“I think she has a choice to make. It’s like ever since she died … she’s outside of destiny. Like, she’s what everything is revolving around.”
“Agreed.” Star looks concerned and I move closer to her.
“You know what the rest of the vision means too … and with the psirens discovery that they can turn others through the mixing of their blood …” I start thinking of the day Titus first kissed me, sent me writhing in agony until I submitted, letting him mix his blood with mine by biting over where my heart lies, still beating after all this time in my chest.
“I know what it means.” Starlet looks me in the eyes and a tear falls slowly from her cheek, crystallizing into diamond as it descends. She rises once again, turning to face the city, which glistens like a thousand sparkling jewels in the light of a new day. The words leave her lips and echo through the room, coldly.
“It means war is coming.”
CALLIE
I’ve been sat down at the writing desk as the moon has arced across the sky. It’s been a while since Orion’s let me be alone this long, but I know what I have to do and I’m glad of the silence while I do it. I think back to that night as I turn over the last page of the letter that I’m writing, the amethyst fountain pen clutched between my fingers like a sword. Each stroke on the paper is a deep cut to me, but I continue to strike down black markings onto the blank white, marring its creamy purity with knowledge, putting the finishing touches on my story.
The days that followed that night have passed slowly, I’ve regained my strength, we’ve talked with Saturnus, we continue to mourn Atlas, and gladly forget Titus, who was killed in the magical stream of power just as I should have been. We are questioning Azure too, after all her secret agenda is not to be trusted immediately. It would appear that while she did fall in love with Titus (only the Goddess knows how that ever happened) she couldn’t break the most fundamental bond in her life, that bond which she shared with her sister. Starlet had been communicating with her secretly, and together they had manipulated the prophecy so only the mer knew the original version, knew that the sacrificing of the vessel would stop the Necrimad from coming forth while they thought it would cause it. We wonder now if the psirens have noticed that it is not yet present within our dimension, but we’re also worried. Worried about their growing numbers, about their ability to grow, and about our lack of one. The scythe is nowhere to be found, after all it has served its purpose and I wonder if it has turned to sand just like Atlas. It seems I, too, have served my purpose, while I still retain my ability to take the powers of others, I can’t imagine having any higher purpose than what has already passed. I have turned down being a Goddess. There has to be a price for that. The price is life, long and simple and with the man I love, one which I am more than happy to pay. I think I am free, I thought it was over, my life. Now I know it’s just beginning and I’m being left to enjoy the pleasures of Orion and the years that spread before us, years in which we can grow together, learn about each other, and explore the world which I have been so blessed to be part of. I hope one day we can meet again, sit down when you’re grown and I can hear all about your life. I hope too that you know, if nothing else, that you are the reason I’m sure that I’m doing the right thing. I want you to have a world to grow up in; even if that means it’s one I can’t be a part of. I’ve told mom to let you read these when you’re old enough, so please, take care of her and most importantly yourself.
All my love,
Calliedile
xxxxxxx
SOLUSTUS
The darkness of the sky under the waning moon is all engulfing as I surface against the abyssal blackness of the night. I look out, upon the shore, surveying the pitiful human land over which I want power. A figure with broad shoulders stands out against it. I look upon him, waiting.
I bide my time, letting the seconds tick past me as though they’re worthless, which they are to me. They become that way when you’ve lived as long as I. I feel the time is right and rise, willing my form to change into that of a man once more.
“Whoa! What the hell man!” The man with broad shoulders exclaims as I rise from the depths, stepping backward from the edge of the black waters.
I move forward, scales rippling in and out of existence with the cool marble of the scythe caressing my palm. It’s not Scarlette, but it’ll do. I didn’t have room with my clothes and the scythe. I slip on the pair of jeans that Alyssa had given me, taken off one of her victims no doubt. They’re sodden, but I lack the ability to care.
“What would a boy like yourself be doing on a night like this, alone, staring at the sea?” I demand. Walking from the water and onto dry land for the first time in years. Stars radiate dimly, merely pathetic specks of light.
“How did you –” The man with broad shoulders begins but I cut him off. Impatient now I’ve shown myself.
“Answer me!” I bark, shifting my stance and turning the weapon in my hands.
“Okay, Okay, I’m waiting for a girl, she comes here sometimes. About yay tall …” He puts up his hand to his shoulder. “Blonde, curly hair, really cute smile …”
“You are, of course, talking about Callie Pierce, are you not?” I command him to speak to me, enjoying the new regality of my position.
“Yeah, Callie, that’s her!”
“Why are you waiting for her? She has no interest in a mere human like you.” I spit. The thought of someone so close to the goddess being interested in a mere mortal is laughable at best.
“Yeah. I think I hurt her though. I can’t exactly remember, so I’m waiting, I want to apologise.”
“You … Hurt Callie Pierce?” I find my interest piqued. If I wasn’t bored of him already I might even be curious.
“Yeah …” The boy’s eyes fall to his feet in shame.
“Well, why didn’t you say so? My name’s Solustus.” I hold out a hand, the man with broad shoulders looks down at my weapon cautiously, and rightly so.
“I’m Daryl.” he says, smiling slightly and shaking my sodden palm twice.
“I see.” I smile salaciously, relishing the moment.
“Nice to meet you. I better be going anyway. I guess Callie isn’t showing up tonight.” Daryl sighs and looks down again, shuffling his feet, twitching like an amoeba.
“I don’t think you should leave just yet.” I suggest. Daryl turns back to me. Stupid boy. He should have run when he had the chance.
“I have something of hers and I need to send her a message to let her know I have it. I think you’re just the boy for the job.” With lightning speed, I use the end of the white marble handle to slam into the jaw of my victim. I lunge forward, sinking my teeth into the boy’s chest, leaving a sick love bite above the place where his heart lies helpless. I use the scythe in my hand to slit my wrist, gasping outwardly with pleasure at the pain. I push the wound into the place where my teeth were just moments ago. My victim groans, confused and shocked under the cover of the night. I smile, blood dripping down onto my bare chest.
“Come on, lover boy.” I purr. Placing Daryl’s body over my shoulder, I return into the darkness of the waves from which I came.
END OF BOOK 1
A huge thank you to my wonderful other half Mark, without whom this book would never have seen the light of day. Thank you for always listening to my most crazy ideas and my rants and telling me that they’re just the right amount of crazy to work. I also want to thank my parents and my Nanny who have always been and continue to be pillars of support for every endeavour in my life and to who I owe everything. I will say outright that I am lucky, lucky to have found such an increasingly growing network of support. A network which started with the wonderful Kristine Schwartz my editor fairy, who is never afraid to give the most undying devotion to any project she is confronted with and has helped mould my story into something I could only have dreamed of. I also want to lend thanks to my street team, The Tidal TellTails, who never fail to make waves in that ocean we call the interwe
b that whisper my name. My beta readers, who have been truly amazing, have my undying gratitude and who can forget the incredible Tonya Ridener, who made the book cover of my dreams a reality. I also want to thank the incredible author/typesetter/ mistress of horror Sam Stone, who has guided me through this process and made the inside of my book look just as beautiful as the story itself.
So many people have inspired me along the journey that is writing a novel, but the one who stands above them all is Miss Nicola Trippick, for whom making the dreams of little girls around the world is not just a job, but a calling. She really is the most kickass ice-skating mermaid Princess the world has ever seen, and has truly made me believe in the magic of making dreams come true.
Want to know what’s next for Callie and Orion?
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Website: www.kristynicolle.com
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Photographs by the fabulously talented Trish Thompson
ABOUT THE QUEENS OF FANTASY SAGA
Kristy Nicolle's Queens of Fantasy Saga is a collection of 3 trilogies, following the lives of three extraordinary women and their journeys, both personal and fantastical, into three unique but interconnected fantasy worlds. The first trilogy in the saga, 'The Tidal Kiss Trilogy', captures the fantastical underwater world of the Occulta Mirum and its scaly tailed residents as their world, which seemed stable for so long, begins to shift.
The following two trilogies in the series are yet to be announced.
Stay tuned for more information.
The Kiss That Killed Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 1) Page 47
