Page 149 of The Sea Witch's Son

Broken, shattered into something I don’t even recognize. There’s so much shame, so much embarrassment that it feels like I can barely breathe.

Marlin is the only reason I haven’t slipped away completely. He keeps me tethered to the ground, forever trapping me with the weight of his presence and the strength of his arms.

He has me pressed against his chest, his long body curled around my small one. My toes brush the top of his shins while my head rests under his chin. His arms are wrapped around my torso, holding me with a strength that says he doesn’t believe I’m breakable.

I’m not sure what I believe anymore.

“Once upon a time, there was a little girl.”

The soft rumble of Marlin’s voice breaks the heavy silence between us.

“She was neither beautiful nor kind, but she was cunning. She knew how to manipulate people with the right turn of a phrase, how to use a person's weakness to ensure her strength. She was brilliant in a terrible sort of way, one that never failed to shock the town in which she grew up in.”

I’m listening quietly, feeling the steady rise and fall of his chest. He’s a good storyteller, his deep voice almost hypnotic in the way he tells the tale.

“One day, a man from far away washed ashore. He was everything the woman was not, kind and passionate and so full of life that she couldn’t help but fall in love.”

He clears his throat, “But this woman was no fool. She knew that one day he would have to choose between his love for her and his desire for a life at sea. And should her heart get broken in the process... Well, the woman was not willing to make that gamble.”

Marlin pauses, and I find myself sneaking him a glance. His eyes are trained on the ceiling, his expression carefully neutral as he continues the story.

“So, she gave him a test. She gave him a little boy who had his father’s smile and his mother’s intelligence. She wanted to see if the man’s love for his family could ever be greater than his love for the sea.”

My heart lurches unexpectedly. Those violet eyes haven’t left the ceiling, but I can see the crack in his armour. The slighthesitation in his flippant tone, the splinter sticking out of an ancient wound.

“The man stayed for a long time. So long, in fact, he fooled everyone into thinking he was content living his life ashore, happy spending his days with his conniving wife and his distant son. The family fell into a comfortable routine until one day, the man did exactly what he was expected to do. He packed his bags and he left.”

Another pause, except this one is so long, I have to look at his face to make sure he didn’t fall asleep.

“The woman sought to destroy him, of course, and given the heart that was broken that day, it did not take her long to find him.” Violet eyes meet mine, a little darker than before, “Some say she removed his heart while others say she sent his ship to the bottom of the ocean.”

There’s a lump in my throat as I stare back at him, seeing the vulnerability he’s offering me.

“And the little boy?” My voice breaks with a sadness that’s not my own, “What happened to him?”

“He died.” Marlin breaks eye contact to stare back up at the ceiling, “He drowned trying to escape the monster waiting for him.”

I swallow thickly, “He was running from the Sea Witch.”

“No.” An empty smile hits his face, “He was running from her son. The future she had laid out for him. The monster he was destined to become.”

A physical ache slices through my chest. I don’t know what to say, I don’t know how to fix the irrefutable damage that’s been done.

“You see, little saint, it is not the decisions we make that define who we are. It is the decisions that are taken from us. The ones that were never theirs to take.”

His eyes are hollow when he looks at me, “And when that happens, you get a choice. Battle the darkness until you return to the light. Or submerge yourself in the shadows until there’s nowhere for them to run.”

I can see it in his face. The heartbreaking truth that Marlin Seaborn believes himself to be a monster. A spirit too dark to ever be worthy of love.

But that is exactly why I fell in love with him.

“Do you know what's my favourite thing about monsters?”

My voice comes out shaky, hoarse from a long evening of screaming. I lost a piece of myself tonight, a piece that I didn’t think I could live without.

I am a fighter. A survivor.

And now, a victim.

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