. He could do that. For a little while, until he had to seriously chase her off. He followed her as she swam around the flat-topped rock. Thank the goddesses, the other seals were staying put and not getting in the way. Of course, she might have asked them to do that. The thought made his heart squeeze. Did she want to be alone with him?

  Putting on a burst of speed, he gained on her. Just as he was about to catch up, she dove straight down, knocking him in the snout with her hind-flippers.

  Ouch. Well, two could play this game. He zoomed after her, diving at an angle so he could intercept her. He pulled in front, causing her to halt abruptly as she bumped into his side. He twisted, planning to press his nose against hers.

  With a fore-flipper, she slapped him.

  What the hell? He watched her swim toward the shore. Why would she kiss him, then seconds later, slap him? And why the hell was he even trying to kiss her? That was not the plan. He was supposed to be sending her back home.

  He shook himself mentally. That was the problem when dealing with a siren. With just one look, she could make him forget his plans. Forget all reason and wish for the impossible.

  Get a grip. He had to be strong. Resolute. Nerves of steel. A heart of stone.

  Oh, hell, she was shifting! Her hind-flippers morphed into feet, then her body split to form two beautiful long legs. His nerves of steel melted; his heart of stone crumbled. As the shift swept up her body, he had a glimpse of a sweetly curved bottom, rounded hips, narrow waist—

  He shot to the surface and, gasping for air, turned away from her. You fool. He’d been so obsessed with the dreaded revelation of his secret that he hadn’t realized how difficult it would be to talk to her once she returned to her human form. So close to him. And so naked.

  Distance, that’s what he neede
d. With a push from his hind-flippers, he moved slowly away from her.

  “Brody, I know it’s you.”

  He spun around. What?

  She was fully human and standing with the water up to her shoulders, her long black hair slicked back from her beautiful face. “I’ve always known it was you. Every month you came to see me, either as a seal or an otter.”

  She knew? In his shock, he forgot to tread water and promptly sank. Sputtering, he resurfaced and shifted. His feet found the sandy bottom, and he straightened to his full height, the water just below his shoulders.

  She knew his secret. He shoved his wet hair back, giving her a wary look. “How did you know?”

  Her mouth twitched. “It’s simple. I can mentally communicate with seals. But with you, I couldn’t.”

  He winced. Why hadn’t he realized that? You didn’t want to. You didn’t want a reason to stop seeing her.

  “And whenever you shifted into a river otter, you were far too large,” she continued with a grin. “You were as big as a sea otter—”

  “All right,” he gritted out. So he hadn’t fooled her for a minute. All this time, he’d been the fool, dammit. “You should’ve told me months ago.”

  Her smile vanished. “I couldn’t. I was afraid you would stop coming.”

  He clenched his fists underwater. She was right. He would’ve stopped. He had never wanted her to know how much he cared.

  She stepped toward him. “You’ve been missing for two months. Are you all right?”

  “Yes.” He reminded himself to be firm. “You’re wasting my time for idle chitchat?”

  Her expression flashed from concern to irritation. “Do you have any idea how worried everyone was? Where have you been?”

  He shrugged. “I was doing my job. Everyone understands that.” He gave her a pointed look. “Except you.”