When the Sea Burned

by Autumn Dawn

  He waved a hand. “We’re done with this conversation.”

  “What, everything has to be your way?” she demanded, following him to the surf. “I’m not one of your drippy little lady fish, boy. I have opinions, too.”

  “I noticed,” he said, clearly struggling with his temper. “I wonder why you talk about them so nastily, though. You sound jealous.”

  She checked, horrified at the thought. “You wish.”

  He stepped closer. “Maybe you’d like more of my attention?”

  Alicia leaned back, though she didn’t want to retreat and give him points. “I’d rather kiss an eel,” she snapped. She couldn’t help a glance at his mouth.

  He was smiling now. He stepped closer, wrapping an arm around her back as she tried to retreat. “What a relief. I’d feel guilty if you pined.” Then they were water, rushing through the sea.

  If she’d been human, she would have tried to climb him in terror. She didn’t have voice to scream, but he understood her fear and gathered her close, crooning reassurance.

  She wanted to hide her eyes, but she didn’t have a face or any control of her perception. She didn’t know whether to feel relief when he shifted forms again, giving them the body of water elementals.

  She took stock and realized that yes, she was still terrified. The difference was she could now close her eyes. Instead she fought for the surface.

  Surge gently held her wrists. “You’re not drowning, Alicia. You can breathe. Look at me.” He shook her gently when she struggled. “No, look at me, little one. That’s right.”

  Alicia shuddered, but there was no escape. He caught her every time she tried to bolt.

  “Raze told me Kira was afraid of the spark form when she first changed, and it took her a while to learn that lava wouldn’t burn her. It’s normal to be afraid, but I’m here.”

  She wanted to lash out, but trembled instead, terror of the water holding her prisoner. She began to hyperventilate, feeling suffocated. Any minute the burn would start and she would dissolve.

  Surge drew her into his embrace and the sea around them warmed. That was different. He stroked her back, and lights came to life in the deep, glowing like stars. Bioluminescence was everywhere. Every bit of coral, rock and sea life glowed with pastel light. It distracted her enough that the shaking eased. “W-where is the light coming from?”

  “Human eyes can’t see it like we do,” he murmured, still stroking her back. He eased her around until her back was to his front, crossing his arms comfortingly over her belly. “See the dolphins?” They glowed blue as they frolicked, moving fast like living torpedoes.

  Black and yellow striped fish flitted by, passing a school of silver fish that darted among the coral and sea urchins. Starfish decorated the rocks like living ornaments.

  “Human eyes don’t do it justice, do they?”

  She shook her head mutely, her hands locked on his forearms in a death grip.

  He nuzzled her floating hair, directing the current to keep it out of their faces. “We need to braid your hair. It will be much more manageable when you’re swimming.”

  “I can chop it off,” she said hoarsely. She couldn’t believe they were discussing something so trivial when she felt tight as a weighted cable.

  “I hope you don’t. It’s gorgeous long. Did you have long hair as a little girl?”

  She shook her head. “My mom hated to deal with it. I don’t know what to do with long hair.” Or with her new circumstances. She hated this, but the glowing aquarium was undeniably fascinating. “She’s dead,” she said impulsively, surprised she’d told him. “She got pneumonia and her lungs filled with water.”

  “I’m sorry. You have other family?”

  She shook her head, denying her relatives without thought. “Dad died in an accident when I was little. It’s just me.”

  “And now me.”

  She glanced over her shoulder, but didn’t want to fight. “I had a life before you…before all of this.”

  He nodded. “I’m sorry you’ve gone through so much pain. I would change that if I could.”

  “You would pick someone else. You had a mermaid in mind, they said.”

  His arms loosened, and she pulled away, hugging herself. He seemed guarded, and it didn’t make her feel any better. “The women who drowned me, the Fates. They said you sent them grouch mail about a mermaid.”

  Understanding made him relax. “There wasn’t a specific one. I just didn’t want…” he trailed off.

  “A human,” she finished for him.

  “You must admit this has been hard on you,” he said carefully. “I admit I was also prejudiced.”

  “Because of Atlantis.”

  “Right,” he agreed quickly, as if trying to avoid the subject.

  “I don’t want to live here,” she said, painfully aware she was giving him a way to hurt her. He might not care what she wanted.

  “Hm. We’ll have to see what we can do. I don’t have anywhere else for you to stay right now.”

  She looked away, her gaze clouding with thoughts of the sleeping pool. It looked like nothing would change.

  He sighed and offered his hand. “Let’s take this one day at a time. For now, why don’t we go home? You’ve had a long day.”

  She stared at it distrustfully, but grudgingly accepted it. For now, it seemed they had a truce.

  Chapter 3

  It was late when he came to her room and found her fighting sleep with a B movie and a bowl of spicy dried shrimp. “I thought you might be asleep already.” In fact, he’d hoped she’d be.

  “Nope.” She ate another shrimp, crunching mechanically though she looked half-dead. “I’m not tired.” He snorted and joined her on the couch, waiting as her eyes slowly closed, and popped open. The process repeated until her lids remained shut, though she seemed tense even in sleep.

  Surge turned off the TV and carefully picked her up, shushing her when she uttered a sleepy protest. “I’m here. We’re just getting more comfortable.” He’d carefully worn himself out, hoping they could simply drop off. Though he was determined to help her, he wasn’t wild about snuggling. They would both prefer it if he stayed away.

  He warmed the pool and activated the bioluminescent lights he’d ordered installed while they were in the sea earlier. It would bother him, but he didn’t want her to sleep in the dark anymore. He noted with satisfaction that the water was warm as he climbed in, another concession a true water elemental didn’t need but one he thought would make a difference to Alicia’s peace of mind.

  She shivered but didn’t wake as he eased into the water, making the transition to water breathing as they slipped under. She twisted uneasily and he soothed her, allowing her to cling in her sleep as they gently floated. He fell asleep with her still tightly curled at his side.

  A knee to the balls woke him. Gasping with pain, he exploded from the pool, staring into the water where Alicia helplessly writhed in the grip of a dream. A bleary look at the automated sandglass showed that it had barely been an hour.

  Wincing, he waded into the water to wake her. It would get better after this. After all, how many bad dreams could she have in one night?

  The next morning, he was nearly as haggard as she. They sat on the couch, sipping kelp tea and saying little. Neither of them felt like speaking.

  Finally he set his cup down with a clink on the polished driftwood coffee table. “That sucked.”

  She glowered wearily. “Yeah. I need a nap.”

  He stood and left the couch to her. He wasn’t going to nag her to get back in the pool, not after a night like that. “Soak later, once you’ve rested,” he advised as he left.

  He didn’t know what to do. Did she need time to get past the trauma? Meanwhile, she was miserable with sleep deprivation, which couldn’t help. He wasn’t going to be much help if he didn’t sleep, either.

  Clearly, this called for drastic measures.

  Alicia stared listlessly at the TV, too tired to change
the channel even though it was stuck on a political documentary. A nap had helped, but she still couldn’t wake up. She felt numb and low grade awful, like she was coming down with a cold that wouldn’t quite manifest.

  She finally heaved off the couch and shambled to the throne room to watch the sharks. The dais steps were cool and hard under her feet as she stared unseeing at the throne. It took her a moment to realize there was something new there.

  A shiny gold trident was stuck butt first into a slot in the arm of the throne. Odd that she’d never seen it before. She picked it up to examine it, surprised at its weight. Did this belong to Surge? It must, but why would he leave it lying around for anyone to pick up? Was it an ornament?

  She delicately tested the edge and sliced her thumb, staring unhappily as water leaked from the cut. She hadn’t expected it to be razor sharp. She wrapped the thumb in her sarong, but it kept leaking. It didn’t seem to coagulate, or whatever her blood did, and it was iridescent and thick, details she’d tried not to catalog before. She shook her hand in disgust and swiftly swished it in the pool, hurrying before the sharks noticed her and investigated.

  Mist swept into the throne room, solidifying into Surge’s form. He took the trident away, sliding it into the throne as he reached for her hand. “Are you trying to do yourself in? The trident is not a toy.” Warmth flowed into her thumb as he sealed the cut.

  “It was an accident. Why is that here?”

  “Because no one can touch it other than the rightful king and his consort, and I didn’t think you’d stab yourself with it.”

  Her eyes narrowed as she drew her hand away. “Why didn’t I stop bleeding?”

  “It has an anticoagulant that only one of us can heal, and you don’t know how yet.”

  She sighed. “Are you going to teach me?”

  “Why not?” he muttered, surprising her. “You’ve bled enough this past week.”

  She held her peace, excited to finally learn something useful.

  Surge sighed again and cradled her face in his hands, surprising her. “Look into my eyes.”

  Alicia couldn’t help it; she giggled.

  He relaxed and managed a reluctant grin, though he chided, “Seriously, look.”

  She obeyed, and it was like falling into the darkness behind his gaze. Only it wasn’t dark, and she was surrounded by an immense, powerful will. She had the impression of calm as images flowed into her. Suddenly she knew how he healed her cut. Excited, she sought more information, eager to know what other things they could do. She’d known he was old, but it hadn’t registered until then how much he’d experienced, and she was eager to know more.

  She blinked as she found herself back in her body. “What…?”

  “You can’t ramble through my mind,” he said gruffly. “It’s not a free market.”

  “Oh. Sorry.” She looked away in embarrassment and noticed his trident. She reached for it thoughtfully.

  He grabbed her hand. “No! Don’t touch.”

  “I was just going to practice.”

  “Are you crazy? You’ll know what to do next time. You don’t need to practice.”

  “I might forget.”

  “You won’t.” He took her hand and drew her along, away from temptation. “You need to see the hairdresser.”

  “Why?” she asked suspiciously.

  “Because we’re going to spend more time in the water and you need braids. Your hair tangles like fishing line otherwise. Besides, I was under the impression women enjoyed that kind of thing.”

  Alicia scowled, knowing her hair was tousled. She hadn’t expected to meet anyone and had barely finger combed it that morning. She wasn’t sure if she liked the idea of a hairdresser or not. She’d been so unhappy, she didn’t know what she wanted.

  He tugged as her feet slowed. “After that you’ll go to the dressmaker. You’ve worn the same sarong for three days straight and people are beginning to talk.”

  “Why? It never gets dirty, and one sarong is the same as another.” For that matter, what people? It’s not like she saw anyone.

  “I want you to choose some clothes you like and rotate them. I don’t want to look like a bad husband.”

  “You are a bad husband, but why do you care? It’s not like this is real.” She wobbled when he halted abruptly. He steadied her, and his hands remained on her waist.

  “My people see it as real,” he said gravely. “They see my mark on you. I see it, and I care.”

  She leaned back, not liking where this was going. “I don’t acknowledge it. We’re nothing, according to my customs.” She didn’t like how her voice went high and squeaky with alarm. The threat of marriage to him was enough to make her breathless.

  He drew her closer until her hands pressed against his chest. “You’re not among your people.”

  She swallowed, wanting to remove her hands, to back away. It felt weird to touch him like this, and her heart was beating erratically. “I could be. I still have my apartment, and I can find a new job if my boss has already fired me.” She’d been too depressed to worry about such things until now. Deep down, she knew there was no going back.

  “Your things have been moved, and you gave notice at your job. Officially, you’ve moved to Maui.” When she shook her head, he went on relentlessly, “It’s time to accept that things have changed. It’s time to consider what we have now.”

  She curled her nails into his chest but didn’t reply. What could she say? Her idea of dealing with things was to put an ocean between them.

  He wasn’t allowing that. Surge bent his head and murmured into her ear, “Why not try us?” He nuzzled her temple, sending chills down her spine.

  She puzzled over his unconventional phrasing even as her lashes fluttered. She wasn’t melting for him, was she? She hated the sea; he was the essence of it. “I won’t be trapped here, buried alive under a mile of ocean.”

  “Not a mile, and I have other plans,” he said, withdrawing. “Starting with a hairdresser.”

  He could be stubborn, all right. She grumbled to herself as they walked along, brightening when she realized they were going to the part of the palace with people. Finally!

  They entered an area that seemed to be the mer version of a mall, complete with a series of pools and a two story slide. She looked around eagerly, noting the water games and the vendors. “That looks fun.”

  Surge followed her gaze to the water volley ball game. Played with a ball of water, it took a degree of skill and concentration to hold the ball together at the proper consistency for hitting and still have the coordination to volley it. It would be good practice for her.

  “Wow! That’s cool, too.” She admired the young men hurtling balls of super compressed water in a shooting range as they put holes in targets that were shaped like men or fish. “I want to try that!”

  By the time they made it to the salon frequented by mer ladies of quality, he felt like he was herding a school of sunfish. He smiled at her enthusiasm, encouraged by it. With help, she could learn to love life under the sea.

  “Wait, I want to see this,” Alicia insisted, leaning over the balcony to watch as craftsmen used pressurized water to cut sheet metal into a steel sculpture. “That’s incredible,” she whispered, awed. “Humans have only recently discovered the water cutting technique.”

  He chuckled. “There will be time for this later, darling, but you have an appointment.” He waited a moment, then gently grasped her arm and steered her into the salon, aware they were attracting attention. He didn’t care for himself, but he didn’t want her appearance to generate negative gossip.

  Her delightful, just bedded look gave him an idea. Best if he made her rumpled appearance seem like his fault. It wasn’t as if he didn’t want to. He’d been fighting his interest in her for days. He hadn’t wanted to admit it, but she drew him like the moon drew the tide, seduced him without even trying. His libido no longer cared that the Fates had a hand in it and Alicia’s former humanity no longer mattered…ins
ofar as his desire was concerned. He wanted a taste.

  Ignoring the receptionist, he murmured, “Alicia,” in his best seductive voice.

  When she glanced at him, surprised at his tone, he kissed her. She stiffened at first, but melted with surprising speed, allowing him to tunnel his hands through her hair as he ravished her mouth. Her taste was intoxicating, and the shyness of her response thrilled him. She didn’t seem very experienced, and the thought that he was one of a select few delighted him. He smiled against her lips as he withdrew, massaging her head as he tucked her against his side and smiled at the gaping secretary. “She’s ready now.” He gave Alicia a rogue’s smile. “I’ll see you later.”

  Alicia eased away and cleared her throat. “Mm. Okay.”

  He watched her nervously lick her lips and smiled with predatory delight. “Have fun.”

  Alicia blinked as he strolled away. What had brought that on? She looked helplessly at the receptionist. “Um…”

  “Would you like to come back now, your Majesty? We’re ready for you,” the receptionist said brightly, probably thinking of the juicy gossip she’d witnessed. “May I offer you something to drink?”

  Alicia was distracted enough that she was in the chair with a yummy cup of kelp tea before she noticed the soothing, old stone walls and dark woods of the posh salon. Her hair was carefully washed, conditioned and expertly braided with opals and pearls while her feet soaked in a footbath.

  The stylist assured her the gems had been specifically requested by Surge. Alicia wondered if he was sending a message, and if so, to whom. Well, it was his money.

  She was treated to a heavenly hot stone massage that left her limp and mellow. They left her nails alone, however; there was no improving on the perfectly oval, sparkling opals.

  Her stylist offered makeup and after a glance in the mirror, Alicia agreed to eyeliner and gloss. Whatever else she disliked about her transformation, she couldn’t complain about her flawless complexion.