by Starla Night
“No,” Lucy said, too quickly, flushing brightly. “It’s business.”
“Normally it is a wedding proposal,” he amended. “Lucy is the most beautiful, powerful, resonant woman I have found.”
Her friends stared.
She swallowed. “He’s just saying things.”
“Good things,” Mel said, warming to him. “Go on. Tell me more about this proposal business.”
“In the past, the bride had no choice of her husband. Our tribe always selected the worthiest male. Now, I have informed Lucy of my intentions. She will become my bride by her own choice.”
“And I’d love to, but I’m done with marriage.” Lucy laughed nervously and toyed with the pouch. “I promised to help Torun stand up to his town council and meet the right woman. That’s all this is.”
Heat pulsed under his skin. She would love to become his bride. This was the second time she had uttered those words. Some barrier prevented her. He would uncover the barrier, remove it, and then claim her wholeheartedly as his queen.
“So.” Mel plated her face with her hands. “If Lucy said yes, would she become a mermaid?”
“Stop.” Lucy lifted her pink watermelon drink. “He’s supposed to convince you he’s not crazy. Otherwise, there’s no going out Sea Opal-hunting. I have to take him to a psychiatrist.”
“Honey, Torun thinks you’re as great as I do. He sounds perfectly sane to me.”
“Oh my god. Wait.” Elyssa placed both palms flat on the table and scooted forward in her chair to the edge of her seat. “If a bride accepts, does she become a mermaid?”
“Don’t tell me you believe him now.”
“You should want to know too, Lucy. You could end up as a mermaid.”
“Elyssa—”
“It’s for science. He knows about resonance.” Elyssa gestured at her empty drink vessels, accidentally tipping one over. “And I’ve had three margaritas. Go on, merman. Explain.”
Torun answered. “She drinks the elixir of the Life Tree. And then, yes, her body transforms to accept the sea.”
“What does that mean? Does her skin turn all swirly and gold, like yours?”
“The tattoos are not a natural condition. We add those as we acquire rank and honor.”
“So, no wild colors. How do you breathe underwater?”
“Gills.”
“Where?”
He indicated the small of his back. “Closest to the lungs.”
“That would make it awkward to sleep.” Mel shook her head. “Roll over on the bed and suffocate yourself.”
“You used to sleep with your face stuffed in a pillow,” Lucy said.
“Only after all-nighters. Or those dive trips you used to lead.”
“Or while training for triathlons.”
“Well, sure.” Mel patted her generous belly. “The pre-baby body. I’ll get there again. Someday.”
Elyssa ignored them, waiting eagerly for his answer.
“There are few beds under water,” he said. “No chairs, either.”
They all sobered, considering the no beds or chairs.
“So, you don’t have to go to the surface, like a whale?” Elyssa persisted.
He shook his head.
“That would help prevent you from coming down with the bends, I guess. Do you have a tail?”
“No.”
“Not even in the water?” Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “How do you swim?”
“I move my body.” He undulated, demonstrating.
Her eyes fixed on his feet.
His right foot stuck out from under the table near to her, and his gesture caused the foot to widen instinctively to a flat, cupped scoop. It threatened to burst the straps of the flip-flop Lucy had just exchanged paper money for him. Curse it. He could not break Lucy’s gift by inattention. He consciously flexed his foot back to the narrower, land-walking shape.
Elyssa’s eyes flew to his face.
The other women were joking and laughing to themselves, and hadn’t noticed his transformation.
Awe passed over Elyssa’s features. “You are. You really are a merman.”
“Yes.”
The star shining in her low cut, bare chest brightened, hot and warm as the island sun.
“And there’s more of you? An entire tribe seeking women to marry and transform into mermaids?”
“Only I disobey the Council and choose a bride from the mainland.”
Her star diminished. “Only you?”
How unsettling that these human souls were so volatile. Brighter than the starlight one minute, darker than the deepest cave the next.
“The Council fears if we break tradition and choose any bride, we will also leave Sireno for the abandoned city of Atlantis.”
“Atlantis,” she repeated. Her star brightened. “Of course.”
“A young, strong lord spoke of raising the sunken city. It was once a gathering place for mer and humans. With a single lever, the city rose above and descended beneath the waves again. There, any mer could meet any human, and choose.”
The others listened. Now that he had her attention, he spoke to Lucy.
“This young lord’s words inspired me. They inspired many, but others are held back by fear. Our tradition is not to reveal ourselves, and his plan will reveal us to all. Councils across the oceans have reacted harshly.”
Such as the punishment awaiting him if he did not soon prove his worth: castration, banishment, and execution.
“When will he raise Atlantis?” Elyssa made fists. Her cheeks burned as brightly as the star in her chest. “What can I do to help?”
“Kadir has been imprisoned in the deepest trench for his treason. A great many would have to rebel against their Councils, free him, and then rebuild the ancient city.”
Her star shone brightly in her shimmering green eyes. “Maybe your marriage to Lucy will inspire others to free him.”
Lucy sucked in a breath.
Warmth glowed in his own chest. Elyssa’s words moved him. Could his rebellion give back hope to the young lord who had brought him to his Lucy? Could it ripple beyond Sireno and inspire others to chase their loves?
“But,” Lucy interjected, sensitive as always to his emotional state, “I’m not going to be Torun’s queen, so he’ll have to find someone else.”
“You’re great together,” Elyssa protested.
“Torun needs a woman who can give him children.”
Elyssa tilted her head.
Mel rested her hand on Lucy’s shoulder. “Miracles happen. You’ll get pregnant when you least expect it. Trust me.”
“Yeah.” Lucy’s tone and distant look said she didn’t believe the words.
He needed to ask her—
“Speak of the little devils.” Mel rose and opened her arms. “Here we are!”
Two young ones hurried across the restaurant, calling for Mama. They clustered around Mel. She hugged them close and kissed their small faces.
Everyone rose from the table.
Her mate pushed a wheeled vehicle; inside rested a chubby, pink young fry who regarded the world with wide, blue eyes. Her mate greeted Mel first with a kiss, as was proper, and then said hello to the rest of them.
Torun tensed, but the hand the male held out to him was warm and friendly, and their shake, firm. Humans were different. This family lived by an honor code free of fear. Their young fry all shone with pure, blissful lights. They were secure in their mother’s love.
His throat tightened.
Beside him, Lucy also stared at the close family. Her pain and longing burned him like volcanic undersea currents. This was the family he wished for. She clearly wished for it too. Her hand squeezed the pouch holding his Sea Opal.
He touched her fist. “I will give you young ones.”
Her pain ebbed and then pushed back harder. She opened her mouth. No words emerged. Her lips tightened.
“Lucy, believe in me.”
“I told you. The problem isn’t you.”
�
��Then there is no problem.”
“Torun…”
“Explain.”
She would not run from him forever.
But she could run from him now. And she did so as she turned on her heels. “We don’t have time to discuss it. Our new team is waiting.” Lucy bid Elyssa and Mel’s family farewell and tugged him from the restaurant. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Ten
I will give you young ones.
Torun’s earnest promise slapped her ears like a sneaker wave. Lucy hurried through the streets as though she could outrun it. I will give you young ones.
No, you won’t.
The reply had been on her tongue. The words had almost come out. Only through force of will had she swallowed them back.
Mel had been an ordinary single woman like Lucy once. They’d met their husbands, gotten engaged, and married within a couple years of each other. Then, Mel glowed with pregnancy after pregnancy. She joked about her post-baby weight, but there was no doubt that her husband still desired her. He shouldered parental duties eagerly and they both kept up their activities and careers. Children added a rosy wholeness to Mel’s life, a huge fulfillment that Lucy craved more than oxygen. She had so desperately wanted her own family to expand and grow. She imagined her husband’s love growing fuller and stronger.
But it didn’t. Because she couldn’t.
And now that pain washed over her again, a riptide threatening to drag her under.
She had told Torun over and over she would not be his queen or give him children. He thought she was unwilling to give him babies, not incapable.
No one looking at her would believe she was such a failure of a human being, right? She had all the equipment, didn’t she?
“Lucy.” Torun’s deep bass vibrated soothingly in her ear. Intimate, as if his words in the crazy heart of Cancun tourist areas were only for her. “You are upset.”
He sounded concerned. Like he was going to hold her again, and make her heart swell with promises that she knew he couldn’t keep.
She scrubbed her face to keep from doing something stupid, like reaching out for him and accepting that comfort. “I’m just late.”
Lucy ducked into her old dive shop. Her old boss was out on the trawler resurrecting the engine. As well he should! Selling her a zombie boat was a rotten way to repay their friendship. Lucy headed to the marina and used Elyssa’s new credit card to pay for fees and gas.
Busyness kept her from dwelling on the real reason she avoided the burning aquamarine gaze of the so-called marine warrior.
Mel was supposed to have taken one look at Torun and thump Lucy upside the head. Are you crazy? the Mel of her imagination demanded. He says he’s a what? And you want to take him out diving? Is this the expedition I double-mortgaged my house to finance?
But instead, Mel had been completely in favor. When Torun was distracted meeting the rest of Mel’s family, she pulled Lucy to the side for a woman-to-woman chat. “Skip the psychiatrist. You must take him back out with you.”
“He knows the location of the Sea Opals,” Elyssa chimed in.
“And he’s good for you. You haven’t been this alive since you signed the divorce papers.”
Lucy put her hands on her hips. “You’ll feel bad if he’s an ax murderer.”
Mel laughed and patted Lucy. “Honey, I’d still put my money on you.” She returned to her family.
Elyssa studied Torun.
“I’m kidding,” Lucy said, because she didn’t want anyone thinking Torun was actually an ax murderer. “But something’s still wrong. Who goes around claiming to be a merman?”
“Maybe he’s not lying. He didn’t drown, and he’s sort of blue.”
“He could be a professional free diver with a silver addiction.” Silver, when drunk like soda pop, could actually turn a person blue as Cookie Monster.
“I think he’s real. But whatever. If you trust him, I trust you. Let’s video us together for posterity!” She turned to grab her cell phone and knocked the salt shaker off the table.
Lucy helped Elyssa clean up. The younger woman was sweet. Three margaritas convinced her that Torun was the real deal. She was obviously a dreamer who also believed in crystals, tarot, and star signs. There were worse things to be.
So now Lucy was stuck with the gorgeous, crazy male who made her long for things she couldn’t have. She had already grown too used to his presence. His delicious kiss, and his oceanic scent, and the promise of more to come. She had already started to need him.
Her soul craved more and her body pulsed with demands.
No! He had demands of his own, demands she couldn’t meet! No matter how she wished herself different. Lucy had promised she would introduce him to a woman who could give him children. Beautiful, bouncy, blue-and-gold tribal children.
Her heart squeezed in half.
“Lucy!” Torun dragged her into his arms, stopping her in the middle of the busy dock. “Whatever you are thinking, change your thought. Right now.”
She swallowed and curled her hands around his forearms. So strong, wrapped around her chest, and her wide belly. So commanding. She closed her eyes to the curious pedestrians strolling around them.
“I’m just being dumb.” She cleared her throat. “Sorry.”
“You are not being dumb. You are being dangerous.” His lips nuzzled her sensitive neck. “I have never seen your light so dim. Please. You are my bride. Take strength in our connection and let me care for you.”
She breathed in his arms.
Unlike Blake, who dropped her as soon as she became a drag, Torun sensed her feelings and faced them head on.
Lucy was stronger than her sadness. She was stronger than her depression, and she would get over the fallout from this odd crush on a man who claimed to be an escaped creature of the sea.
She took another deep, settling breath.
“Good,” he murmured and nibbled on her lobe. “Much better.”
His nibble teased her with tingles.
He offered himself to her fearlessly. Couldn’t she accept a little taste?
No. That path led to shattered dreams.
She squeezed him, silently thanking him, and pulled free. “Our crew is waiting. Come on.”
The interns Mel had hired were already on board. Setting up solar panels to power his undersea mapping equipment, the cartography grad student Cash waved over his shoulder. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too.” Lucy put her hands on her hips. Finally, this expedition would get the official scientific recognition it deserved. “Have you seen my old boss? He was doing some repair.”
“Yeah, he said something about replacing the bubblegum and duct tape. He just left.”
Lucy started for the engine room to see the state of the repairs.
Torun frowned.
She paused. “What’s wrong?”
“This man does not shine,” Torun said, in his cryptic, formal way. “He dislikes the water.”
“You’ve got that right.” Cash straightened. “The grad school clock is ticking. I don’t have a lot of internship options.”
Well, Mel had said as much. She played hero for finding the interns, but she’d also freely confessed that the interns had emailed her first.
“So long as you can do your job, you’re welcome on my expedition.”
“I got my bracelet and my anti-nausea pills. I’ll survive.”
Torun’s frown deepened.
“We don’t have a lot of options either,” she told Torun quietly. “This is the data we need to find the Sea Opals.”
“I know where to find—”
“I know you do, but this makes it official later.” There would be documentation. No one could question her success. “And we can’t afford to advertise your gem. If we sell one Sea Opal to upgrade our own equipment, a thousand treasure hunters will swarm us and scoop up the rest.”
Speaking of treasure hunters, there was Blake to consider. He couldn’t marry the Sea Opals away
from her a second time. If he learned about her newest discovery, what would he try?
She didn’t want to find out. The eager adventurer who’d proposed to her was nothing like the cold, hard businessman who slammed her with divorce.
Their final crew member, an oceanography intern named Gracie, hopped onto the tug with arms full of groceries. She was taking on Lucy’s old role on dive trips, but Lucy had never looked that good. Tight shorts hugged her thin legs, and a tube top obscured her tiny bikini. White earbuds buzzed with almost-audible music. She looked Torun up and down and up again, craning her neck to see the top of his head.
He greeted her. “Gracie.”
Gracie waved two fingers, nodded to Lucy and to Cash, and disappeared below deck.
“She is quiet,” he noted.
“She’ll be our data analyst and my partner on the dives,” Lucy said.
“Partner? I will be your diving partner.”
“You don’t have equipment.”
He puffed out his chest. “I do not need equipment. I am a merman.”
Cash straightened and lifted a brow. “Well, okay then.”
“It’s the name of his tribe,” she told Cash quickly.
“Our tribe is the mermen of Sireno.”
“See?” She headed for the hatch. “Don’t worry. I have everything under control.”
Cash shook his head and muttered something about nuts.
Great. Even the unpaid intern was second-guessing her leadership.
Torun followed her down the stairs.
Gracie and Cash were bunking in the guest room; their things sprawled across the twin bunks. The engine room was dry, amazingly. A note from her old boss was duct-taped to a new Costco box of oil. She checked her levels, hoses, and the tackiness of the newly applied fiberglass. Missy B was a Frankenstein-boat, but it would get her out and back again. She started the pre-departure checklist in her head.
“Lucy.” Torun followed her too closely. “Do not fear the water.”
“I’m not fearful. Just respectful.”
“I will keep you safe.”
She stopped. The edge to his voice matched the dark lines creasing his eyes. He was seriously concerned for her. It was kind of nice. Having a large, powerful male frantic to ease her slightest fears. She could get way too used to that.
