Page 32 of Female Fantasy
“Took the words right out my mouth,” I agree, choosing toignore the way his body stiffens, then melts beneath mine in answer. “Let’s never acknowledge that this happened, okay?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Then I close my eyes for a second. Just one.
My training starts at the very next sunrise.
Or roll tide, as I have come to learn the mer are fond of calling it.
Ryke meets me in the underwater cavern right outside of his private safe house. I am securely locked in my air bubble, floating around in the water with little to no ability to control my movements, a situation that frustrates me beyond belief. Ryke watches me flail my arms around, attempting to turn left, then right, but the pull of the Earth and the moon works differently down here.
He laughs, and I let out a growl of irritation.
“For a minnow, you move through the water with the grace of a hippo,” he teases.
I have the urge to pop my bubble and punch him right in the center of the chest.
Then I realize how absurd that concept is. Me, Merriah, assaulting the prince of the mer?
“I hope none of today’s training requires the coordination of my arms and legs,” I reply. “As you can see, my trainer will be sorely disappointed.”
The corners of his lips pull up. “There are ways for us to condition your body without the gravity of land to hold you in place, little minnow. The key is to strengthen your core, that place in the center of your stomach that tightens every time danger is near. Learn to control your core, and you can control that danger. Do you understand?”
I reach down and pinch the skin of my stomach. “I cannot seem to find the muscle,” I say, frowning.
Ryke reaches out a hand, his touch a ghost on the outside of my bubble.
“One day soon, I will teach you how to swim. And when that day comes, with your permission, I will place my hands on your body and help you locate every muscle.”
My heart constricts, but I nod. “I have always wished to learn how to swim,” I admit. “It was not considered ladylike in the village, becoming of a wife or a would-be mother. But I have always felt a call to the water. It is hard to admit, but the river has always given me a sense of comfort. As if the waves were offering a blanket of safety instead of a watery grave.”
Ryke watches me, listening with an eel-eyed intensity. “Fascinating,” he marvels. “So many secrets lie inside this flesh palace, distilled in your blood.”
I laugh nervously. “I do not have any secrets. Only hidden desires.”
Perhaps I imagine it, but I think his eyes heat at the sound of the worddesireon my lips.
“The training.” I swallow. “Tell me more of the training. What else will we do?”
“Well, after we work your core”—his pupils are dilated, his irises molten lava—“I shall tie you up with a sailor’s rope. Teach you how to escape.”
I blink rapidly. “I cannot tell if you are jesting, my prince,” I say, my laughter nervous.
He shakes his head. “Not in the slightest. We will strengthen every inch of your body, teach you to swim, explore your potential as a mer warrior. And then, once you are no longer sore and are able to move with agility and ease beneath the waves, the real work will begin: battle preparations.”
My mouth forms a tiny circle. “You will carve me into a weapon to wield in the war?”
He nods. “We will work on both offensive and defensive strategies. You shall learn to throw a punch. To bind your legs together with the inner muscles of your thighs and kick as if you have a tail. I will gift you the finest underwater javelins and a seafarer’s spear, and we will learn combinations and study technique. You will learn how to hold a shark’s-tooth knife, how to strike an enemy in the right place and gut them like a fish.”
I shut my eyes and attempt to picture myself brave and strong. Gripping a javelin in one hand and a shark’s-tooth shivin the other, battling amongst the ranks of the mer, Ryke by my side.
For the most part, I fail.
But when my eyes open once more, my cheeks feel flushed.
“And the defensive strategies?” I ask.
The fire in Ryke’s eyes dims. “There’s a chance, little minnow, that we are betrayed below the tides. Every mer with loyalties to the siren cause is looking for me. Even a prince can sometimes place his trust in the wrong people. If that happens, I want you to be prepared.”
