by Starla Night
“Ha ha. We’ll see if the city actually wants me.” Elyssa twisted away from Aya’s frown and Kadir’s matching expression. “I, um, still have to get there.”
“Transforming is hard. The first time is the worst. What’s going on?”
Elyssa told her the details, strolling down to the end of the dock for privacy. Lucy uh-huhed and hmm’d through the whole trauma. Just speaking all her doubts and fears aloud was deeply cathartic.
“And I keep feeling like I’m drowning,” Elyssa finished.
“That’s natural,” Lucy said immediately. “But listen, you understood them speaking underwater. That’s impossible for a human. We only hear a weird humming. You’re already transformed.”
“I half-transformed.”
“There is no half-transforming.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“They think I didn’t drink any nectar and they’re pretty sure I’m not smart enough to be queen.”
Kadir made a noise.
Oops. Had he heard? She thought she was far enough away. She quickly turned and headed down the dock to the abrupt end. When she was whining like this to Lucy, she couldn’t hold his strong gaze.
“Well, that’s rude of them, and it’s also completely wrong,” Lucy said though Aya’s cell phone. “Your fins and webbing are already there, waiting for you to make them come out. It might take months to train them to emerge on command. Speaking and breathing are easier because it just happens. And didn’t you see more than usual? Or hear the plants and animals making music, maybe?”
She had seen awful far. “But the drowning—”
“Will never go away. Have Kadir distract you. The next thing you know, you’re six feet under. I like to lose myself in Torun’s kiss.”
Her chest heated. “Kiss?”
“Make out like there’s no tomorrow. If your king is half as hot as Torun, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Her desire twisted. She’d been reliving his kisses every time her mind wandered. “Oh, it’s no problem.”
“Good. Have fun. I’m so excited for you! You deserve it.”
You deserve it.
It was nice to hear those words from Lucy, who only knew her from the short time they spent together on the Sea Opal expedition. It meant more than any encouragement from her family, who often seemed to tinge theirs with sympathy for whatever mistake she’d just made.
Maybe she would handle the ruling thing after all. First, she had to get to the city.
“Oh yeah,” Lucy added, just before hanging up, “and get naked.”
“Naked?” Elyssa squeaked.
“It helps. Especially the first time.”
They finished their goodbyes. Elyssa handed the phone back to Aya.
“Apparently I’ve been a mermaid this whole time,” Elyssa said. Awkward! “Um, thanks for going out on a date anyway.”
“Elyssa.” Kadir’s eyes glimmered with strong emotion. But which one? “Soren’s words dimmed your light.”
So he had heard her. “Soren spoke the truth.”
Kadir’s mouth flattened to an inflexible line. “From this hour forward, only honorable words will be spoken in your presence.”
“Hopefully I can keep from screwing up so you don’t have to worry.”
He focused on her again. Clearly, he intended to protest.
But she had already wasted enough of everyone’s time.
She took a deep breath. “I’m, um, supposed to get naked and then make out with you. Will you help me?”
His protest died. He tipped her over the side of the dock. Together, they plunged deep into the startling blue depths.
Sunlight from the waves overhead dappled them. Kadir’s body shimmered, slippery as a fish. He shucked his shirt and kicked free of his jeans. Silver iridescence scrolled all over his lithe body, even down the length of his… Elyssa stared. She’d been so distracted before by trying to transform that she didn’t notice his total nakedness or his long, thick cock. It was, like the rest of him, proud and commanding.
He focused on her with hard intensity. “Off.”
She removed her dress and it floated away like his clothes. She struggled free of the bikini. Warm ocean flooded her secret nooks and crannies. It felt illicit and naughty. She was skinny-dipping in public with a hunky merman.
Far below her toes, the sand glowed brightly. It really did spread forever in every direction. If she squinted, she could probably see the Keys. The Caribbean. Texas. And, diving through the ocean like swallows and ravens, every single fish in between.
She’d been a mermaid from the very first plunge off the dock. She’d just failed to believe it.
Elyssa floated in perfect equilibrium. Currents tugged her to and fro like strong breezes. Unlike breezes, however, she could see their movements. They swirled with tiny, sparkling plankton.
She was a mermaid. A very human-shaped mermaid.
Kadir tugged her deeper. For once, her single-minded warrior seemed to relax. He stroked her cheek. His touch was feather-light and deeply moving. Tenderness she had never seen calmed his hard, silver-streaked brow. It whispered secret promises into her soul.
He twined her in his arms. “Kiss me.”
His voice thrummed from his chest directly into hers. Lucy had told her about this. Elyssa needed to speak without speaking. Think her words, and push them across to Kadir in the same cavity where she heard them.
“You…were eavesdropping,” she said cautiously.
It worked.
He drew her closer. His lids lowered and he kissed her fingertips. “I will always listen to you, Elyssa.”
Her chest squeezed.
Could she really give herself completely to Kadir like this? The rock star fantasy had peeled back to reveal a complex, thoughtful, commanding mer king. Could she really stand beside him and rule over his kingdom?
Again, in the way that he seemed to read her thoughts, a shadow passed his face. “Do not think about becoming a queen. When that time arrives, you will be ready. From now until that time, I will not speak of it in your presence.”
He did that for her. Even though it pained him.
She entwined with him. Command stamped itself on his chiseled cheeks, his strong jaw, and his broad shoulders. He would keep his word, sheltering her from her fears, for all eternity.
He nuzzled her gently. His lips teased her to open. To let him in.
She sank into his kiss.
His tongue stroked her hidden crevices, just like the water. He tasted salty as the ocean and also richly smoky. His flavor coated her lips in liquid sugar. His hard cock pressed against her soft belly with delicious demands.
This was what mattered. Not the future. Not the past. Nothing but Kadir. Her merman.
Her king.
They sank into the depths together, twirling slowly.
“Breathe out,” he ordered without lifting his lips. The words vibrated in her chest.
She trusted him.
Bubbles erupted from her mouth. Ocean poured down her throat.
Her chest convulsed.
She jerked, coughing out bubbles and sucking in thick water.
His arms tightened. “Stay with me, Elyssa. Listen to the song.”
She thrashed. Listen to the song? What… oh.
Symphony music swelled like a radio turning up the volume dial.
The mosquito hum of the earring transmitters still buzzed in her ears. But beneath it, a hum-hum-hum of silver fish flew in a school, a boom-boom of crabs scuttled along the sand, and a chuga-chug of sand dollars dug beneath the sand.
In fact, it felt like she could see through the sand somehow. Behind rocks, even though normally light didn’t bend that way. Her senses were expanding. She was “seeing” things she couldn’t possibly see. The animals glowed like Christmas lights, brightening the already brilliant ocean. A giant laser light show, from the tinkling patches of kelp beds that illuminated several miles off-shore to the surprised shou
ts of Kadir’s fellow warriors, swimming toward them furiously, a few miles down the beach.
Slowly, by degrees, she let go of the panic.
The ocean caressed her body inside and out. And she was still alive. Everything was fine. She did not need air to breathe.
Her hands crept to her lower back. Hard ridges formed the vents for gills. At her touch, they closed up tight, sealing her body. This was how a mermaid held her breath.
The mer warriors swam around them. Unlike Kadir, who was unarmed, the rest of them carried long metal tridents; Lotar also carried twin daggers strapped to his biceps. They were otherwise naked, but it didn’t seem weird or awkward. Of course, she couldn’t help checking them out. Their cocks flew loose and free, as intricately tattooed as the rest of them, all different sizes and shapes. In contrast, she didn’t feel like they were checking her out at all.
Soren noted her feet. “She has not transformed.”
“Apparently the feet and hands are a later stage transformation.” Kadir rested his forearm possessively around the curve of her buttocks. “She no longer requires air. Only that matters.”
Soren grunted. “Carrying her will slow our return.”
“We expected this possibility. Brides never fully transform.”
“She is shining.” Ciran studied her upper back. Although she glanced down at his coffee-and-green swirled cock, he seemed uninterested in her attributes. The vertebrae between her shoulder blades, which didn’t seem any different to her, drew his eye. “This level of brightness suggests she is happy despite being under the water.”
“You can ask her, Ciran. She could hear our words from the beginning.”
They all fixed on her.
Oops, she was exposed. She clung to Kadir more tightly. “Hi.”
Ciran licked his lips as though he didn’t know how to repeat his question.
Iyen asked for him. Intent as a special ops soldier who needed to know whether or not he had completed his mission. “Are you happy?”
Well, a few minutes ago she’d thought she was a failure who’d wrecked the mer-human project and destroyed Aya’s great grandmother’s company. “I feel great right now.”
They all seemed…peaceful? Like exhaling a huge sigh, only no one was breathing air.
It would be useful if she could see some sort of inner-chest-glow in them like they saw in her. Lucy had been unable to see the glow. Now Elyssa couldn’t see it either. Maybe only mermen could see it.
Soren broke the peace with a flick of his fins. “We must go, my king.” He shot through the water.
A splash broke the sea by the dock. Aya. She wore her red bathing suit and snorkel set, and she gestured to Elyssa urgently.
“Just a sec.”
Elyssa let go of Kadir and swam to Aya. Her cousin didn’t seem to see her until almost the last moment when Elyssa nearly grabbed her shoulders.
Aya pointed at her underwater camera. Scientific documentation, of course. It made the same mosquito whine as the transmitters. The red light blinked. It was recording.
And…she was naked.
Oh well!
“Cheese.” Elyssa swam loop-de-loops. If this got broadcast with the rest of the reality TV documentary, they’d fog out her private bits.
Unless a cable channel bought the rights. Best not to think about it too hard.
They splashed around each other like the old days in the pool. Aya was still the stronger swimmer. Her red plastic fins easily out-paced Elyssa’s barefoot butterfly kicks. But this time, Elyssa was the one underwater, with the whole undersea world opened up. She dove down, down, down. Aya had to turn first and go back up.
The mermen waited.
Right. Enough messing around.
Aya pointed to the surface. She wanted to tell Elyssa something.
“Say your farewells,” Kadir called.
Soren’s grumble carried. “You will see her in a month anyway.”
Right. The first check in was in a month.
Aya got her breath at the surface, descended again to Elyssa’s level, and pointed upward more insistently.
Elyssa did not want to go through the transformation again. What if she couldn’t? Okay, that was a silly fear, but Lucy said all transitions were hard. The first was only the hardest.
Aya’s insistent gesture slowed and stopped. She must realize Elyssa wasn’t coming up. She made her hands into fists that seemed to mean, Good luck.
Elyssa gripped her fists and pulled her into a hug.
Aya stiffened, then her arms went around Elyssa’s back. For the first time in their long friendship, she squeezed Elyssa.
A lump formed in Elyssa’s throat.
Aya quickly released her, trying to pat her back awkwardly under the water. On the surface, she’d have been red as her signature clothes. Even underwater, behind a mask, holding her breath with a snorkel clamped in her teeth, she looked everywhere but directly at Elyssa.
“I’ll find a way for you to become a mermaid queen too,” Elyssa whispered. “I promise.”
Aya couldn’t understand her, but that was okay. She waved and kicked to the surface. Unlike Elyssa, she couldn’t hold her breath forever.
The warriors were waiting.
She swam to Kadir. “I’m ready.”
He drew her to his broad chest. “Hold on.”
She slipped her arms around his neck and fit to the hollows of his body, squeezing and squishing like two puzzle pieces snapping into place. His erection, which had gone down after she left his arms, hardened again with her nearness.
He made her feel beautiful and desired. He didn’t just say he wanted her. His body meant it.
She snuggled against him.
He kicked. They flew through the water like a plane accelerating for take off. The seafloor rushed past and the dock, with lonely Aya kicking at the surface, shrank tiny. They crossed miles in minutes and entered the greater echo chamber of the ocean. The coastline disappeared.
She was on her own.
Chapter Ten
Kadir carried his bride into deep water.
The surface trials were over. Elyssa held onto Kadir’s body trustingly. A powerful, protective urge pulsed through his muscles. His fins pumped across the treacherous shore-hugging current.
He had wanted her to transform completely right away. Brides never did this. Some could not make their fins even at the end of their stay. If Elyssa had, it would have encouraged them that Kadir’s vision was right. She was destined to be more than a bride who returned to the surface. She was destined to remain forever as his queen.
But his focus on her fins had blinded him to the parts of the transformation that had already taken place.
Her doubts — and his — slowed them.
Aya had given Kadir a meaningful gaze on the dock while Elyssa had learned the truth of her powers over the cell phone. Her hard gaze blamed him for the delay. She was not wrong. They could have been on their way to Atlantis more than half a day earlier if he had held tighter to his faith.
Faith in the Life Tree nectar. Faith Elyssa’s transformation happened at its own pace. Faith in himself.
Now Elyssa stared in wonder at the passing ocean. She breathed, she saw, she heard, she spoke. Someday, the rest would come. Rightness gave him a burst of speed. He would not forget this lesson soon.
“Will it take long to get to Atlantis?” she asked.
“Yes.” In surface time, their arrival took over two weeks. “Shorter because we will not sleep.”
“Sounds like a long night.”
“Many long nights.”
She caressed his neck and shoulder blades with soft, insistent strokes. “You’re holding me tight. Is there something I can do?”
He found the most aerodynamic shape to press her abdomen to his and let her human feet dangle between his long fins. “Rest your head against my shoulder.”
“Like this?” She touched her forehead to his collar.
He pushed her head closer to seal the gap
s. She shifted with his pressure and suddenly they smoothed into a shape coiled with power. He shot through the water twice as far using only half of the kicks. His warriors noticed and perked up. They had been holding back because of him; now, they kicked hard.
“Is this really helping?” she asked. “I feel like all I’m doing is weighing you down.”
Ciran fell behind. Soren looked as though he were struggling.
“It is the best we can do. Do not move.” He summoned Ciran. “Why were you not fed and rested?”
“We were.”
“Then why do you struggle to match my pace?”
Ciran looked ahead at Lotar and across at Iyen. All showed signs of exerting their maximum effort. “My king, you are swimming excessively fast.”
That made no sense. On the journey out, Kadir had struggled to keep up with the slowest pace. The warriors had held themselves back. They had all experienced the same rest, and now Kadir was burdened with a second weight and mass. How could he possibly be going faster?
Soren finally motioned for Ciran to return to his position, and he swam beside Kadir to gruffly admit the truth. “We did not rest as long as you ordered.”
“Were you not treated well in my absence?”
“Aya treated us fine!” The slash he made in the empty water with his trident was suspiciously defensive.
“But?”
“There was a disagreement.”
“With Aya?” Elyssa lifted her head.
Their aerodynamic shape collapsed. Current slammed into them. The other warriors soared past.
Soren fell back. Concern struck his face. “My king?”
“I am fine.” Weakness was to be expected. “Continue your explanation.”
“Aya took us to a ‘fifties diner’. We consumed grilled, macerated cow ‘burgers’ and salted potato wedges. Also, a glass of a cold substance sucked through a straw. Chocolate something.”
