by Viola Grace
A wish to be normal and a life that becomes everything but. A Mermaid’s Wish.
Taem wants to be a normal mermaid, unremarkable and blend into the background. What she finds is that she is the kind of woman who makes things happen, and while her body is unremarkable, her personality gets her noticed.
Sardu is the prince of mermen who notices the sharp-tongued organizational wizard, and he wants her for his own. The trouble is, how can he get to her with protocol blocking his every path?
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A Mermaid’s Wish
Copyright © 2013 Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-77111-632-9
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by Devine Destinies
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A Mermaid’s Wish
By
Viola Grace
Taem-sah watched as yet another stunning candidate for the new Hekart colony sashayed her way past Taem’s desk. The women always looked so stunned when they realised they were going to have to deal with the plain creature behind the desk to open the door.
The woman with brilliant red hair that looked just too bright to be natural, swayed toward Taem. “I have an appointment.”
Taem remained calm. “Your name?”
“Madsiim-del.”
“Please have a seat. He is with the previous appointment right now.” She smiled politely and the woman huffed off, taking a seat in the waiting area while the social designer finished his interview with the fourth candidate of the day.
As soon as she sat, Madsiim took out a mirror and started primping. Taem shuddered. That could have been her. It would have been if not for the wish she made as a child. She had just wanted to be normal, average and unremarkable. She had gotten her wish.
Every day, Taem came to the research centre and sat at her desk, helping Dr. Nordal-jak prepare for the next phase of colonization.
When yet another beautiful candidate left the office, she opened the com. “Dr. Nordal, the next candidate is here.”
It was a headset, so she was able to hear his frustrated groan. “Wonderful. Who picked these women?”
“You did, Dr. Nordal. I have the alternate list if you would care to see it.”
“I will let you know after this interview. Send her in; make sure her hair clears the door. It was a near thing on the last one.”
Taem stifled her amusement, and she looked at Madsiim. “The doctor will see you now.”
Madsiim stood up and scowled. “I thought he was a designer.”
Taem didn’t bother answering her, merely unlocked the door and watched the woman walk through.
Ten minutes later, the vain creature left the office with a smile. The women always smiled when they left. They had just met a member of the royal family, after all.
A shadow fell across her desk. “Good day, Taem-sah, my brother free for lunch?”
Taem looked up, and her heart stuttered in her chest. “He just finished his last interview but he may be a little queasy, Your Highness.”
Sardu-jak was everything a prince should be but rarely was. Tall, intelligent and stunning, his mer form was perfectly proportioned and gratifyingly exotic. Standing in front of her, his blue hair drooped attractively over one eye, making women all over the kingdom long to move it aside.
“I have told you to call me Sardu.”
“And I have told you to wipe your feet. You seem to have something stuck to you.” She gestured behind him at the woman hovering in the doorway.
He sighed. “She is one of the counsellors vying for the position on the colony. She wants to speak to Nordal and plead her case.”
Taem took a look at the woman. “She was rejected due to personal instability. She has an obsession with gaining a noble title and feels that if she lands on the colony, she will have her pick of the second sons that are making their way on the new world.”
Taem got up from her desk and opened Nordal’s door, briefing him on the situation. He nodded. “Do you have that list for me?”
She handed him the stack of documents in her right hand.
He whistled. “How many are on here?”
“Three hundred and ninety-four suitable candidates. They all have practical educations, true life skills and the spirit necessary to make a new world into a home.”
“Physically?”
“Physically, they are all sound but most are of average appearance. I know you wanted to design a more attractive species, but you can do that with manipulation a few generations down the road. For now, you need a stable population. These women can give you that. Oh, and they are all above average in the stamina and hunting department.”
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow a shade darker than his brother’s. “You seem passionate about this.”
“It is stupid to start a new society with women who can’t even do their own nails.”
He flipped through the pages. “I don’t see your name on here.”
She blushed. “I am nothing special. I am a low-level bureaucrat. I push documents for a living.”
“You think there won’t be paperwork in the colony? I think your particular skill set would be in high demand.” He went to his desk and took out a pen. With swift strokes, he added her name to the list. “I expect you to sit for the interview, just as any of the other candidates do.”
She wanted to argue but he gave her a serious look from his ocean-blue eyes. “Fine. I will schedule myself as the last interview. I am sure by then, you will have filled all the spots. Oh, your brother is here to take you to lunch. You have two hours before the first woman of the new list shows up.”
He blinked. “You knew I would give in?”
She smiled. “I have worked for you for a while, Doctor. This is not the first time I have had to wait for you to see sense.”
“Fine. Do you want me to bring you anything?” He always asked.
She shook her head. “No, I brought my lunch, and I have calls to make. Two hours. That is all.”
“Yes, Taem. Anything you say, Taem.” He chuckled, and she left him, resuming her seat at her desk and starting to make calls.
She waved farewell to the too-handsome Sardu, and he smiled and blew her a kiss. Her skin went scarlet, but she kept working. The new world was going to see the rise of the average woman, and she was going to make it happen.
Taem got to work.
Six hours later, she was exhausted but triumphant. Three out of the six women were already on the confirmation list for the new colony, and all six were delighted to be considered.
Dr. Nordal-jak was gone for the day, so once she had confirmed the sixty appointments for the following day, she was free for whatever was left of the evening.
Once all records were locked, she headed
for the airlock and removed her work wrap. The staff entrance was full of wraps on pegs, and her peg was the only one remaining.
Naked, she jumped into the wet entrance, transformed into her mer form and swam for home.
Her mother was wearing an elegant wrap when Taem emerged from the wet entrance at home. “You were supposed to be here for dinner.”
Taem calmly wrapped herself in a red wrap that clashed horribly with her hair simply because her mother hated it. “I had to work, Mother.”
Her mother patted her elegant locks with the pearls interwove in them. “Your sisters and their husbands missed you. Especially Josnal.”
Taem shivered. Her brother-in-law was the reason that she had sought out the witch when she was twelve. At her sister’s wedding, he had whispered to her that he was so glad to be part of this loving and beautiful family. He swore that he would be there every moment while she developed into the beauty that was already visible.
She had been queasy, but no one in her family seemed to find his words threatening. In a world of vanity she had no champions, so she went looking for one.
The gene-witch had been surprised to see her.
What are you doing here, little noble? The woman swayed, her black and silver hair surrounding her in a cloud while her tail fanned slowly to keep her upright.
I am not a noble, but I do want to be normal.
What do you mean normal?
Beauty is something I want to avoid. I want to be plain, so I can just be me without folk expecting nothing but a pretty face and body.
What you are asking is not something I normally grant. I normally work the other way around.
Well, then take my beauty and give it to someone else. She was desperate.
No, child. I will simply hold your beauty until you are ready to deal with it. When you are, simply break the charm I will give you and your beauty will surround you. You will be everything you were born to be, but you will be able to choose it and not have it shape you.
What followed had been samples of blood, flashes of light and, finally, a subtle charm had been created that could be hidden in her hair so that her fussy mother would not destroy it and wreck the charm.
Her beauty had slowly faded over the next year so that instead of blooming, she withered. By the time she was an adult, she was normal and average in every way, and her mother had ceased pushing her to enter society.
She had what she asked for.
“Josnal has made your father an offer. He wishes you to move in with Rewma and him as their nanny when the baby comes.”
Taem stared at her mother in shock. “I have a job. I have a life. I am not going to go anywhere near that pervert.”
“Are you still on about that? You should be flattered that he is paying attention to you, but really, next to Rewma you are nothing. Why would he want you?”
Taem had learned what drove Josnal. It wasn’t beauty, it was vulnerability. Out of her three sisters, she was the only one who was unsure. She had always been unsure and that was an aphrodisiac to a man like Josnal, used to being pursued. The more she ran away, the more he chased her.
“Mother, I do not know why he would want a creature like me around his infant. After all, a child should be surrounded by beauty, do you not agree?” It was manipulation, pure and simple, but she said it anyway.
She left her mother in the wet entrance and headed for the kitchen. Scavenging for her dinner was something she was used to. It seemed no matter when she came home, she had missed it.
Her mother wasn’t done. “You would relieve your father of the burden of caring for you. It would be welcome to have an empty home.”
Taem shuddered. Swinger parties weren’t her thing, and the fact that her parents wanted to use her room made returning to it unappealing. “I suppose I should just move out then.”
Here was the other argument. “You can’t live alone. What would the court say?”
“I will file for a dispensation. Don’t worry. You and Father will be well mentioned in the court filing.”
She entered the kitchen, and her mother stopped at the door. When Taem was a child, she thought that there was a force field that kept her mother from setting foot in the kitchen. Now, she knew it was just snobbery.
Taem raided the cooler and piled a plate high, heading to the breakfast nook on the other side of the kitchen. Haslin, the maid, gave her a wink and polished the counter to ruin the sightline that Taem’s mother was trying to maintain.
Being glared at while eating wasn’t new. Taem calmly ate her meal, drank a glass of juice and washed the dishes before putting them away. The moment that she started washing her dishes, her mother started to splutter.
Timea-sah was a noble only because her beauty had gotten her a rich noble husband. For her, beauty was the key to wealth and happiness, and for one of her daughters to be without that key was mortifying. No child of hers should have a normal life.
Taem walked back into the firing line, and her mother harangued her all the way through the house until they reached Taem’s room. “I will be out of your hair within the month, Mother. We do not need to wait for you to whore me out to Josnal.”
She closed the door in her mother’s face, hearing the gasp as the panel shut. She would pay for that, but for now, she enjoyed silence.
Her appeal to the court was nearly complete when a sharp knock at her door told her that her father had come. Dimeal-sah was formidable, lovely to look at and had no idea how to connect to his youngest child.
“Come in, Father.”
She got to her feet and inclined her head as he entered. “Sit down, Taem. I have come to speak to you.”
He took the chair opposite her desk, and he leaned forward. “Josnal has made an offer to take you into their home as nanny.”
Taem nodded. “I am aware.”
Her father frowned. “Why?”
She blinked. “What?”
“Why does he want you in his home? Rewma is appalled at the idea, so I can’t understand why he is so insistent.” He looked confused.
“May I be frank? What I am going to say will not be easy to hear.”
Her father nodded, and for the first time, she told him about Josnal and his obsession with her. His cornering her at family functions and rubbing up against her when she swam. “I thought not being beautiful would keep me safe, but there is no safe place when he is around.”
Her father blinked. “Are you sure?”
“He started on his wedding day. The day when he was officially a member of our family and I couldn’t say anything to change it.”
Dimeal showed signs of a slow, simmering anger. “You are sure?”
She sighed and leaned back. “Yes, Father. I am sure. I will be out of your house within the month. I know that this conflict makes it difficult for you.”
He looked at her in shock. “What? I don’t want you to leave.”
“What about the parties that Mother is planning?”
Colour stained his cheeks. “You are aware of those?”
“Father. I am almost thirty. Most of my coworkers are married. I hear things.”
“Ah. I see. You know, I never really asked, what do you do?”
She blinked and looked around as if her father had grown another head. He had never asked her what she did for a living. “I am the personal assistant for Dr. Nordal-jak. I book his appointments and push him around.”
“Jak?” Dimeal’s eyebrows rose.
“Don’t tell Mother. I have managed to keep it a secret for the last three years. Well, it wasn’t much of a secret. No one ever asked.” She twisted her lips.
“What is the current project at the institute?”
“The new colony preparations.” She smiled and began what was about to be the most normal conversation she had with her father.
At the end of their first chat, he stood up and gave her a light hug. “Don’t worry about Josnal. He is no longer welcome in this house.”
She froze. �
�Don’t do that. It would crush Mother. She doesn’t believe that his actions are predatory.”
He slowly stiffened. “She knows?”
Taem winced. “She was the first one I told way back when. For her, being desirable is the price of beauty, so I should have been willing to pay it.”
For the first time in her life, she saw Dimeal furious. “Why didn’t you come to me?”
“Mother said she told you. I thought you knew.”
His hands were fists at his sides. “It explains a lot. I am just glad that I did not allow him to take you into his home after the wedding. He was pushing for you to join him and Rewma to give you an introduction into the court. I shudder to think of what would have happened then.”
“I didn’t know about that.”
“There was no reason to tell you. I said no.”
She shuddered. “I think I need to go for a swim.”
He gripped her arm. “Don’t go far. Terrors have been seen in the vicinity.”
She smiled weakly. “I will take a trident. Don’t worry, Father, I swim at night all the time.”
“You do?” He looked confused. “Why don’t I know anything about you?”
“You have never asked. Now, I need that swim.”
She left her father and slipped down the servant stairs, avoiding the tower of hair that was her mother’s favourite style.
She slipped back out into the ocean and clutched her trident in her hand while she slowly absorbed what she had learned about her father. It wasn’t that he didn’t care, it was simply that the truths had been kept from him to keep her mother’s place in society. Josnal’s family had a lot of pull, and they could doom Timea to boring card parties and not the expensive galas that she was used to.
It looked like Timea-sah’s lifestyle was going to be altered in the immediate future.
Taem swam through the local neighbourhood before swimming past some of the more elegant homes of the nobles. She kept far away from the well-lit area and watched the beautiful people as they swam in and out of the elegant homes. She flicked her burgundy tail and moved past the elegance and out to the open ocean.
