by Dee J. Stone
“Did your mom try to convince him to return to the colony when the rebel threat started?” I ask.
Damarian nods. “Grandfather claimed he rather the rebels come. If they kill him, he could be reunited with his love.”
“That’s so tragic.”
“It is a broken heart.”
I tighten my hold on his hand. “I hope neither of us goes through that.”
He kisses the back of my hand. “As do I.”
“Promise me you won’t give up on life if something were to happen to me.”
“Cassie, nothing shall occur to you.”
“I don’t mean right now. In one hundred years or whenever I’ll die. Unless you die before me, so in that case—”
He kisses my hand again. “Please let us not discuss this. It saddens me.”
“I’m sorry.”
He gives me a small smile.
“Damarian, how old are you?”
He gives me a confused look. “I believe I told you I have reached my two hundred and fortieth moon.”
In the merpeople world, they figure out ages based on the moon, which means he is twenty years old. “I know,” I tell him. “But how long do the children of the sea live?”
He thinks for a few seconds. “I believe four thousand eight hundred moons, or six thousand moons?” His eyebrows wrinkle. “Yes, I believe six thousand.”
I do the math in my head. That means five hundred years, just like my father said. “So you’re not like a one-hundred-year-old merman who looks like a twenty year old, are you?” I ask.
Now he looks even more confused. “No, I have two hundred and forty moons.”
That’s a relief. For a second, I thought I was mated to someone one hundred years my senior. “You know the average human lives until their eighties.”
He gapes at me. “Only eighty years?”
“I guess that means I’ll die before you.”
He pecks my lips. “That gladdens me, for I do not wish for you to have a broken heart.”
“I don’t want you to have a broken heart, either.” I feel my eyes light up. “I am half-mermaid, though. Maybe I’ll live a few hundred years.”
He grins. “Perhaps.”
We travel for a little longer before Damarian dips toward the bottom of the ocean, to a small cave. “I believe this is where Grandfather resides.”
I see his gills opening and closing rapidly. “Are you nervous?” I ask.
With his gaze pasted on the cave, he nods. “I fear Grandfather will cast me out again.” He looks at me. “It will cause me pain.”
My arms snake around his stomach as I hug him. “I’m right here, okay?”
He nods, his gills still opening and closing fast.
“What’s your grandfather’s name?” I ask.
“Ryter.”
I look at Fiske. “You’ll stand guard out here?”
He nods.
I take Damarian’s hand. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
Like Damarian’s home, there is no door at the entrance to the cave, just an opening. Nothing could stop rebels from swimming right in and killing him. Many fish swim in and out, which means Damarian’s grandfather will never run out of food.
I sense Damarian’s nerves running overdrive as we move deeper into the cave. It’s really small with hardly any rocks. I don’t see anything at first but the ground and fish swimming around. When I follow Damarian’s gaze, I see a lone figure sitting on the floor, facing the back wall of the cave. Golden hair flows down his back, nearly sweeping the cave floor. He’s just sitting there, his tail stretched out to the left. It’s a different shade than any Sapphire I’ve seen, but it looks pretty similar to Kiandra’s.
He doesn’t move. I know he must have heard us or sensed that we’re here. Maybe he doesn’t care or maybe he hopes we are rebels and are here to kill him.
I glance at Damarian. He’s more than nervous now—he’s a big mess. I understand why this is so hard for him. He must have been a small child when his grandfather kicked him out of his life.
I nod to him, asking him if he’s ready. He swallows a few times before returning the nod. We edge closer to Ryter. He still doesn’t move.
Damarian opens his mouth, then closes it. Opens it and closes. He shuts his eyes for a few seconds before opening them and saying, “Grandfather? It is I, Damarian. I have come here with my mate, Cassie Price. We have an urgent matter to discuss with you.”
Maybe a bit too formal, but it’s definitely a start. His grandfather doesn’t move, though. I nod to Damarian encouragingly, telling him to try again. This merman may be our only hope to stop the sea serpents.
Damarian’s gills open wide and then narrow, his equivalent to taking a big breath. “Please, Grandfather. We have traveled here to speak to you because the children of the sea are in peril. We require your assistance.”
His shoulders seem to rise a little, but he doesn’t respond. I’d help Damarian, but I think he wants to do this on his own.
Tugging my hand, he swims closer to Ryter until we’re right next to him. His eyes are locked on the wall in front of him, like he has a fascination with how it was formed. He takes no notice of our presence.
Damarian lets go of my hand and falls to his “knees,” grabbing his grandfather’s shoulders. “Please, Grandfather! Do not ignore me. Is it your wish that the children of the sea shall perish? Is it your wish that I, as well as Kiander, his queen Flora, Doria, Syd, Syndin, Father, Mother, and little Zarya perish? You have not met the little ones, but I assure you they are lovely children of the sea. Zarya has such a love for exploration. Mother told me it was what you loved as well. Is it your wish that she will perish before she is old enough to explore? Is that your wish, Grandfather?!” He shouts the last part of his sentence.
That seems to jar the merman out of whatever state he’s in, because his eyes slowly move to Damarian. He stares at him like he’s surprised at the person in front of him. He last saw Damarian as a kid. Then his eyes move to me.
My blood turns cold at the expression on his face. Pure terror and hatred. He leaps upward, almost knocking into Damarian. His tail swooshes back and forth violently. “Why have you brought this into my home?” he demands to Damarian, backing up like I might infect him with a contagious disease.
Damarian and I gape at each other. Ryter knows what I am? Damarian seems to be asking me the same question.
He focuses his attention on his grandfather. “She is my mate, Grandfather. The one I love dearly. Please do not cast us out. We require your aid.”
His eyes move frantically between me and Damarian. Now I have a good view of his face. The merpeoples’ skin doesn’t seem to age, but there’s something about his appearance that makes it obvious he’s elderly. He’s tall and muscular, just like Syren and Damarian.
His eyes continue flitting between us, hostility buried in there. I move a little closer.
He scurries back. “Do not move an inch closer!” he orders.
I hold out my hands in surrender. “Okay. But you need to listen to us. I’m not…I’m not one of those things. I mean, I’m a human. Or, I was. I mean…” I shake my head because I have no idea what I’m saying. Nothing seems to be coming out the way I want.
“She is human,” Damarian says. “I met her on land. She and I…we are mated.”
His eyebrows rise in surprise.
“And now she has transformed. It is the only way we can be mated.”
“But something terrible happened,” I say, my voice choked with tears. “I started to change into a…a…”
Ryter storms toward us, a look of undying rage on his face. “I have killed you with my own bare hands.” He raises them. “Hundreds of you.” He brings his hands together as though he’s pretending to choke me.
I back away.
Damarian rushes to my side. “It is the reason we have come to you. For information on how to halt them.”
“I will not assist a sea serpent.” It seems li
ke he spits the last words out.
“You won’t be helping the sea serpents,” I say, raising my voice. “You will be helping the children of the sea. Because while you sit here alone and wait to die, the sea serpents are growing stronger and stronger. They’ll invade the ocean, Ryter. They’ll force Damarian onto the throne and steal his power.”
Ryter stares at me with the most surprised expression I’ve ever seen on anyone’s face. “You are aware of the true king’s power?”
“I have discovered it accidentally,” Damarian says.
“So it’s true?” I ask. Everything my father told me is true?
Ryter nods. “It is what occurred four thousands moons past.”
“The great battle?” Damarian asks. “Where the Sapphires lost the crown?”
Ryter motions for us to sit down. We do, and he sits, too, although a few feet away from us. “We do not have physical evidence as the humans do.” His eyes flick to me. “No history books. Many of the children of the sea are not aware that the great battle was with the wretched sea serpents. Perhaps we thought that was for the best.” His eyes narrow at me. “I assumed they were all killed.”
“Most were,” I say. “But the survivors have found each other.”
“Because of you.”
I gnaw on my bottom lip.
“Because…” His eyes move to his grandson. “Because you have mated. She has tasted your power, hasn’t she? The serpents have tasted it as well.”
“We didn’t know,” I say. “How could we have known?”
“Cassie was not aware that she is…that she is…I will not say it.”
“She is only half,” Ryter says.
“Is that good?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “It is quite the opposite.”
It feels like the water has turned ice cold.
“To what are you referring?” Damarian asks, his voice raised.
Ryter’s eyes flash at him. “Do you wish to hear the full story? Hold your tongue.”
Damarian lowers his head.
“Please tell us,” I ask. I’m jumping out of my skin. I need to know if what my father told me is true. I won’t believe that the merpeople started the war between the two races. Because if they did, does that mean the sea serpents are the innocent ones? And if that was the case, whose side would I choose?
Ryter leans back and locks his fingers over his lap like he’s about to tell us a bedtime story. “Since the beginning of time, the Sapphires have always had the crown. With the true heir on the throne, we ruled the ocean in peace. We were fair rulers and would never cause harm to anyone. We ruled every creature in the sea. The many species of fish and ocean life, the sharks, the whales, and the sea serpents.”
His eyes flick to me. He still has hatred in them. I try not to let it bother me. I’m not here to earn Damarian’s grandfather’s favor, even though it would mean a lot. Damarian and I need to find out all we can about the sea serpents so we can stop them. There’s time to play nice later.
“One day, the sea serpents wished to steal the power of the king,” Ryter continues. “I am not certain how they did so, for I was a young fry and did not fully understand. This power infused the serpents with many abilities, rendering them invincible. Due to the fact that the serpents function as one unit, they share everything. They shared the power as well, causing them to be undefeatable.” His eyes fill with fury. “They were ruthless rulers. They enslaved the children of the sea. They murdered many creatures for no apparent reason. They caused havoc to the humans as well, creating tsunamis, destroying ships that were on sea. Poisoning the water and the fish.” He shakes his head. “It was chaos. That is all I knew growing up. Chaos and bloodshed.”
Damarian and I are dead quiet. Our hands have found their way into each other’s. I give his a squeeze.
“We rebelled,” Ryter says. “Many moons later, I was old enough to join the uprising. We were small in number and weak in comparison, but we had determination and hope in our hearts. We destroyed them and cast them from the sea. It was then that we vowed a Sapphire would never rule the sea. For we did not wish any being to take advantage of the power.”
The cave is silent. Both Damarian and I sit still, processing what Ryter just said.
Finally, I say, “But Kiander’s on the throne. He’s a Sapphire.”
Ryter shrugs. “The decree to not allow a Sapphire on the throne was only a precaution, to ensure the true heir will never rule. As the moons passed, I suppose the decree has been forgotten.”
“But Father wished for me to be king,” Damarian says, his eyebrows wrinkled. “He wished for the true heir to take the throne.” His eyes meet mine, a look of alarm in his eyes. Could it be that Syren does have something to do with all of this?
Ryter looks alarmed, too. “He wished to put you as ruler?”
Damarian nods. “You would have been aware of that had you not chosen to live as a recluse,” Damarian says, hurt and bitterness attached to each word.
Despite his tough exterior, I see Ryter’s eyes fill with guilt and sorrow. “You stated that Kiander has taken the throne?”
“Yes,” Damarian says. “It is due to Cassie that I have not.”
Ryter’s eyes narrow at me. “I believe we owe you our gratitude,” he mutters.
Yeah, first it seems like I saved the merpeople, but now it seems like I’m the one responsible for the sea serpents’ rise to power. The universe has an odd sense of humor.
“Why have the children of the sea been unable to shift to humans when they traveled to land?” Damarian asks his grandfather.
His face shows nothing but surprise. “They cannot shift?”
We both shake our heads.
He rubs his chin. “How peculiar. I have not heard such a thing.”
My body deflates. I was hoping he’d have an answer.
The cave grows quiet.
“You said the sea serpents ruled over all sea life,” I say. “Including the dolphins?”
“Yes.”
I’m quiet as the memory plays in my head.
“Cassie, what is the matter?” Damarian asks.
I shake my head. “Nothing. It’s just that a dolphin saved me when I was paralyzed in the ocean. When my mermaid and sea serpent side fought each other.”
Both Damarian and I look at Ryter, wondering if he has an explanation.
“It is possible the dolphin believed you were being attacked by a sea serpent. He wished to assist you.”
I guess that’s possible. Obviously that specific dolphin was not alive when the sea serpents ruled, but it must have been instinct.
Once again, the cave grows silent.
“We have not learned anything useful,” Damarian says. “We were already aware that it is the sea serpents’ wish to have me take the throne so that they can steal the power.”
“But we do know for a fact that my father lied to me,” I say. “He promised they’d live peacefully with the children of the sea. But that’s a lie. They’ll make you all slaves or kill you and wreak havoc on the ocean again.”
“And due to you, they are as strong as ever,” Ryter says.
Even though I know that, his words are a low blow. I try to swallow the dryness in my throat, but it doesn’t help.
“Cassie is not to blame for this,” Damarian says, his eyes blazing. “It was not her decision to be born to a sea serpent. She had the right to fall in love with me.”
“What did you mean earlier, Ryter?” I ask. “That it’s not a good thing that I’m only half sea serpent?”
He laughs bitterly. “One would hope the loving bond between a half sea serpent and a child of the sea would surpass all. But that is not the case with you. For you have bonded with the true heir to the throne.”
“So…?”
“So,” he says, his tone still bitter. “Had you mated with any other child of the sea, you may have been able to fight the serpent and reign supreme. But you have mated with the true heir to the throne. You hav
e tasted his power. It awaked the dormant serpent inside you. Try as you might, you will be unable to fight it, for it is too strong.” His eyes move to Damarian. “You possess abilities, Damarian. Ones you are not aware of. They can only be fully restored if you take the throne.” His gaze returns to me. “But the serpents are certainly aware of the power. They have tasted it, and it is their only wish to taste it again. The serpent inside your mate grows stronger each passing day, which causes the serpents inside her kin to grow strong as well, for they function as one unit. She will succumb to the serpent. She has no choice.” He looks at Damarian. “She will no longer be a child of the sea, nor will she be a human. You will no longer be mated to her. You will not be able to sense her. You will be enemies.”
Tears slide down my cheeks. I don’t feel them, but I know they’re there. Ryter confirms what my father told me. I didn’t want to believe it—I couldn’t—but it’s true. I really am going to turn into a sea serpent, the sworn enemy of Damarian. And there’s nothing I could do about it.
“No,” Damarian stresses. “I will not allow that to occur. What can I do, Grandfather?”
Ryter shakes his head.
“There must be something I could do,” Damarian pleads. “Please.”
His eyes intensify on his grandson. “There is something you can do, Damarian. Join the ranks of the children of the sea and obliterate those foul beasts once and for all. Every single one.” His eyes move to me. “Including her.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Cassie, please wait!”
I surge through the water, swimming to…I don’t know where. Just away. Away from Damarian’s grandfather and the words he just uttered. To the truth I’ve known about deep down but didn’t want to face.
“Cassie.”
Damarian is swimming much faster than me. It won’t be long until he catches up.
“Leave me alone,” I yell over my shoulder.
I want to be alone. I need to be alone.
I pump my tail harder, increasing my speed. I know I’ll get tired soon because I still don’t have much experience swimming as a mermaid, but I continue on. The fish, seaweed, and other ocean life and plants slap my face and my body as I hurry through the sea. They don’t slow me down.
