SeaChange

by Cindy Spencer Pape

  Oh wow. He was not only dead serious, he was right. This could really be their last night alone together. Ever. She batted her lashes to blink back the sudden welling of tears.

  “This is something I found in a wreck a long time ago. I think it’s of Greek origin, but it may be Italian or French—it was from the Mediterranean at any rate, and the ship looked to be seventeenth century, based on the cannons. It was so lovely, I just couldn’t part with it, and now I know why. It was meant for you.”

  He pulled a small velvet pouch from the pocket of his suit.

  “This doesn’t come with strings attached. It doesn’t mean we’re engaged, or anything like that. It’s just a gift. A token of my love for you. Something for you to look at years from now and remember this night—this moment.”

  He opened the pouch and withdrew the most beautiful ring Heidi had ever seen. It was platinum, with a large, pale aquamarine in a setting of carved waves and dolphins.

  Now the tears resurged, leaking out over her lashes. “It’s…amazing. The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

  “Will you wear it for me?” His voice was thick, and Heidi saw that his hand was shaking just a little.

  “Y-y-yeah,” she muttered, trying to suppress a sniffle. “I’d love to.”

  Jake slid the antique ring onto the third finger of her left hand, and Heidi couldn’t bring herself to argue. It was right. That was where it belonged. It wasn’t an engagement ring but it did mean—something. Even if she wasn’t sure exactly what.

  “I love you, Jake.”

  He smiled, then lifted her hand and kissed it. “I love you, my own warrior goddess. Thank you.”

  “I will bring more champagne,” the waiter cried excitedly.

  Neither of them had noticed him coming to check on them one last time.

  “Congratulations, monsieur, mademoiselle!”

  “Oh, but…” Heidi winced, then stopped. All the other diners were looking at them and smiling. A few even applauded. Of course it looked as if they’d just gotten engaged. And she couldn’t bring herself to embarrass Jake by explaining, so she just smiled at the waiter. “Thank you.”

  They accepted the toast from the restaurant staff and patrons, then finished their champagne. At least, Heidi thought, she didn’t see anyone from the marine biology department of the Westin Institute. That would have been the icing on the cake. As it was, she whispered, “I feel like such a fraud,” to Jake as they walked back to the hotel.

  “I’m sorry,” he replied. “I didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that.”

  “I know.” She squeezed his hand. “It’s okay. We got a free bottle of champagne out of it, at any rate.” They hadn’t been charged for that second bottle the waiter brought.

  “For the record, if I’d thought you’d have said yes, it would have been a proposal.” He paused in the garden right beside their hotel and turned to face her. The moonlight cast his face in sharp, striking angles. He was so freaking beautiful, she thought. It still surprised her that he’d fallen in love with her.

  “I know that too.” She couldn’t lie to him. She did know he was ready to commit to her for good and if made her feel like a selfish bitch that she wasn’t ready to say yes. There was just so much that still stood between them, and she wasn’t sure she was ready to spend the next three hundred years sequestered in a merfolk colony to preserve her lifespan or to spend the next fifty or sixty growing old while Jake didn’t. On the other hand, the thought of leaving him was bleaker still. “I just…don’t know, Jake. I really wish I did.”

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. We’ll work it out. For now, I love you and we’re here, together. That may not be a perfect ending, but it’s a pretty damn good place to start.”

  His kiss started out tender, a mere touch of his lips against hers. But Heidi gripped his shoulders and returned it with all the emotion she couldn’t quite sort out into words.

  Soon Jake had pulled her body flush against his and she could feel his arousal hard against her stomach, feel the urgency of her own pulse. His tongue stroked into her mouth and she sucked on it, rubbing her lower body against his while one of his hands slid up her bare thigh under the hem of her dress.

  “Time to go inside,” he rasped when he finally broke free. He tugged her hand and started walking rapidly toward the hotel entrance.

  Heidi tugged her skirt back into place and followed, practically running on the stiletto heels to keep up. As soon as they were in the elevator, he kissed her again, pressing her back against the wall while his mouth plundered hers. She speared one hand into his hair, dislodging the thong while he pushed one hand between their bodies to cup her breast. By the time they reached the fifteenth floor, Heidi’s knees were weak with longing.

  Jake pulled his key card out of his pocket as they raced down the hall. Thankfully, they didn’t encounter any other guests, who wouldn’t have been able to miss their frantic arousal—not that Heidi cared all that much. The only thing that mattered was getting into that room and getting Jake inside her as quickly as possible.

  It seemed to take forever for him to unlock the door, haul Heidi inside and shut the door behind them, but finally it happened and Heidi found herself pressed against the back of the door with Jake kissing her for all he was worth. She was glad they’d left a light on, because neither one of them bothered to look for the switch.

  She dropped her purse and kissed him back, one hand sliding under his suit coat to grasp his shoulder while the other reached between them to fumble with his belt. Their tongues dueled and tangled frantically, while Jake braced himself on the door with one hand. His other slid up under Heidi’s hemline. When he reached the string of her soaked black thong, he tugged it downward.

  Heidi kicked it off her ankles at the same time as she pushed Jake’s slacks down off his hips, followed quickly by his black cotton boxers. She lifted one leg to wrap around his hip, drawing him closer to her wet, aching core.

  With a groan, Jake lifted Heidi up off the floor a couple inches and pinned her back against the heavy wooden door as his thick cock slid into her waiting channel.

  “Yes!” She writhed against him, her tender breasts crushed against his solid chest. He filled her completely, then began a slow glide in and out. With every stroke, his rigid flesh caressed her sensitive tissues.

  Then his lips found hers again and his tongue pushed into her mouth, matching the rhythm of his cock in her core. Heidi was so tightly wound that it didn’t take long. He shifted just a bit so his shaft rubbed her clit with every thrust in and out of her pussy, and it only took a couple before Heidi’s whole body tightened and shook. Jake kept up the steady onslaught and after just a few more strokes, Heidi screamed out his name as she exploded, her muscles clamping down hard on him as she rode out wave after wave of delight.

  Jake groaned into her mouth and held himself deep while she continued to pulse around his cock. Heidi felt the burst of pleasure over their bond as he gave in to his own release and flooded her with heat.

  She dragged her mouth from his to catch her breath and leaned her head on his shoulder. Slowly, Jake eased out of her and held her steady as he lowered her feet back to the floor.

  “I’d meant,” he said, dragging in a breath, “to at least get you out of that dress before I did that.”

  Heidi looked down to see his pants still pooled around his ankles, and tried to laugh, though it came out as more of a wheeze. “There’s always later.”

  They stumbled toward the bed, each trying to help the other out of their clothes. Finally Jake pulled back the covers, and Heidi dropped down onto the bed and bent over to unbuckle the straps on her shoes. Jake’s suit lay in a crumpled pile on the floor, along with her dress. Her shoes and bra soon followed, and they flopped together back against the sheets.

  Heidi’s hand rested against Jake’s chest and the aquamarine in the ring he’d given her caught the light. She wiggled her hand, making the glint dance. It was far prettier than any diamond,
and the dolphin and waves design was as pretty as it was symbolic for them. She hoped, really hoped, that she’d never have to take it off.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The new boat had come with the name Fisherman’s Folly stenciled on the hull, and there wasn’t time to rename or repaint, so the Folly it would have to be, at least for this mission. Jake didn’t know what his mother was planning to do with it afterward, but if she decided to keep it, she could worry about renaming it then.

  Today’s maiden voyage was a run out to the Catalinas and back, to pick up Myrrine’s warriors and to give Heidi, Jake and Steve a chance to make sure they knew the ins and outs of the vessel. Tomorrow they would load the equipment Wen and Steve had arranged, then Friday they would hopefully set sail for Cabo San Lucas, on the very southern tip of the Baja peninsula.

  So far it all looked good. The boat was older, but the engines weren’t giving them any trouble at all. Wen had joined them when they were about an hour out of port, and had caught Jake up on the plans for equipment delivery. When they were just a few miles off the coast of the Catalinas, Leta dove overboard, changed into a dolphin and went to get their mother. A few minutes later, Jake helped anchor the Folly in a cove near the merfolk colony beneath one of the smaller, uninhabited islands, and they all waited for the rest of their crew to come aboard.

  Once again, most of the merfolk arrived in human form, several of them in small boats. Myrrine came first, with Marcos and Chiron and Leta, and another young man he recognized as Aella’s grandson. He didn’t have the bearing of a warrior. Another healer, perhaps? Jake was glad they’d thought of that.

  He was also relieved to discover that Leta would not be traveling with them.

  Leta, however, was not. “I don’t see why I shouldn’t go,” she grumbled. “I’ve been involved in this all the way through.”

  “Because one member of our family has to stay,” Myrrine pointed out. “If your brother and I are both in harm’s way, then our people need you to be safe.”

  “I don’t think anyone on the boat will necessarily be in harm’s way,” Heidi remarked. “But it does sort of make sense for one member of the royal family to stay with your people.”

  Leta fought, but in the end she conceded, just as Jake had hoped. Actually, he tried to persuade his mother to stay behind too, but that didn’t get anywhere at all. Myrrine was going and that’s all there was to it. Luggage was loaded, along with a supply of spearguns and WWII-era munitions, which Marcos guarded with an eagle eye, while Jake reacquainted himself with the six warriors who would travel with them. Along with Niko, Marcos and Chiron, that made nine mermen, plus Jake, Steve and Wen, for an even dozen. Jake still desperately hoped Heidi would be willing to stay behind during the raid. That would leave her, Jake’s mother, Darius the healer and maybe Brad on the Folly. If everything went south, Heidi and Brad could get the boat back to the States.

  “I wondered,” Myrrine said to Jake and Heidi while Marcos and Chiron were debating over where to stow a crate of underwater mines. “If perhaps Heidi—and maybe your friends—would like to see the settlement while you are here.”

  Heidi’s eyes bugged out and Jake felt her curiosity surge over the link.

  “Of course she would, Mother.” He smiled at Heidi to let her know he didn’t mind.

  Steve and Wen both declined, so Heidi found herself swimming with Leta on one side of her and Myrrine on the other. She knew Jake longed to see his home, but she also knew he’d rather she see it without him than not at all.

  The underwater portion of the dive was minimal, so she didn’t bother with equipment except for her small flippers and a mask. Out of deference to her, Jake’s mother and sister both retained their human forms, though most of the people they encountered as they got close to the island’s shoreline were typical merfolk. Heidi marveled at the fact that it no longer surprised her to see someone with the torso of a human and the lower half of a dolphin.

  They sucked in deep breaths, then dove down at the edge of a rocky cliff. The cave entrance was just about ten feet below sea level, and they’d assured her that it opened up above the water line as soon as they were inside the cave. She followed Myrrine closely, ducking into the black hole in the rock, then quickly following Jake’s mother back up to the surface.

  She gasped when she took in the sight of the big open chamber she’d emerged into. It was apparently just an entryway, there wasn’t much in the way of activity, though there was a low ledge along one wall, where perhaps twenty people could stand or sit out of the water. A hallway led off that, deeper into the island, while another tunnel went off to the right, partially underwater. The whole room was an oval, maybe fifty feet across and one hundred feet wide. Small holes in the side of the rock allowed for light to filter in from the side of the island.

  Strangely, there were no stalactites hanging from the ceiling. When she asked Myrrine, the queen nodded. “We remove them whenever possible. They have a tendency to fall, and that can be dangerous.”

  Heidi nodded and followed as Myrrine swam toward the tunnel with the open water. As they drew deeper in toward the center of the island, the filtered sunlight gave out, and torches lined the rocky corridor above the waterline.

  They passed several hallways, and a few doorways that had actual wooden doors on them. “Private quarters,” Leta told her when she asked. “Basically apartments. The caves are partly natural and partly carved out by magic, but they have to follow the natural contours of the island. So the private caves are scattered all over the place—wherever there’s room.”

  They reached an enormous cavern that seemed to soar up for hundreds of feet. At the top, there were again several small chimney holes letting in daylight. Stairways in the sides of the cliff walls went up to ledges and balconies, some with doors opening off them, others that were just part of this space. A few even featured furniture—tables and chairs that were either carved stone, rustically crafted wooden pieces, or brightly colored plastic lawn furniture. Some of those were occupied by groups talking, eating, and even one trio playing cards. Another group of four men clustered in a shallow pool around a swim-up table. A few merfolk children played something that resembled water volleyball off to one side of the big central pool, under the watchful eyes of three young women.

  “This is our central chamber,” Myrrine told Heidi. “Sort of the town square. If you follow that hallway,” she said, pointing across from where they’d entered, “you’ll find the school and a few other common spaces, like the healer’s guild and the trading rooms. We have sort of a barter system, with credits that can be used for goods or services.”

  “And how many of your people live here?” Heidi asked as she followed the two mermaids over to a set of carved stairs.

  Myrrine replied. “About three hundred make this their primary residence. We also have plenty of available rooms for up to another two hundred, as the warriors and traders tend to travel between our settlements.”

  They exited the pool and climbed up to one of the widest ledges, then up a flight of stairs to another. Heidi was very glad someone had added sturdy wooden railings to the outside of the stairs. When they reached the second floor ledge, they walked past several doors with mer names carved or painted on them. Finally they came to a wide area of the ledge, which was arranged as a sort of balcony with cushioned seating for maybe a dozen people. Past that was another narrow ledge, guarded by an armed merman, who immediately bowed to Myrrine before standing aside.

  “I never kept this guarded until after my brother’s most recent attacks,” the queen told Heidi as they passed onto the narrow ledge. A curved balcony, with what could only be called a throne, looked out over the chamber, with a few less ostentatious chairs arranged beside and slightly behind it. The ledge ended here—there was nothing more beyond this point except a carved wooden door leading into the rock of the island’s core.

  “Come in,” Leta said, holding the door open for Heidi. “This is where Mother and I live when we
’re here.”

  The door opened into a comfortable sitting room—at least comfortable for a cave, Heidi assumed. Leta had brought a torch in off the balcony and lit two on either side of the door, illuminating the room. There were heavy rugs on the floor and some tapestry hangings on the wall. One back wall was lined with bookshelves.

  “My mate loved books,” Myrrine said sadly. “He collected as many as could be found, or purchased by our traders and scavengers. Most of them have been wet and dried out, but he took excellent care to preserve them as much as possible.” There was no smell of mildew, which was a bit of a surprise. Maybe they used magic to prevent that as well.

  Heidi couldn’t imagine life without easy access to books. Still, if their mission did succeed, and Dionysus adapted the merfolk to live on land, then maybe they could figure out a way for their human companions to live on land as well.

  Behind the sitting room was a bedroom, maybe twelve by fifteen feet, with a beautiful wooden bedstead, a desk and several sea chests. An antique Spanish guitar hung on one wall. “My father’s room,” Leta told her. “Though mother still uses it sometimes. She has an office up on this level as well.”

  If this was the royal family’s apartment, how sparse the rest of the merfolk’s quarters must be. Heidi shook her head as she followed the other women down a set of stairs carved out of the rock, and into a larger, more open room, the center of which was filled with a large pool. Around the pool were a few plastic chairs and some shelves full of dishes, oil lamps, and various other household goods.

  “The kitchen is back through there,” Leta said, pointing down one corridor at the base of the stairs. “Over here are more bedrooms.” She pointed to another half-submerged tunnel, though this one had a ledge along the side. Handy to be able to swim or walk to the bedrooms.