I propel myself up and over the outcropping. From that height I can see the shoal spread out in front of me. The guards are farther from the edges than I imagined, creating a wide barrier between the shoal and the rest of the sea. No one can get within a thousand tail-lengths without the guards deterring them.
I’m not too worried about them, though. I wasn’t banned from the shoal, I left voluntarily. I know my grandfather isn’t the honorable man I thought he was, but I don’t believe he would hurt me.
I’d like to go straight to the center of the shoal and speak my peace before I see him, but I don’t think it will be that easy. I have a feeling the guards will insist I go to the palace. I might have to placate Grandfather before I’m allowed out into the shoal.
Maybe I shouldn’t tell him I’ve been on land all this time. Maybe I should pretend I’ve been in Llyr’s shoal, instead. I can reveal the truth to him and everyone else later, when I tell the shoal about the curse. That’s what I need to do, I decide. I’ll have to feign ignorance for a while, till I get my chance to tell my story.
I’m feeling confident in my plan when I near the guards, so caught up in my thoughts that I don’t notice the agitated looks on their faces at the sight of me or the way several of them start to head towards me.
“It’s Princess Coral!” one of them yells, and they all rush in.
Suddenly, three guards are upon me, grabbing my arms and twisting them behind my back. They tie my wrists together then loop the rope around my tail, as well, making it impossible for me to swim. I’m dragged along like a fish caught in a net. My hair whips around my face, and their tails stir up the water, trapping me in a whirl of bubbles, blinding me. Panicking, I gasp in deep gill-fulls of water and wriggle against my restraints, but they’re too tight for me to fight against. They chafe my skin and tear scales from my tail, cutting into my fin.
Is this what Grandfather instructed them to do if they saw me? I figured he might be angry with me, but they’re treating me like I’m a criminal! My plan will never work if Grandfather won’t even give me a chance. Is he going to lock me up like he did my mother?
The guards haul me to the palace, taking me in through the back so less merfolk can witness my arrival, and the entourage surrounding me blocks any view they might have. I hear agitated voice as I enter the palace, many I recognize but some I don’t. We come to a standstill as the guards discuss what to do with me with some of Grandfather’s officials, but my heart is pounding so loud I can barely understand what they’re saying.
One familiar voice comes through, though. Meribel.
“Coral! You’re alive!” Her voice bubbles around me, helping to calm my agitated mind.
I don’t hold out much hope that Grandfather will give me a chance to redeem myself, so telling Meribel is the only way I might still be able to release the merfolk from the curse. Will they believe her? I doubt a secondhand witness would be enough to break the stronghold of deception.
The guards are distracted, so I call out to her, speaking as quick as I can. “Meribel! I have so much to tell you! The curse is a lie! I’ve been to the land. I mated with humans, and I found my mother in another shoal.”
Meribel gasps and her eyes get wide, but before she has a chance to respond, another guard grabs her and whisks her away. They’ve heard my confession, and they don’t look pleased. Will they hurt Meribel to keep her from telling others?
Eventually, they drag me down the hallway towards my old room, and my spirits lift for a moment, but the guards don’t stop. Instead, they lead me to an unused room, and one of them cuts the ropes off me. I sag in relief once I’m able to flex my tail again. The guard swims out of the room without a word and shuts the door. I hear an ominous click as he turns a key, locking me in. What are they going to do with me? I swim nervously back and forth, waiting for Grandfather to come, or anyone, but nothing happens.
The large, empty room gets smaller and smaller, closing in on me, suffocating me as the sun drops out of the sky and the water turns black around me. I’d forgotten how dark it gets here at night. I’m so used to the artificial lighting humans rely on to extend their days well past sundown. Even my mother’s new shoal uses lights to illuminate their dwellings. But Grandfather has always opposed anything human.
I jump every time I hear voices come and go outside my door, but none of them are Grandfather or Meribel. I pray he won’t punish her on my account. My stomach growls, empty after the long journey, making me even more agitated, but no one comes to bring me anything. Eventually, the voices quit passing by my door, and the palace grows silent.
I curl up in a corner, mentally and physically exhausted, but the floor is hard compared to the sea sponge nest in my bedroom or the soft mattress at Liam’s apartment, and my empty stomach is still protesting. I try to get some rest even though my mind won’t stop churning long enough for me to fall asleep.
In the morning, a rustling at the door jolts me awake, and I scurry out of the corner, surprised to see pale rays of sunlight filtering through the windows. I must have fallen asleep, after all.
When the door opens, I’m shocked to see my grandfather. He’s carrying my favorite meal, red snapper, and he holds it out to me like a peace offering. I grab the fish from him and begin eating, too hungry to care who it’s from.
“Coral, I’m so happy to see you, darling. I’m so glad you’re home, safe.” His ruddy face lights up under his long, graying hair and beard.
I pull the fish away from my mouth long enough to scowl and say, “Then why do you have me locked up like a prisoner?”
His face wilts in disappointment. “I apologize for that, sweetheart. The guards were just told to bring you to the palace straightaway if you returned, not to manhandle you like a common trespasser.”
I don’t believe him, but I let it pass. We have more important things to settle.
“Where have you been, Coral-Lee? I’ve missed you so.”
If I’m going to have any chance of regaining his trust, I can’t tell him the truth, so I quickly make up a story. “I’ve been exploring the ocean since I never got to leave the shoal before.”
He frowns at me and shakes his head, pursing his lips. “Now, we both know that’s a lie, little starfish. Be honest with me. You told Meribel a very different story.”
I cringe, wishing this could go differently, but he’s called my bluff, so it’s time to call his. I toss the remains of the fish away and glare at him, fists on hips.
“You’re the liar, Grandfather. You told everyone that mermaids could only stay on land for five days or they would die, but that’s not true! I spent months on land, and nothing happened to me!”
He puts a hand to his chest like I’ve wounded him. He acts so shocked, I almost believe he’s surprised. “Coral, it’s the truth as far as I know it. Are you saying you suspect the curse isn’t real?”
“Oh, the curse is real, all right, but it’s not what you’ve told everyone. The curse doesn’t kill anyone, or ban them from the shoal, or prevent them from shifting, it just makes them believe what you say.” My tail flicks rapidly as adrenaline courses through my body.
He stares intently at me, trying to wrap his head around my words. I decide to elaborate since I’ve given up on regaining his trust.
“I’ve been to another shoal, I’ve seen mermen who can shift, and I’ve met my mother. She told me the truth about what happened. She told me you locked her up until she gave birth to me then took me from her and banned her from the shoal with a curse from the sea witch. But you couldn’t ban her, could you? All you could do was make her believe she was banned.” My eyes narrow, and I stare at him, daring me to contradict me.
His own eyes burn with anger, and he puffs up his chest as he swishes his large tail, propelling himself back and forth across the room. “I see she’s filled your head with her nonsense. Your mother knows nothing about what’s best for this shoal. She never has. She lived under the delusion that mixing with humans will improve our
society since she was a merling, and she’s obviously never outgrown it. But I’ve been ruling this shoal for 50 cycles now, and my father for 50 before that. I’ve seen what danger humans can bring to our kind and heard tell of worse than that. If you’ve spent any time on land, surely you’ve seen that for yourself!”
His words hit me like a fist to the chest when I remember the danger I’ve experienced at the hands of humans. Sam, James, and Roy had no qualms about kidnapping, torturing, and extorting me to get what they wanted.
He rushes up to me and grabs my arms, shaking me. “Yes, yes, I see it in your eyes, Coral. You know what I mean. What have they done to you in the short time you’ve been gone? Have you exposed our kind? Are we in danger of being discovered?”
I shake my head, but the truth is, I don’t know. Will James and his crew tell the world about me? I’m sure they’ll try to find others like me now that they know we’re real. Have I put the entire shoal in danger? Llyr didn’t seem worried about it. He said humans claim to see merfolk all the time, but they never have proof, so no one believes them. Thoughts of Llyr relieve my worries a bit.
“There are other shoals out there that interact with humans all the time. I’ve been to one where merfolk go to the land every day and hold down jobs like humans. If they can do that without putting us at risk, why can’t you allow our mermen to go on land and our mermaids to stay if they want to?”
He lets go of me and throws his hands up in the air. “Coral, don’t you see? Shoals like that are one step away from abandoning the sea altogether! We’re not human, Coral, we’re merfolk. We belong in the sea. We never should have intermingled with humans in the first place. Then there would be no hybrids, and we wouldn’t be tempted by the human world at all.”
“I don’t see what’s wrong with being a hybrid, Grandfather, and I don’t understand why you would go so far as to curse everyone to get them to live the way you want. If you don’t want to go on land, that’s your choice, but it’s not right for you to take that choice away from everyone.”
He shakes his head, his eyes brewing like storm clouds. “I’m disappointed in you, Coral. I’d hoped I could talk some sense into you. I thought I’d done a good job raising you to follow in my footsteps, but obviously you’ve taken after your mother.”
He says this like he can think of no worse thing. How can he feel that way about his own daughter, a woman who wanted nothing more than freedom? He’s so obsessed with his ideals, he’s willing to sacrifice his own family to preserve them.
“Now I don’t know what to do with you. I certainly can’t have you spouting off to the other merfolk, putting ideas in their heads.”
“Are you going to kick me out and ban me from the shoal like you did to my mother? Or won’t that work since I know the truth about the curse?”
“No, I suppose it won’t, will it? Well, you’re still young, and I have plenty more life in me before I’ll turn to sea foam. Maybe you’ll come around with a little time to think, hmm?” He smirks at me and swishes out of the room, locking the door behind him.
Is he going to leave me locked in here indefinitely?
Chapter 7
Avery
“Hold still, or I’ll hit you upside the head with that bottle of whiskey to knock you out instead of letting you drink it,” Gio growls, pouring saline over my bullet wound. I suck in a deep breath and grit my teeth at the sting. Grumpy Gio is the worst nurse ever.
When he needed medical care, he got a morphine drip and Coral, curled up in a hospital bed with him. But I get shot, by him no less, and I get a lumpy ship bunk, a bottle of Jack Daniels, and Nurse Ratched. What did I do to deserve this?
I get it, I do. I know why he can’t take me to the hospital for proper medical care, and I’m okay with that. But geez, he could at least be a little nicer to me, especially since he’s the one who shot me.
I’ve got to get out of here. I can’t stay here and listen to Gio grouse any longer. I know he’s upset about not getting the gold, having to fight off James and his crew, and of course, losing Coral, but we all are. You don’t see the rest of us acting like total jackasses.
Well, I don’t really know how Jude and Liam are acting since they left me alone here to deal with Gio, but I’m not acting like a jerk. Technically, they left me here so Gio could take care of me, but I think I’d do better on my own. All this negativity isn’t good for the healing process.
Besides, I have a job I have to get back to. Hilda at de Beaux Cheveux wants me to start tomorrow. I smile just thinking about getting a chair with my name on it at the high-end salon. It’s the first step towards making my dream come true.
Eventually, I’m going to open my own salon. The hundred grand I got when we sold the gold Coral found for us would probably be enough to get started, but after taxes, investing in Gio’s boat, and the overhead it would take to get a new shop open, I wouldn’t have any cushion left to get me through while I grow the business. I don’t want to fail six months in because I was anxious and foolhardy. My father would never let me live it down. No, I want to be smart about it, so when I do open my own shop, I’ll be successful.
Besides, working at de Beaux Cheveux will look great on my resume, and maybe I’ll even gain some clients who will want to follow me when I do open my own business. And I definitely need to build up my clientele since I lost most of them when I disappeared for three months. But I’m good at making clients feel pampered and special, so I don’t think it will take me too long to get a solid client base again.
“I think I’ll head home today, get settled before work tomorrow,” I tell Gio when he’s done torturing me under the guise of changing my bandages.
“You’re leaving?” He slams the lid of the first aid kit.
“Yeah, I told you, I start at that salon tomorrow.” I pull on a clean shirt, checking to make sure my bandages aren’t visible though the material.
“Well, what about your wound? You can’t tell your family about it, Avery. You can’t tell anybody.” He sticks his face up in mine, narrowing his eyes at me like a mob boss.
“Relax, Gio. I don’t intend to tell anyone there’s a bullet hole in my shoulder. I can take care of the wound myself. If my shoulder bothers me, I’ll tell them I pulled a muscle or something.”
Apparently, that answer isn’t good enough for him because he still frowns at me. “You don’t have to leave, you know. You own part of this boat. I know you don’t get along that great with your family, so you’re welcome to stay here, if you want.”
I grunt out a laugh. “You’re not exactly the easiest to live with, either, you know.” Does he really want me to stay, or is he just trying to be nice?
Gio pinches his face and quirks an eyebrow at me. Seriously? Does he not realize what a prick he’s been lately?
“Fine. But don’t come crying to me when your daddy calls you a fag again.”
I scowl and roll my eyes at him then start folding clothes and putting them in my duffel bag. Gio stomps off to go do whatever he does all day.
My shoulder starts aching as soon as I move it, so I massage it now that Gio’s gone. It is going to be difficult to do hair right now, but I’ll have to suffer through it. I’m certainly not going to tell Hilda I can’t start yet. She’s a one-chance-only kind of person. If I don’t show up tomorrow, I’m sure there’s a dozen other hotshot stylists who’d be happy to take my place.
Once I’m packed, I head up to say goodbye to Gio. He’s sitting on the deck, staring at the water, looking like a lost puppy. I know he’s bummed that all his plans went down the drain. He didn’t get the gold he was counting on which means he’s no closer to getting his sister, and without Coral, finding another shipwreck is going to be a lot harder. Plus, I’m sure he’s blaming himself for losing her. I don’t know what happened, but I don’t think it’s Gio’s fault.
“Hey, you’ll call me, right, when you go out again?” I ask.
“Yeah, sure, of course. It’s going to take me a while to re
search a new wreck. Hopefully you’ll be better by then.”
I wince. I’d like to crew for him when he goes out, but I doubt I’ll be free with my new job schedule. But I don’t want to tell him that and get him any more upset. I’d still like to know when he’s going, though. I do have a stake in the boat, after all.
I take off then, anxious to get away from Gio and his depression. I miss Coral like crazy, but I’m sure she had a reason for not coming back. My whole life, people have been trying to bully me into doing what they thought I should do instead of what I wanted. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, but Coral got the same thing from her family.
As much as I miss her, she deserves the freedom to do what she wants, whether it’s stay with us or return to the sea. I just hope she didn’t go back home out of guilt. I hope, whatever she’s doing, it makes her happy.
When I leave the marina, I head left instead of right. If I’d rented that gorgeous apartment downtown, I’d be driving towards the city instead of away from it, but I’m glad I didn’t, even though I’m dying to get my own place. I really can’t afford to spend the money on it since we haven’t found more treasure yet. My parents let me live at home rent free, probably because I do most of the chores around the house, although my father has threatened to kick me out on more than one occasion.
The wide highway gets narrower, and the smooth pavement gives way to bumps and cracks as I drive deeper into the country. The buildings get smaller and less dense as the ground turns to swampland. Cypress trees draped in gray Spanish moss stand in the marsh like dirty, old columns leftover from antebellum mansions, but the houses is this area look more like shacks.
I take a rutted, gravel road to a house with gray, peeling siding and a rotting wood porch. Moss grows in patches on the dented metal roof. My dad doesn’t have the money or the ambition to fix the place up, and I’m just biding my time till I can get out of here. There’s a rusty, yellow Camaro and a pink bike in the driveway. I smile at that, looking forward to seeing my sister again. I’ve missed the little squirt.
The Mermaid's Return_A Reverse Harem Romance Page 6
