by Dee J. Stone
He moves his lips lower, down the area between my eyebrows, over the bridge of my nose. Then they finally make contact with mine, and I swear firecrackers shoot up in the sky. Our lips move over one another’s impatiently, as though we haven’t kissed in forever. His hands slide off my wrists and settle on my upper arms. It gives me the chance to tangle my fingers in his golden hair, which has gotten longer since I first met him. His hands move to my neck, where he softly massages it.
“I want to stay here,” I say. “Just you and me, together forever. Without having to worry about anything.”
“As do I.” His lips are now trailing down my neck. “But I would miss Zarya very, very much.”
“I guess we’ll have to let her on the island from time to time.”
“And the twins. They would not appreciate Zarya receiving special treatment.”
“Okay, the twins, too. And I guess I’d have to let Leah at least stop by on a boat so she could make sure I’m alive.”
Damarian laughs. “What of our parents? Would they not be concerned?”
I roll us over and straddle him. My fingers tiptoe up his naked chest. He’s only wearing khaki pants. “I guess we’ll have no choice but to travel to the mainland and the ocean every once in a while so our parents won’t freak. But we can’t tell them about the island. It’ll be our little secret.”
“I agree.”
I bend forward and graze my lips across his chest. He trembles beneath me. I love seeing the way his body reacts to my soft touch. His eyes flutter closed and a soft groan exits his mouth. His hands tug on my braids, then his fingers massage my scalp. It feels so good that I moan.
Damarian sits forward with me nestled in his arms. His hands return to my hair. He starts unbraiding one of my pigtails, each stroke slow and gentle. Then he moves to the other and does the same. My hair tumbles down my shoulders in small waves. Damarian runs his hands through them. “How I love to unbind your hair and see how lovely it looks resting on your shoulders.” He kisses me. “You are so very beautiful, my sweet Cassie.”
Every time he says things like that, I feel all warm and cozy inside. I crawl onto his lap and look into his gorgeous, deep blue eyes, getting lost in them. They hold so much emotion for me, and that warms my heart, too. I take hold of his hair and tenderly tilt his head to the side so I can skim my lips across his jaw. His hands fly to my waist and he squeezes, though not hard enough to hurt me. Then they move lower, down my thighs, where he makes circles on the sensitive skin. My head is thrown back, which gives him full access to my throat. He’s extremely generous with his lips, causing little butterflies to flap around in my stomach.
“The feelings you invoke in me,” he murmurs against my throat. “They drive me insane. But oh how much I enjoy it.”
“Ditto,” I rasp.
I place my hands on his shoulders and push him down on the ground, showing him what my lips can do to his chest. When I’m done, Damarian can hardly move a muscle—he’s that affected. In the past, I might have blushed. I remember how shy I was when we first got intimate. But not anymore. While I do still feel a little shy, I have so much more confidence than I had. That’s all due to Damarian. He makes me feel so comfortable.
Damarian is flat on the ground, his hands curled at his sides, his eyes closed as soft breaths leave his mouth. I lie down on him, pressing my face into his chest. His heart is racing. “Promise me that no matter what, we’ll always fight to be together,” I say. “Even if it seems like everything is against us.”
He wraps his arms around me. “Always, my love. For all eternity.”
After resting for a few minutes, I get to my knees and yank on his hand. “Let’s go into the water. We have privacy to do anything we want.”
Delight shines in his eyes. He puts one arm behind my back and the other under my knees, sweeping me off the ground and running toward the ocean. It’s kind of like he’s carrying me over the threshold into our home in the sea. In the merworld, we’re considered married. And I consider myself married to him in the human world, too, even though it’s not legal yet. But we will be one day. Damarian’s never mentioned anything about it, but I did catch him watching a documentary on weddings the other day.
With me still in his arms, he sprints into the ocean. I expect the usual burning pain, but it doesn’t come. When I glance down at my legs, I see they have transformed into my beautiful sapphire tail. Damarian changed, too. He’s still holding me in his arms.
I stretch my neck to kiss him. “You’re so beautiful as a merman. I mean, you’re so beautiful as a human, too, but as a merman…you’re magical.” His eyes are a deeper blue, his hair looks more golden, and his tail is stunning, with its sapphire crystals that gleam in the sunlight. He’s something out of a fairytale. Or shall I say, a fairytail.
He smiles and dips his head to give me a kiss. “And you are the most beautiful female child of the sea I have ever laid eyes upon.”
I playfully slap his shoulder. “Thanks, but you know that’s not true.”
“My words are sincere, Cassie. There is no child of the sea who is more beautiful than you.”
Every part of me warms up. I know for a fact that I’m not the prettiest mermaid—Queen Flora is gorgeous, and while all the merpeople are striking, some are prettier than the rest. But in Damarian’s eyes, I’m the most beautiful one. Because he has so much love for me.
I free myself from his arms, causing myself to drop into the water. When I break the surface, I grab the back of Damarian’s head and push it under the water. Then I smack my lips to his. We’ve made out countless times in the ocean, but every time feels like the first one. It’s because we can never get enough of each other, and every time our lips make contact, we are creating new memories that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. Every kiss, every touch, every romantic word he whispers is ingrained in my brain, promising to stay with me forever.
Our tails wrap around each other’s in a loving embrace. We are connected in our hearts, bodies, and souls. For all eternity.
Damarian breaks his lips from mine and dives into the water, floating a few feet beneath me. He spreads out his arms, and I find my own arms doing the same, as though we are connected by strings. He pumps his tail and I pump mine, and we surge through the water at an extremely fast pace. The rush inflates me with adrenaline.
He swoops up, closing his arms around me and shooting up like a canon. We break the surface and jump high in the air. He releases me. I raise my arms and stretch out my tail as far as it can go, reveling in the feeling of flying. The closest I’ve gotten to flying was when I surfed. But that was nothing compared to this. Right now, I feel like the queen of the world.
Our hands clasp together as we dive back into the water, plunging low and shooting up again. Like dolphins leaping out of the water. Damarian tugs me toward his body and closes his arms around my middle. He swims deep into the ocean, very deep, then propels his body upward, gathering speed as we head toward the surface. We jet out of the water and are once again high in the air. But this time, Damarian throws me upward. It feels like I can touch the sky. He did the same thing to me when I was human, but it feels totally different now as a mermaid. Every one of my senses is heightened. The droplets of water splashing around me feel amazing, like I’m dancing in a sea of rain. Even though I’m moving at the same speed I did as a human, it feels like everything is in slow motion. I savor it all, etching it into my mind so I can relive it over and over again.
I drop into Damarian’s arms. “Did you enjoy that?” he asks.
I fling my arms around him. “That was incredible. You never cease to amaze me, Damarian.”
He rubs his nose against mine. “You never cease to amaze me, my love.”
We dive back into the water, deep inside so we can explore more of the ocean. Even though Damarian has lived here all his life and loves exploring, the sea is so vast that there is always more to discover.
We touch the exquisite coral, say hello to t
he many fish and other sea life swimming around. We play with the dolphins and wave to the different species of whales. There is a whole world down here, one we humans haven’t even begun to understand.
As we swim deeper into the ocean, goose bumps form on my arms. I rub them away, fear nestling in the pit of my stomach. We’re not too deep for me to feel chilly, and as a mermaid, the cold shouldn’t bother me. When I glance at Damarian, I see he’s enjoying our swim, not seeming to notice anything amiss.
Pushing it aside, I continue to enjoy the wonderful life around me. But the uneasy feeling doesn’t go away. Damarian must realize something is off with me, because he asks, “Is something the matter?”
I don’t have a chance to respond, because something catches the corner of my eye. I turn my head, but I don’t see anything.
“Cassie?” Damarian asks.
Something is in the ocean. I feel it. And it’s not friendly.
A black shadow moves on my other side. Again, I turn my head, but I don’t see anything. My eyes are not playing tricks on me—I know something is here.
“Come out and show yourself,” I demand.
Nothing moves.
Damarian reaches for my hand. “Cassie—”
There it is again. I swear I just saw a dark figure moving through the water. I chase after it, or the direction I saw it swim to. Damarian hurries after me. I come up against a wall of rock formations. Maybe I am losing my mind?
A sinister laugh vibrates in my ears. I whirl around, but once again I don’t see anything. “Did you hear it?” I ask Damarian.
His eyes hold nothing but confusion. “I have not heard anything.”
Another one of those laughs. I twist around, my eyes flitting to every direction of the ocean. “Did you hear it now?”
He doesn’t answer. His eyes are huge and are pasted on an area behind me. With my heart pounding in my head, I turn around and falter back. A creature floats before me, a creature I’ve never seen before in my life. It’s huge, probably ten feet tall. It has a dark gray body, covered in blue, green, and gray scales. Its eyes are big and yellow, it has a serpent tail, and it has two hands with claws instead of fingers. It looks like a dragon without wings.
Except, a dragon wouldn’t live in the water. A whimper escapes my mouth. Sea serpent.
An amused look enters its eyes. So you are the weakling that shares my body.
The voice is female, though it’s very deep and echoes in my head. It’s so menacing that every hair on my body stands on edge. Not that I have any bodily hair in my mermaid form, except on my head.
Damarian grabs my hand and pulls me closer to his body. “Who are you?” he demands.
It looks even more amused as it narrows its eyes at Damarian. One of the slaves.
Slaves? Sharing my body? “Oh my God,” I say.
That thing is the sea serpent that’s inside me.
Its eyes still amused, it nods. Your puny brain figured it out. Took you long enough.
I just stare at it, my eyes taking in the sight in front of me. From the large fin on the top of its head, down its eyes, to the two holes at the edge of its nose—nostrils. Down its long, slender neck that seems to go on for miles until it connects with its tail. Two arms protrude from the sides of its middle, and the claws look like they can behead me with one slash. All of it is covered in those blue, green, and gray scales. A snake tongue slithers out of its mouth.
Damarian tries to push me behind him, to protect me, but I don’t let him. That thing…it’s me. The other part of me. I need to face it.
My body shaking, I take a few steps closer. The sea serpent doesn’t budge, just keeps its eyes on me. They bore into mine, so intense that they hurt my eyes and I’m forced to look away. I keep my gaze on its nose. Although, I guess I should be referring to it as a “she,” since she’s…me.
With one swift motion, she swings her hand toward the left. Damarian is flicked to the side, knocking into some of the rock formations.
“Damarian!” I rush after him, but the sea serpent blocks my way, an evil gleam in her eyes. I try to move to my left, but she blocks me again. Damarian is crouched on the floor of the ocean, his shoulders heaving like he can’t breathe.
The serpent is in my way, but she’s so large and I’m much smaller, which might give me an advantage. I move to my left, and she follows suit, but I quickly dash the opposite way, too fast for her to comprehend what I’m doing. I race to Damarian and sweep him off the floor, swimming as fast as I can away from that thing.
The area above us grows dark and the serpent lands in front of us. Her tail whips out and knocks into my chest, the force so strong that I’m blasted backward, Damarian flying out of my arms.
As though the same thought enters our heads at the exact same time, Damarian and I reach for one another, and we gravitate toward each other like magnets. Just as our hands are about to latch onto each other’s, the serpent’s tail coils around Damarian and yanks him back.
“No!” I yell. I launch myself at her, my fist slamming into her middle. The pain is so intense that it feels like my bones break. I’m hurled backward until I hit something hard, most likely rock. Pain shoots throughout my back.
Through the agony, I realize I’m powerless against the serpent. She was the one who provided me with the super strength and whatever other abilities the sea serpents have. But now the two of us are separated. I’m no match for her.
Wait a second. If she and I are separated, that means she has no access to Damarian’s power. Hope blooms in my chest. I fight through the throbbing in my body and pick myself off the ocean floor. Damarian is still bound in the serpent’s tail, his eyes shut tight. It feels like my heart and the other organs in my body have collapsed. Damarian is alive, but just barely.
I close my eyes and reach out to him, using every ounce I have in me. I feel my energy going into him, providing him with strength. His eyes snap open. Lightning flashes inside them, just like it did when the rebels blocked us from leaving the ocean. Damarian thrusts his arms outward, forcing the serpent’s tail to unwrap from around him.
She ducks her head and hisses. I notice the fangs in her mouth.
I feel myself rise in the water, my arms spread outward as though I’m possessed. Damarian floats toward me, his body positioned just like mine. Our hands lock together. We face the serpent, who’s poised to attack, her eyes narrowed.
Damarian and I push out our free hands. Electricity shoots out, mixing together before blasting at the sea serpent. She leaps to the side, avoiding the attack. Our beam hits the rock behind her, causing little particles to explode everywhere. It’s such a strong blow that the whole ocean shakes. A massive wave comes crashing down on Damarian and me and sweeps us away. I tumble around in the water, like clothes in a washing machine. My hand slips from Damarian’s.
When my spinning finally stops, I find myself a few hundred feet away from my original location. Damarian is nowhere to be found.
“Damarian!” I call, my eyes searching around frantically. I don’t see him.
Something hard knocks into me from behind, sending me flying into some coral. My ribs ache, but I force myself to turn around. The sea serpent looms before me, her eyes no longer yellow but red. Like she’s mega pissed.
She raises her clawed hand, ready to strike me, when something zips toward me, grabbing me away. It’s Damarian. His eyes are still filled with electricity. His hand immediately finds mine, and electricity crackles between them. After a few seconds, it shoots toward the surface, out of the ocean, illuminating the sky.
You will not defeat me. The serpent’s voice echoes in my skull. I will smash you to tiny bits and reign supreme. Reclaim the ocean, she starts to chant. Reclaim what is ours.
“Over my dead body.”
We bound toward the creature, aiming our hands at her. But she disappears. My head moves right and left, up and down. I don’t see her. Damarian and I spin around, looking everywhere, but the thing is nowhere in sight.
/>
“Damarian,” I whisper, my chest beating so wildly I’m getting dizzy.
Our hands don’t leave one another. We continue spinning around, searching for the sea serpent. But she’s not here. Did she leave? Could it be…we defeated her? But that’s impossible. We didn’t injure her that badly.
Suddenly, something hot hits my face, chest, and arms. It’s so scorching that it feels like it’s melting my skin. When I look at Damarian, I see a green substance on him. Boils start to form all over his body.
“Damarian!” I cry.
A bright light nearly blinds me. I feel myself shooting up in the air.
Chapter Twenty-Five
My eyes pop open. I jump to a sitting position, every one of my limbs sore. My body is so exhausted, and all I want to do is sleep for days.
I look at Damarian, who lies beside me, unconscious. A strangled cry leaves my mouth. There are deep wounds all over his body. Did I…did I do that to him?
Fiske storms over, his eyes darting between Damarian and me. What have you done to him?
I didn’t do anything, Fiske. I swear.
He narrows his eyes, a look of murder in them. I swallow the saliva gathering in my mouth. “Damarian.” I shake him. “Wake up. Oh, please wake up.”
He doesn’t stir.
Is he…no, he can’t be! I’m about to do CPR, but then I nearly laugh out loud. How do you do CPR on a merman? I lean closer to examine his gills. They’re not moving.
“No,” I cry, falling onto him and clutching him tight. “You can’t be dead. Wake up!” I softly slam my fist to his chest. “Wake up.”
Fiske moves closer and nudges his head into Damarian’s ribs. He still doesn’t stir.
A sudden thought enters my head. The time Damarian needed salt water when we returned from the sea. I remember how he sat in the back of Leah’s car, so close to death. He grabbed my hand and sucked out some of my life force.
