Page 47 of Blood of the Sirens
“MERRICK!”
My father twisted my ear between his fingers and yanked me back out in front of him and the other elders. The horde of mers pulled up short, seeing their fathers and elders gathered around me, but their ugly looks remained in place.
“He stole the siren!”
“He attacked us!”
“He tried to kill the siren!”
“He didn’t even claim her!”
My father held up the free hand that wasn’t cutting off the blood flow to my ear. Everyone went silent. My heart was beating so frantically against my ribs I worried that all of them could hear it.
“Merrick. Explain yourself.” My father threw me forward, releasing me, his dark hair flowing freely around him.
I resisted the urge to rub my offended ear like a minnow. Instead, I stood firm, but met none of their eyes. I picked a spot of corral far beyond any of them and stared at it. If I could pull this off and get my father on my side, Jesse and I had a chance. “I met her by chance a week ago. I have been … courting her since.”
The words stuck in my throat like rotting seaweed as the mers mumbled among themselves.
“Courting? What is this courting?” my father asked.
“And it surely does not take a week,”Aris sneered.
I noted with satisfaction that his nose was now off-center. I wracked my brain, trying to remember if I’d done, or if Jesse had.
“Gally taught us in history classes that courting was part of the old ways. The siren would choose the mer she wanted. Is that not right?” I challenged. It was the only shot I had.
My father blinked.. Whatever excuse he expected me to have, it wasn’t that.
“Lies! You lie!” Aris blurted out, his blue-ish skin tinged darker than normal in anger.
Fury burned through my veins. “No!” I shouted, but there were far more angry, frustrated mers than just me.
My father held up his hand, and the shouting quieted.
“That is why it is taking so long. I am not forcing her!” I shot back, trying to make them understand.
“Then, in the meantime, we should be free to take her if she wants!” declared Aris, puffing out his chest.
I lost my mind as the image of Jesse screaming as Aris forced himself on her plagued my thoughts. I hissed and withdrew my dagger, slamming him up against one of the stone columns and pressing the razor-sharp coral dagger against his throat. My knives were always sharp; to cut and work with my shells.
“She doesnotwant,” I bit at him.
The fear in his eyes satisfied me. I shoved Aris away and glared at the remaining mob of mers. They all warily backed up, eyeing me and the elders. None of them had ever seen me like this, not even my father. Merrick was quiet and liked to tinker on his projects. Merrick was meek and didn’t cause trouble.
They didn’t know what to make of this Merrick.
My father raised an eyebrow. “Merrick, I admire this new side of you, but surely you must see you haven’t behaved fairly.Tell us where the girl is, so the others might have a chance to also … court.”
The very thought of them getting anywhere near Jesse made my blood boil.
“No,” I snarled, a deep, feral part of me awakening that I didn’t know existed.
My father’s eyes narrowed. “Merrick.”
My instincts flared, demanding I protect Jesse from these predators. I raised my knife in my hand and felt the tips of my ears flare out. My spine straightened to allow me to puff out as large as I could, and I bared my fangs at all of them.
Including my father.
