He stared at her blankly. “She meant your eyes and hair, didn’t she?”
She tipped her face up toward the ceiling. “Legs aren’t considered a great advantage down here, either. It’s considered unnatural.”
Michael vaguely remembered through the fog of Renata’s victory supper that none of the young mermen had asked her to dance. Fools. With a will of its own, his hand reached out and lightly ran the back of his fingers down her arm.
She tensed slightly, but her eyes closed. “Pale eyes. Legs. And my hair is too much like—”
“The sun?”
She nodded, a look of pain on her face.
“Tell me,” he whispered, touching one of her curls that had fallen loose. “Why do you always keep it up like this?”
She cleared her throat a few times before opening her eyes and staring out the netted balcony. “That story Renata just shared . . . about me being bitten by an eel?”
He nodded.
“I was only bitten because my hair got caught in a sea fan. I couldn’t call for help, so I had to wait there until someone found me.” She hiccupped and looked down at her hands. “When someone did find me, it was nearly too late.”
Michael’s heart ached as he imagined Arianna as a little girl, waiting to die alone. And yet, as she sat beside him, he did something he’d been dying to do since meeting her. Michael willed his aching body to lean forward enough to pull her hair free from its elegant perch. Golden waves cascaded down, floating back and forth like sunlight on the waves. Unable to help himself, he ran his hand through her hair.
She bit her lip and her jaw trembled.
“Maybe you needed that once,” he whispered. “But you’re not a child anymore.” Slowly, so slowly he reached up and cradled her face in his other hand.
“Why are you making this so hard?” She opened her eyes and shoved his hand off. With one swish of her tail she was three feet away, glaring at him.
“You were right.” He struggled to stand, pulling himself up using the vanity. “I should have listened to you. I should have trusted you. I was just trying to protect my people, but . . .” He shrugged helplessly. “What can I do to make you forgive me?”
She just shook her head.
“I mean it!” He made himself as tall as he could. “Before the Maker takes me, I need to know that you’ve forgiven me! And if this is about the kiss—”
“Hang the kiss, Michael! You chose her!” Her voice broke. “Long before you were under her spell, you had made your decision. And now it’s my turn to make mine.” She straightened and began swimming for the door when he called after her.
“But do you forgive me?”
She paused, her hand on the door. “I will do my best to get you safe. But you can’t ask any more of me than that.”
47
Impatience
“I say that you leave him to his folly,” Lalia said as she pulled the gown over Arianna’s head. “I mean, I think he could be very likable under different circumstances. I just don’t see why you must save him from his decision. Let him marry Renata and you go free.”
“And how would that help?” Arianna held her arms up so her mother and sister could pull the short gown all the way down. “Renata is determined to see me infected with the Sorthileige the same as she is with all of you. Perhaps even more so. Besides,” she stared at her face in the mirror, determined not to look at the dress itself, “it’s not that simple.”
“That’s easy. You go to the shore, grow your legs, marry some dashing human who is terrified of the ocean, and never set foot in the water again.” Lalia went and picked her son up out of his basket. “And you take Johnathon with you and find someone with the power to permanently change him so he can stay out of the water.”
“No charm would work long enough for that,” Giana said gently as she pulled Arianna’s hair down to rearrange it on her head. “Besides, I think Arianna means that Prince Michael’s part in all of this isn’t as simple as we think.”
Arianna gave her mother a grateful smile. As wonderful as it was to have her sister in the same room, talking to her and being a part of her life, Arianna and Lalia had been apart for too long. Of course, they had seen one another as children often enough, but Lalia had never quite taken the interest in keeping Arianna occupied as Rinaldo had in his spare time. Lalia had been too busy taking an interest in the young mermen who often came to admire her.
Countless times, Arianna had longed for her sister’s company. As a young girl, she had imagined conversations in which Lalia told her she was lovely and they arranged one another’s hair and gowns before going to a ball together. And here they were now, arranging Arianna’s hair and dress the day before her wedding, complete with Arianna’s voice. But even with words, Arianna now felt ill equipped to tell her sister what she really meant. On the contrary, she felt rather cross.
How could Lalia understand that Michael’s people really were starving? Or that leaving him to her aunt’s wiles would be impossible? Or how her chest hurt every time she recalled the sight of Michael’s lips pressed against Renata’s youthful facade?
Foolish man! If he had only listened to her, they wouldn’t be in this mess. Arianna clenched her jaw to keep her anger at bay, and in the effort forgot not to look in the mirror.
The gown wasn’t exactly what Arianna had imagined for her wedding day. It was far more. Delicate white material clung to her arms and hung just off the shoulders. It continued hugging her figure until it reached her hips, where it flared out until it would have reached her knees, had she been in human form. Thousands of pearls had been sewn into the bodice in swirls that resembled waves, and in the very front, a large gem the color of her eyes had been placed on the neckline.
A strangled sob escaped her lips before she could reel it in, and before she knew it, Giana had gathered Arianna into her arms. Arianna wept into her mother’s shoulder. “It shouldn’t be this way,” she gasped between sobs. “I don’t even know why she wants me. I don’t have a soulsong!”
“I know,” Giana whispered into her hair as she stroked Arianna’s back. “I know.”
They stayed that way for a while until Arianna’s sobs quieted and her chest no longer heaved. Then Giana pushed Arianna back and looked her in the eyes. “I know you probably don’t want to hear it now, but I believe two truths about this situation.”
Arianna just nodded, not quite ready to talk.
“First,” Giana said, “Renata sees what your father and I have seen since you were born. I tried to keep you from being exposed to the sun and failed. Frankly, even those few moments of sun you experienced should have killed you on that sandbar. But from the moment I looked in your eyes, I saw a fire there, and I knew it came from your soul. You don’t have your soulsong yet. But when you get it, and I say when, not if, it will be a song that makes history.
“Second,” she turned Arianna back toward the mirror and began moving pieces of her hair around again, “I don’t think you want to leave Prince Michael to his doom.”
“Mother, I don’t really—”
“He’s acted foolishly, and now you’re both paying for it. I won’t deny you that. But let me tell you something you don’t know.”
Arianna pulled away and turned to frown at her mother. “What?”
“You know that shell that I sent to you before you came here? The one with Renata’s plans?”
“What about it?”
“Your prince nearly killed himself stealing that for us. Your aunt dealt with him so severely after it went missing that he lost his hearing. If I had been an hour later in sneaking in to see him, he would have never gained it back. I almost couldn’t heal him as it was.”
Arianna felt her horror reflected on her face. She could see it in her mind, Renata singing those horrid notes of darkness. Her haunting lullaby. The power that had cowed Arianna into submission in the Deeps would have made a human’s ears bleed.
Suddenly, it was hard to breathe.
A ca
cophony of defense songs erupted above them. The women exchanged glances, and Giana went to the door. “Stay there,” she told her daughters. Just as she reached the door, however, it was thrown open by Renata.
“Arianna, come with me,” Renata pushed past Giana. “See what you’ve done.”
“Ari, no,” Giana moved herself between them again, but Renata let out a short burst of song and Giana was thrown against the floor.
“Now.” Renata glowered, hovering over Giana, the black veins pulsing in her cheeks.
After glancing at Lalia where she floated clutching her son, Arianna obeyed. They swam down the hall in a burst of speed, moving through a river of merpeople all trying to go just as fast. As they went, more songs echoed from above the palace. A distant explosion harmonized with the songs.
Arianna’s heart sank into her stomach as she followed her aunt. Had Lucas attacked? Why hadn’t he waited? Or had her father made the first move? She didn’t have time to ask, however, for Renata was knocking Michael’s door down, too.
“If this doesn’t convince you that your actions have consequences,” Renata shouted as she dragged Arianna inside, “then I don’t know what will.” She stopped beside Michael where he lay on his bed. His face was taut, his fists clenched so hard that his knuckles were white.
Renata pointed the triton at him and looked up at Arianna. “This is your last chance. Michael is going to fix what you and your father have meddled with. If you try to interfere or keep Michael from his work this time, then I will know that you do not love him enough to keep him from me. If you stand quietly by and watch, however, I will know where your priorities lie.”
With that, a bolt of green light struck Michael. Mist and bubbles began to whirl around his legs, and Renata opened her lips to sing.
Arianna began to sing her own healing song, but without even looking at her or pausing her song, Renata raised the triton again and aimed it at Arianna. This time the green flash moved through Arianna, and a familiar sensation raced up from her fins to her throat. In a moment, the strong note she’d been holding petered out, dying as her song fell to a rasp, then nothing. Arianna tried singing, crying, and even screaming, but she made no sound, and Renata’s siren song only continued to wind its way over Michael.
His tense jaw went slack, and peace moved across his face. Arianna watched in agony as Renata bent over and whispered in his ear. Whatever she said changed his expression again, and the peace disappeared. Wide, indignant eyes looked back at Renata. Renata only smile and nodded. By then, the mist had dissipated, and thin, nearly translucent fins now lay where Michael’s feet should have been.
“His change is not yet complete.” Renata turned back to Arianna. “His real fins won’t appear until tomorrow. But these will last long enough for him to complete his task. Your voice will return as well, but only after he finishes the job.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Don’t doom yourself to solitude, Arianna. For the sake of your own happiness, for once, make the right choice!”
Just then, Michael darted out of the room, his tail flipping as though he’d been swimming all his life. Arianna had no choice but to follow. Down the halls they swam, deeper into the palace than Arianna had ever been. With each swish of her tail, she tried her hardest to sing, to scream his name, but to no avail.
He didn’t stop until they had reached a room that was filled with all sorts of weapons. The large armory surprised Arianna, as most Protectors usually used their voices as their main defensive weapons. Michael swam back and forth until he found what he seemed to be looking for.
The knife was small and simple. Its hilt was mother-of-pearl, and its blade was only the length of her hand. He shoved it into a pouch that was attached to a strap. When he tried to pull the strap over his head, however, it kept getting caught in his shirt. Seeming to forget how the shirt worked, Michael yanked on the material until the buttons popped off and he was able to toss the torn shirt aside.
Arianna hovered by, uncertain of just how far the siren song would take him. An icy fear gripped her as Michael slung the strap over his shoulder, and Lucas’s words suddenly echoed in her mind.
My brother could be very dangerous if he chose to be.
Arianna could see that only too clearly now. Without his shirt or his usual cautious demeanor, Michael looked every part a dangerous man. His muscles were lean, less defined than Lucas’s, but their subtle ripple made him seem only that much more agile. That much more feral.
Once the strap was secured across his chest, he bolted for the door. Arianna blocked his way, doing her best to plead with him silently. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she tried to press him back into the room. She could see in his eyes, however, that the siren song had done its job. With a confidence he’d never exuded before, he gently but firmly took her by her own shoulders and moved her to the side.
“We’ll talk later,” he said. “But now is not the time.”
Arianna grabbed his arm as he swam away, but she wasn’t strong enough to hold him.
So this was why Renata had taken Arianna’s voice. All Arianna could do was follow him and pray that Michael’s beloved Maker would have a miracle.
They swam to the surface so fast that Arianna began to get dizzy. Though she had become used to living at such a depth, the transition between the upper and lower ocean levels was still difficult. Explosions from above and the Protectors’ songs that echoed around them only made the ringing in her head worse. She pushed herself, however, to stay as close to Michael as possible.
As soon as they broke the surface, his face went from its fervent determination to a look of relief. “Lucas!”
Were Arianna’s ears still ringing, or did his voice seem louder?
As confirmation of her unspoken question, Lucas peered over the side of the ship a moment later.
“We’ve got them both! Landon! Fuller! Help me pull them in!”
Ropes were thrown to them, and Arianna could only grab one and hold on. Their ascent was rough. The songs of her people tossed the ship back and forth, and the explosions of the ship’s weapons only made it worse. As they inched up the ship’s side, Arianna felt her legs return. Michael’s legs returned as well, his trousers reappearing with them.
“How did you find me?” Michael called over the cacophony as they were hauled up onto the ship’s front deck.
“Didn’t she tell you?” Lucas nodded at Arianna. “Her father and those loyal to him helped distract the palace’s Protectors. They’re going to accompany us back to shore!” He turned and called to his men, “We’ve got them! Let’s go!”
Arianna looked back and forth between Michael and Lucas in confusion. Was it possible that the siren song had lost its effect already? Did you spare him? she asked the Maker, her heart fluttering in her chest. Was Michael truly free? Because if he was, she wouldn’t care if her voice was gone for the rest of her life. Michael would leave the water, and Renata’s plans would be thwarted.
Lucas fell into his brother’s arms in an embrace. As he held on, however, his face went from joy to agony. He cried out and then slumped against Michael. As the ship turned, Arianna saw the light of the sunset glinting off a bloodstained blade in Michael’s right hand.
Arianna screamed silently, falling to her knees. Why? was all she could ask the Maker. Why?
As if they had been waiting, half of the Protector’s songs stopped. Arianna could hear her father’s men and women calling to each other, unsure of what was happening aboard the vessel, but Arianna couldn’t move. Hot tears streamed down her face. Unable to even lift her hands to wipe them away, she could only stare at the red staining Lucas’s shirt. Lucas’s crew, likewise, watched dumbfounded as their crown prince stood over their captain.
“Take heed,” Michael said as Lucas slid to the ground. “This is what happens to those who would cross the Sea Crown. For the Sea Crown will be merciful no more.” Then he stepped over his brother’s body and took Arianna by the hand. He tugged at her until she was
forced to stand and then pulled her over the side and back down into the ocean.
As soon as the salt water had completely engulfed her, Arianna could feel her voice return. “Michael!”
He turned, smiling. “Yes?”
She stopped swimming and just shook her head. “Why?”
Michael swam back to her. “He was attacking the city. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because he’s your little brother!” She tried to steady her voice so she could shout at him properly. “He was trying to save you!”
Michael just shook his head, an exasperating, patient look on his face. “She wouldn’t have sent us if it hadn’t been important. Now, come.” His face lit up like a little boy’s. “I’m getting married tomorrow! I need to be ready.” He reached for her hand, but she yanked it back.
Without knowing what she was doing, Arianna began swimming away from him as fast as she could.
“Arianna!” He shouted her name over and over again, but she pushed him out. She couldn’t hear herself think when his voice was wreaking havoc with her head and her heart.
Not when she knew she was going to have to give him up, one way or another.
Before she had swum for very long, however, she felt someone trailing her. Glancing back, she saw two Protectors chasing after her, and the gap was closing quickly. They sang songs to hold her back, but she sang her own songs as well. And though her soulsong would have been far more successful in speeding her escape, her simple Protector melodies propelled her forward just fast enough to keep her out of their reach.
When she began to pant, however, she knew she wouldn’t last much longer at such a pace. She had been swimming for so long that everything around her had dulled into a dark blue as the night had fallen, and she hadn’t paid attention to where she was going. All she had wanted to do was escape Michael and the palace. But now, as she moved into the ever-darkening water, she saw a black blur up ahead, and immediately her mind was made up.
Silent Mermaid: A Retelling of The Little Mermaid (The Classical Kingdoms Collection Book 5) Page 30
