by Bethany-Kris
Eryx breathed in the scent of the sea as he followed.
• • •
Apparently, the mermaid hunter did the majority of his planning in a fucking fishing shack. Eryx could easily think of a hundred other places the man could do his business that wouldn’t smell as rancid as this building did, but he kept his mouth shut as a few scattered items were shoved sideways on a large slab of flat rock without care. Just as quickly, a map was unrolled across the surface and iron candle holders placed to the four corners to hold it in place.
“Here,” Corval said, his finger dragging along the band of Atlas Islands on the map, “is where it’s most dangerous for us to hunt because of the constantly changing water levels, and what’s beneath the surface that we often can’t see until it’s too late. Sunken ships, structures that were once on parts of the island. A bit of coral reef, and in some areas, very shallow water.”
“But?” Eryx asked.
Because of course, he could hear that unspoken word.
“This is also where we tend to find a lot of them. Hunting, living … whatever the case may be. It seems a good portion of their people use these islands as a safe haven for their activities. But without getting close enough, it makes a hunt difficult.”
“Yet, you said you catch a lot from there.”
“Exactly—from there, Prince.”
If there was anything he hated, it was word games.
Who had time for that?
“The point, if you wouldn’t mind,” Eryx said dryly.
“Right,” Corval replied, placing his hands flat to the map and meeting Eryx’s gaze. “We’ve found our hunts are more successful when we sacrifice a catch from the previous hunt to use to draw them out.”
That was interesting.
“How?”
In the corner of the room, Mattue seemed more interested in whatever scroll he’d unrolled to look over in his hands. Eryx didn’t care for the man’s distraction when they were trying to do business. At the same time, he liked it more when the man let him do the talking.
Win some, lose some.
“Different ways,” Corval explained, shrugging his broad shoulders. “But typically, their calls will draw the mermaids out.”
“Their calls.”
It wasn’t even a question.
Corval tipped his chin down in agreement. “Yes. They seem to recognize familial calls … maybe it’s the magic in their blood or just a thing about their species. You’ve heard of the thrall, haven’t you?”
Eryx cleared his throat. “When they bleed, you mean?”
“That, yes.”
“Heard of it, of course. Everyone has heard the stories of when a mermaid bleeds. Never been close enough to one when they bleed to experience it myself, however.”
Corval raised his brow at Eryx’x reply. “Everything you’ve ever heard—believe it and then some. When the creatures bleed, even the air feels like it changes.”
Huh.
“I tend to think,” the man continued, “that their blood calls to their kind, too, but I’ve not been able to prove it. It would certainly add a lot to the hunts, if I figured out exactly how to use it properly.”
“I bet.”
And Eryx didn’t care at all unless it would bring in his mermaid.
“Back to the hunts I’m funding,” Eryx said, pointing at the map before going back to his same, stoic posture with his hands folded at his middle. “And how this relates to that, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Right, well … they’re getting smarter, and trickier. Even this season’s hunts have only brought in a small handful at most with each trip.”
“More dangerous as well?”
Corval grunted under his breath. “That, too, yes.”
Of course.
It would be stupid to think the merpeople would simply allow their kind to continue to be hunted without adapting to the situation in whatever way they could. Undoubtedly, one of those ways would be to fight back.
“We’ll pull a male from the latest catch for the next two hunts,” Corval explained, “and use him to draw in whatever others we can. The season isn’t over yet, Prince, and we still may catch your mermaid before the storms return.”
That was his hope, too.
Not that he cared to admit it out loud.
Through the window of the shack where the shutters had been opened wide to overlook the sea, Eryx stared at the rather calm waters. The smell of the sea was still thick in the air, and he swore the scent alone was enough to have his neck pulsing with the beats of his heart. Ever since that night in the water, he’d become acutely aware of his closed gills and just how often they liked to make themselves known.
Sometimes, he even craved the sea.
Not that he understood why.
Before he could properly consider the snap decision that floated through his mind, he said, “I would like to join some of the final hunts this season.”
That had Mattue finally forgetting the scroll in his hands so that he could join the conversation. “Prince, I don’t believe that to be a wise decision. It would mean going out on the ships when we’re close to the season and storms arrive without warning. Should the king find out—”
“You’ll make sure he doesn’t.”
“Eryx.”
Ah, his name this time.
He gave Mattue a look. “I’ll join the hunts.”
Mattue didn’t reply.
That was that.
SEVEN
Arelle
“FATHER—”
“Poe, I have discussed this far more than I wanted to. You know my opinion on the matter, and it will not change simply because it is your mate. Your mate is not any more or less important than anyone else in this colony.”
Her father and sister’s exchange had the rest of the merpeople in the throne room quieting instantly. The change in the air was palpable, and Arelle could sense it without even needing to look at the two. Still, she peeked up from the infant in her arms, if only to see if she might need to step in to calm the situation down.
Although, could she really?
Likely not.
Poe stood in the middle of the room. Exactly where their father had demanded she stand while addressing him. Except now, her sister’s body leaned forward a bit while she did little to nothing to hide the contempt and pain coloring her features.
On her father’s side, King Zale sat unbothered on his throne. With a face made of what seemed like stone, he was unmoved by his child’s plight. Perhaps Poe’s place as his favorite made her sister forget that at the end of the day, their father only really ever cared about one thing. He made it seem like that thing was his people, when really it was only himself.
Arelle had learned that already.
It was a shame her sister learned this way.
“But—”
Zale held up a hand, silencing Poe instantly. “I have made my decision.”
“He is my mate! The father of my child!”
At the rising voice, the baby in Arelle’s arms perked. The tiny girl’s eyes fluttered open, still so new in her life under the sea that she had a hard time focusing her sights on any one thing in particular unless it was close to her. So, when her pretty violet eyes landed on Arelle, a comforting sight to her, as she was used to her kin, the girl settled. Her tail had wrapped around Arelle’s arm the same way it did for her mother whenever they swam or traveled. It was a baby’s way of staying attached to its mother until it came time to learn to swim. And even then, their young never went too far.
“And his error in judgment is something he will have to suffer for,” the king finally replied to her sister. “Because the rest of us will not also suffer for the results of his stupidity, Poe. I won’t do what you want. That’s the end of it. It’s settled.”
Arelle let out a sigh.
Not a happy one, though.
This couldn’t be happy.
The soft clearing of a throat drew Arelle’s attention to the woma
n perched at the floor near Zale’s tail fin. It was strange to see their mother outside of her private chambers within the palace, considering how rare it seemed to be for that to happen. Their father liked to keep her locked away where no one could touch her, and she had no opinions to share.
Both things that terrified him.
Funny how that worked.
Which was also why, when her mother did get to come out and spend time around the rest of her people, Zale made Rosel sit at his feet like a pet. As if she were an octopus or sea snake he’d trained to behave a certain way, sweetly entertaining while also mindful of her presence. Or rather, lack of it when the moment demanded it from the king’s wife.
She should be a queen.
Instead, this is how she lived her life.
Arelle often wondered how their people viewed her mother—a woman meant to be their queen—but she had learned that it wasn’t her place. Everything went far smoother in her father’s kingdom when everyone stayed in their respective positions without argument.
That didn’t mean they liked it.
“You could send out the guard to ch—”
“Hush,” Zale hissed, his reprimand swift and sharp for the woman sitting beneath him. And just like that, Arelle watched as her mother’s expression reverted back to a statue’s, with no soul and no life to her eyes. A sad thing, really.
Shameful.
Just as fast, Zale’s attention went back to his daughter in the middle of the room. Poe still looked ready to kill, but Arelle knew this discussion was over. It had been over before it’d ever really began.
Nothing ever changed in the Blu Sea. Determined to stay the same, she was sure they would all die for it, too.
“Do you still hear your mate?” Zale asked.
Poe swallowed hard. “I do, but—”
“Then, perhaps he will find his way back.”
“He went hunting two weeks ago.”
“And according to the mermen from the party who returned, he went too far past the islands. Chasing a creature, from what I understand. How many times did I tell Tak that he needed to put his enjoyments aside and take his proper place beside you—a princess? Many times, Poe. This was his mistake, and I will not sacrifice who knows how many of my guards on the chance of returning him to you. Give it time. You’ll find a companion, and your child will have someone to help raise her.”
“But he’s my mate. You know that’s not possible for me now.”
It was the ache in her sister’s voice that had Arelle holding a little tighter to the baby in her arms. The girl had yet to be given a name, which wasn’t uncommon in their sea. Typically, around their first year … a name would be chosen for the little ones born during the end of the last season of storms.
So far, her sister hadn’t picked one for her child.
However, as Arelle stared down at the baby girl … well, she couldn’t help but feel the pang of sadness echoing in her chest. Things had not been good with her sister ever since she had been made to suffer through confinement for Poe’s lies and manipulation, but they had gotten better after the baby had been born. Her sister, like any other merwoman, depended on the help of her kin after a birth and Arelle couldn’t have refused.
Because of the baby.
So, without needing to be told, she knew very well how painful this was to Poe. Not just because she was left with a child that now had a father who was missing, but also because the two were a mated pair. That was for life. Those bonds would never be broken even after death. Her sister would never properly mate again.
A companion was one thing. A mate … quite another. If the man was dead, then eventually, her sister would follow to meet the same fate. The only thing that would hold back a mermaid from doing exactly that was their young.
“If the landwalkers caught him,” their father continued, “then there is nothing I can or will do. That is my final decision on the matter, Poe. The rest of us still need to live safely and he, better than anyone, knew that before he went out with the party.”
“Your guard never leaves the colony! How does that even keep us safe? It doesn’t. It keeps you safe, and the rest of us are just left to figure it out on our own.”
Poe’s outburst had their father rising from his throne with the grace of a king, but the slowness of a predator. The same way the sharks cut through the water, going directly for the kill, their father’s movements were the same.
Arelle recognized the danger quickly.
She was not so sure Poe did.
Then again, this was about the woman’s mate. That couldn’t be forgotten, and she thought … their father should have known that, too. Instead, he felt like making an example out of his child, the same way he’d done with Arelle the season before.
Shocking.
Except it wasn’t shocking at all.
“What did you just say to me?” Zale hissed. “Or did you forget who sits on this throne?”
Poe tipped her chin up. “That throne will be mine someday. You seem to forget that, Father.”
“Not for a hundred seasons or more. And what will you do until then?”
Arelle’s hold tightened around the baby cradled in her arm. And for the first time, she dared to speak if only to remind Poe that she had other priorities to consider here. “Poe—”
That was all she got out.
As fast as the conversation turned bad, it just as quickly ended with her sister pivoting on her tail and leaving the room. Without permission, and with no expectation of decorum from anyone else in the room at her exit.
Arelle let out a shaky exhale.
Her father’s harsh stare turned on her. “Follow her. Remind her of her place—what we all expect, Arelle.”
“You could try—”
“I can and will do nothing. The maiden will take the child. It’ll give your sister time to think clearly without her infant squawking every moment.”
No, it wouldn’t.
She knew better than to argue.
Arelle handed off the baby, who cried loudly when they unfurled her tail from around her aunt’s arm. She didn’t like the maidens who were charged with looking after her. Not because they treated her badly, but rather … she knew they weren’t her family.
Moving to follow the same path her sister had taken, Arelle only hesitated when her father’s voice rang out from behind her when he said, “As for you, Arelle, we’ve not finished our discussion about your mating. Soon, Mav will arrive with his traveling party from the Emerald Lands. It’ll have been a long and tiring trip, so I, of course, expect you to be on your best behavior. We’ll resume the discussion of what will happen after his arrival when everything else calms down.”
“I—”
Glancing over her shoulder, Arelle’s words quickly cut off at the sight of her father’s arched eyebrow.
She wanted to refuse.
How could she take a mate now?
After everything?
She only needed to witness her sister’s pain at having lost her mate—even if right now, it was only the belief that her mate wouldn’t return—for Arelle to know she never wanted that. But wasn’t that half the problem?
If one took a mate … one could lose a mate.
Arelle didn’t know Mav. Only the stories she had heard about him from others, but that made no difference to her. If she never mated, then the pain she watched her sister suffer through day and night wouldn’t someday become her own.
“Well?” her father demanded when he resumed his position on his throne.
She shivered.
Just say what he wants to hear, Arelle.
“Yes, Father.”
• • •
“Poe! Poe, wait!”
It seemed like the louder Arelle called for her sister, the faster Poe swam through the colony. Not that she blamed her or anything. She simply picked up the pace, determined to catch up and let her sister know that things would—somehow—be okay.
Surely.
H
er fast pace cutting through the water had her guards trailing far behind, but the men didn’t seem to mind. They likely assumed the women would head to Poe’s grotto at the islands, because that’s what Arelle thought, too.
It was the direction Poe went, after all.
The problem was her sister didn’t stop at the islands. At first, Arelle thought Poe was just burning off some energy. Maybe she was even taking a moment to truly be alone. Or perhaps she felt her grotto was too tied to her mate; everything inside had been his just as much as it had been hers, after all.
However, Arelle quickly realized that her sister wasn’t even just swimming along the safe boundary lines of Atlas Islands. She kept going. Past the islands, out into the raging sea where a school of blue fish scattered at the oncoming mermaid, and straight toward the forbidden.
“Princess Poe!”
It was only the distant shout of the guards trailing Arelle that reminded her they were still behind the two sisters. Their decision to keep a distance had not been to their benefit because she knew the men had been ordered to forcibly bring back anyone if they went past the boundaries the king set forth for his people. If they didn’t have permission to go beyond the islands, then they could expect punishment for breaking the rules.
With the men so far behind her—Arelle checked again, seeing that they had picked up their speed a bit—it gave her the chance to still follow her sister. One of their duties was to ensure the women never went beyond the boundaries, and if either Arelle or Poe did, to bring them back. She doubted they would go so far beyond it that it threatened even their own lives.
It took her a second.
She hesitated on the decision …
If only because they all knew the landwalkers were still hunting them day in and day out. Not to mention, the punishments she had witnessed others in their colony suffer through for disobeying the king were enough to make her want to be careful. Not that her confinement had been particularly easy to get through when their kind was always happier and stronger when they stuck together.
“Princess Arelle—return to the colony immediately!”
She didn’t bother to even answer the call at her back. Instead, she followed after her sister, cutting through the water as fast as she could go without thinking about what would happen when they returned to the colony. The guards would only follow so far, and they were already so far behind she didn’t think they would catch up before they lost them entirely.
