by Dee J. Stone
He keeps quiet. He probably doesn’t know what to say.
“I guess…” I start. “I guess…”
“No. We shall not say goodbye.”
I touch his cheek. “What can we do? I won’t let you risk your life.”
“He is but one human.”
“But if he gives it to news stations or posts it online…I need to talk to him tomorrow. I need to convince him not to tell anyone.”
He caresses my cheek. “Do you think he will listen to you?”
I think back to our encounter. Kyle was so determined to inform the world that merpeople live in the ocean. But he also admitted that he loved me once. That has to count for something. I’m the only one who can save Damarian now. I need to try to talk some sense into Kyle.
Damarian squeezes me close to his chest and kisses my temple. “I cannot bear the thought of parting with you.”
I lock my arms around his neck. “Me, either.”
“We shall meet tomorrow night,” Damarian says. “Wait for me on the rocks. If I do not see you in the distance, it is a sign that it is not safe to come to land.”
“Okay.” I pull back and look into his eyes. “This is crazy, Damarian. We’re risking your life. The lives of your people. I can’t make you do this.”
“My love for you surpasses all.”
“Let’s wait a few days. Maybe a week.”
He lays his head against mine. “I wish to be with you now. I cannot bear being apart.” His hand runs up and down my back. “I see the way you tremble. The sea is not for you. I must come on land.”
He has so much love for me that he’s willing to risk everything just to be with me. Tears enter my eyes. No one has ever cared for me as much as he does. For his own sake and for the sake of his people, I need to end things with him. The secret of the merpeople ends here. I won’t come to the beach tomorrow night. I won’t wait for him. Not tomorrow night, not the night after, or the night after.
I press my lips to his. “I love you.”
“I have never loved anyone as I love you.”
I bite down on my lip so I don’t cry. This is goodbye. I’ll never see him again.
“You must return to land,” he says.
I ride him piggyback again. He brings us out of the cave and toward shore. I see the docks in the distance and tell Damarian to drop me off a few feet away, far enough where I can swim and far enough where no one will see him.
“Tomorrow night,” he says.
I lean forward and kiss him like I’ve never kissed him before. He’s about to pull me closer, but I swim away. I don’t look back, because I know I’ll lose all my nerve.
When I reach the docks, I use all my energy to climb up. I glance back, but I don’t see him. Tears run down my cheeks. “Goodbye, Damarian,” I whisper.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I down the blended fruit like it’s my alcohol. Leah watches me, concern floating in her eyes.
“Kyle’s a jerk,” I mutter.
“No, shit.”
I slide my empty smoothie cup toward her and nod. She refills it.
Every other minute, I find myself about to grab Damarian’s hand and fasten my fingers through his. Then the realization dawns on me. The disappointment overwhelms me. Damarian’s not here. He never will be again.
“Wait a second…” Leah’s eyes are locked on the entrance to Misty’s Juice Bar. I follow her gaze, but don’t see anything.
She unties her apron and throws it onto the counter. Then she marches to the door.
“Leah?” I call, bolting after her. That’s when I see him, standing near the tide with his surfboard and chatting with his buddies. Kyle.
“I’m going to give it to him.”
I try to grab Leah’s hand, but all I get is air. She charges toward him like a pissed-off bull. I hurry after her. She’ll punch him. I know she will.
I finally catch up to her. “Don’t get involved.”
“Jackass,” she mutters, not stopping.
“I can handle it. You don’t have to protect me.”
My words zoom past her ears. Kyle’s eyes flit in our direction. He looks surprised, then smug. Forget Leah—I’ll punch him myself.
She stands before him, hands on her hips. “You have some nerve,” she snarls.
Kyle tells his buddies he’ll catch up with them later. Once they leave, his gaze moves lazily over my face. “Hey, Cass.”
I narrow my eyes.
“Who do you think you are?” Leah yells.
Kyle crosses his arms over his chest, smirking. “Are you her bodyguard?”
Her nostrils flare. “Only when she’s around creeps like you.”
His lips lift in another smirk. “Ah, I gather you know about her secret boyfish.” He shrugs. “I’m not surprised. You don’t keep anything from each other.”
Leah’s hands fist at her sides. “I’ve never really liked you.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. Because I’ve never really liked you, either.”
They glare at each other.
“Please don’t do it,” I plead, hoping he’ll have the heart to listen to me. “You have no idea what he means to me. Kyle, please.”
I can see the sympathy on his face, but it vanishes a second later. “Don’t tell me you’re sleeping with him?”
Gritting my teeth, I fist my own hands.
His nose twitches. “That’s disgusting.”
I lunge at him, but Leah’s arms come around me. I kick the sand, throwing some on Kyle’s feet. He steps back, holding out his hands. There’s no denying the satisfied grin on his lips.
Leah moves closer until her face is in his, their noses only a centimeter apart. “If you hurt Cassie, I will ruin you. I will crush you. You will curse the day you took your first breath on this world.”
I blink at Leah. I’ve never seen her this way, and I have to admit she’s pretty scary.
Kyle rolls his eyes. He grabs his surfboard and runs into the water.
Leah folds her arms over her chest. “He won’t tell anyone.”
I raise an eyebrow. “How can you be so sure?”
She sighs. “He cares about you. Even though he’s being a dick about the whole thing, it’s obvious he doesn’t want to hurt you.”
“Then why is he being such a jerk?”
“I don’t know.”
***
At three AM, my mind forces my body to wake up. Pulling my blanket up to my chin, I order my eyes to shut, blocking the ache nestled in the pit of my stomach. Damarian. My mind, body, and soul yearn for him. My heart cries at the thought of him waiting for me day after day. I know it’s for the best, but it hurts so much. And I miss him. Oh, how I miss him.
My hand touches the empty space near me, the space that was occupied by my merman only a night ago. “Damarian,” I moan, my fingers running across the bed.
***
A few days have passed since I ended things with Damarian. I’ve spent a lot of time with my father and even met his wife and kids. They’re not too bad. I’m not promising we’ll get along great and be one big happy family, but I’m glad to have the opportunity to get to know them. Now that I don’t have Damarian, a void has grown in my heart, sucking out most of the joy of life.
I finger the sand castle left over by a kid. What I’d give to be a kid again—pre-divorce. To not have any worries on my head. No heartache. Relationships suck. Either you fall for a guy who stomps on your heart or you meet the right guy, the guy of your dreams, but you can’t be with him.
A shadow looms over me. I raise my head, expecting to see Damarian, hoping to see him, but it’s Uncle Jim. He slowly lowers himself near me. “I’ve noticed you’ve been down these past couple of days.”
I don’t say anything, just wring my hands in my lap.
“The kids love you,” he continues. “I don’t know what I’ll do when you leave for college.”
A few days ago, I contemplated dropping by the community college and asking for a
n application. I wanted to stay close to the sea. For Damarian. But now that we’re over, Texas is still on. Life continues.
Uncle Jim pats my shoulder. “You’re gifted with kids. Got any ideas what you’re going to major in?”
I shrug. My mind and heart are still reeling from my breakup with Damarian. I can’t even think about college right now.
“Consider being a teacher,” Uncle Jim says. “You’d love it.”
I nod absentmindedly. I need to move on with my life and not let my breakup crush me. I know that. Maybe one day.
“Cassie?”
That voice. That ocean scent. My head shoots up. He’s standing before me, dressed in tan shorts. I stare up at him, surprise, shock, delight, and guilt flowing through my bloodstream.
Uncle Jim pats my shoulder again. “I’ll talk to you later.”
As soon as he’s gone, I clamber to my feet. My eyes soak him in, every inch of him. His golden hair, his mesmerizing blue eyes, his broad shoulders and strong legs. “What are you doing here?”
“You did not wait for me.”
The betrayal in his eyes is so strong I fear it might leap out of him and wrap around me, squeezing me to death.
I swallow the guilt. All I want is to jump into his arms and hold him close, crush my lips to his and tell him how much I love him and that nothing could ever keep us apart.
“I’m so sorry, Damarian,” I whisper.
He takes a step forward, prompting me to step back. “Please, Cassie. Do not abandon me. You are my Cassie. How I love you so.”
The tears come. I shake my head, forcing them at bay. “This is already hard. Don’t make it any harder. You belong in the ocean. It’s not safe for you on land.”
Tears enter his eyes. My heart stings and is so heavy I feel my body is going to collapse into a pile of rubble. “No,” he says, the tears surging down his cheeks. “I will not accept this.”
“Look who washed up on shore,” a voice says from behind me. I spin around. Kyle.
My body fills with rage. I can’t believe I once loved this guy.
His eyes travel between Damarian and me. “I’m sensing a bit of tension.”
I want to yell the most bitter, angry yell I’ve ever shouted in my life. I want to slap him across the face.
Damarian’s chest expands. A hiss escapes his lips. It looks like steam’s about to shoot out of his ears. He takes a step forward, glaring at Kyle. “You are the cause of this.”
Kyle moves back. He spreads his arms out and raises them over his head, bringing them together, like he’s about to dive. He keeps his arms like that and lowers his head. “Forgive me, Damarian, my king.”
My mouth drops and my heart lurches. His name. How can he know Damarian’s real name? And why did he call him “my king?”
A relieved laugh brews at the base of my throat. Kyle’s just being a jerk and screwing around.
But as I take one look at Damarian, my body grows cold. He’s staring at Kyle as though he’s pointing a gun at his face.
Kyle lifts his head, but his hands are still in the air. Like in submission.
Damarian is still staring at Kyle, a horrified look on his face. “Who are you?”
Dropping his head again, Kyle says, “Kyler, of the Emerald clan.”
Damarian moves his mouth, but no sound comes out. His eyebrows crease.
I gape at the two of them. Kyler of the Emerald clan? As in the merpeople Emerald clan?
Damarian finally finds his voice. “The one who was banished twenty four moons past?”
“The very same.”
A breath breaks out of Damarian’s mouth.
“You’re…you’re a merman, too?” I ask.
He grins. “Funny, isn’t it? The only guys you’ve slept with are fish.”
Damarian advances toward him. “Do not speak to Cassie in such a manner.”
Kyle bows his head once again. “Forgive me, my king.”
“Why does he call you his king, Damarian?” I demand.
Kyle’s eyebrows lift. “She doesn’t know?”
Damarian purses his lips, glaring at Kyle.
“Damarian?” I ask.
He won’t meet my gaze. My heart tears open. Stabs of betrayal prick every inch of my skin. Is this the thing he’s been holding back from me? That he’s the king of the merpeople? But how could he be when he spends so much time here?
Seeing I won’t get answers from Damarian, I turn to Kyle. “You’re human. You’re always in the water, and you’ve never grown a tail or gills.”
He presses his lips together. “I’m banished.”
“What’s banished mean?”
He clenches his jaw. “Two years ago, I fell in love with a human girl. I thought I could speak to my king. I thought he’d understand me.” His eyes blaze with fury. “He stripped me of my tail and banished me to live on land, never to enter the ocean as a child of the sea. I couldn’t see my family, my friends, my home. I could never have my tail again.” His rage-filled gaze goes from me to Damarian, then back at me. “Do you have any idea what that feels like? To be banished from the only life you’ve ever known?”
His eyes flash to Damarian. Damarian lowers his gaze to the sand. Is he claiming Damarian banished him? I can’t believe he’d do something like that.
“At least I had the girl I loved,” Kyle continues. “Or so I thought.” He laughs bitterly. “She dumped me the minute she discovered I no longer had my tail and fin.” His lower lip quivers. “I was alone. Completely alone. I had to learn how to live as a human, without help from anyone.”
We’re all silent. I just stare at him, not believing what I’m hearing. Damarian’s face is expressionless.
Kyle’s eyes burn at him. “And you. You’ve been seeing a human girl for weeks. Yet you’re not banished. What is it? Does King Palaemon favor you over the many other children of the sea?”
So Damarian is not the king? I’m so confused.
Damarian waves his hands toward Kyle, as if telling him to shut up this instant.
Kyle’s mouth widens as he looks at Damarian. “She doesn’t know, does she? You haven’t told her.” He laughs bitterly again. “Of course you haven’t told her.”
My eyes move from one to the other. “Told me what?”
“Tell her how the crown rightfully belongs to the Sapphire clan, to your family. Tell her how you are the true heir to the throne. That you are betrothed to Princess Flora and will become the rightful king.”
My heart pumps ice throughout my body. The world spins. “Betrothed?” I croak.
Damarian’s eyes fill with pain. “Cassie…”
“What is he talking about?” I ask, my voice rising an octave. “You’re engaged?”
He shuts his eyes, letting out a breath. When he opens them, they are filled with tears. “Yes, Cassie,” he says, his voice defeated. “I am to take the throne. I am indeed betrothed to Princess Flora, daughter of King Palaemon. Since I was a fry.”
“To unite the five clans under one crown,” Kyle says. “To return the kingdom to the rightful heir.”
Tears burst out of my eyes. I shove Damarian. “How could you?” I shove again. “I trusted you! You’re engaged—you’re going to get married and rule the merpeople. You never intended to have a future with me.” I shove a third time. He just stands still, the pain in his eyes magnified by a million. “What have you been doing with me? Was I your distraction? Your bachelor party before you settle down and rule your people? You said you wouldn’t hurt me. You said you’d never, ever hurt me.”
He makes a move to take my hand or touch me, softly saying, “Cassie,” but I shove him another time. “I never want to see you again. Go back to the ocean. Don’t ever come out. I don’t want to ever lay eyes on you!”
I turn around and run.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Leah rubs my back. I’m lying flat on my bed, my face smashed in the pillow. It’s hard to breathe this way, but I don’t really care.
My heart is bleeding into my lungs, my liver, my intestines, and the rest of my organs. My head pounds so hard it feels like it’s going to explode into ashes.
He lied to me. He made me open up, made me bare my heart, my soul, my everything. Then he took a hammer and smashed me to bits.
“It’ll be okay,” Leah says. “You’ll get through this.”
“Why do I let this happen to me?” I sob into the pillow, fisting my hands around the blanket and squeezing tight, blocking my blood flow. I gasp and sputter and choke. Turning my head to the side, I take in a big gulp of air. I feel my face caked with tears.
Leah touches my shoulder. “You don’t let these things happen to you.”
“I fell for two mermen, Leah. Two fish. The only men I’ve ever fallen for. What the hell is wrong with me?”
“Nothing’s wrong with you.”
“I trusted him,” I mumble over and over again. “How could he do this to me?”
She talks, tries to comfort me. But nothing and no one can comfort me. I need the memories of the past two weeks to be sucked out of my head. I need to forget about him. Forget his expressive blue eyes. Forget the feel of his body so close to mine. The feelings he invoked in me. How he made me feel so alive.
“Talk to me about something,” I beg her. “Anything. I can’t stand my head now.”
The bed creaks as she shifts on it. “Cassie, it’s okay to be upset.”
New tears soak my pillow. I fist my hands even harder, feeling my nails digging into my palms. Why did I let myself fall for him? Why did I give him the ammunition to hurt me like no one’s ever done before? “Men suck,” I say into the pillow. “Love sucks. I feel so crappy.” Like I’m going to throw up my organs. “I don’t think I can survive this.”
“You will survive this,” Leah says. “You’re a strong person.”
I shake my head. I’m not a strong person. Not at all. If I was, I wouldn’t be such a hot mess right now. I wouldn’t feel like my stomach is scraping against my ribs.
“You can’t let your bad experiences make you think every relationship is like that.”
I raise my head. The sunlight coming in through the window blinds me for a few seconds. “I’d rather be single for the rest of my life than go through this again.”
