by Tamsin Ley
He turned back toward Rubac and thrust forward, hoping to at least find safety in numbers. The mermaid teasing his brother had yellow hair and a golden tail. Didra.
“Oh, you’ve come to our party!” she chimed, clapping her hands. “Rubac’s such a bore.”
“Where’s Ebby?” Zantu shouted. To his relief, the tiny figure materialized through the krill-speckled water. The child held back a distance, avoiding the mermaids and watching.
A duet behind him sent him spinning around in time to pull Brianna beyond the reach of a raven-haired mermaid. Her dark tail caught the light as she passed by, first iridescently green and then swirling violet. A section of her tail fin was missing, the jagged edge puckered with old scar tissue. She cooed, “I’ve heard about you, Zantu.”
Her partner was familiar, nimble fingers plucking a fish-harp’s tines. “Loia.”
She laughed while her accompanying veil of fish shimmied and shifted around her in time to her harp. “I warned you a human was no fit mate for a merman. Especially a big strong merman like you. She’ll never be able to keep up with our games.”
Brianna’s knuckles were white around the net pole, every muscle in her body tense. What’s she saying?
Threats. Behind him, he heard the tiny susurration of skin against water as Didra shifted position. His brother remained eerily silent, eyes hooded, tail fin limp. There was no sign of the stillborn child. “Rubac? You okay?”
No answer.
The raven-haired mermaid swooped up from below, rubbing her scarlet nipples along Zantu’s length. Brianna recoiled, arching away from the contact and throwing him off-balance, but he caught her and pulled her against him tightly.
An arm’s length away, the mermaid backflipped to face them again and rolled a small dart between her fingers. Immediately, Zantu knew what was wrong with Rubac. Love toxin.
The mermaid’s voice chimed with deceptive playfulness, her scarred tail fluttering with mesmerizing iridescence. “I wonder what would happen if I used this on her?”
He swelled his chest. “I will kill you if you touch her.”
Brianna’s thoughts spun like a water spout, her attention first on one mermaid then another. She poked the net at Loia. We’re surrounded.
Fingertips tickled the tips of his dorsal fin, sending a shudder through his blood as Loia’s lilting melody of desire began. “Oh, are we going to have fun now.”
He twisted to bat the hand away. Loia’s veil of fish enveloped them. Summoning his sonic blast, he sent them scattering. The scent of blood filled the water. Brianna’s blood. He had to get her out of here. Get Ebby out of here. Fast. His brother… his brother would have to fend for himself. Coiling the muscles of his tail, he lurched forward between Rubac and his mate. “Ebby, swim home!”
Something nipped his side. For a moment he thought it was another of Loia’s fish. He brushed a hand over the spot to flick it away and found the dart lodged there. Depths. He’d been hit with the toxin. Jerking it free, he continued his momentum, barely registering Ebby’s tiny figure matching his pace several yards away. The fog of the poison was already taking hold. His muscles ached as he tried to force them to keep working. To get his mate to safety. The grip he held on Brianna slipped, her skin scraping along his side before he caught her again.
She clung painfully to his neck, her feet kicking in a pitiful attempt to help them swim. Zantu, what’s wrong?
She hit me with a love toxin. Soon I’ll be paralyzed. He didn’t know what to do. His gaze scoured the blank expanse of water for anything, anywhere he could hide Brianna. His grip slipped again, and he realized his tail was twitching ineffectually against the current.
“Uncle Zantu, what about Dad?”
Sink it, Ebby was in danger here, too. Not from the mermaids—Didra wouldn’t allow the others to harm her own blood. But she wouldn’t ensure Ebby made it back to the safety of a nest, either. Ebby would be abandoned. “He’ll be fine.” He prayed he wasn’t lying. “I’m going to be paralyzed soon, like him. You have to get back to the kelp forest. Take Brianna.”
“I don’t know the way.”
He opened his mouth to tell the child how, but his voice had succumbed to the effects of the toxin. His arm now refused to keep hold of Brianna, and she clung to him as if he were a dead piece of coral.
Zantu?
You have to show Ebby how to get home. At least his mind-connection still worked.
How? I don’t know the way, and I couldn’t tell Ebby even if I did.
Keep the current to the right and in front of you. Stay out of the cold layer—it’ll suck you to the bottom very quickly. If it does touch you, keep it hard to your right and swim upward as fast as you can. Ebby wriggled into view, turquoise eyes confused and frightened. He hoped somehow the merchild would trust Brianna.
The laughter of mermaids tinkled toward him like hail against the surface.
Kiss me, he thought.
What?
You have to let go now, and I want your breath-bond fresh. The thought of her drowning was almost as paralyzing as the toxin. All he could hope was that she broke the surface before the spell ended.
No! They’ll rip you apart! The terror clawing through her mind was stronger than it had been while she’d been trapped by kelp.
If you don’t, both you and Ebby will die.
Brianna’s gaze cut to the merchild, then her lovely face crumpled in anguish. I don’t want to leave you.
I know. He sought to make his thoughts calm. To reassure her. But you have to. You have to save the child.
She bit her lips together then nodded. Grief reddened her beautiful green eyes. Taking his face between her hands, she placed her soft lips against his. I love you.
The toxin didn’t take away his ability to feel, only to move, and he was thankful in this instance to have one last memory of her. And I love you, my angelfish. Now swim. Get back to shore if you can.
She released him and turned to the merchild. Ebby’s tail flashed with alarming colors, unable to settle on a single camouflage. The child’s attention flicked to Brianna then back to Zantu. “I’ll take care of her, Uncle Zantu.”
Ebby reached out a tiny webbed hand and took Brianna’s, pulling her away into the dark waters.
Brianna gripped Ebby’s hand and kicked to assist their momentum. The mermaids’ songs echoed through the water, trying to lure her back. She wondered if Ebby felt the pull, too, or if merchildren—being sexless—were immune. The possible biological reason for a merchild’s androgyny made a lot of sense right now.
The song’s pull doubled her reluctance to leave Zantu and forced her to use every ounce of will to keep moving away. If it hadn’t been for the merchild, she would have stayed by her mate’s side, fought each murderous mermaid with every ounce of strength left in her body. She prayed he could find a way to escape. To find her again. He was stronger than any man she’d ever met.
Ebby dragged her along, using the current to aid their momentum. Now it was time to turn against it. To head back to the kelp beds. Brianna pulled against the child’s grip and pointed with her free hand into the distance, keeping the water’s flow slightly to her right as Zantu had instructed.
Ebby’s eyebrows rose at Brianna’s nonverbal instruction. The merchild blinked twice then nodded and changed direction.
Brianna let out a sigh of bubbles, grateful the child wasn’t going to argue. Zantu’s last wish had been for Ebby to reach safety, and Brianna would do everything she could to make that happen, even if she drowned in the process. She kicked with all the stamina she could muster. But exhaustion was already setting in. The drag created from the net was stronger than she’d previously realized, perhaps because they were now going against the water instead of with it. Poor little Ebby wriggled ferociously, but it didn’t feel like they were making much progress.
A cramp seized her right calf, and she doubled over, awkwardly trying to massage it without letting go of the net. The tiny teeth marks left by the mer
maid’s swarm of fish continued to trail blood.
Swallowing, Brianna searched the surrounding waters. Hadn’t Zantu said something about predators? Once, she’d watched a nature show about giant squid, with green-and-black video of a man-sized creature latching onto a diver’s faceplate. The scrape and crunch of its beak biting the plastic still resonated in her memory. Zantu’d used his song to check for predators, yet Ebby moved through the water silently. Brianna hoped it was another survival trick, like the androgyny that made them immune to mermaid songs.
Overhead, the sun’s orb seemed weaker, and the water had grown decidedly cooler against her skin. She reoriented toward the surface and aimed the net like a prow. Her leg threatened a new cramp, but she persisted in kicking until Ebby noticed and shifted direction. The downward pull was even more relentless than the outward current, and it seemed forever until a sudden flush of warmer water gave Brianna an extra burst of energy. She kicked like mad toward the sun.
Suddenly Ebby froze and spun to look behind them. A tremble passed between their connected hands, and Brianna squinted into the dark. Shadows. Moving shadows. Had the mermaids found them? The sharp curve of a dorsal fin cut through the waters.
Sharks.
Seriously? Sharks? She felt like she was playing a part in the worst horror movie ever. She clutched the net tighter, realizing how silly and useless a thing it would be.
The creatures moved sinuously toward her, toothy mouths open to taste the water. A large one was in the lead. When a smaller one moved abreast, the giant shot sideways to bite at it. Another midsized shark passed the fight, dead set on engaging its prey.
For the first time, Ebby let loose a wide arc of sound. It was nowhere near as authoritative as Zantu’s thunderous voice, but it still had some effect. The sharks veered away, all but the largest one. The monster merely seemed pleased to ditch the competition.
Brianna released her grip on the child’s hand. Tried to shake free so Ebby could escape. But the merchild didn’t let go. Instead, Ebby gave Brianna a headshake to negate the idea. Did the little one have a plan?
The shark’s mouth formed an oval of deadly teeth. Brianna pointed the net at it, hoping to at least force it to keep its distance. The shark was more agile and intelligent than she imagined, nosing the net aside so it could slide along the pole. At the last moment, Ebby jerked Brianna away. The beast’s sandpapery side grazed Brianna’s foot, leaving a burning welt in its wake.
Ebby turned, little tail churning water, and emitted another blast of song. The shark ignored it and circled back. The merchild’s hold on Brianna tightened, shaking wildly. Brianna realized the child was no match for this beast, no matter how brave.
Gathering her strength, she jerked her hand free of the merchild’s. She grasped her net with both hands and swung it down between her and the shark in a maddeningly slow arc. If she could lodge it in the creature’s mouth, at least Ebby might be able to get away.
Ebby cried out again, and the shark twitched to the right.
Directly into the loop of the net.
The creature bolted forward, face in the net, and the hoop caught against its dorsal fin. Brianna’s head rocked back at the sudden speed, her grip on the pole slipping slightly. The net seemed to both anger and confuse the beast. It twisted and rolled, trying to free itself. Brianna hung on like she held a tiger by the tail.
Ebby darted in front of the shark’s nose, luring it along. The creature pulled determinedly, slowed by Brianna’s weight. At first Brianna thought the merchild meant to use the shark to head home. Instead, Ebby turned into the current.
Back toward Zantu and the mermaids.
It appeared they really were going to take the tiger by the tail.
Chapter Eleven
ZANTU CLOSED HIS eyes and tried to ward off the effects of Loia’s song. Her hands caressed his chest and arms, her endless song complimenting his physique, promising pleasures untold. One hand found his sheath, attempting to lure his cock free.
Then a second voice joined hers, battling for supremacy. He opened his eyes a slit. The raven-haired mermaid undulated in the filtered light, her iridescent skin shifting with mesmerizing color. Her crimson nipples pointed as sharply as the dart she’d hit him with. Her genital slit gaped suggestively, and he felt his cock respond with a will of its own.
Loia screeched in complaint, sending her veil of fish at the newcomer.
The dark one screeched back, “It was my dart that felled him!”
The water churned with foam and bits of slaughtered fish as the two engaged in a physical competition. The iridescent one spun and smacked Loia in the face with her scarred tail fin, drawing blood. Loia’s hand flew to her mouth, and she reeled backward, her fish-harp sinking from sight.
The dark one rippled toward Zantu, a predatory grin on her lips.
Loia recovered and shot forward, mouth open to bury her pointed teeth in the other’s shoulder.
And then a flash of gold as Didra slipped past the fight to press her coral-brown nipples against Zantu’s chest. Her song in his ear was subtle, quiet, and deliciously inviting.
His cock surged against her genital slit. The helplessness from the love toxin clawed at his soul. Burned through his blood. Raged against the injustice of one sex that held so much power over the other. His fingernails bit into his palm as he commanded every muscle to fight the promise of pleasure.
Another angry screech, and Didra was ripped from him. Flashes of indigo, gold, and iridescent-black fins created an intoxicating dance. The water grew cloudy with fish parts and blood. Furious mer-song escalated as each mermaid attempted to outdo the other, their notes coalescing into a single, primal melody of lust.
His racing heart pulsed in his head, the tempo overriding the music in the churning water. He clenched his fists, focusing on the sensation of his fingernails biting into his palm. Perhaps the toxin was wearing off. If only he could slip away now, while they were busy competing with each other.
Out of nowhere, something slammed into the midst of the brawl. He barely had time to register the predatory shape of a massive shark—with a human trailing it like a lamprey…
Brianna? he sent.
There was too much chaos for him to sense anything in return. The cloudy water reddened with more than fish blood, and the mermaid’s screams no longer carried a hint of seduction. Brianna! he sent. Surely he’d been imagining things? How could she be controlling a shark? Under the best circumstances, even mer-song couldn’t exert much control over the beasts other than inciting them against each other. Brianna couldn’t even sing.
He twitched his tail, pulling forth every bit of strength he had to fight off the waning toxin and regain mobility.
A voice reached him. Not through the water, but in his mind. Zantu!
Brianna? Where are you? I told you to run!
Out of the gory cloud emerged a small merchild followed by a clumsy, flailing human. The ravenous crunch of bones from within confirmed the shark was otherwise occupied.
Brianna’s thought echoed with feverish energy. We’re here to save you.
“Where’s my dad?” Ebby cried.
Zantu was gaining strength by the moment and turned to point in the direction he remembered leaving Rubac. Ebby took his hand and began hauling both him and Brianna that way. As the toxin left his system, he joined the child’s efforts.
He sent out a query and was answered by a weak version of Rubac’s familiar song. Ebby released them and darted forward. Zantu took the moment to draw Brianna against his side. You should not have come back.
She wrapped her legs around him and buried her face against his neck. I thought I’d lost you.
How the depths did you wrangle a shark?
All I did was hang on. Ebby’s quite the little scrapper. Her trembling body told him a bigger story.
He embraced her, savoring the scent of her hair and skin. His imagination churned with other more likely outcomes. You got lucky this time.
Ru
bac appeared through the hazy water, tail movements still uncoordinated from the effects of the toxin. Ebby held his hand, leading the way.
Zantu looked over Brianna’s head to greet his brother. “What were you thinking, Rubac? The deeps are no place for a youngling.”
“You refused to help.” Rubac hung his head. “And Father used to bring us out here. Ebby wanted to come.”
“I wanted to see a whale.” Ebby looked into Rubac’s face with a youth’s oblivion to mortality. “But we lost the baby.”
A part of Zantu felt sorry for his brother. “What happened?”
Rubac covered his face with both hands. Ebby wriggled up to give him a hug. The child answered for him. “Didra dropped it into the deeps.”
The pity in Zantu’s soul intensified, but there was nothing to be done. “The child is at one with the sea again. That’s all anyone can ask for.”
Gripping Brianna tight against him, he led the way back to the kelp forest.
Zantu carried a sleeping Brianna back to his nest and laid her on the sponge bed. He spent the night holding her, stroking her, making love with her, etching each moment into his memory so it would last a lifetime. He wanted her at his side forever, but if today’s incident had taught him anything, it was that Brianna didn’t belong in the ocean. She couldn’t sing. She couldn’t even hear the full range of notes the ocean carried. And even if the breath-bond could be made permanent, she couldn’t defend herself; the net had been a lucky moment, one not likely to be repeated.
She belonged on land.
If she stayed with him in the ocean, it only meant death for them both. And while he’d die for her in a heartbeat, the thought of her dying because of his selfish need to keep her close was unacceptable. The only place she’d be safe was back among her kind.
He knew she would fight his decision. Resist his plan to send her back. How odd that he was about to execute the very thing he’d feared from the outset of his mate-bond.
At the first notes of the morning chorus, he lifted her gently and carried her out of the nest. Each coral-covered stone they passed on the way toward the shore felt like an added weight to Zantu’s soul. He broke the surface as golden fingers of light glinted across the wavelets of the cove he’d chosen for her. His lungs felt tight with more than unaccustomed air as grief threatened to turn him back. He forced himself onward, knowing this was the only way to keep his mate safe. The pebbled beach was vacant in the morning light, but a small boat rested on the shore, and a house stood in sight of the water among wind-twisted trees on a rocky hill.
