by Dee J. Stone
I groan, turning onto my back. So much for pushing him out of my head.
After some time, I must have fallen asleep, because through the fog in my mind, I hear something. The sound of the doorbell ringing.
My body tunes it out and latches onto the sleep I desperately need.
But the ringing continues. I’m slowly thrown out of Sleep Land, and my eyes open.
Ding. Ding.
I sit up. The doorbell.
Could it be…?
No, it can’t be. It better not be. I don’t want it to be.
Except, that’s not true. Because I do want it to be. I’m dying for it to be.
I slide my feet into my slippers and make my way downstairs, opening the hallway lights. They blind me for a few seconds. The ringing continues. Whoever it is, he’s not leaving until I open that door.
Once I unlock it, I pull it open. The face I’ve grown to know so well, the one I’ve etched into my memory, learned to love, stares at me.
Damarian.
He’s dressed in nothing but a large, white towel wrapped around his waist. I just stand there, blinking at him. It’s like the reality won’t enter my head because I can’t believe it.
His eyes are glued to mine, searching every feature on my face, digging into my soul.
Finally, I force myself to ask, “What are you doing here?”
He rakes his hand through his hair, uncertainty clouding his features. “May I come in?”
“Of—of course.” I widen the door and step aside. He sweeps past me, his delicious scent swallowing me up. I sway for a few seconds, my eyes closed, getting absorbed in the smell that means everything to me.
I shut the door after him. We stand face to face in the narrow hallway. I feel myself starting to melt from the heat and electricity burning between us. I shake my head, knocking myself out of it, then motion toward the living room.
But instead of heading there, Damarian steps forward and gathers me in his arms. I’m not taken aback or thrown off. It’s like my whole being misses him so much that I meld into him, fitting my body in all the right places. His arms tighten around me and his lips search mine. When they lock together, a symphony plays in the back of my head. Our lips come together almost violently, so passionately, as if we’re drinking each other like we haven’t had any water in days.
“You shouldn’t have come back,” I whisper when our mouths come apart. A second later, they are fastened back on each other, a desperate longing sparking between us.
Damarian slides his lips up the side of my neck. “I could not stay away from you, my love.”
My head’s thrown back as his lips cause explosions on my neck. I’m lost in this magical world where Damarian is not a merman and not the future king of his people and not engaged to marry the princess. In this world, nothing matters but the love between us and the feeling his warm, soft lips brings me.
With his lips still on me, he lifts me in his arms and carries me to the living room couch. He lays me down and climbs on top of me, his lips continuing their quest to kiss each and every part of my face.
Reality manages to slip inside my magical world. I push my hands against Damarian’s chest, gently forcing him a few inches back. “You’ll get banished.”
He captures my hands in his and brings them to his mouth, kissing each one of my fingers, causing my stomach to flutter. “Father will not banish me.”
“How…” A moan escapes my mouth as he sucks my pinky finger. “How can you be so sure?”
His lips graze my palm. “I am his son. He will not banish me. He only threatened me to do his bidding.” He leans forward and nuzzles my nose. “Nothing can keep me away from you, my sweet Cassie. Nothing.”
“What about your people? You’re the true king.”
Damarian sits back on his knees and lets out a breath. His eyes search mine, and I can see how pained they are. He sticks his hands under my back and draws me to his chest, burying his face in the hollow between my neck and shoulder. “I love you, Cassie. Not Princess Flora. It would do a disservice to the children of the sea if I do not love my mate.”
“Does she love you?” I ask.
He doesn’t say anything.
I pull back and look at him. “Damarian. Does she love you?”
He runs his hand through his hair, his gaze on his towel. “I am not certain…”
“If she loves you—”
His gaze meets mine. “She does not love me the way you love me. I do not wish to mate with a child of the sea who does not love me. Not in the manner in which I love you.”
My stomach does cartwheels. It’s not fair for him to be forced to marry someone who doesn’t love him. And whom he doesn’t love. But…“Who will be the king, then?” I ask.
Damarian shakes his head. “I am not certain. Perhaps Princess Flora will have suitors.”
“And your dad? Will he be upset with you?”
Damarian nods slightly. “Yes, but it is in Father’s nature to forgive.”
“And the alliance?”
“It is my hope that Princess Flora chooses a mate from another clan. The alliance will stand.”
I lay my head on his chest. “What will happen to us?” I whisper.
He places his hand under my chin, lifting my head toward his. “We will be together for eternity. If you will have me.”
My arms come around him and I squeeze my cheek to his. “Of course I’ll have you.”
“I am truly sorry for lying to you. I believed you would not want me once you were aware that I—”
I put my finger on his lips. “It’s okay. I understand why you lied. I know you weren’t in a good place. And I know how much you wanted to do the right thing, but how you wanted to do what made you happy. It’s not an easy choice for anyone.”
His lips trace my temple. “You are such a forgiving person, Cassie. So understanding. How I love you.”
“I love you, too.” I reach up to kiss him. “You sent Doria to me.”
He shakes his head. “Doria left the sea on her own will.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Why?”
“She witnessed our love for one another. She realized how I longed for you. How it pained me. All she wants is for me to be happy.”
He lays me back on the couch and kisses me, his hands exploring every inch of my body. After a few minutes, he gathers me in his arms again and brings us to my room, where he lowers me onto the bed and slides in next to me.
We spend the rest of the night in each other’s arms, our lips never coming apart, our hands not leaving one another.
Somehow, we fall asleep.
***
My hand automatically reaches for Damarian, and when I feel him, my heart swells. My eyes fly open and I stare at him, watching him, reveling in the way his chest rises and falls in a steady rhythm. I bend over to peck his lips. I love him so much my chest aches. I didn’t know it was possible to love someone so much, with every part of me. I’ve heard it, read about it in romance novels and seen it in movies, and I always wondered if I’d ever love someone that way. Now I do, and it’s the best feeling in the world.
His eyes flutter open and land on me. A grin appears on his face. “This must be a dream,” he murmurs.
I give him a deep, heartfelt kiss that sends a flush from my head to my toes. “Would that happen in a dream?”
He smiles again. “I believe not.” He wraps an arm around my waist and hauls me to his chest. “I shall wake up beside you every morning.”
“What about your family? You’ll want to see them.”
His eyes get unfocused. “Yes, I will.” He returns his gaze to me and strokes my cheek. “I shall wake up by your side when I am on land.”
I laugh. “I accept.”
I’ll stop by the community college and get an application. Damarian and I will be discreet. No one will know our little secret. No one. Other than Leah, of course. And Kyle. Screw Kyle.
Getting to my feet, I take his hand and pull him up
. “Come. Let’s make breakfast.”
He nods. “May I go to the pool first?”
“Sure.” I hit my head. “I almost forgot.”
He touches his hair with a shaky hand.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“The banishment…”
My heart skips a beat. “You’re…you’re banished?”
He shakes his head. “I am not certain. I do not feel different.”
I bite down on my lower lip. “Let’s check.”
As we make for the pool room, dread fills the pit of my stomach. If Damarian’s dad banished him, I don’t know what I’ll do, how I’ll live with the guilt. That Damarian threw away the only life he knew, all for me.
I hope he’s not banished.
We enter the pool room. Damarian takes labored steps, until he reaches the edge of the pool. He looks back at me, his face anxious. I give him a reassuring nod and smile. He can’t be banned. He just can’t be.
Raising his arms, he dives into the water. I fall down on my knees and peer over the edge of the pool. The familiar bubbles are there, like the water’s cooking. I feel my body sag with relief. When his tail pops out of the water, I nearly topple over with more relief.
His head breaks the surface. His smile is big and bright. “I am not banished, Cassie!” He laughs a little crazily, threading his fingers through his hair. “I am not banished.”
His joy consumes me. I get to my feet and cannonball into the water—in my pajamas. His arms come around me and bring me to his chest. His lips find mine. “I’m so happy, Damarian.”
He throws me onto his back and dives into the water. When he leaps, we almost touch the ceiling—that’s how excited he is. Midair, I wrap my legs tightly around his torso and lift my arms. This is so amazing. The way the sun reflects off his sapphire tail, creating a rainbow on the surface of the water.
We crash inside, then leap in the air again. This time, my hands graze the ceiling. I giggle like a little kid with a big bag of candy.
Back in the water, Damarian lifts me off his back and flips me upside down so my head touches the surface of the water. He stares down at me with a mischievous grin. “Hello, Cassie.”
I laugh. “The water feels so good against my scalp.” I close my eyes and moan, licking my lips. His hands tighten on my waist.
“Cassie…” His voice is above a whisper.
“Yeah?”
“The feelings you invoke in me. Even as a child of the sea.”
He kisses me upside down and dunks us both in the water. As we kiss, water doesn’t enter my mouth, or my nose. He spins me upright with our lips still locked together. I’m not sure how long we’re underwater. It could be seconds, it could be minutes. When we resurface, I jump onto him, wrapping my legs around his middle. “I can do this all day.” My lips trail kisses up his neck. I feel him shudder.
“As can I,” he whispers. His hands tangle in my hair as my lips make their way down his chest. “Cassie…”
“My merman,” I mumble.
“My human,” he mumbles back.
I laugh against his chest.
“What?”
I just continue laughing like a hyena. Maybe it’s the relief, the excitement, or the realization that he and I are going to be together forever. I don’t know. But I can’t stop laughing. After I calm down, I say, “Calling me ‘my human’ sounds funny.” And there I go laughing again.
His lips tickle my ear. “I am not concerned with the reason you laugh. Only that you laugh. How pretty it sounds.”
Despite the cool water of the pool, I’m a pot of boiling water. “You really know exactly what to say to melt a girl’s heart.”
I grab the back of his head, press my lips against his, and pull him down into the water.
Chapter Twenty-Six
After we get dressed, we make breakfast—scrambled eggs. Damarian devours them like he hasn’t eaten in days. “How I miss the food prepared by you,” he says.
We wash the dishes together and curl in each other’s arms on the couch with a movie. To say we watched the movie would be a lie. We couldn’t keep our lips and hands off each other.
I called Uncle Jim and told him I wanted to cancel the surfing class this morning. Today will be Damarian and Cassie Day.
While running his lips down my throat, Damarian suddenly sits up. He clutches the sides of his head. Panic grabs hold of me. “What’s wrong?”
He moans and tries to move his mouth, but more moans come out.
“Do you need to go into the salt water?” I ask. But that doesn’t make sense. He was just in the water an hour ago.
That’s when I realize a huge difference in his appearance. His skin is no longer translucent. It’s…peachy. Like a human’s.
When he opens his eyes, they are no longer that beautiful shade of ocean blue, but a dull blue.
Oh no.
“Yes,” Damarian sputters. “Salt…water.”
Tears enter my eyes as I see him growing more human by the second. Banished. His father actually did it.
“P…please,” he begs.
I can’t tell him. I can’t.
He rolls off the couch and falls splat on the floor. I scramble to my feet and help him get up. Throwing his arm over my shoulder, I half-carry him toward the pool room. My vision blurs because I know this time his tail will no longer be there.
Banished.
This is all my fault.
We barge into the pool room. Damarian makes a run for it and dives into the pool. When I look over the edge, I don’t see the water cooking. I wait—I hope—for his tail to spring up. But it doesn’t. Damarian just lies on the bottom of the pool, still clutching his head.
It takes a few seconds until my mind pulls me out of my state of shock. He’s no longer a merman, which means he can’t breathe underwater. Without a second thought, I jump into the water.
I wrap my arms around him and drag him to the surface. As soon as his head breaks it, he coughs. He thrashes around, clearly in panic. “Stand,” I tell him. “We’re in shallow water.”
He straightens out his legs. Then he stares down at himself, at the lower half of his body. His eyes widen in disbelief, then realization, then panic, and then pain and betrayal.
“Seawater,” he says. “The pool requires more seawater.”
With tears still in my eyes, I touch his arm. “Damarian—”
“Seawater,” he begs. “I require seawater.”
My hand rubs his arm. “There’s enough sea salt. We just refilled it this morning.”
Pure agony captures his face. “Please, Cassie.” I see tears in the corner of his eyes.
“Okay,” I tell him.
I make my way to the bucket of sea salt that I left in the corner of the pool room. It’s half empty. Biting down on my lip, I drag it to the edge of the pool. Damarian doesn’t look at me or at the bucket. His gaze is on the water, as though it’s responsible for his lack of tail.
I tip the bucket and the salt slides inside.
Damarian splashes toward the salt and dives into the water.
Nothing happens.
That was all of the sea salt. I didn’t buy more because I thought I’d never see him again. I put it aside and jump into the water. Damarian is still under. Gently, I wrap my arms around his chest and lift him. He takes in a huge gulp of air.
“Damarian.” I pull him to my chest, but he pushes away.
His eyes blaze with betrayal, ache, anger. “He…he banished me.”
I don’t say anything, just gnaw on my bottom lip, forcing the tears to remain behind my eyes. I need to be strong, for him. “I’m so sorry, Damarian.”
This time, he lets me take him in my arms. He cries into my hair, making my own tears burst out of my eyes. I pat his back. “It’s okay,” I tell him. “It’ll be okay.” Even though I know it won’t be okay. Not at all. Damarian’s no longer a merman. He’s a human. Everything he’s known has been ripped away from him. All because of me. Now he need
s to learn to live a completely different life. It feels like my chest has been split open.
“I cannot…I cannot.” He sobs on me. “Father has…” A hiccup swallows the rest of his sentence.
“I know,” I whisper, wishing I knew what to say or do to make him feel better.
He wrenches himself out of my hold and slams his fists on the water. Tears run down his cheeks. “Father has banished me,” he mutters. “He…he…” He grabs the sides of his head and yells a harsh, bitter yell. I’ve never heard anyone shout like that before. It’s like every tragedy in the world has been packed into that yell.
I enclose him in my arms and press my lips to the side of his neck. “I’m here, Damarian. I’m here.”
His body heaves. “Father banished me,” he says, over and over again. I squeeze him tighter, continuing to press my lips to his skin. There’s nothing I can do but be here for him.
He turns around and lets me comfort him. I hold him in my arms and stroke his hair. “We’ll get through this. You and me, we’ll be together forever. Through thick and thin. I’ll be here for you. I’ll always be here for you.”
His tear-stained eyes stare into mine. “What shall I do, Cassie?”
Every cell in my body cries for this man that I love so much. I hug him closer, not knowing how to answer him.
***
Damarian’s passed out on the couch, his face splattered with tears. His head rests on my lap. As I stare down at him, my body fills with fear and anxiety. I don’t know what will happen to him. I’m scared for him.
I wipe his tears away.
My hand softly strokes his hair. I study him. He looks exactly the same as he did before he lost his tail, except for the skin, hair, and eyes. There’s something missing, something magical and mesmerizing. But that doesn’t change the way I feel about him.
He shifts on the couch and opens his eyes, staring into mine. He sits up, but then his eyes get unfocused. He blinks a few times and his face falls. It must have all come back to him.
“Tell me it is a terrible dream.”
I bite down on my lip. “I wish I could.”
