Page 74 of Finding Love with the Fae King

“Ah, did your King come visit you last night? Staking his claim? Gods, why hasn’t he even marked and mated with you yet? Not that I really care for the guy anyway, but it’s so damn old-school.”

I rubbed the mark gently and stepped up to the spring, and gave him a glare. “He’s my mate, and I didn’t mind it one bit. Now, are we going to get going or what?”

“Geez, all right, Princess.” Lucca held up his hands in defense. “Don’t go all barracuda on me. There are a couple of things we need to talk about first.” Lucca dug into his bag that he had brought with him and held out a necklace to me as he stood on the sand.

“This is an enchanted necklace from Calista that will let you breathe underwater. We are borrowing this, so don’t lose it.” He glared at me.

“Watch it, fishy boy.”

“I’m a damn man!” Lucca shot back.

“Well, half of one anyway. You are still part fish.” Lucca growled playfully while I shoved him.

Looking back at Horus, he was shrinking, and my eyes shot open. “Horus!” He continued to shrink until he was the size of Osirus’s gigantic horse. “He’s going to let you ride on his back through the water. You say you are fast, but you don’t have fins. We need to get there quickly so I can bring you back tonight or your little fairy is going to get pissy.”

“He’s fae,” I snapped.

“Whatever. Now put the necklace on.” He shoved it into my hand. It was a black iridescent shell on the fishing net string. Putting it on, I felt my chest grow heavy, and I let out a groan.

“Quick, in the water. We won’t be able to talk to each other, so just hang on to Horus.” Horus scooped me up by nuzzling his head under my legs. The unbearable pressure on my chest hurt, and we dove into the spring. Lucca was already in his siren form, looking at me worriedly.“I wish you could hear me,”I heard in my mind.

I nodded my head at him, hoping he understood. Can I communicate back? The pressure on my lungs continued as I reached for my neck. I was going to need to resurface.“I can hear you!” His face was full of shock as I projected my thoughts toward him. Lucca swam toward me and ripped the necklace from my neck, not thinking anything of it.

“Try to breathe!”I shook my head ‘no’ at him while unhooking my legs from Horus, but Horus held me down with his claws.

“I’m going to die!”I internally screamed as I held my breath. Lucca grabbed me by the shoulders and looked at me. His eyes reminded me of a cat’s as he focused on me.

“Trust me, Princess. Take a breath. I’m right here.” Feeling the overwhelming sense of calm from him, I let go of my neck and took in a breath. I didn’t feel my lungs fill with water. In fact, it was like I was breathing normally. My heart evened out, and Horus came nose to nose with me. His nose nudged my cheek in reassurance. He knew I would be fine; I wonder what else he really knows.

“This is insane. You must have siren blood in you. There is no other way for this to be possible,” Lucca stressed.

“My mother and father were human! 100 percent human!”Lucca shook his head in disagreement and waved his hand to follow.

“How can we talk like this?”I snapped.

“All sirens can talk to each other while under the water. It’s the way we communicate. Why you can still puzzles me.” Lucca’s eyes didn’t meet mine as he continued down into the caverns and into the open ocean while I continued to ride Horus.

With the water being so clear, I could see out on the vast ocean floor. An abundance of fish swam by, and I swore I saw some looking at us as we passed. The trench that Lucca had mentioned where Atlantis was hidden was just up ahead. Instead of descending into a dark gorge, we were met with light. An enormous dome covered the entire city. Many sirens would enter and leave around the same few openings at the base of the dome. Lucca had us swim to the backside of the dome, where there were fewer sirens.

Horus continued to weave his long neck behind him to check on me, but I only nodded and petted behind his horns. Once we came to the base of the dome, I got off Horus’s back and swam close to Lucca to see what he would do. Waving his hand over a certain area that had two large dolphin-like pillars, he could step through while holding me close to him. We were instantly pulled in, along with Horus, and we became dry.

“A witch enchanted it, so we didn’t have to be wet all the time,” Lucca announced as we finally walked through the portal-like structure. Horus’s tail was constantly touching me as we walked through the back streets of the city. You could hear sirens laughing and talking as we took several side streets over, not taking me to the main roads.

“Where are we going?” I whispered as I took in the view. The city was lit beautifully and decorated with shells, blue coral, and white stones. Lights lit up the street in magnificent orbs that floated in a light pole contraption. Several children ran in between their parents as they giggled and squealed. It looked like any other marketplace or city, except it was all under crystal blue waters.

“To Calista’s. She has a small shop right around the corner.” Lucca grabbed my hand and pulled me close to him while Horus stayed close as well.I’m getting smothered, not just by my two bodyguards, but by the stares.Several sirens saw Horus and tried to follow as we ducked into the shop. Opening the door, shells chimed together, alerting of customers. The store was darker than outside, and the smell of incense was almost too intense.

Jars and globes covered the shelves with various objects, from seaweed, to dried fish, and horse hooves. I silently let out a long “Ew,” and Lucca glared at me playfully.

“Calista! Come out. I haven’t got all day!”

Lucca smacked his hand on the counter and waited for Calista to emerge from the back. I took a few steps forward to her bookshelf.History of Atlantis, science, magic, spells and various other generic books aligned the wall, and even an old paperback book that saidThe Little Mermaid. I started giggling until I felt a hand on my shoulder and was turned around abruptly.

The woman had hair in dreads down to her hips, and shells and pieces of coral stuck out in the most peculiar places. Her face was littered with freckles even on her dark skin. Her eyes were a striking purple, and her scales were there to match. “I’m Calista,” she muttered, turning me around in a circle. I complied and did what she wanted me to do.

Her eyes probed my body up and down until she finally had me stop turning. Her palm went to my forehead while her eyes looked at her toes. Calista snorted and took her hand away as she laughed. “What is it? What did you see?” Lucca urged her to speak, but she continued to laugh. I stood there, not moving, afraid she might fall over from laughter.

“Nothing!” she cried as she waved her hand to fan her face. “She was just so serious and did everything I wanted her to do. I thought it was funny.” She snorted one more time and went behind the counter.

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