Page 11 of Sea's Secret

“Aye, I ‘ave; he be that knight from those Torren tournaments?”

“The same. He asked for passage down the Eastern Sea.” I shifted again. “The Sorran port is his destination. I would not have let him come, but he was desperate, and he paid handsomely for it. Plus, while in Sorra, I am certain to find a few golden objects.”

Veeto smiled when I said that; he liked money and treasure as much as any pirate.

Sorra was the land of the Jinn. Not many of the cursed kingdoms even knew that these Jinn existed, but we pirates? We knew, because where there were Jinn, there was also gold to be found. I knew it was an easy sell as long as Veeto knew we had already been paid a hefty sum with even more gold on the way. That was one of his weaknesses, and the one I exploited as often as I could in order to get what I desired. He did not need to know that I took more than half of the treasure for myself, already, and had stashed it away. I was so close to being able to purchase my own ship. In a few years, I would get my own ship and crew, and then I would set off on my own, well, with Sands of course. But first, I wanted to go back to Walden and demand that my mother speak with me, let her see what she had created in me.

I had only one hope at making that happen, short of breaking into her chambers in the middle of the night and forcing her to face me, which would have landed me in the dungeons for certain, and I had no desire to be held prisoner ever again. No, the way I wanted to return to Walden was to bring Layla with me, her precious lost daughter. If I could find my sister, Princess Layla of Walden, and bring her home, my mother would have to speak with me. I had a few things to say to her. And she would have to thank me, possibly even apologize. I would let her, and then just turn and walk away. Just as she had done to me.

I smiled. That will be a sweet revenge, and it was the only thing I wanted, short of my own ship, and getting as far away as I could from Veeto, of course. His death? That would be wonderful, too. Men like him should not exist.

In time.

“Where is he?” he asked with impatience.

“He’s coming later tonight,”

“Stay and wait. I want his coin.”

“That is the plan, Captain,” I said with a mocking, drunken salute.

I watched as my uncle walked off with the bag of stolen goods over his shoulder. His graying hair looked white in the moonlight. He had a hunch in his back, another weakness I could exploit if needed. However, he was quite deadly, sometimes even without getting his own hands dirty. I had seen him kill many men for an assortment of reasons. His temper was rather volatile; he told me that my father had been even worse.

I looked down at my black, leather-gloved hands, clenching and unclenching my fists. Like father, like son. The jacket I was wearing made me hot, and it itched. I pulled it off, and it felt like I was shedding a layer of skin, a layer I no longer wanted.

After all, I was not Prince Dominick of Walden. I was a dirty, wicked pirate.

Chapter Four

Meria

Ibreached the surface, looking for Edmar and realized he was near. I looked at his flashing red tail as it shimmered in the moonlight beneath the clear water, and he swam up to me with a smile. Air was so very strange. I had never felt anything dry before. I had heard that word, but had never experienced dry for myself. It was also strange how my hair stuck to me instead of floating about my head.

“Meria, you look lovely this evening,” Edmar said with a smile. His orange hair was the same shade as the coral near the open sea. I found myself wondering what our children would look like. We would have beautiful children, I was sure.

I was so close to motherhood. I had a merman, and that night, he would ask me to marry, and I would say, “yes,” and then soon thereafter, we would marry; then I would have as many merlings as I could, and for that, I couldn't wait. I wanted to see their faces, which would share both my features and Edmar’s, the merman I loved.

You do not love him. Those words echoed within my soul, and I shoved them away. It was love. It had to be.

“Thank you, Edmar. You look dashing this evening, yourself,” I sang, but my melody sounded so different above the sea.

He looked at me with a smile.

The moon was so bright above the water, and everything was so clear, even at a great distance. Air was not thick like sea water. How incredible. I couldn’t help but smile and breathe in the warm, dry air—the feeling of it filling my lungs was so light, so much lighter than the sea water. I felt like I could float up to the moon if I took in enough air.

There were merpeople all around us. That specific spot where the mer always kept the changing tide celebration was in shallow water, just off a small, uninhabited island. There were large outcroppings of rocks jutting out of the ocean. Many of mer of Marren lay about the rocks to bask in the moonlight, their tails fully submerged. We, of course, were taught to never fully leave the water. I had never seen such a sight before, but had heard it described hundreds of times. It was strange to see drops of water on my skin, and every once in a while, there was movement in the air that brought on a slight chill. I looked around in order to see the rocky island for the first time. It was incredible–so beautiful and dark, but the tall green and brown seaweed plants upon that land were so strange, shifting slightly in the currents of air. I had a deep desire to step onto that island, which was ridiculous because I did not step; humans did that. I had a tail.

“You feel the wind?” I heard one mer say to someone to my right. I lifted my hand from the water—This air current I feel; It is called wind. It picked up some of my hair as if playing with it. I laughed. How incredible.

Go to the island. The thought began and then persisted.

Go to the island. I tried to shove that intrusive rebellion down deep, where all the other traitorous thoughts accumulated inside of me.

“Let’s go over here,” Edmar sang, tugging on my arm to lead me to a vacant, medium-sized rock. He climbed partly up, his red tail still in the ocean, but his upper body exposed to the dry air and wind. I looked around to see the eyes of many mer, looking over at him with wonder. He truly was a handsome merman. I was truly lucky. “Come on, Meria!” he motioned for me to join him. I pulled myself up beside him with a smile. The rocks above the surface were very similar to ones I’d seen every day under the sea.

My father was resting upon the tallest rock. His loud voice rose above all the mermen and merwomen there, causing a silence, other than the crashing of waves upon the rocks. The sound was so beautiful, something completely new to me. I could have listened to that sound for an entire day.

See, that match with Edmar was already giving me so many blessings–being above the water, seeing Marren Island, and hearing the waves crashing into the rocks and the shore. That beauty must have been blessed by the Ancients.

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