Page 142 of Sea's Secret

THE END

Epilogue

Meria

“What do you think?” Dominick asked. I could feel his jaw move when he spoke, as he rested it on the top of my head.

“I think it is beautiful! I did not know that there were oceans on land!” I gasped, wanting so desperately to wade into the water and float about.

“You want to go in, don't you?”

“What do you think?”

“I think if you dove in there, right now, Gwendolyn might be rather startled.”

“That is true,” I said as Dominick moved to my side, letting go of where he held me around the waist. He bent down and touched the water. It smelled different from what I was used to, a rather strange salt-lessness.

I watched Dominick take off his boots, stockings, roll up his pant legs, and wade in up to his calves in the small ocean.

“Peter loves it when Gwendolyn is startled, because he gets to comfort her. Men love that.”

“Do they?”

“Yes, my mermaid; It is an easy excuse to pull a lady, or a mermaid in my case, in for a hug,” Dominick said with a wide grin. I loved that look on his face, loved his unmarked skin. Not for any other reason than it meant that he was not in constant pain. Not anymore. Dominick bent down and hit the water, sending a spray at me. Gwendolyn squealed from behind me, but I closed my eyes and let the water wet my face. I even licked my lips, then scrunched up my nose.

“What is this?” I asked, wiping at my face and smelling the water. “This is awful.”

“It is water, Meria,” Dominick said with a chuckle, spraying me again. I bent down and took off my shoes and stockings, I could hear Gwendolyn behind us, becoming startled. For the few weeks we had spent in Walden, we had discovered many things. One thing we had discovered was that Gwendolyn Darling was a very proper noble lady. She was not judgemental and unkind, but she was easily rattled, and she had been very sheltered. She did not like it when one evening Dominick and I went swimming, and afterward, we ran through the castle with me in one of his large black shirts, and he was shirtless. She spoke to Peter about it, who spoke to us, and explained that Gwendolyn was rather proper, and it had offended her sense of propriety. She was proper, but she was also one of the kindest people I had ever met. Humans, I learned very quickly, were mostly kind. Mermaids were not as modest as humans, so while taking off my shoes and stockings made Gwendolyn nearly faint, I felt more like myself when I was barefoot.

“This is the strange water you always drink. Where is the salt?”

“It is what we like to call fresh water; you know, what I need to survive,” Dominick said. I did not like fresh water, but a swim did sound lovely, as it always did. I placed my stockings and shoes to the side. Humans always wore so much clothing. I turned around, looking for Peter and Gwendolyn. Peter was fanning her, and I called out to him.

“Peter!”

He looked my way and jogged over to me.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Is Gwendolyn okay?”

“She will be fine; she just has to adjust to you two and your rebellious ways. She likes you very much, but her mother did teach her to be shocked.”

“Well, you may want to head back to the palace because we are going for a swim.”

“Indeed, thank you!” he said with a laugh. “Hey, did you hear about the princess from Solalune who disappeared? Rumor has it that she is at the Lost Lake.”

“Lost Lake?” I asked.

“It is a lake, somewhere in Solalune. They can not seem to pin down where it is either–rather irresponsible of them,” Dominick said with a chuckle.

“But, last I heard, her brother is sending men in search of the Princess–Princess Odette! It is a great story,” Peter went on.

“Peter loves stories.” Gwendolyn said, coming up beside him with a smile.

“It is true, I love a good tale. Can you imagine? A lost lake, and discovering such a thing?”

“I can imagine that, but do you wish to find this princess?”

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