Kingdom of Salt and Sirens

by J. A. Armitage

  She and Mara were very happy together. They danced often.

  Lady Prellae had a royal beach designated, where only the family treaded. The walls staked into the sand protected them from human view when Mara divded into the water and brought Amista back pieces of interesting coral and her favorite sea shells.

  Today, Queen Amista rules happily with her Princess Consort, Mara. Tigrids sing songs of their romance, a true rags to riches story.

  Mara doesn't steal any more souls.

  She's ‘good’ with the one she has.

  A Note from the Author

  Sign up for Jennifer Ellision’s newsletter to be notified about new releases as well as receive exclusive content and behind the scenes news. You’ll get a free story just for signing up!

  About the Author

  Bestselling and award-winning author Jennifer Ellision writes about daring young women in magical worlds. She survives on a steady diet of books, podcasts, and her favorite magical tropes. Jennifer frequently wakes up early to work before she has to “people” and can often be found squirreled away in her office, getting some writing done–or in her local library, agonizing over revisions.

  If all else fails, look under the covers. She’s probably hiding out with a good young adult fantasy series. You can find Jennifer on Facebook, Instagram, or her website, jenniferellision.com.

  Want more Mordgris?

  Want more Mordgris?

  Try the Lady Pirates series by Jennifer Ellision

  Book 1: Over Raging Tides

  A mythical map. A shipwrecked nobleman. And a pirate girl's quest for revenge.

  The pirate crew of the Lady Luck lives by many rules, but chief among them is this: they do not allow men on board.

  That’s a rule that first mate and quartermaster Grace Porter is willing to break when a shipwrecked young nobleman offers her information of an omniscient treasure map, stolen from his warship by an enemy vessel. Until now, the map was only the stuff of legend… but with its help, Grace may finally be able to hunt down the Mordgris, the sea monsters who stole her mother away from her.

  Unfortunately, some members of her crew have other plans...

  To find the magic map and face the Mordgris, Grace will have to confront her past, put the Luck between warring nations, and uncover treachery aboard the ship. And ultimately, her revenge and the destruction of the Mordgris will come at a hefty price: the betrayal of her crew.

  Grace promised them they wouldn’t regret this.

  She just isn’t sure that she won’t.

  This pages practically turn themselves in this YA pirates adventure novel that's perfect for fans of Daughter of the Pirate King, Seafire, and To Kill a Kingdom.

  1-click now to start your pirate adventure today!

  Balanced Scales by Laura Greenwood

  © 2019 Laura Greenwood

  * * *

  All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise – without prior written permission of the published, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the email address;

  lauragreenwood@authorlauragreenwood.co.uk.

  Visit Laura Greenwood’s website at:

  www.authorlauragreenwood.co.uk

  www.facebook.com/authorlauragreenwood/

  Balanced Scales is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  1

  A creaking sound took over the sea and I looked around frantically, trying to find the source. I needed to get further below the surface. I'd only just turned eighteen today and it was too soon for me to be this near the surface. No mermaid came this close until the day after their birthday. Not that I had any idea why. I just didn't want to make my Dad angry by staying here for too long.

  I turned to start swimming back home and deep enough that it could be called safety.

  Something fell past me and I flicked my tail, sending myself back through the water and away from the perceived danger.

  A moment later, things came into focus. A large piece of wood falling past me. I glanced back at the surface but wasn't able to make out what was going on through the bubbles churning through the waters. It was almost as if there was a struggle going on. Men versus the ocean. I knew which one would win. The same as always.

  A scream reached my ears, surprisingly clear despite the water. I had to admit my hearing was better than a human's, but that didn't mean it was easy to hear through so much space.

  Without thinking, I changed directions and headed back to the surface only to be pushed back by Shelbie's cold nose on my shoulder.

  "I'm sorry, I can't stop," I told her. "Now isn't play time."

  She shook her head, the dark beady eyes somehow telling me what I already knew, the surface was too dangerous for me. And yet, even now I wanted to help. Something was encouraging me, wanting me to reach out and touch the shipwreck happening in front of my eyes. It must be one of the tourist boats I'd seen from a distance. Most of the newer ones were a lot sturdier and made of metal. The biggest threat to them was barnacles.

  Which meant there were probably children on board. "I need to check everyone is okay," I told Shelbie.

  The seal sighed. Or at least, she did the closest thing to sighing I could imagine a seal doing. It was hard to tell what she was thinking or feeling a lot of the time. But now, she'd let me go. More than that, she'd swim by my side too. I knew Shelbie well enough to know she'd never abandon me. We'd been inseparable since we were born.

  The water grew lighter as I approached the surface, the sun warming it in a way we didn't experience down at the bottom. Though we also didn't need it, we'd evolved to be well insulated against the cold sea.

  Water cascaded down my face as I broke the surface, leaving my long hair lying in clumps around me. One of the disadvantages of living underwater was that my hair never got to look good. I'd seen plenty of pictures of humans that made me jealous of that.

  I looked over at the shipwreck, noticing a lifeboat full of humans already heading for the shore. I sighed in relief, that was something at least. I didn't want anyone to get hurt, especially not children. "It looks like they're all safe," I said to Shelbie as she popped above the waves with me.

  She squeaked and pointed her head in another direction. I followed her gaze, trying to find what she was looking at and hoping it wasn't anything serious.

  "Oh no." I dived back under the water and headed towards the man floating on debris. He needed help and everyone else already seemed to be gone. I was his only chance and there was no escaping that.

  I powered through the ocean, my tail was good for that. Checking on my progress, my head broke above the waves to check where he was. Straight ahead. A few more swishes of my tail should do it.

  I reached the piece of driftwood he was clinging to and steeled my courage. Now I was here, I wasn't too sure about the whole saving-someone thing. If I dared to admit it, I was almost nervous. What if I was too late? Or what if I wasn't and he didn't want help? It was a strange position to be in, knowing someone was between life and death.

  "Hi." I leaned on the driftwood too, hoping I didn't startle him too much and send him falling back into the water to drown. That would be counterproductive to my plan.

  "Hey." He coughed, water falling from his mouth.

  "Oh no, are you okay?" I had no idea what to do with a human near the brink of death. It was pretty frowned upon in mermaid society to even help a human.

  "I've been better. Were you on the boat? I don't recognise you?" His voice sounded smooth, almost like he hadn't just had a lungfu
l of water. I pushed that thought away. I still needed to save him. It didn't matter if he was a good man or a bad one. I had a duty of care to him.

  "No, I wasn't on the boat. They've left already," I responded.

  "Oh." He glanced away and my heart went out for him. It couldn't be nice to have been left behind like that.

  "But I can help you."

  "You can?" His eyes lit up, giving his face a more youthful edge than previously. It was interesting, I'd judged him as five or six years older than me but now I wasn't so sure.

  "Yes, but I need you to promise never to tell anyone how."

  He nodded. "Anything, if you can help me."

  "I can. I'm going to swim around to your side and then I need you to grab hold of me and not let go."

  He nodded again.

  Letting go of the driftwood, I dived back below the water and swam underneath, eager to get to the other side and help him.

  The man flinched slightly when I popped back up but that didn't stop him from putting his arms around me. Certain he wasn't going to fall off, I set off for a hidden cove I'd heard about from my sister. I'd never visited before. I'd never even been above the surface this close to the city before, but I knew where it was and that it was hidden from view. There wasn't any safer place to leave an abandoned human and hope he managed to find his way back.

  He didn't say a word as we swam. I didn't blame him. Even if he hadn't worked out what I was yet, the whole situation was a little bit messed up. He'd been abandoned by his own kind and saved by a woman he didn't know and had never seen before. A beautiful one at that. I wasn't going to deny how I looked. It was impossible to when my entire race was created to be beautiful and alluring for no apparent reason. The old tales suggested we used to trap humans with our charms, but I found that unlikely. We weren't a violent race.

  The man grew heavier as we approached the shore, his weight threatening to drag me down. That wouldn't be a problem for me, but I suspected things would go very wrong if he spent too long beneath the surface. A weight lifted and I smiled to myself, realising Shelbie must be giving me a helping hand. Or head more like. I didn't look down, it would be too dangerous too, but I'd make sure I thanked her properly later.

  With the shore just feet away, I flicked my tail a little harder, moving the two of us through the water with ease. I'd been careful up until now, not wanting to wear myself out before he was in sight of safety. But even as weak as he was, he should be able to make it to the shore without me if he needed to.

  My free hand landed on the soft stone and I sighed with relief. We'd made it. He was safe. I hoisted him out of the water, grateful when he grabbed hold of one of the boulders and pulled himself up. The man got to his feet a little shakily. He held out his hand and I shook my head.

  "I can't come with you," I whispered, unsure how much I wanted to admit to him. I might have just saved his life but I wasn't an idiot. I didn't know how much the people on land knew about mermaids, and on the off chance it wasn't much, I didn't want to get caught.

  "Why not?"

  "The sea is my home," I replied.

  "That's not possible."

  Realising there wasn't any other way to convince him, I did the only thing I could think of and flicked my tail above the waves.

  He gasped. "You're a mermaid."

  "Yes." The moment the whispered word left my lips a sharp pain engulfed me. It ripped through my tail and up to where my heart was. Black spots swam across my eyes, blinding me from what was going on. All I knew was pain. I clutched at my chest, trying to stop whatever was happening. Something warm slipped through my fingers just as everything went black.

  2

  Everything came back slowly. I could hear other mer around me even if I couldn't see them.

  "Mari, what did I tell you about going to the surface?"

  Pain zinged through me at my father's words. I hadn't meant to ignore his advice. And the resignation in his voice didn't make me feel any better. I almost wished he was angry. Then maybe I could work out a way to remind him I hadn't done what I did on purpose. I didn't want to destroy the secrecy surrounding mer.

  I tried to force my eyes open but didn't get very far. A moan of pain slipping through my lips.

  "You can't force it, Mari. You'll wake up soon," he promised, a comforting hand stroking my forehead. Dad had a way of making me feel safer than anyone. It was one of the most amazing things about him. He knew how to comfort.

  I tried blinking again, this time managing to let a slither of light in. "I'm alive?" I croaked. Despite being aware of my surroundings, that fact still kind of surprised me. The pain I'd felt while falling through the sea had been unlike anything I'd ever imagined and death was the only thing I could think it went with.

  "You are. But you're not the same," Dad said softly.

  "What do you mean?" My voice sounded a little bit stronger and my eyes finally managing to open.

  I frowned, I was in my room. Dad sat next to me, and Shelbie curled up at the end of the bed, right next to my tail. I worried about her, she'd need to go up for air soon and I knew she'd push it too far while I'd been unconscious.

  Dad sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "How to tell you this..."

  A stone dropped in my stomach. What could be so bad that Dad didn't even have a way to explain it without thinking about it first.

  "You don't have a soul anymore."

  My mouth fell open. "What?" I demanded.

  "You don't have a soul anymore, Mari. It was taken from you. The ripping, the pain, that's what it was."

  "How is that even possible?" I tried to make sense of what he was saying but got nowhere.

  "It's a curse that was put on the mer long ago. If we go to the surface on the day of our eighteenth birthdays, or even before, then a human can steal our soul."

  "Why would they even want to do that?" I asked, trying not to overthink about the human man I'd saved from the sea. I'd been a fool. He hadn't seemed like the type to hurt someone.

  "I'm not sure. Maybe it isn't purposeful? All they have to do is get us to admit we're mer and then they can take our souls. I'm not sure what they do with them. Or even if they do anything, but that's what happens."

  I pressed my hand to my heart, trying to work out if I was any different for missing such an important part of myself. On the surface, I thought not, but if I looked deeper, then maybe. Not in an obvious way, more in a slightly uncomfortable-there's-definitely-something-missing way.

  "How many..."

  "Hundreds. At least half of the mer here have had their souls taken. A lot in the older generations too. We don’t know how to stop the curse." Dad looked away, heartbreak in his eyes.

  "I'm sorry, Dad," I whispered. "Someone was dying. I had to save them."

  His eyes filled with compassion. "You're the person I raised you to be if that's the case. Know I don't love you any less for lacking a soul."

  "Thank you," I whispered, a tear threatening at the corner of my eye. I pushed it back. I was in this position because of myself. I was just lucky it wasn't going to affect too much in my life. "What do I do now?" I asked.

  "Nothing," he replied. "You just go on living your life as normal and don't tell anyone."

  "And that's all that happens when you don't have a soul?"

  He shifted uncomfortably. "No," he whispered, barely forming the word. "You won't be able to pass on to a better place if you don't have a soul. You'll be stuck between the heavens and the sea for all eternity, unable to take your place in either. Unable to interact with anyone."

  "Ah." I tried to make sense of that but knew it would take more time for it to truly sink in and for me to know what to do with it. In some respects, it almost made no sense for me to go about my life. Not when it wouldn't make any difference to the outcome at the end. But I knew there was more to being a good person than that.

  "We'll do everything possible to make life normal for you," Dad promised.

  "I know." I paused fo
r a moment, almost too scared to voice the question that was spinning around in my head. "Will anyone else be able to tell I don't have a soul?"

  "No. They won't know unless they witnessed what happened today, or you tell them. There's only one person who can divine whether or not a mer has their soul still and she lives away from the rest of us."

  I frowned again and tried to sit up, only for Dad to push me back down again. I hadn't realised anyone lived away from the main city. Most mer never left, some never even going up as far as the surface, though I knew most made at least one trip before deciding it wasn't for them.

  "Who?"

  "She calls herself the sea witch, but she's nothing of the sort. She's just another mer who didn't want to live here anymore." There was something else there. Something he wasn't telling me, and from the sad note in his voice, he wasn't going to tell me.

  But that was okay. Dad couldn't be the only mer in the city who knew about this sea witch. I'd discover more about her and then do everything I could to find her. If she could tell whether or not a mer still held their soul, then maybe she knew how I could get mine back.

  I didn't want to go through life knowing I was cursed at the end of it, and if this was the only way I could avoid that, then it was the path I was going to take.

  3

  It took me most of the day to find the cave where the sea witch was supposed to live. This was probably not my best idea, but it was the only one I had. Dad hadn't wanted to even tell me where she was, even though he was the one who told me she existed. I didn't understand, but that was a problem for another day. It wasn't like my fate could get any worse now. Lucky for me, he wasn't the only mer who knew where the sea witch lived, and I'd soon found myself in possession of the information I needed. Maybe I should feel guilty about that, but my soul was more important at this time.