Taya laughed. “No. I’m much older than that, though your father learned well off your grandfather, who learned off his father before him. It’s an age old torture that the royal lines have been taught. Ask Wily.”
My brother cringed and nodded. “Father taught me the same method. It’s traditional in every sense of the word. Traitors and enemies are punished this way so they are forever recognized as one.”
Ethan snorted. “Well aren’t you a bunch of lovely fucking people? I think I had the right idea of killing you bastards.”
Wily shrugged. “As far as Father was concerned, it was survival of the strongest.”
“Grandfather let this happen?” I asked with wide eyes. I’d always thought that he’d be against such cruelty because I’d never known him as anything but kind, especially to his grandchildren.
Pru made a noise and blanched. “Grandfather encouraged it. He’s not as we thought.”
Wily swam closer, his tail flicking in irritation. “We need to get you out of here, Lyric. Both of you. Father will come back in for more torture soon enough. He won’t let you go unless you give this human up.”
“And by give up the human, he means your father is going to kill him,” Taya said, before pausing for a second and then continuing. “Actually, your father is one of the cruelest kings I’ve seen in my lifetime. He wouldn’t kill your human. He’d demand you do it.”
“Fuck!” I slammed my hand against the rusted bars and winced as something sharp dug into the heel of my palm. When I glanced down at it I saw another cut had sliced the bottom of my hand, and more blood drifted up and through the water.
“You’ve learned the human language, haven’t you?” Wily said with a frown. “What does fuck mean?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I growled. “You need to get us out of here.”
“Why do you think we brought Taya?” Wily glanced at Ethan from the corner of his eye. “If we do this, Lyric, you must never come back to Atlantia, or even try to find us again. Promise me that you’ll stay far away.”
“Why should we? Ethan and I deserve our revenge.”
“You will not get it,” Taya said, shaking his head. “The merfolk have an advantage down here. We’re stronger.”
“You could give us the same strength,” I said, but Taya gave me an unimpressed purse of his lips.
“Dark magic doesn’t work as a give, give, give method, Lyric. After a while, it’ll ask for something in return. Giving the dark world your voice was my offer for changing you into a human. As it is, I’ve already taken too much today and not given back. The darkness will come for its reward.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Ethan asked, swimming closer.
“It means that Taya will pay for helping you.” Wily sighed. “This is the last time we can help. If you come back again, Lyric, there’s nothing we can do for you.”
“Is this how it’ll always be? Father taking the lives of humans and torturing. Having his own people so afraid of him that they won’t speak up.”
Pru exhaled and reached for me, touching my hand. “It’s how he’s always been. We’ve been naïve to it until now.”
“Look what he’s done to my human,” I hissed, waving at Ethan.
“I will fix the bruising,” Taya said, holding up a hand to Wily when he opened his mouth. He smiled sadly at my brother. “It’s the least I can do.” His gaze switched to me again. “But I cannot heal the scars. They were made with a blade called Arya. Dark magic given to the royal line centuries ago. Whatever cuts that blade makes are undoable.”
“How?” Pru asked, obviously surprised by the information himself.
Taya shrugged. “Arya was born from dark magic long before I was. Stories have said that it came from an evil witch who lived in the same cave as I do, who was killed by the darkness after creating Arya and not giving anything in return. One does not always understand the way dark magic works.”
“Why do you use it then?” Wily flinched when Taya gave him a sharp glance, and obviously it’d been a conversation they had before.
“We don’t have time for this,” Taya hissed. “Your father and his guards can come back anytime. We need to get them out of here now.”
He didn’t wait for any of us to say anything before his hands were moving in the water in familiar circles. I tilted my head to tell Ethan to get back, and we swam away from the front bars of our cells. Taya worked his magic, and soon the rusted steel creaked and bent until it broke and shattered to pieces.
Ethan swam out first, and Taya grabbed his arm.
“Let me fix the bruising.”
I shifted closer as the witch used his magic again. I didn’t miss the way Wily’s hand reached for Taya, almost as though he wanted to stop him, before he snatched it back again. A few seconds later, Ethan’s bruises receded and the freshness of his cuts healed until they were scars. By the time he was done, Taya was panting, his face flushed a bright red.
Wily did grab him then and dragged him closer. They whispered to each other, but I didn’t attempt to hear what they were saying. I floated closer to Ethan and touched his face. He didn’t flinch, but his mouth curled into a sneer.
“I should gut your father,” he growled.
“Shh. I know.” He slanted his mouth over mine and kissed me hard, his teeth nipping at my bottom lip. “We need to go.”
“Come with us. Now.” Wily waved and we swam as quickly as we could. I’d never realized how difficult it was to swim as a human, not until I was faced with racing alongside mermen. One flick of their tail put them in front of us, while we struggled against the gentle current that swept through the dark recesses of the ocean.
My brothers must have realized what a struggle it was because they grabbed our arms and dragged us through the stone hallways created as a castle dungeon. I knew from the few times I snuck down here with Pru that there was a hole in the wall closer to the south exit, and Pru clearly remembered too because that’s where we were headed.
We were nearly there when we heard shouts from where our cells were.
“Fuck,” Ethan snapped, and I had to agree.
“We need to move quicker,” I said.
Wily nodded, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
Taya took the lead, and Wily’s grip on me tightened as he hauled me through the hole in the stone and out into the open ocean of Atlantia. Pru did the same for Ethan, and then we were off. The few people out wandering the city stopped to stare at us, and it took all my effort not to give them the finger as we shot past them. It was a human gesture, so they’d have no idea what it meant anyway.
“There they are!” my father’s voice boomed.
Taya cursed and turned back. “We need to find a hiding spot. The chances of outrunning them are slim.”
“My treasure,” I said, kicking my legs as hard as I could. My thighs were already burning, though, and I felt my breath come out rapidly even though we were underwater. “We need to go to the boat where my treasure is.”
“Why?” Wily asked as he dragged me through a crowd of merfolk that had gathered near one of the market stalls filled with fish. “Father would know to find you there.”
“It has human possessions. Surely there’d be some kind of weapon we could use if they found us there.”
Wily sent Taya a look, and Taya nodded in answer to whatever quiet conversation they were having with each other.
“Fine,” Wily snapped, and he swam harder.
I glanced back to make sure Pru and Ethan were right behind us, and they were, so I focused on the direction Wily and Taya were leading us. More shouting told me that Father and his guards weren’t far behind, and we wouldn’t have much time to find weapons if we needed them.
When we got to the wreck, my entire body burned with exhaustion. I felt like my limbs were on fire, and I was glad for my brothers in that moment. If there was something I missed about being a merman, it was the strength they—we?—had underwater.
I slipped thr
ough the hole in the boat and the others followed me. Ethan frowned at the chest I went to and shifted closer when I yanked the lid up.
“Is that a dildo?” he asked with a parted mouth.
“A what?” I frowned at him before turning back to my finds.
He grabbed the pink phallus I’d found just before my first ascent to the surface and waved it at me. “This is a dildo.”
“Is that a weapon?” Wily asked.
Ethan laughed, and I jolted at the sound. “Ah, no. Definitely not a weapon.” He smirked at me. “When we get out of this, Boy, I’ll show you what we use dildos for.”
I shivered at the intense stare he gave me. I still didn’t know what a dildo was, but considering that it was shaped like a cock and with the look he was giving me, I was excited to find out its use.
“Shit, that’s a speargun.” Ethan shot forward and grabbed one of my possessions out of the chest, holding it up. He played with it, and all I could do was watch until he made a sound of triumph. “You want a weapon, this will do.”
“It’s like a gun?” I cocked my head.
“Kind of. You shoot fish with it.” He checked it over, and I watched him until he nodded. “It’s got everything here too. It’s probably the best we’re going to get.”
Shouting made me jerk my head, and I placed a finger over my lips to signal everyone to be quiet. Ethan pulled at something on the gun, and all I could do was watch as he set up whatever he needed to. I couldn’t look away at how he moved expertly with the weapon. I wanted to ask him how he knew about spearguns, but the answer seemed obvious. He was a hunter—a fisherman.
“Lyric, you can’t run from me,” my father shouted.
I stiffened and glanced at Ethan. The smirk he sent me gave me a confidence boost I didn’t realize I’d needed until now. How had this human made me feel this way?
“Lyric, answer me! You are my child, and I will not let this human control you.”
I snuck closer to the hole and peeked through it, not expecting my father to be right there. A fist landed in my eye, and I tumbled backward. There was shouting and noises around me, but stars danced in front of my eyes, so I didn’t know what was happening until a few minutes later when my vision cleared.
Wily, Taya, and Pru were fighting with guards, kicking their tails and using them as weapons. One guard aimed a spear at Pru, and it narrowly missed him by inches. There was a roar, and my father thrust his tail in Ethan’s direction. Before I could shout a warning, Ethan aimed the speargun at him, shooting. A bolt shot from the gun and straight at my father, piercing through his chest.
My father’s yells of pain made everyone else stop and turn toward him, shock making their jaws fall open. Father’s body convulsed and he gasped, letting out a gurgle. The spear had hit him right in the heart.
“Oh, fuck,” Ethan mumbled. The spear still had some kind of black stringy looking rope attached, but it wasn’t made from the same material. I didn’t know what the string was for sure, but it made sense why it was there. If the gun was used for fish, that’s what humans used to pull their prey to them.
“Your highness?” One of the guards, a man with wide shoulders and long black hair, swam closer.
Father gasped again and blood drifted from his mouth as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. The spear was still firmly planted in his chest, but it was too late. It didn’t matter what they did, my father was going to die.
Wily spun to us. “You need to leave. Now.”
“What about you?” I asked, fear becoming a knot inside my chest as I thought about what would happen to my brothers and Taya for being a part of the king’s murder.
“I’m the Crown Prince,” Wily said, but he didn’t look happy about it because he winced, as though the thought made him sick. “Go while you can.”
The guards glanced around at each other, and I supposed it made sense. Wily would be king now that my father was in his last moments of life. Technically, Wily hadn’t killed him. Ethan had.
“Now!” Wily’s face turned monstrous, and it was a new look on him. I didn’t like it, but I knew it was for my wellbeing.
Grabbing Ethan’s hand, I tugged him, and we kicked out legs to begin swimming up. Something hit our feet, and I felt the familiar swirling of magic breathing a different feeling inside us. When we reached the surface, we’d be fully human again, unable to breathe and speak underwater. I wished I could thank my brothers and Taya, but Wily was right. We needed to go. If the guards chose to, they could drag us back again for father’s murder. Though, technically, he wasn’t dead yet; he would be by the time we got back to the boat.
The swim to the surface felt like it took forever, and the longer that time went on, the harder it began to be to breathe. When finally we broke thorough the water, my chest hurt as much as my legs did. I shivered as I inhaled fresh air. Ethan’s breaths were deep, and he panted in exhaustion from where he floated beside me.
“Come on,” he said, pointing at the boat that wasn’t far away. I could barely move, however, and it was a struggle to shift my arms. Ethan must have seen my fight with my own body because he hooked his arm around me, and together we swam toward the boat that rocked with the waves. It felt too far away, but it didn’t take as long as I thought it would to get there. He grabbed me around the waist and helped me climb the ladder, and when I reached the deck, I collapsed on it.
Ethan wasn’t far behind me, and he fell onto his knees, his hands resting on his thighs as his chest rose and fell quickly. “Fuck. Never doing that again.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, sitting up and touching his face, neck, and chest, searching for injuries I couldn’t see.
“Your magic friend fixed me, remember?” He quirked a smile and then stopped, reaching up to press his fingers to his face. “Well, almost fixed me. I need to check the mirror.”
He was up before I could stop him, and I watched him limp toward the stairs that led down to the cabin. I didn’t have the energy to follow him. My body hurt too much. My gaze traveled to Zolo and Aza’s bodies, still dead where we’d left them. Their lifeless eyes stared back, and I waited for the guilt, but nothing came. If anything, it was anger swirling deep inside me, and the urge to go back down to Atlantia and destroy it. Father might have been dying when we left, but he wasn’t the only one who had a role in this.
Wind whooshed across the deck, and I trembled as the coldness of my wet clothes reminded me I was above water again. Pushing myself to my feet, I stumbled down the stairs and toward the bathroom.
Ethan was already there, sitting against the wall of the shower stall with water hot enough to create steam bashing down on his naked body. I rid myself of my clothes and joined him, happy that the shower was big enough that I could sit beside him. Leaning my head on his shoulder, I sighed.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you who I was. After you told me about your hunt for mermen, I was scared. I didn’t want you to hate me because I wanted you to like me.”
Ethan chuckled. “Yeah, I wouldn’t have liked you very much if I knew who you were.” He curled his arm around me, and dragged me closer.
The hot cascading stream felt good on my sore limbs, and I exhaled in relief.
“So does that mean you get to keep your voice then?”
“I don’t know…. Taya didn’t say, did he?” I hoped I did, though. While I’d enjoyed what Ethan and I had before, I loved it even more now that I could talk to him.
We sat there in silence for a long time. I didn’t know how many human minutes passed before he finally spoke again.
“Why did you give it all up? You were a prince, right?”
I closed my eyes and buried my face into his neck. “Yes, but I never wanted to be. I was an outcast like you. They all thought I was strange because of my interest in humans. The mermen we killed a few months back and today? They were my tormenters. They physically and verbally hurt me. I hated it there, and I’ve always wanted to be a human.”
“And then you
saw me?” He kissed my temple and it was surprisingly gentle. I’d partially expected him to hate me, to hurt me for lying to him.
“It’s a little more complicated than that.” I tilted my head and let the spray of water hit my face. The scorching heat felt amazing on my skin, and I wanted to stay in here all afternoon, but we’d need to move soon and get rid of Zolo and Aza’s bodies. “When a merman or mermaid turns twenty-five, they’re allowed to go to the surface for the first time. I longed for that day, and it finally came. Father was worried about my obsession and didn’t want to allow me to go up. Grandfather convinced him to let me. So I did, and I saw your crew struggling against the storm. Your boat overturned, and all I could think about was getting to you. If I could have saved your father, I would have, but I could only take one of you.”
“And you chose me.”
I opened my eyes and glanced at him. “Yes.”
He shook his head and wrapped his fingers around my neck, squeezing. I gasped as his hand tightened on my windpipe, and I thought maybe he would kill me after all, but then he relaxed his grip again.
“I should want to hurt you,” he whispered, so quietly that it was almost hard to hear him over the spray of the shower. “But I don’t.”
“We don’t have to end what we’re doing,” I said, leaning my forehead against his. “We could take Zolo and Aza’s bodies back and prove you aren’t crazy. Then we could go back to Atlantia and destroy it.”
“At what cost? Fuck.” He released me and shoved himself to his feet, dragging me up with him. My legs felt like jelly, and I nearly collapsed again, but his hold on me was tight enough that he kept me upright. He turned off the shower and we stepped out. He threw a towel at me and grabbed one for himself, drying off his body as he stalked toward the bedroom. I followed him, unable to do much else.
The way he dried himself off told me he was mad, but probably not mad enough to kill me. I would have let him if he wanted to. Maybe I deserved it because I’d seen Father kill a human and never thought anything about it. Was I as bad as them?
“My father obsessed over finding mermaids,” he said as he dropped the towel on the floor and turned to sit on the bed.
A Merman's Tail: A dark gay retelling of The Little Mermaid (Grim and Sinister Delights Book 14) Page 11
