Bride of the Sea: A Little Mermaid Retelling (Otherworld Book 3) Read online

  Could they even talk? No one had whispered rumors of conversations between any sea creature and a guardian.

  Saoirse would need to know all these things before she let her plan unfold. The human needed to understand the danger he was in. He would need to trust her, to understand she had his best interests in her heart.

  She shook her head ruefully and sped through the waters. He wouldn't trust her easily. He didn’t seem like a foolish man.

  “A patient man,” she whispered, bubbles floating from her lips.

  What had he meant by that?

  There were too many questions in her head, and she needed them answered before she could trust him. It wasn’t as if she had any choice. He was the only escape she could see.

  Otherwise, she would end up in the arms of a merrow man for all eternity. Gooseflesh raised on her arms at the mere thought. Whether it was Craig or any other, she couldn’t see herself marrying a frog.

  The human? That was an entirely different story.

  His matted locks were strangely appealing. The frown perpetually furrowing his brows made her want to smooth the anger away. Even his body was intriguing, so unlike her own even when she didn’t have her tail.

  Saoirse bit her lip. Did he think the same of her? She liked to think he did. The heat in his gaze suggested he was interested. But was that enough for him to take her far away from here? So far that the sea would never touch her again?

  Her heart hurt at the mere thought.

  The isle stretched its roots in the distance. The earth rose to meet her, lovingly sculpted by the hands of old gods. Coral glowed far beneath her, fish and sea life appearing as if by magic.

  Poking her head above the waves, she eyed the beach. He didn’t appear to be on this side of the isle at all. Worry ate at her. This was where she usually found him. Why wasn’t he here?

  She circled the land twice but didn’t see him at all. The isle wouldn’t let him go into the heart, would it? Those were faerie lands. Magic lands humans weren't allowed to see.

  But apparently, it had.

  Only those with faerie blood could pass through the sentinel plants which had a taste for blood. She’d watched him beat at them for hours before, when she couldn’t keep herself away from the sight of him.

  What had changed?

  She dove beneath the waves. A small tunnel at the base of the isle was the only way for sea creatures to get to the heart. She peered into the darkness and swallowed hard.

  She hated tight spaces.

  Wiggling herself in, she used her hands to pull forward. Scales scraped against stone, loosening until she felt the telltale sting she had lost some.

  Her father would notice that. He noticed everything that might mar her beauty even though her looks were considered “strange” compared to the other merrow women. Saoirse grunted and yanked herself forward.

  Now, she would have to come up with some kind of story. He’d already noted her lost scales from the last time she swam with Manus. She couldn’t make the same mistake again.

  Maybe she’d been daydreaming and ran into something? He might believe that. His youngest daughter was often called the foolish one. The story would need to be as tight as a clam shell.

  Light filtered through the water ahead. The tunnel ended in a fresh water pool so clear it was like looking through air. Green plants carpeted the bottom and brightly colored fish darted through the waving fronds.

  She hesitated, not wanting to appear if he were looking straight into the water. What would she say?

  Saoirse knew she would have to tell him what she was. Merrows weren’t a bad faerie. Humans used to like them quite a bit until the rumors started that they sang men into rocks. They weren’t trying to kill men back then. They were trying to warn them.

  Humans were foolish. They thought the beautiful women were beckoning them closer and dashed their ships against the ragged stones.

  Hooking her fingers over the edge, she pulled herself forward just enough to stare up at the surface.

  A foot nearly touched her head.

  Clapping a hand over her mouth so no bubbles rose, Saoirse ducked back into the tunnel. He was in the water? Why was he in the water?

  She twisted her body so she could lay against the stones and stare up at him. He wore nothing but his skin and treaded water as naturally as she did.

  Human males were not as she expected. Their parts were so different! Long legs, not at all frog-like, although dusted with hair. That made her uncomfortable. What were these hairy creatures? Were humans part beast after all?

  He swam away from her, to the edge of the pool where his toes flexed, and he stood with practiced balance. Fish nibbled at his feet, the larger ones brushed against his thighs, but he didn’t react.

  She tried to see his face, but the water warped it. One moment, she thought he smiled. The next, she thought it might be a frown.

  It didn’t matter all that much, she still found him rather handsome. Never before had heat blossomed deep in her belly when looking at a male.

  Humans were so lucky. There would always be a male out there they found handsome, beautiful, strong. Merrows were stuck with frogs and shark-like men who were always drunk and cared little for their female counterparts.

  “How am I going to tell you what I am?” she whispered as she stared up at him. “Will you despise me? Will you think I am an animal to lock away? Or worse, a fish you might eat?”

  Something grabbed onto the delicate membrane of her fin so hard she yelped, flexed the appendage, and shot out of the tunnel.

  Her fear was so great she couldn’t stop her momentum. Saoirse propelled herself through the pool and smacked her back against his.

  The man.

  She froze. He froze. They remained with their spines against each other’s.

  He was so warm. The heat from his body sank into hers, even through the scales. The ocean was a cold place to live. Her skin was used to the frigid waters of the deepest abyss. Touching him felt the same as lying in sand with the sun dancing across her skin.

  “Pearl, is it?” he murmured. “I’m afraid you caught me in a compromising position.”

  “I could say the same.”

  Saoirse tried to keep her tail away from him. The long, eel like appendage must make him uncomfortable. But she couldn’t keep herself above the surface without moving it. She winced as her scales rasped against his knee.

  “Ah,” he said. “So that’s the way of it.”

  Her tongue tied in a knot. What was he going to say? Did she catch a hint of disgust in his words? She had never felt so self-conscious about being a merrow.

  He waited for her to speak. His ribs expanded with each measured breath, calming her jarring gasps.

  When she didn’t respond, he continued. “I knew you weren’t human. No average woman could pull me out of a shipwreck in the middle of the sea, swim with me to an isle, and then disappear into thin air. I just didn’t know what you were.”

  “You do now.”

  “I do.”

  She gritted her teeth and waited.

  “Merrows are rare where I come from,” he finally said. “We call them good luck. Sometimes they help sailors when they’re in a bad way.”

  “I’ve heard of such things.”

  “Is that what you were doing for me? A bit of charity?”

  “No,” she shook her head. “No, I couldn’t let you die.”

  “Do you usually?”

  “I’ve watched men drown and dragged their bodies into the depths with my sisters, yes.”

  “Why didn’t you let me?”

  “I don’t know.” Saoirse’s voice elevated, rising to a high pitch that voiced her panic. “I saw you there in the water and I couldn’t bring you down with the others. I couldn’t watch the crabs feast on your body until there was nothing left but bone.”

  “Why?” he pushed.

  “I wish I knew the answer.”

  They both remained silent, breathing together. S
he had never felt so close to a man, and so far away at the same time. She could touch him. Feel his heartbeat against her spine. Yet she did not know what he was thinking.

  “I’m going to turn around now, Saoirse.”

  “I’d rather you didn’t.”

  “That’s not an option.”

  “Can’t it be? Just for a few moments longer.”

  “‘Fraid not.”

  She kept her back turned to him even as the warmth of his skin disappeared. She didn’t want to see his expression when he saw what she really was.

  It wasn’t as if she knew him. Saoirse shouldn’t be as attached as she was. He could think whatever he wanted of her. It shouldn’t matter.

  But it did. Her heartbeat thumped hard against her chest at the mere thought he might dislike her.

  His hand touched her shoulder. Fingers sliding across the sensitive tendons, pulling her hair away from her skin to reveal the glistening sparkle of her skin.

  “Are you going to turn around?”

  “No.”

  “I can already see you.”

  “I’m certain you can, that doesn’t mean I will turn.”

  He didn’t seem disgusted. His voice was as warm as the rest of him, not frightened or tight with dislike. Perhaps he didn’t mind after all.

  “Saoirse,” he chuckled. “No woman as beautiful as you should hide her face.”

  “I thought you said you didn’t care about beauty.”

  “I never said that. Any man cares about beauty, but some of us see it inside a woman just as much as outside.”

  She melted. It didn’t matter he might be lying to her, or that perhaps he was good with words. He had said the right thing to ease her nerves.

  Her tail fluttered in the water, fine membranes glistening from the small of her back and tapering down to her wide fin. She flicked the end and turned towards him.

  He stared down at her with an expression of awe. His eyes devoured every detail, starting at the top of her head and meandering down below the water. She couldn’t imagine that he didn’t feel at least a little apprehensive about her existence, but he didn’t seem surprised at all.

  “May I?” he asked.

  Saoirse didn’t have the faintest idea what he meant. Captivated, she nodded in response.

  He reached down, lifted her hand, and tilted it into the sun. He pressed his thumb against the sensitive bones, forcing her fingers to spread wide and reveal the thin webbing. Rainbows danced over the membrane, making her hand appear to be made entirely of magic.

  “You know,” he murmured. “I never told you my name.”

  “It isn’t customary for humans to tell faeries their name.”

  “I thought that goes both ways.”

  She blushed. “I am a foolish merrow. I speak with my heart before I think with my mind.”

  “I’m glad of it.”

  “Why?”

  He ran a gentle finger across her webbing. “I would rather know your name than my own.”

  “You're very charming.”

  “It’s working then?”

  She lifted a brow and met his gaze with silent questions.

  He chuckled. “I’m trying to charm you.”

  “You’re doing very well.”

  “Any suggestions?”

  “For what?” Saoirse shook her head, uncertain what he was asking.

  “Improvement.”

  She blinked. “Not at the moment.”

  “You’ll have to tell me if you think of anything.”

  “Why are you trying to charm me?”

  “I’ve never met a merrow before.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” Saoirse frowned. “Are you trying to avoid the question?”

  “My name is Manus.”

  The words echoed in her mind, over and over again. She tasted the sweet whiskey of his true name that exhaled like a lover’s sigh. A knot loosened in her soul, one she hadn’t realized was there but had been since the moment she met him.

  So, this was what it felt like to be the keeper of a human name. It was a heady feeling. Her fingers flexed against his, whispered possibilities overtaking her. She could order him to do anything. She could force him to help her leave.

  Would she ever forgive herself? Saoirse wasn’t sure. He deserved to make his own decisions, no matter how desperate she was.

  “Manus,” she repeated.

  He visibly shivered, her words dancing across his skin and her control sinking deep into the vessel of his soul. He met her wide stare with an expression so heated she felt it burn. “That’s a strange feeling.”

  “It doesn’t always happen.”

  “What is it?”

  “A bond. A tie between faerie and human.”

  “What does it mean?”

  “We are linked forever, you and me. Like the ocean knows each creature that lives within it, we shall always know how to find each other.”

  He cleared his throat. “And if we don’t want to be found?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never met another faerie who made a bond with a human.”

  “Why not?”

  “We don’t like to be far from those with whom we are linked.”

  His eyes slanted away from hers and his hand tightened on hers. “I didn’t ask for that.”

  “Neither did I. I might have prevented such a bond if I had an idea it might happen, but as I said, it is unusual for such a thing to occur.”

  “Why are you here, Saoirse?”

  Not Pearl. He did not call her by the endearment she had come to enjoy. Strange. What had upset him? The bond? It wasn’t anything she could change. The moment they heard each other’s true names, the knot had loosened in her. Perhaps it had tightened in him.

  She pulled at his hold. “I hadn’t intended on seeing you.”

  “Ah, yes. The isle didn’t want me in the interior. Is it because this is your home?”

  “I do not live here.”

  “That’s not an answer.”

  She hissed. “It is my only answer.”

  “Then why did the plants allow me here for the first time, and then you showed up?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You say that a lot, and I think you’re lying.”

  “Faeries cannot lie.”

  Her kind were truth tellers, no matter how much they wished they could lie. Faerie words could be twisted. Even Saoirse was adept at saying one thing and meaning another.

  Surely, he knew? She wracked her brain, trying to find an answer to his question. She didn’t want him to be mad at her. Frantic, she blurted out the first thing she could think of.

  “Only faeries may come into this oasis. It is why it wouldn’t let you in before.”

  “I’m still not a faerie.” He hesitated before he said the words, just enough for her to notice.

  “Why did you pause?”

  “I didn’t.”

  “You did. I heard your hesitation. I may not be able to lie, but I can tell one when I hear it.”

  He licked his lips and let her hand drop from his grasp. “My grandmother was rumored to have faerie blood.”

  “A changeling?”

  “Not so much as that. Just a few drops of faerie blood that made her more likely to garner their favor.”

  Saoirse giggled at the thought. “Faeries don’t care if humans share some of their blood. Those that we give our favors to are simply good people.”

  “Are you so certain of that?”

  “The Unseelie Court may be different, but the Seelie Fae live with honor. They do not provide their aid to those who do not deserve it. If they deem their descendants unworthy, then they do not help them.”

  “Then the isle finds me worthy?” He snorted. “It wouldn’t be the first to be wrong.”

  She stared up at his strong features, wondering what he looked like without the strong beard and tangled nest of dreadlocks. Were his features just as strong as she imagined? With such dark skin, she thought he l
ooked much like the tree in her grotto.

  “You say that so often. Are you trying to convince yourself it’s true?”

  “What?” He looked at her with raised eyebrows.

  “It’s just…” She looked down, afraid he might think her foolish. “Of all the men I’ve met, you are the last person I would say was unworthy.”

  “Have you met many?”

  “Just merrow men.” Were her teeth chattering? The thought of her own kind caused such a visceral reaction, and she couldn’t control it. “They are not kind.”

  “All of them? I find that hard to believe.”

  “All of them.”

  He couldn’t understand. It wasn’t her species that was the issue. It was their life. Merrow men were stuck at the bottom of the ocean. They were so slow compared to merrows, incapable of protecting themselves against sharks or squid. Merrows were fast, darting through the ocean without a care.

  Alone, forced to remain in the dark depths, merrow men turned to alcohol to ease their troubled minds. It made them ugly, angry, and they were even worse when they drank.

  He watched every thought reflected on her face. She felt his gaze as if he touched her.

  He hummed deep in his throat. The tones sounded like that of the great whales that passed by at night. Their haunting songs sometimes crept into her dreams, reminding her that the world was large, and she was nothing more than a small merrow.

  “If that’s the way of it, then I am glad you are here,” he said. “It is a long and difficult road to walk when those around you are not willing to be kind.”

  “You know this life?”

  “Most children do when they grow up on the streets.”

  Her heart bloomed again, opening like a flower to bask in the acceptance of his tones and the understanding she heard within his words. “Then you understand why I am here.”

  “Perhaps too much, my pearl.”

  She stared up at him as if he hung the stars in the sky. He understood her? He understood the things she had fought over again and again.

  Manus cleared his throat, a blush spreading from his chest up his neck. “Are you staying then?”

  “I would like to.”

  “Good.”

  Journey To The Depths