by Marie Hall
She’d stood tall and proud before them, even trapped as she was within the hag’s magic, her slim shoulders straight, black hair whipping like a banner in the breeze behind her. Her eyes had been the light blue of a warm grotto. Her lips were as pale and pink as a pearl. Her nose was pert, and her chin slightly pointed.
From the waist up, it was hard to say she wasn’t a lovely creature. The waist down, though, was another matter entirely.
“The sea hag?” Some of his sister’s anger waned as she settled back down on the edge of the bed. Her hair now loose curls rather than tightly wound corkscrews. “What exactly has happened here, Sircco?”
Tapping his fingers together, he gave her a pointed look.
Holding up a hand, she nodded. “I’ll listen. Just don’t surprise me that way again. I’ve no desire to enter into war with my Prince of Thieves.”
“Just so,” he drolled, “the legger found herself in a rather precarious position. You see, she tried to steal the hag’s orb for her own.”
“But how is this possible?” Sirenade frowned prettily. “The hidden isle should not have made a reappearance for at least another year yet.”
“I know this. I wondered as much myself. Though when I arrived, I tasted the magic of the great sea upon the waters.”
Suddenly, his sister held perfectly still, her clawed fingers gripping the edge of the desk with white-knuckled intensity. “Mother was there?”
“No. Calypso was nowhere to be found, but her essence was. She definitely had a hand in why the hag rose as she did.”
“That is interesting.” She pursed her lips. “Go on.”
“The hag entrapped her and, as near as I can tell, was mere seconds away from something vile and dastardly when the legger cried out to me.”
“And you answered, why?”
He pointed at the tiny golden sea dragons clinging to the crown of her hair. “Those. She had one on her.”
“She called for you and not me. Oh, well, it does make one wonder what Trishelle told her, does it not?” Laughter sparkled in her eyes.
“Behave,” he growled.
Though now that his sister mentioned it, he did wonder why Nimue had called on him.
“And so you offered a trade to the hag? Brother, honestly, you know we cannot trust a word of what that creature says.” Her eyes practically crossed as she glared at him.
“She would be a fool to come against us. No, I offered her six months of no starvation for the trade. A fair and honorable deal.”
“Six months, trapped in here with you. Oh my. Well, I hope she’s hideous, or I fear the ghost of Talia will resurface once again. Couldn’t have the mother, and so you’d bed the daughter.”
She teased him, but he found the joke to be in bad taste. Realizing he did not share in her humor, she cast her eyes down.
Outside the walls of this castle, Sirenade would never have shown such weakness. But in here, they were not king and queen, but sister and brother.
“I am sorry, Sircco. You did not deserve that.”
“And neither does she. I’ve no intention of letting that legger out of her room.”
“What?” Her gaze snapped up. “That is cruel. And I will not allow it. However you’ve come to possess her, she is now our guest.”
“She is a prisoner,” he snapped, crossing his arms, daring her to defy him.
And she did. She always did. The hair that’d gone back to being straight now snapped into tight coils, a sure sign of her displeasure. “Guest! And I’ll hear not another word about it.”
“She is a pirate, Sirenade, a thief. Just like her father—”
“Aye. Exactly. Just like her father. An honorable and good man. We both know his true history and what happened to him. It is then understandable why he did what he did. But no more, not since settling down with his legger. And unless his daughter—”
“Nimue,” Sircco automatically corrected then wished he hadn’t when a secret smile stole across her anemone-red lips. “Stop it, Sirenade. Just because I offer you her name, it means naught else.”
She shrugged. “No, of course not, brother. Anyhow, Nimue, until and unless she does something, she is our guest. We will have to close our borders to the Prince, at least until this time has passed. Otherwise, I fear—friend or no—he’ll make an attempt to come retrieve his treasure.”
Staring up at the diamond-plated ceiling, Sircco shook his head. Having this legger around was going to be more trouble than she was worth. Damning his curiosity, he wished he’d never met her.
“So”—she tapped a nail—“should I tell the Prince, or should you?” she asked with a bubble of laughter.
The great doors were suddenly thrown open, and a mermaid with locks of sea-foam-green hair curling strategically around her bared breasts swam in with the hubris of one who knew she was allowed. Electric-blue eyes glared at Sircco.
“There is a catfish howling in the east wing of the castle, Sircco. Who is it, and why is it here?”
Stygia’s mother-of-pearl-pink tail swished in agitation, causing the chains of snow-white pearls wrapped around her trim waist to bob unceremoniously.
Clenching his jaw in agitation, Sircco glared at the intruder. But just as he was about to take her to task, he heard said howl and, without answer, raced from the study, up the stairs, and toward the door that rattled with the rage of a quake.
Chapter 3
“Let me out of here!” Nimue kicked at the door.
She’d tried everything she could think of to pick the lock. Father had taught her all he knew about being a pirate. But no matter how many times she tried, the damn lock eluded her, almost as if it were spelled.
It probably was.
Blustering, she heaved at the golden handle as she continued to give it good, solid thwacks to its thick base. “Let me out, you, you—”
The door flung open wide, knocking her to the ground and taking the wind out of her as the male she both hated and couldn’t seem to stop wondering about suddenly and overwhelmingly filled the room.
Bronze eyes raging with lightning glared down at her.
“Beluga whale.” The insult, such as it was, came out a tiny whimper of sound.
But he’d heard her, and if it were impossible for his chest to suddenly grow to twice its breadth and thickness, well, it did.
“What are you about, pirate?” His voice was a thunderous boom, but rather than cause her to shrink in on herself and whither back, it only filled her with a violence of her own.
Jumping to her feet, she balled her hands, wishing she had her cutlass. But the damn room had been magicked in more ways than one—no sooner had she been shoved inside it, all weapons on her person had vanished.
The pompous prick.
“I’m not a prisoner and refuse to be treated as one! I told you I did not steal that orb and had every intention of returning it.”
He chuckled. The sound was deep throated and full of fury, but by the Gods, did it do strange things to her insides.
“Return it. That is priceless. How? Did you ever stop to consider that? The island vanishes when the rainbows disappear. You meant to steal it for your own and do—”
“Calypso save me from thrashing your spoiled brat of a son!” she snapped, feeling her cheeks redden when the storm in his eyes whipped into a frenzy.
The waters around her began to churn and turn a little warmer. Maybe fighting with the fish wasn’t such a good idea.
“Enough!” A female voice, equally as powerful as Sircco’s interrupted their heated stare down.
Nimue turned to look and suddenly felt her tongue swell.
The female was identical in looks to Sircco, except for where his features were harsher, hers were softer and more delicate. But there was no denying the storminess in her eyes, as well.
However, she didn’t look angry. She looked smug.
How bizarre.
“Now.” Sirenade—for she could only be his sister and the queen of Seren—swam idly
into Nimue’s cell.
She refused to call it a bedroom, even if it was a magical ocean boudoir with sea kelp that gleamed like the brightest emerald tucked within the corners of the room. Or the rows upon rows of enormous saltwater pearls easily the size of a grown man, hanging from thick wooden beams above. Or even the conch shell bed full of gauzy lavender and indigo anemone that felt like lying on the softest, most-cushiony pillow imaginable.
“What is it about this room you find so... objectionable?” the queen asked in a courtly voice.
Realizing her anger did not extend to the beast’s sister, Nimue curtsied in the style of the old court, deep and low to show great respect, and said, “Nothing at all with the, um...” She must not say cell. “Er... room.” She coughed then straightened her shoulders. “But I am thrust in here like a fish on a stick and—”
There was an agitated gasp that hadn’t come from out of the mouth of either the king or queen. Then a mermaid pushed her way through them, and there was something so strangely familiar about the way she looked that Nimue lost her words.
“A fish on a stick, she says!” The screech grew even louder and more ear piercing. “How dare she!” she snapped.
“Stygia, enough!” Sircco pointed at the door. “You do not belong here. This is a family matter. Now go.” The final command caused a wave to bunch up right in front of the harridan and shove her from out the room. The door slammed and locked behind her magically.
Eyes wide, Nimue could only stare at them, wondering what that had been about, but neither of them deigned to give an explanation for it.
Sircco cocked his head. “You are mine until the six months are up. However, I’ve no use for a legger in court, and so here, you shall remain. Though”—he clenched his teeth—“you’ll be treated fairly.”
The last part had seemed difficult for him to get out.
A soft, yet angry gasp escaped her, and she pointed a hand at him while staring at Sirenade. “Do you see? I’ve done nothing to your brother. I did not ask to come here, and I regret ever going to the hag’s island.”
Sirenade didn’t seem to notice any of that; her eyes were glued to Nimue’s pendant. That’s when she remembered Sircco speaking of his sister’s dragons. They swam in uniform rotation around her crown, blowing tiny air bubbles behind them.
They were so unbelievably adorable that she clutched at her pendant with want.
“His name was Jian.” Sirenade pointed to her hand.
“What?” Nimue frowned. “Whose name?”
“The dragon.” The queen had been swimming toward her as she spoke, and now standing mere inches away, she gently swept Nimue’s fingers aside and took hold of the dragon. Her fingers fluttered almost lovingly against the crown of his solid forehead. “I gave him to your mother as a gift, and I see she treated him very well. And now...” She glanced at Nimue with eyes that were no longer stormy but calm waters. “So have you.”
Nimue bit on the corner of her lip, wondering if the queen meant to take Jian away from her. While she’d never known the pendant to be anything other than a piece of jewelry, she’d always felt a fondness for it that went above adoration for a mere bauble.
“Would you like him to come alive again?” she asked.
And if she said yes, would her dragon leave her and return to its queen? The thought made Nimue feel lonely in ways she could hardly comprehend. But as much as she didn’t quite care for the infuriatingly sexy male Sirenade called her brother, she did like the queen and did not wish to displease her.
“Aye.”
With a smile, the queen wrapped her palm around the pendant, and a burst of warm golden light suffused the room. “There now. Welcome back home, Jian.” Sirenade inclined her head.
The chain that Jian had hung on for years now lay bare on Nimue’s chest. Jian was as adorable as the rest of his little brothers. Swimming and gurgling happily around the queen’s face, he brushed his tail across both cheeks, his ear fins buzzing as if he were happy to see her.
It nearly broke Nimue’s heart, but then, without warning, the dragon came over to her and did the same before burrowing into the tangled strands of her hair and gurgling happily.
“It seems our little Jian is as fond of you as you are of him.”
Shocked and elated, Nimue couldn’t contain her broad smile. “Does this mean I get to keep him?”
The queen nodded. “He’s claimed you, little pirate. Aye, he is yours now.”
Why something as tiny as Jian could make her feel less alone was a mystery, but suddenly, Nimue wasn’t nearly as frightened of this strange, yet wondrous place.
Laying a hand across Nimue’s shoulder, the queen turned and glided slowly out the now open door, taking Nimue with her, much to Sircco’s furious chagrin.
“Now, let us show you the wonders of your new home. And so long as you do as I say and go no farther than the boundaries I dictate, I believe you shall find this place as comforting and welcoming as your own home.”
For the rest of the day, Nimue was led by carriage throughout the capital city of Seren. The carriage was guided by two formidable-looking great white sharks.
The beasts were massively built, like mini-whales, they were so huge, and they carried row upon row of jagged teeth the size of Nim’s palm. She’d shuddered when she first saw them, knowing many a pirate who’d lost his life to ones such as these, but for the queen, they were putty in her hands.
Rubbing up against her excitedly and making a strange whistling sound she’d never thought sharks capable of making as the Queen had dragged her talons roughly across their scarred cheeks. But as the day continued, Nimue forgot her fear of the sharks and simply reveled in the beauty of the world.
The moment the denizens of Seren spotted the royal carriage, they came swimming out of their huts, bowing and shouting words of adulation at the now-stoic queen, who sat regally beside Nim.
Nimue, however, did not look regal. Her head kept snapping from side to side in her desperation to take it all in.
The city was cobbled, paved with rock that glowed with threads of magma between. But there was no heat rising from the roads, which made her feel infinitely better.
Jewel-toned sea kelp surrounded the city like a gated border on all sides, but this kelp was different from the fronds in her room. These glowed, casting a greenish ambience over everything the light touched. The water smelled rich with the scent of cooking meats and roasted vegetables, making Nimue’s mouth water as she remembered she’d barely had a thing to eat that morning.
Fish and creatures of every sort swam by. Seahorses, electric eels, spoonbill flappers—fish that literally had spoon’s for bills and flappers for fins, odd by any stretch of the imagination—ring tailed octopus. Those had been bizarre. The octopus had been hopping, not swimming, along the sea floor. Buck toothed zebra fish, clearly a cousin to the much larger buck toothed whale. Garter fish.
Ohhh.
She reached for one that looked crafted of lace and festooned with pearls. It’s little beady sapphire-like eyes blinked down at her when she took it in hand. It would look lovely on her thigh.
Sirenade’s laughter cut through her vain musings, causing her to accidentally release the perfect little creature.
“You act as though you’ve never seen this world before.”
She’d chosen not to answer Sircco when he’d remarked upon the very same thing, but she did answer the queen.
“I haven’t,” she admitted reluctantly.
“But I’ve seen your parents anchor here a time or two. Surely you were with—”
Her lips twisted as a small pang centered in her chest. “I wasn’t. Anytime they did come visit, they left me in a chalet on land.”
The marble-like face, so smooth and lovely, turned down into a sharp frown. “How very odd that they should do so. They should have known that we would never have harmed you.”
Nimue had often wondered why her parents, who trusted so few above land but who seemed to trus
t implicitly the honor of the merfolk, would never allow her to come with them on a visit. It’d never made sense to her then, and still didn’t. Apart from the bastard and the shrew, everyone in Seren had been quite lovely and amicable.
“I don’t know. Though—” She cast a quick glance at Sirenade. “Please don’t get offended by it and harm them. I doubt they meant to hurt you.”
“Oh, my dear, you are a strange mixture of innocence and warrior.” Patting Nimue’s knee, she shook her head, causing the now-sleeping dragons to tumble into each other. “I would never. But it does raise questions, is all.” After a moment’s pause, and once they were well away from the prying ears and eyes of her people, the Queen asked, “Would you really have returned the soul orb?”
Heart pounding, Nimue took her time to answer. If there was one ally worth making in this place, it was the Queen. She wanted there to be no secrets between them, just truth.
“I knew what your brother said, that the island would not return until the twin rainbows appeared. I knew taking the orb would mean I’d have possession of the hag until it did so. But my intention had never been to abuse the hag. Or even use her.”
“Then why go to so much trouble to capture one in the first place? The hag is not a creature to be trifled with, little pirate. Her rage is legendary, as is her capacity to hold grudges. You’ve made a powerful enemy. And you were quite lucky that my brother decided to intervene.”
There were words hidden behind the ones she had said. Questions. Confessions. But Nimue felt too tired and stupid to figure them out.
“I wanted to prove to my parents that I was capable of taking care of myself. Since the moment of my birth, they’ve hidden me away. Sheltered me from both the air and the water. They’d never tell me why, but the ache to be free...” She clutched at her chest; even now so far away from home, the ache still throbbed. The emptiness she’d felt inside, the quiet yearning that had grown and grown until it was all she thought about it, all she could ever think about anymore.
Sirenade’s lips twitched. “Foolish.”
Frowning with hurt, Nimue looked off to her left.
“But brave.”
