This book was given to JOANNA Rączkowska on Instafreebie. www.instafreebie.com Contents Copyright Books CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER ...
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This book was given to JOANNA Rączkowska on Instafreebie. www.instafreebie.com
Contents Copyright Books CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN CHAPTER TWELVE WANT TO KEEP READING?
Copyright © Lucy Mawson (2017). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Heart of a Moon Protector
CHAPTER ONE According to every tutor Lyna had ever had, any Mermaid of standing in Atlantis must strive to be graceful, intelligent, caring, and patient. Lyna had intelligence down. Everything else was, admittedly, a work in progress. Though, at half way through her twenties, she was already supposed to have it all figured out. The tutors had been gone for years, and Lyna was left fumbling as she took up her duties as the Primary Heir to her house, preparing to take over its rule from her father when he passed. She tried to be graceful and patient and kind, she truly did, but that was a hell of a lot easier when things weren’t going wrong. And they always seemed to be going wrong… “Fria,” she said, doing everything she could to keep her displeased siren song from escaping her throat. She didn’t want to upset the Mermaid in front of her. “When I said plain algae to decorate the outside of the estate, what part of that made you think that neon, glowing pink would be acceptable?” Lyna had meant the question to be fairly innocuous. She’d kept her tone light, knowing that upsetting Fria wouldn’t help at this point. They were too close to the house’s ball beginning for Lyna to be down a pair of hands. Especially when they’d need to replace all of the algae decorations.
To her surprise, however, Fria responded by bursting into a sob, the aqua scales covering every inch of her body looking almost sickly under the pink glow of the algae, her jet-black eyes sparkling with emotion as her androgynous Mer frame bent over with the force of her sob. Lyna blinked, at a complete loss. Fria wasn’t the type to cry. In fact, Lyna had never seen her so much as wobble, even when being yelled at. And yet, here she was, struggling to speak through her sobs. “Fria…” Lyna started uncertainly. She could keep people on a schedule, and she could usually figure out who could handle the work expected of them and who couldn’t, but… Well, no one had ever accused her of being a people person. People were resources, to be used as needed. But resources didn’t usually start crying on her… “I’m so sorry,” Fria managed, as she finally stifled her sobs enough to speak. “I swear, they weren’t glowing or pink when I ordered them.” Lyna sighed, nodding. That probably meant that the strain changed colour depending on the environment or time of day. Which meant, if they figured out the reason for the change, they could potentially change it back without having to replace everything. Of course, she’d need Fria on the task, and she was still not entirely composed. “Fria…” Lyna managed, bobbing awkwardly in the water next to her servant. She moved a hand towards her, but quickly pulled it back, not sure if a comforting touch would be appropriate or accepted. “I… Is something wrong?”
“I… What? No, why would you…” “Well, I just… This was a fairly basic mistake to make. I’ve never seen you make mistakes like this. Usually, I can rely on you. And I’ve certainly never seen you cry over something we can fix. You’re usually the first with the practical solutions.” Fria cringed. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t… I didn’t think it would affect me so much, and I knew that you had the ball coming up and I didn’t want to leave you down a pair of hands.” Lyna frowned. “What do you mean? What did you think wouldn’t affect you? Are you ill?” “I… No. I’m sorry, I was with my mate and we… I started to form an egg.” Lyna suppressed a groan. When Mers were mated, they would often share their magic. Eventually, they reached a point at which they would form an egg. It was a week-long process that drained a Mer’s physical energy, as well as their magic. “Fria,” Lyna started, doing her best to keep her irritation from her tone - or worse, from turning into a siren song - “why didn’t you just tell me? I could have gotten an extra pair of hands for the week You know how important this ball is.” Fria cringed again. “I know, I know, I just… I didn’t want to let you down. I honestly thought I would be able to handle it.” Lyna nodded. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to go back to the supplier and figure out why it started glowing pink and if there’s a way to easily reverse it. If not, we’ll have to tear it down and do without. There’s no time for a replacement.” Fria nodded. “I’m so sorry,” she said again. Lyna folded her arms. “Just get going.”
Patient and graceful and kind, she reminded herself, taking a deep breath to calm her panic as she rushed back inside the estate, heading straight to the kitchen. “Please tell me there aren’t any problems here,” Lyna said as she approached Dual, her head chef. Dual smiled. “Don’t worry. You were about two backups too thorough in planning the menu.” Lyna smirked, folding her arms. “I’ll believe that when the night is over. Anything else I should know about?” “You’re not going to like it.” “It’s not my job to like things, it’s my job to fix them,” Lyna said, her smile having morphed into a dark frown. “The grand ballroom is mostly ready, but the girls coming through here have been complaining about Gian. Apparently, he’s been slacking off again, and I’ve heard rumours that he’s letting his friends through to ‘see how the nobility live’.” Lyna’s fingers tightened around her arms, a song of irritation growling from her throat, causing Dual to flinch just a little. “Sorry,” Lyna said, forcing her song back down as soon as she realised that it had seeped out of her, “it’s just…” “That he’s your uncle’s bastard and you can’t fire him without offending that uncle.” Lyna gave her a stern look. She knew that everyone knew of Gian’s true parentage, but it would be nice if the other servants at least pretended not to know to her face. Dual, however, had worked for their house for too long to be cowed. She remembered Lyna as a tadpole, after all. In fact, she probably remembered the same of her father. “I’ll speak to him,” Lyna promised. “And if he doesn’t listen?” “Then I’ll just have to accept pissing off Uncle Tanel.
The house has to come first, not the consequences of his shameful misdeeds.” Dual shook her head. “I should scold you for being unkind, but I just can’t bring myself to do it when you’re talking about Gian.” “That bad, huh?” “He certainly takes after his father…” “I’ll speak to him,” Lyna said again, before heading off to the ballroom. She hadn’t been back there since the first thing that morning, and the change astounded her. It was all based on her own plans, of course, but the change was simply magnificent. The usually plain gold metal had been covered in silver lacing and pearls, creating an intricate matrix that mimicked ocean foam around the room. In the centre of the room, there were orbs of soft blue light, illuminating the room with an eerie glow that cut through the silver to reveal the shadows of various sea creatures on the walls. The glass floor had been polished perfectly, the blue glowing magnificently beneath the orbs. Every ball was a chance to create a unique night, and share the artistic talent of the hosting house. Lyna had been to many, and yet she was sure that hers would be something to talk about. Not least because the Princess would be attending. Well, not THE Princess, but one of the King’s daughters. The one at the perfect age for Lyna’s younger sister, Jial, to potentially court. Lyna already had a betrothed. Her parents had arranged the mating when she was a young girl, wanting to join their house to the up-and-coming House Fin to
preempt any upcoming change to the status-quo. And her twin sister had already mated the Merman their parents had picked out for her, the Primary Heir of another great house. Jial was the next eldest child. Not quite an adult, but still older than usual to be without a betrothal. However, thanks to Lyna and Dyna’s arranged matings, there wasn’t quite the push for their younger siblings. They could wait until either they wanted to mate for love, or until a rare opportunity for a perfect mating appeared. Such as the Princess choosing to leave the castle and attend Lyna’s ball. It wasn’t just chance that it was Lyna’s family that had been chosen, of course. Theirs was one of the most powerful houses in Atlantis and had been for generations. If Lyna succeeded, it wouldn’t be the first royal mating in their family, but it had been a few generations. Ever since the royal family had secluded themselves, there hadn’t really been many matings beyond those the King organised, and he hadn’t been too keen to do so for anyone beyond his immediate three heirs. “We’re almost done,” Kia, one of the younger servants, said, swimming up to her. She looked a little frantic at Lyna’s appearance. “There’s just a couple of things left.” Lyna nodded with her best kind smile. “It’s fine, Kia, I’m not here to check the decorations. There’s still plenty of time.” Assuming no one else has ordered the wrong kind of algae. “I’m just looking for Gian. He’s supposed to be helping in here, but I can’t see him.” Kia folded her arms, shrugging as she avoided Lyna’s gaze. “Well… He was here.” “So he’s shirking his responsibility?” “Well, um… He wasn’t. He was here.”
“But?” Kia sighed. “He was… Well, he was here, and he was working, but he kept…” “Kia, I promise, it’s okay to tell me. I need to know if he’s causing problems.” Kia nodded reluctantly. “He was just making comments that were making me and the others uncomfortable. So when he went on break and didn’t come back…” “No one went to go and find him.” “No, we didn’t. Really, we can handle everything here, my lady. We don’t need him back here.” Lyna folded her arms. “Oh, don’t worry, I have no intention of bringing him back here. I don’t suppose you saw where he went?” “No, but he’s usually out in the coral gardens during his break. Most of us avoid going there if we can.” Lyna suppressed a groan, wishing that someone had been more vocal about Gian before, though their silence didn’t surprise her. Gian was technically a part of the family, even if no one officially admitted it, and she was sure that a house with less integrity would put that above the well-being of their servants. But she couldn’t deny that this was a particularly inopportune time for it to come up. But whining about it wouldn’t fix the problem, she supposed. Only getting on with her job as the Primary Heir to her house would do that. Lyna quickly made her way out to the coral gardens, finding Gian easily. He was lying under one of the larger pieces of coral and appeared to be sleeping. Lyna grit her teeth at his audacity, glaring at the sleeping Merman before letting loose a sharp burst of siren song, filled with annoyance and anger. Gian jolted awake at the noise, presumably in more
than a little pain. “Lyna!” he exclaimed as he bolted upright, though his alarm was quickly replaced with a lazy grin. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” “You’re supposed to be inside, helping with the preparations for the ball.” “Am I? I was on break. I must have fallen asleep and lost track of time,” he said, still smiling as if he was winning a game. “Usually Hya comes out to find me if I oversleep. Perhaps you should have words with her about managing her staff in the future.” Lyna glared at him as he made his way to swim past her, letting out another burst of siren song as he got close. He stopped dead in his tracks, doubling over at the song. “I didn’t excuse you from my presence,” she told him as she let her song fade once more. “It’s not Hya’s job to ensure that you do yours. You are the only one responsible for your actions.” “I simply overslept,” he defended weakly. “Oh? That’s not what I’m hearing. According to the others, you’re rude and disrespectful to them, making it impossible for them to do their jobs. I do not tolerate laziness or incompetence among my staff.” “You can’t fire me,” he said, his voice coming out more desperate and whiny than he could have possibly intended. “Can’t I?” “My father-” “Your father doesn’t publicly recognise you. He got you this job to shut your mother up, but you’ve screwed this up on your own. I doubt he’ll care enough to make even the slightest of protests.”
Gian shook his head. “No, he’ll-” “He’ll do nothing. And even if he did, he is not the head of this house.” “Neither are you!” “Okay, then take this to my father. I’m sure he’d be glad to hear about how you’ve been shirking your responsibilities.” Gian paled, though he shook his head again. “My father will hear about this.” “I’m sure,” Lyna said with a sigh as Gian swam limply away. Lyna swam back to the house, only to run straight into another Merman, this one taller than most, with the same, unusual jet-black scales as Lyna. “Father!” she exclaimed as he regarded her sternly, his arms folded. Lyna bit her lip, wondering just how much he had heard. “I see you had a word with Gian.” Lyna nodded, straightening her back as she prepared for any criticism. “You are aware that Tanel will not be happy about this.” “Tanel doesn’t care about him,” Lyna defended. “No, but if word of him having a child with a commoner ever got out, it could hurt not just his reputation, but the whole house’s.” Lyna did everything she could to not bite her lip again. “Father, if Tanel wants to keep him silent, let him take the boy into his service and deal with him. He needs a father, not a boss.” “I doubt he’ll get either, but I will make it clear to Tanel that we will no longer tolerate Gian in our service.” Lyna blinked. “So… You agree with my firing him?” Her father’s stern expression broke into a smile. “Lyna,
I told you that this part of managing the house was yours now. That means that I trust your judgement in these matters.” Lyna sighed with relief. She knew that was the general idea of her taking over the managing of the household staff, but she was always waiting to screw up. “Lyna, this ball will be amazing,” her father assured her. “It couldn’t have been better if my own mothers had planned it, and they were renowned for their balls. I told you that you’d be more than capable of managing the social aspects of the house.” Lyna bit her lip as she found herself confronted with the very thing she had been struggling not to think about for the past few weeks while organising the ball. “I… Are you sure you want me to be in charge of hosting the ball?” she asked. “Surely it would be better if you made sure everything went smoothly. I mean, this ball is incredibly important…” “Lyna, it will be fine,” her father said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I trust you.” Lyna nodded, wishing that she deserved even half of that trust. Before she had a chance to protest further, however, her other parent arrived, grinning. “Oh, Gial, have you seen the grand ballroom?” they asked Lyna’s father. Lyna had heard that other creatures - such as those that lived on Earth - had physical characteristics that they somehow had decided were indicative of gender, though she was hardly an expert on their cultures. Her sister, Dyna, ever the scholar, had explained that there was more nuance to it than that, but it still seemed strange to Lyna. Mers, having no such physical characteristics, had a
far more fluid idea of gender. In fact, though many would deny even the thought of the idea, some speculated that gender in Atlantis may have been an outside import from the other realms. Lyna, however, found that hypothesis perfectly reasonable. Her twin sister had been the first to declare her gender, and Lyna still wasn’t sure that she hadn’t just followed suit because they did everything together. Not that she objected to being a Mermaid, but she wondered if, without Dyna’s influence, she might have simply never associated with one, much like her parent. They turned from their mate, back to grin at their daughter. “I can’t wait to see how people react to the ball tonight, Lyna. You’re going to be the talk of Atlantis.” Lyna smiled back, doing her best not to cringe as her lungs tightened, suddenly very aware of exactly how important that night was. Lyna had no doubt that her planning would pay off, but whether or not she would be able to follow through was a different issue… Her parent knew her too well, however. “You’re worried that it won’t be enough, aren’t you?” Lyna shrugged. “I just think that you two should take the lead on the actual socialising.” Her father folded his arms. “Lyna, if you’re going to take over as the head of this house-” “I’ll have to be able to socialise, I know,” Lyna said, a little too heatedly. She cringed as she realised. “I’m sorry. I just…” “I don’t understand the problem,” her father continued. “If you can manage the household staff, you should be able to talk with other nobles.” “It’s different,” Lyna tried to explain. “The staff don’t care if I’m… awkward. All they need to know is that their
future employment relies on me. The other nobles are a different matter…” “You have too little faith in yourself.” “If this was simply a lack of confidence, I imagine I’d have friends beyond just my siblings,” Lyna muttered. “But everyone says that I can’t be trusted because I’m a siren…” “Childish teasing,” her father said, shaking his head. “They will have gotten over it by now.” Her other parent simply gave her a sympathetic smile. “The royal family are sirens as well,” they reminded her. “The Princess won’t take kindly to such gossip, and I’m sure others will fall in line if she takes a shine to you.” “That’s a big if,” Lyna murmured. “Nonsense,” her father said, shaking his head. “Sirens have been regarded as the most powerful beings in Atlantis for centuries. Just because some children decided to tease someone different from them doesn’t mean that has changed.” Lyna and her parent just exchanged a look. Her father would never admit that most Mers no longer revered sirens as they had in the past, but that didn’t mean it was false. “It’s not just my siren powers,” Lyna reluctantly admitted. “I mean, if Dyna was a siren, I doubt she would be having these kinds of problems…” Her parent simply put their hands on Lyna’s shoulders. “Lyna, you’re a strong, beautiful Mermaid and that intimidates people, but your inner strength is exactly what makes you the perfect Primary Heir.” Lyna nodded, forcing herself to smile despite the fact that she was less than convinced. It didn’t feel like strength when the other Mers her age had rejected her. When her twin sister had been torn between acceptance
by their peers or standing by her sister. Maybe it had been something childish that the others would grow out of, but Lyna wasn’t convinced that they were the problem. She was too blunt and said what she thought, and she had yet to meet anyone who actually appreciated that about her. Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, Kia swam up to them. She was in a hurry but bowed as she realised that Lyna was with her parents. “My lieges,” she greeted, before turning to Lyna. “I’ve come to inform you that we’ve finished the preparations for the evening.” Lyna nodded. “Then I’ll come and ensure that everything’s in order.” “Don’t forget to get yourself ready,” her parent reminded her. Lyna nodded. “I promise, I’ll be ready when the first guests start to arrive.”
CHAPTER TWO Dyna spent all afternoon carefully preparing for her sister’s ball. She winced as her fingers painted silver pigment over her damaged scales, covering the fresh injuries. She would tell her sister, she told herself. She had to. The silver covered the injuries, but it wasn’t appropriate for all occasions. Dyna otherwise had to rely on glamours to keep them hidden. But she shouldn’t have to, she thought as she kept applying it, her teeth clenching with rage. She shouldn’t have to cover for the damage her mate did to her. She shouldn’t have to suffer it. Lyna would help. She’d help Dyna figure out some way to get out… Just as she finished covering up the injuries, she spotted her mate approach the doorway of their chambers. He smiled at her. “You look beautiful,” he told her. Only because I’ve hidden what you did to me, she thought but didn’t say. If Hian was going to pretend it hadn’t happened, she wasn’t going to remind him. “Thank you,” she said, though it came out a little flatter than she had intended. His smile slipped, and she felt a pang of terror in her gut, waiting for him to lose it again. He didn’t, however, instead, making his way over to her with a sigh. “Dyna… You know that I was just worked up
earlier, right?” She blinked at his earnest tone, wondering if for once he was actually going to apologise. “It’s just with this ball… You know that everyone will ask why we haven’t formed an egg yet. All of that expectation, and what am I supposed to say? That my mate won’t accept my magic?” Dyna looked away, knowing that he wasn’t wrong. It was her fault that they hadn’t been able to form an egg. Hian had suggested they try again that morning, and when she had flinched away from his magic once more… That had been when he had lost his temper. “What kind of a failure of a mate will people think me?” he asked, his voice soft and pleading. “They will think me unworthy of you, not to mention unworthy of my position. Do you see what position that puts me in, Dyna? What kind of pressure I’m under?” “I’m sorry,” she said, knowing that he was right. He was the head of his house. There were social expectations placed on him that she wasn’t helping him to meet. “It’s alright, my love,” he assured her. “It’s in the past now. Let’s just focus on the ball.” Dyna nodded, closing her small tub of silver pigment. Maybe she wouldn’t tell Lyna. Her sister would insist on doing something, like setting up a trial so that Dyna could justify dissolving her mating. Hian didn’t deserve Atlantian justice for his mistakes. It wasn’t as if his actions had come out of nowhere. He was just stressed. If Dyna could just do as he asked and form an egg, everything would be fine again…
CHAPTER THREE Lyna’s nerves calmed as she made the final inspection of the grand ballroom. Maybe she’d never be the most social Mermaid ever, but no one could deny the magnificence of the ball she had put together, and that might just be enough to save the night. She made her way around her chambers as fast as she could, applying gold pigment to her scales in a swirling pattern, before finding the large, golden collar, encrusted with jewels, that denoted her position as the Primary Heir to her house. Lyna made a quick examination of herself in her mirror, ensuring that she looked as good as possible. She’d need every little thing she could get if she wanted that night to go well. As she approached the grand ballroom, she found that her parents were already there, along with the first guest. Ryn. Lyna’s betrothed. Ryn swam up to her, bowing as he approached. After all, his house wasn’t as powerful as hers, and he was only the Tertiary Heir, hence his betrothal to the Primary Heir of another house. “Lyna,” he greeted. “It is a pleasure to see you again.” Lyna tried not to stiffen at his presence, but she was sure that she failed. “It is a pleasure to see you as well,” she answered awkwardly. “I… How have you been?” “Well,” he said simply. “And yourself?” “Nervous,” she admitted. “I mean, this is such a big
night, and everything needs to go well for Jial, and… I’m sorry. I’m rambling.” “I’m sure it will be fine,” Ryn said, leaving Lyna nervous as he fell into silence again. Ryn didn’t really speak all that much. A quiet artist was how her parents had first described him to her when they had arranged the mating between them. It set Lyna on edge. They had met multiple times, and yet the only things she knew about him seemed to come from her parents. “Will any of your siblings be attending?” “No.” Lyna bit her lip. “Why not?” “Prior engagements.” “Oh… Well, I suppose such things cannot be avoided. Are they often busy?” He nodded. “I suppose that must make your estate feel rather empty.” “Sometimes.” “Well, it’s not like that here much…” Lyna started but quickly trailed off as she realised that she was getting far too close to talking about their future together as a mated couple, making her stomach twist. She wished that he would just say something. How was she supposed to get to know him if he kept to himself? How was she supposed to know that they’d get along? How was she supposed to know that he was a good guy? How was she supposed to trust that he wouldn’t turn out to be a horrible mate once it was too late to turn back? Lyna turned her attention back to the entrance. As
much as she didn’t want to talk to anyone, she also didn’t want to keep trying to push the conversation with Ryn on her own. Maybe if they were both talking with someone else, he would open up more. Of course, the first couple to enter were Dyna and her mate, Hian. Lyna’s blood froze as she saw her sister. Dyna had been quiet growing up, but always smiling. She was still smiling, but it lacked life. It was clearly strained, and Dyna’s features looked drawn, the scales clear under her silver pigment having lost their sheen. Dyna moved limply, never straying too far from her mate, who seemed completely oblivious to the plight of his mate as he grinned at the room. Lyna’s gaze followed her twin and her mate as they made their way over to one of Lyna’s cousins - who must have arrived when Lyna was talking to Ryn - and Lyna was about to make her way over to them when Ryn spoke up - for once - distracting her. “The Princess,” he said, nodding to the entrance. Lyna looked over to see Princess Fia arriving. Lyna made her way over to the Princess, Ryn in tow, as she gave one last glance over to Dyna. She wanted to keep her gaze on her sister, but she knew that would be rude and she needed to put her best fin forward with the Princess. “Your Highness,” Lyna said, bowing. “I am so glad that you agreed to attend my ball.” Princess Fia smiled. “It’s my pleasure, Heir Lyna. I have long looked to the waters outside the palace. Our families were once close, and I hope that can be the case again.” “Your father appears to favour isolation.” “Indeed, but he has allowed this small move forward. I
hope that once he sees this night as a success, he will be far more inclined to socialise with the nobility once more.” “I, for one, would be more than happy to welcome that change,” Lyna said before glancing around the room, quickly spotting Jial hovering in the corner, waiting for her cue. Lyna indicated for her to come over, and Jial quickly swam up, bowing so low that her head almost hit her tail as she approached the Princess. “Princess Fia,” Lyna said, “may I introduce my sister, Tertiary Heir Jial.” Fia smiled as Jial righted herself. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” “You as well,” Jial quickly gushed. “Princess,” Lyna continued, “I have heard that you have an interest in coral growing. My sister has been maintaining our own coral gardens since she was a tadpole.” Jial gave a sheepish shrug. “I… I have always enjoyed it, I suppose. It’s an interesting challenge to get the gardens to look exactly as I would like.” Fia gave a polite nod. “I do, indeed, have an interest, and I would love to speak with you about it. Though, perhaps singing would be more enjoyable. I never get to sing with any sirens I’m not related to.” “Oh,” Jial said, shifting awkwardly, “I’m not a siren. Lyna’s the only siren among our siblings.” “Oh,” Fia said, doing a terrible job of hiding her disappointment. Lyna felt a flood of panic. The last thing she needed was to have this all fall apart because Fia had her heart set on mating with a siren. Her worry wasn’t helped by Ryn swimming forward,
seemingly deciding that now of all times was the best time to find his voice. “Yes, I am very lucky to be betrothed to a Mermaid such as Lyna.” It took everything Lyna had to keep her siren song from screaming forth, her fists clenching. What the hell? The last thing Lyna needed was to make herself seem better when she was trying to get the Princess to appreciate her sister. And even if Fia had her heart set on another siren, Lyna might have been able to use her interest to keep her attention long enough for her to get to know Jial better. But Ryn had to come along with a sledgehammer of a comment, causing Fia’s face to visibly fall. Lyna took a deep breath, refusing to let her anger become clear to those around her. Ryn probably hadn’t noticed what he’d done, he’d probably just been making conversation. Lyna figured that she shouldn’t be so hard on him just because she was afraid to mate… Lyna nodded. “Indeed, my twin sister and I have had arranged matings since we were young, but Jial and our other younger siblings have not. And while I am the only siren, I am hardly the most talented sibling. Jial puts me to shame.” “You’re too kind,” Jial said, awkwardly shrugging. Fia’s smile returned at Jial’s awkward shrug, and Lyna let out a silent sigh of relief at the sign that Fia was warming up to her. “So, tell me about your coral gardens,” Fia said to Jial, bringing out a smile. “I’ll leave you two to talk,” Lyna said, swimming away. “Where to now?” Ryn asked, and Lyna had to
suppress a burst of irritation at the realisation that he was following her, still angry about his interruption before. “I want to speak with my twin,” Lyna told him, looking around the room for Dyna. “There are other guests you are yet to greet,” Ryn pointed out, and Lyna clenched her fists once more, wondering just how oblivious he was to her loss of patience. “I have plenty of time to speak with them, and I haven’t spoken to my twin in weeks.” She swam off quickly, before Ryn could respond, looking around for her sister. Neither she nor Hian appeared to be in the ballroom. As Lyna continued to look, she noticed water starting to swirl around her, a physical manifestation of her anxiety. Where could they be? Why would they be out of the public eye? Thankfully, Ryn seemed to have taken the hint and backed off as Lyna searched, allowing her to easily slip away in the search for her sister. Before she could make a real effort in her search, however, Lyna’s father approached. “Lyna, I see that Princess Fia and Jial are hitting it off,” he said with a grin. “See, I knew you could manage this.” Lyna smiled, though it was strained at the delay in her effort to find Dyna. “Yes, they do seem to be getting along. Though, I wouldn’t get too excited. Fia seemed to have her heart set on meeting a siren, and I think she had intended to find one to mate with, knowing that our family carried the power. She seemed quite disheartened to learn that I was the only sibling to inherit the song and that I was already betrothed.” Her father sighed, folding his arms. “If I had known that you would be the only siren among my children, I
would have held off on arranging a betrothal for you…” He shook his head. “Oh well, I suppose it isn’t something I can change now.” “No,” Lyna agreed, though it was half-hearted. “And while a royal match would be magnificent for the family, having a siren as the future head of the house cannot be dismissed.” Lyna just nodded, knowing that there was no way out of her betrothal to Ryn, no matter how much she might want it. “Hopefully, Jial will be able to charm the Princess, siren abilities or no,” her father said with a smile. “Though, you should perhaps stay close, just to nudge the Princess if she seems to be getting bored.” Lyna nodded. “Of course. I’ll keep an eye on them as soon as I’ve found Dyna.” Her father frowned. “Find her? Why?” Lyna shrugged, a little sheepishly. “I can’t see her anywhere.” “I’m sure she and Hian have simply gone to find somewhere quiet. She did look a little tired.” “Then it’s my job as host to ensure that she’s okay.” Her father’s frown deepened. “Lyna… Now is not the time to start a fight.” Lyna folded her arms. “I had no intention of doing any such thing.” He raised an eyebrow. “Lyna, you have never been quiet over your dislike of Hian. I know that you and Dyna were always close and that you feel as if Hian has taken your sister from you, but now is not the time.” Lyna glared. “I don’t just dislike him over something so arbitrary. You cannot deny how withdrawn and ill Dyna has seemed since she has mated.” Her father nodded. “Yes, and I listened to your
accusations of Hian when you insisted on taking Dyna to the healers behind his back. They found nothing.” “They found nothing that they could heal. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t something wrong.” “Lyna, now is not the time for this,” her father said firmly. Lyna cringed, knowing that she had gotten off-topic, compromising her own argument. “I know, Father. As I said, I have no intention of being rude to Hian. I just want to check on Dyna. I promise I’ll return shortly.” Her father sighed but finally nodded. “Alright, but if I catch word of you antagonising Hian…” “I promise, you won’t.” He nodded again, allowing her to swim off. Lyna swam up to her cousin, Pis, who she had last seen speaking to them. “Lady Lyna,” Pis greeted with a smile. “Pis,” Lyna greeted. “I saw that you were speaking to my sister. Do you happen to know where she went?” “You know, it was the strangest thing. I simply asked when she and Hian were planning to have children, and Dyna froze. Hian then asked us to excuse them and steered her away. I think they went outside for some fresh water. I suppose it must be a sore subject for them…” “Thank you,” Lyna said, before rushing off outside. It didn’t take her long to find them, sensing for her sister’s magic. She wouldn’t have bothered, but she got the sense that it wouldn’t be wise to delay. She found her sister cowering in the corner as her mate towered over her, both of them secluded in shadow. “I’m sorry!” Dyna managed, her voice shaky. “I just- I’m trying-” “To embarrass me like that!” he hissed. “You’re the one who can’t accept my magic to form an egg. You’re the
reason we haven’t had children yet. And now you draw attention to your impetuous behaviour as if to embarrass me! What kind of Merman can’t get his mate to accept his magic?” He raised his hand, and before Lyna had the chance to see what he intended to do, she let loose a siren song of fury, knocking him back against the palace’s wall. “Lyna!” Dyna called out in surprise as her sister approached. Lyna grabbed her hand. “Come on. We need to get out of here before he recovers from the song.” Dyna didn’t protest, able to see that Lyna’s song hadn’t knocked him out cold, only temporarily dazed him. Lyna led her sister away from the estate. They needed to put as much distance between them and Hian as possible. As she swam, however, Lyna realised that she had no idea where to go. They couldn’t stay at home. Lyna knew that there would be no help there. But they didn’t have anywhere else to go. They just needed to get away… Lyna headed to the portals. They needed to get out of Atlantis. But the waters beyond the city were too dangerous for any Mer to survive, which only left the other realms. The other Old Worlds had been sealed away decades ago, leaving Earth as their only option. Every Mer grew up learning about the dangers of Earth - mostly notably the Humans who would hunt them if given a chance. But they had no choice, and Lyna had no other ideas. While Earth may be dangerous, Hian was the immediate threat, and Earth had supposedly had a protection spell over it ever since magic had been exposed there. No
magical being could come to harm at the hands of a Human, and vice versa. While no Mer had ever been particularly keen to test the veracity of that claim by swimming close to land on Earth, Lyna figured that they should be safe in the open water. “I…” Dyna started as they approached the portals. “Maybe we shouldn’t leave. Everyone will get so angry…” Lyna started to sing a song of reassurance, taking her sister’s hands in hers. “I promise, Dyna, this will be fine. We’re just giving everyone time to cool down.” Lyna didn’t quite believe her own words, but she knew that she had to get her sister to safety, at least for now. Thankfully, Dyna nodded, accepting her sister’s logic. To Lyna’s relief, the attendant didn’t seem to even blink as they made their way to the portal. “Heading out for a swim on Earth?” she asked. Lyna nodded. “Just showing my friend. We’ll be back shortly.” The attendant nodded, waving them through. Lyna let out a sigh of relief. If there wasn’t a clear record of their leaving, it might take everyone longer to find them. Once they were through, however, Lyna was at a loss. She knew that they had to get away from the portal, but where? She headed north. It was closer to land, but she figured that they’d be safe as long as they didn’t get too close, and if anyone came after them, they would expect them to go to the open water. “So,” Lyna started, slowing down once they were a while from the portal. She didn’t want Dyna figuring out that they had nowhere to go too quickly, and if they swam too fast, they would be going around in circles after a while. “Dyna, what happened back there? Why was Hian so angry about kids?”
Dyna shook her head, her gaze stuck to the seabed. “It’s my fault,” she said. “He was right, we’ve tried to have children, to form eggs, but I won’t accept his magic into mine. I don’t know what’s wrong, I just tense up.” Lyna frowned. “Why can’t he take your magic and form the egg himself?” Dyna shrugged. “He’s the head of his house. He can’t risk being weakened by the process.” Lyna’s frown deepened. “But it only takes about a week. And it’s not as if he’s fending off assassins every five minutes, he could survive with slightly weaker magic for a week.” “He… He said that he can’t. That I have to. But I can’t.” “Well, I mean, it’s not always an easy thing. Especially if you’re not…” She trailed off, unsure how to approach the subject. “That kind of magic requires a lot of strong emotions to fuel. It usually takes a long time for people in arranged marriages to be able to form that kind of attachment to their mate.” “I love him,” Dyna countered, but it sounded rehearsed. Lyna sighed. “How long have you been trying?” “Since we first mated.” Lyna’s eyes widened. That would have been impossible, anyone would know that. “And how long did it take him to lose his patience?” “He… He was understanding at first. He said that he didn’t blame me for my inability to complete my duty to him. But then… It wasn’t his fault, anyone would have lost patience…” “No, they really wouldn’t. Hian should have known that starting that early was impossible.” “It wouldn’t have been if I loved him like I was supposed to…”
Lyna suppressed a groan. It took a while to get to that point, and her sister should have known that. He’d really done a number on her. As they lapsed into silence, it became clearer and clearer to Lyna that she needed to figure out where to go, and fast. Swimming away from the portal had taken a lot of energy, and the longer they swam, the faster they’d need food. Lyna had no idea which - if any - of the plants or fish on Earth were edible. They could go to land to ask the magical beings of Earth for help, but having magic didn’t necessarily make them trustworthy. They were still humanoid, after all. As completely lost in thought as she was, Lyna didn’t notice anything amiss until her sister yelled, “Look out!” A moment later, Lyna was squished between her sister and a netful of fish. “No, no, no, no, no,” Lyna muttered, her hand frantically searching for her knife, only to find that she hadn’t brought it with her. She hadn’t needed it for the ball, after all. Like all Mers, Lyna could control water, but she didn’t see how that could break the net. She could maybe attack the boat it was attached to, but she doubted it would work. Destroying their boat to drown them probably fell under “harming Humans”, which the protection spell prevented. All Lyna could do was lie still, terrified, as the net hauled her and Dyna up into the air, swinging them around before releasing them. Lyna fell onto the deck of the ship with a thud, the impact softened by the fish beneath her, though more fell onto her after she landed, knocking the wind from her. Lyna groaned, trying not to move as she opened her eyes to look around. She hoped that her scales would
blend in with the fish, allowing her another few moments to figure out what to do. She opened her eyes, only to meet a pair of piercing green ones staring straight back at her. She could have cried at her awful luck, the Human clearly seeing her. He was the tallest of the bunch, with broad shoulders and auburn hair. His emerald eyes were wide with surprise at her appearance. She waited with bated breath for him to call to the others. To seal her and Dyna’s fate. But, to her surprise, he instead moved his hand to his pocket, and a moment later, Lyna felt the familiar wash of magic over her. She looked down to see that she and her sister had been glamoured, their scales made to look like skin, covered in torn material, and their tails made to seem split in two. A strand of yellow fell in front of Lyna’s eyes, and she figured that the glamour had also given her hair. Looking over to Dyna, she saw that her sister did, indeed, look Human, though she had been given dark hair. One of the other Humans spoke, staring at them with disbelief, but the foreign words were lost on Lyna. The Human with auburn hair approached and offered her a hand. Inside it, she recognised a translation rune. He had moved his body to hide the rune from view, so she took it without being seen. “Are you alright?” he asked her, his voice low. She narrowed her eyes, unsure of whether or not she could trust him. She could sense magic coming from him, but that didn’t make him safe. “As much as we can be,” she said, the rune twisting her words into his language in her throat. He nodded before turning to the other Humans.
“They’re half drowned. I’ll take them inside.” “How did they get all the way out here?” another asked. The auburn man shrugged. “How about we leave questions like that until they’ve had time to warm up? They must be frozen half to death.” Lyna watched as the glamour over her turned slightly blue. The Human nodded. “Alright. Take them inside and see what Doc makes of all this.” The auburn man nodded. As soon as the other Human had turned his back, he placed one hand on Lyna, and the other on Dyna. The boat disappeared beneath them, only for a bed to appear. Lyna blinked as she dropped an inch down, onto the bed. They appeared to be inside the ship. “You shifted with us,” she managed, remembering that magical beings on Earth could shift themselves across great spaces. She looked around the room, realising that it probably belonged to the man they were with. She spotted a dagger on the table and quickly identified the markings. “You’re a Slayer.” “You’re a Mermaid,” he countered, his voice rough and barking as he stormed about the room. “Question is, what are you doing out here? I thought you lot kept to yourselves.” Lyna sighed, glancing over at her sister, who had huddled up into herself. “We got lost,” Lyna said, not wanting to air her sister’s issues out to a stranger. “Lost?” he asked incredulously. “Yes. Lost,” Lyna repeated indignantly. Who was this Slayer to doubt her words? “We were fine before your net
scooped us up, however.” “As was I, but now you’ve brought a whole heap of trouble onto my doorstep,” he said, waving his arms in irritation. “The men here don’t know that I have magic, and I want to keep it that way.” “Then throw us back in the sea and forget about us,” Lyna said, very aware of how her sister had frozen next to her at the man’s gesticulations. He seemed to realise as well, appearing calmer as he told them, “I can’t just set you free. They’ll ask where you went, and I’ve already covered for you. They’ll get suspicious.” “Can’t you alter their memories?” He sighed. “Memory spells are either extremely complex or extremely short-term. You’ve been here a few minutes now, which is outside of the short-term window for me. And the complex ones are too risky. If I mess it up, they’ll catch onto me. No, I’ll make a couple of quick transformation charms, to make those legs real for now. We’ll be back at shore again tonight, and then you can head back into the sea.” Lyna nodded. Him being found out wasn’t her problem, but she couldn’t be sure that she could get away with Dyna fast enough to not be caught if the Humans decided to chase after them. As much as she knew that, however, the idea of remaining around Humans for so long didn’t sit well with her. “What if the glamour fails? Or what if they touch one of us?” Lyna asked as the man pricked his finger on his dagger, before drawing the blood from it across a small stone he had taken from his drawer. He repeated the process with another stone, before passing the stones to Lyna.
By the time they were in her hands, the blood had already soaked into the stone. “It’s not perfect,” the man said. “I’d need proper tools to make better ones, but these should do for now.” Lyna nodded, passing one to Dyna as she felt her own start to work. Her tail burned as it split apart, forming legs. Lyna bit her lip, refusing to show pain as the charm worked. Dyna remained similarly quiet, though that only served to unsettle Lyna. How often had her sister had to suffer silently through similar pain at the hands of her mate? The charm had given her legs, Lyna thought as she got used to moving them by swinging them over the bed, and hair atop her head, but it hadn’t changed her scales. Lyna frowned, realising that the charm had also changed the space between her legs. She raised one of the eyebrows that the glamour had given her. “Really?” she asked the Slayer. “You thought Human genitalia would be necessary?” The Slayer turned bright red. “I- I’m not the one who designed the charm!” He sighed. “Though I have met the Witch who did, and she’s a notorious poon-hound, so I’m hardly shocked…” “You still haven’t answered my earlier question. There’s a chance that one of the Humans might be able to see through the glamour, and as soon as anyone touches us, they’ll feel our scales.” “Just stay here until we’re back at shore. No one’s going to come in or touch you.” “How can you guarantee that?” Lyna demanded. “Just because they think we’re Human doesn’t mean that they’ll leave us alone. I’ve heard of how you humanoids treat your women, and they all know that we’re
vulnerable, thanks to thinking we were drowning. And on this boat, away from our element, they’re right.” The Slayer sighed. “I’ll lock the door and check on you every twenty minutes or so. Happy?” “Hardly. But I suppose it’ll have to do, Slayer.” “Sam.” “What?” “My name. It’s Sam, not Slayer.” Lyna blinked. “I… Okay, Sam.” He smiled. “Wow, if I had known that all it took to get you to stop glaring at me was to reveal my name, I would have done it before we started talking.” “Well, I… That is the proper order of things, is it not?” she asked, her voice a little shaky as she attempted to regain her previous irritation at the man in front of her. It refused to come, as she recognised that he was doing everything he could to help them without exposing himself, leaving only terror in its place. They were on a ship full of strange Humans, with no way out. Who knew what would happen if they were exposed? And worse, what would happen that night when they made it back to shore? Sure, she could take Dyna back into the ocean, but that was how they had ended up on the ship in the first place, and Lyna had no idea of where to go. She only knew that they couldn’t go back to Atlantis. Not with Hian waiting for them. “So, do you have a name?” Sam asked, drawing her from her thoughts. “Of course I have a name,” she bit back, his inane comment allowing her to draw on her irritation once more. “Do I get to know it?” “Lyna,” she reluctantly told him. “And this is my sister, Dyna.”
“Lyna and Dyna? Seriously?” “It is the traditional naming convention for twins.” “That seems pretty cruel to me.” “I’m sorry, are you just going to stand there and offend my culture, or do you have somewhere else to be?” He shook his head, mostly just seeming amused by her statement. “I have somewhere else to be. There should be real clothes in the drawers that you can use for now, and I assume you know how to replace my glamour once it lapses. I’ll be back in twenty, so you shouldn’t need anything else before then. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Lyna felt her stomach flood with ice. As much as she hadn’t wanted to keep talking to him, the thought of being left alone… As soon as Sam opened the door, however, he ran straight into a small black woman. “Oh!” the woman exclaimed as she slammed right into his chest. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.” “Doc,” Sam greeted. “Is there anything I can do for you?” “No,” she assured him. “Just coming to check on the new passengers. Philip said they might be suffering from hypothermia! I can’t believe he took so long to get me.” “They’re fine,” Sam assured her. Doc just glared at him. “That’s for me to decide, Mister. Hypothermia is no laughing matter.” She looked over his shoulder to see the two women behind him. “See? They’re still in their wet clothes!” “I was just leaving so that they could change. Perhaps we should afford the girls a little privacy.” Sam shut the door behind him, and his glamour lapsed. Lyna groaned as she realised that she hadn’t really been paying attention to what he’d made them look like.
She hoped that the others hadn’t gotten a good look as she remade their glamours, not bothering to give them clothes. She then went over to the cupboard and found that it was filled with trousers made of a rough, blue material, and various t-shirts made of something softer. Lyna threw some clothes over to Dyna before getting dressed. The trousers were too loose to really stay up without being held, but she supposed they would have to make do. “Are you dressed yet?” she heard through the door, and she froze at the female voice. “What do we say?” Dyna hissed. Lyna shrugged. “She’ll need an answer,” Lyna reasoned, before finally saying, “We’re dressed.” The doctor made her way back into the room, folding her arms as she looked them over. Sam followed her, closing the door behind him. “Doc, I really think they’re fine-” “Nonsense, we scooped them up out of the ocean,” she said, though her attention remained on the two Mermaids in front of her. “So, are you going to drop those glamours, or am I going to have to keep looking past them? It’s giving me a headache.” Lyna blinked. “Our… glamours?” “Oh, come now, I can see your scales. Your glamour just looks like a faint haze to me. A headache inducing one at that.” “You’re Sensitive,” Sam realised. Doc nodded, her cloud of jet-black hair bouncing as she did. “Sensitive?” Dyna asked. “A lot of spells don’t work on me,” Doc informed her. “At least, not weak ones that aren’t directly aimed at me.” “But you’re still Human?”
She nodded again. “The current theory is that Sensitives have some small drop of magical blood somewhere in their ancestry. I can’t say that I can identify where that drop came from, but it’s definitely there.” “Why didn’t you say anything?” Sam asked her. She shrugged. “Why would I? Sensitives aren’t always treated kindly by other Humans. The protection spell doesn’t protect us, but some other Humans see us as magical enough to attack. As far as I was aware, everyone here was Human.” She looked over to the dagger on Sam’s table, before looking back at him. “But I suppose I was wrong. Why didn’t you tell anyone you had magic? You have the protection spell.” He sighed. “The protection spell can keep me from physical harm. That doesn’t mean that I’m not vulnerable to discrimination.” Doc nodded, understandingly, before turning back to Lyna and her sister. “Now, the glamours.” “Why? If you know that we’re Mermaids, you know that we’re not suffering from hypothermia.” “I know, but you were still caught in the net. That can’t have been pleasant for you. I simply want to check for bruising or other injuries.” “We’re fine,” Lyna assured her. Doc sighed. “Fine. Be like that. But I take no responsibility for any harm that might come to you from untreated internal injuries.” Lyna was about to protest that she wasn’t in pain, but she wasn’t sure that she could say the same for Dyna. Ordinarily, she would take her sister’s silence to mean that she was fine, but she was no longer so sure of that. Lyna dropped the glamour over them. “Alright. I suppose it can’t hurt.” She looked over to Dyna, who nodded in agreement.
Doc gave them a reassuring smile before moving over to Dyna first, perhaps sensing Lyna’s protectiveness of her. “Sam, I’ll be checking them over,” Doc informed him. “You might want to give us some privacy.” Sam frowned, clearly not entirely happy with leaving them alone. But in the end, he nodded, going back out the door. “I’ll just be outside,” he told them. Doc shook her head with a smile once he was gone. “I know he’s just protecting you from the big, scary Humans, but I promise, we’re not all so bad.” She turned to Dyna. “Is it okay if I look you over for injuries?” Dyna nodded, remaining silent as she looked at the floor. Doc slowly went over her scales, rubbing off the silver pigment she wore, and frowning every time she did so. “Are you in any pain?” Dyna shook her head. “And you’re having no difficulty breathing out of the water, or anything like that?” She shook her head once more. “And what about this scarring? I can’t say that I’m particularly skilled in treating Mermaids, but I do have one hybrid patient. I’d say that kind of scale discolouration would suggest wounds up to six months old. Though this one here looks like it happened less than a day ago.” Dyna froze, her gaze stuck to the floor as she shook her head once more. “The healers never said anything about scarring,” Lyna said. Doc shrugged. “I’m just describing what I’m seeing.” Lyna sighed. Their trip to the healers had been several
months ago. She supposed he’d kept his hands to himself before then. “The healers said there wasn’t anything wrong,” Dyna whispered, so low that her sister almost missed it. “That it wasn’t… It couldn’t be fixed…” Lyna responded by immediately wrapping her arms around her sister, holding her close. “You’re okay,” Lyna assured her. “There’s nothing that needs to be fixed.” Doc gave her a questioning look over Dyna’s shoulder but didn’t ask. “Well, the scarring will fade in time,” Doc said as Lyna pulled away from her sister, though she kept her hand in hers. “Aside from that, you both seem fine. Some minor bruising, maybe, but you heal pretty fast.” “You won’t tell anyone about us, will you?” Dyna asked. “Of course not,” Doc assured her. “Your secret is safe with me, I promise.” She moved back over to the door, opening it to allow Sam back into the room. “All good?” Sam asked her. She nodded. “Yeah. I guess I should go and make sure Philip knows that they’re okay, to prevent him from trying to check up on them himself.” “Thank you,” Sam said as Doc headed out of the room. He turned back to Lyna. “I really should get going as well if we want to make it back to shore in time. I’ll be back soon.” Lyna nodded as he left the room, leaving them alone for real. Dyna sat down on the edge of the bed, rocking back and forth a little as she wrung her hands. “Lyna… What are we going to do? We can’t just head back into Earth’s
ocean. What will we eat? Where will we sleep? And we can’t stay on land. It’s too dangerous.” “Going back home is dangerous as well,” Lyna figured. “I… It’ll be fine,” Dyna assured her. “I… I’ll apologise, and it’ll be fine. We can’t just run away, Lyna. We don’t have anywhere to go, and he’s my mate. I can’t just leave.” Lyna started to sing a song of calm as she noticed how her sister was tugging at her fingers as if trying to pull them clean from her hand. Her sister seemed to calm after a few moments, and Lyna finally said, “If you go back, he’ll just hurt you again. And again. I know that staying here isn’t a long term solution, but it’s the best option we’ve got right now.” Dyna shook her head. “You shouldn’t have come with me. I shouldn’t have dragged you into this. You’re the Primary Heir of the house, you can’t just go missing! I… I’m sorry. I should have been able to handle this myself.” Lyna simply sat down next to her sister, wrapping her arms around her. “You’re my sister,” she said simply. “I’m never going to let anyone hurt you.”
CHAPTER FOUR Dyna fell asleep after a while, and Lyna couldn’t blame her. They certainly weren’t safe on the ship, but then, Dyna hadn’t been safe at home. Maybe a break from - or at least a shift in - her constant anxiety had exhausted her, or maybe it had just been the fleeing. Either way, Dyna was dead to the world, while Lyna simply worried over what they were going to do next. There was a soft knock at the door, and Lyna quickly renewed her glamour before slipping outside, careful not to disturb her sister. Outside was Sam, giving her a concerned look. “Is everything okay?” he asked. She nodded. “Dyna’s just sleeping.” Sam gave an understanding nod. “Should we head up to the deck? Noise travels in here, and we might wake her.” Lyna gave the door an anxious look. “Don’t worry, I warded it,” Sam assured her. “As long as the occupant is asleep, no one can get in without the counterspell.” Lyna raised an eyebrow. “What if there was an emergency? You might drown.” He shrugged. “I doubt I’d sleep through that.” He smiled as he led her through to the stairs. “Why are you asking? Are you finally warming up to me?” Lyna looked away, her earlier irritation having long faded. “I’m sorry. I know that us being here is causing
problems for you, and you didn’t have to cover for us.” He shook his head. “Well, I mean, I wasn’t just going to let the others gawk at you. Or worse… We magical beings have to stick together, right? Even if some of us are humanoid.” Lyna smiled. “Still, thanks.” Sam led her up the stairs, back to the deck. The sun was almost completely gone, the sky flecked with a few grey clouds, though the moon and stars were otherwise unobscured above them. “I feel like I’m going to fall up into the sky,” Lyna admitted, wrapping her arms tight around herself to ward off the cold air. It was a different kind of cold from the water. Harsh and unpleasant. “It’s beautiful, but I can’t grasp all that nothing.” Sam hummed in agreement. “I suppose I’ve never really thought of it like that,” he said as they approached the side. “Lyna… I know that you don’t want to talk about it, but I just want you to know that if you and your sister are in trouble, I’d like to help.” Lyna sighed. “Did Doc talk to you?” He nodded. “She wouldn’t give me any details, but she did admit to being worried for Dyna.” Lyna remained silent for a few moments as she watched the last flecks of light disappear over the horizon. “Look,” she eventually said, “it’s complicated. But… Yeah, things aren’t great. We can’t go home. Not yet.” “Is someone after Dyna?” Lyna nodded. “I got her out, but I… I don’t have a plan. I have no idea what to do next or where to go. I don’t know anyone here.” “You know me.” “You just met us,” she reminded him.
He shrugged. “We magical beings have to stick together, right? I can help you find a place to hide out on land for a while. Or as long as you want, I guess.” Lyna frowned. “I’m not sure that’s such a great idea. I mean, I know there are other magical beings on Earth, but Humans are still the majority.” “True, but it’s not as if they can do anything. The protection spell will stop them from harming you.” Lyna simply gave him a sceptical look. “It’s held for this long,” he reasoned. “I doubt it will fall now.” “You Earth-dwellers put too much faith in the Angel Twilight and her magic.” “Maybe,” he conceded. “But I prefer to think of it as faith in Fate. I mean, she must have brought the Twilight about for a reason, so maybe the protection spell is it. And maybe Fate brought you here for a reason too.” “Fate rarely interferes with the affairs of the Old Worlds,” Lyna reasoned. “And you forget, she isn’t always looking out for people. If she didn’t want a war, why did she allow magic to be exposed in the first place?” He shrugged. “Maybe magic needed to be exposed. Maybe the war was inevitable. But maybe we needed the war to happen so that there could be peace now.” Lyna rolled her eyes. “If it’s so peaceful, why do you pretend not to have magic?” Sam sighed. “Touché. But while things may not be perfect on Earth, would you really rather go back?” Lyna groaned after several moments of thought. “No, I suppose not… So, where did you have in mind?” “Huh?” “Where did you have in mind for us to stay?” He blinked. “I suppose I hadn’t thought that far.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You’re the one who offered.” “I know, but I hadn’t thought too far into the logistics.” He frowned. “I could book you into a hotel, but staying among Humans probably wouldn’t be the best idea. I… I do have somewhere you can stay.” “You sound hesitant.” He shook his head with a groan. “No, it’s fine. It’ll take some… Some arrangement, but it’s fine.” “Really? Because it doesn’t sound fine.” He gave her a reassuring smile, but it was strained. “No, it is. Really. Like I said, it’ll take some arrangement, but nothing too taxing. I’m just moaning.” She nodded, though she wasn’t sure that she believed him. She was reluctant to impose on him, but she didn’t have anywhere else to go, so she was equally reluctant to keep pushing for an answer to his reluctance. Lyna sighed, shivering a little as the cold air came in a sudden gust. She suddenly became very aware that the sun had completely disappeared beyond the horizon. “I suppose I’d better get back to Dyna,” Lyna said, uneasy at leaving her sister alone for so long. “You’re really protective of her, huh?” Lyna shrugged. “I…” Her throat stung as she thought over everything that had happened, without Dyna there with her to focus her attention. “I should have gotten her out sooner,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “That bad, huh?” Lyna nodded. “I… I did as much as I could. Or, at least, that’s what I keep telling myself.” “I guess you left your whole life behind to get your sister here?” Lyna nodded. “And you also took her from her life?”
“A life where she was constantly…” Lyna trailed off, shaking her head. It wasn’t her place to talk about it. “I should have taken her sooner.” Sam shrugged. “I mean, I don’t know the details of the situation, but maybe the important thing was that you took her at all.” “Yeah, maybe,” Lyna said, her gaze stuck to the deck. “Come on, we should go.” She was stopped, however, by a gentle hand on her arm. Lyna looked up to see Sam frowning at her intently, the intensity in his emerald eyes sending a shiver down her spine. “I mean it, Lyna,” he told her softly, stepping closer to her. “The fact that you risked everything to come to Earth to help your sister…” She just shrugged at his words, tears stinging in her eyes. “It was just a split second decision. Anyone would have done the same thing.” He shook his head. “I can safely say that none of my siblings would so much as blink if I was in danger. Your sister is incredibly lucky to have you, never doubt that.” She blinked rapidly, trying to suppress her tears as her throat closed up at his words. “I… I think I can safely say that no one has ever considered themselves lucky to have me in their life,” she tried to joke, but it fell flat. “Then they’re all idiots,” he said sincerely. “That’s what I keep saying,” she replied, her joking tone finally sounding somewhat genuine as she stepped away, clearing her throat. “But really, we shouldn’t leave Dyna too long.” He nodded, following her back down below deck.
CHAPTER FIVE Dyna awoke with a start, her lungs struggling for oxygen as they found themselves gasping in air, not water. They were on Earth, she remembered. Her stomach turned to ice. What the hell would happen when she got home? Hian would be furious at her for leaving. If she thought her current bruises were bad… Lyna promised that she wouldn’t have to go back, but she was no idiot. Of course, they would. They couldn’t stay on Earth forever, and Hian was still her mate. She’d have to go back and face him eventually, and what would everyone say about her leaving? If Hian had been worried about his reputation before she left… Dyna stood up on her new, awkward legs. She had to find Lyna before she thought herself into circles. She knew that her sister had been using her siren song to calm her, and right now, she didn’t know another way to still her thoughts. She approached the door to find it warded, but she quickly overloaded it. Dyna had always been good with spells. Once she was out into the corridor, however, she had no idea where to go. She tried to sense for her sister’s magical signature, but the movement of the boat was throwing her off, making it seem as if her sister was moving.
Or maybe she was moving. Dyna frowned, determined as she made her way through the ship. If she couldn’t use magic to find her sister, she’d just have to do it the old fashioned way. “Dyna?” she heard through an open door after turning a corner. She turned to see not Lyna, but Doc, sitting in the room. “Hello,” Dyna greeted, a little sheepishly. “I… I was looking for my sister. You haven’t seen her, have you?” Doc shook her head. “No, I haven’t. But she’s probably with Sam.” Dyna nodded. “Do you know where he would be?” Doc shrugged. “Could be anywhere. Why don’t you wait for them in here? I can’t really be sure that no one else is Sensitive so they might see through your glamour. Or they might touch you and feel your scales.” Dyna frowned. “Are they likely to touch me? Is that common among strangers on Earth?” “Well, you did give yourself a rather attractive glamour,” Doc reasoned with a shrug as if it explained everything. “Not that you’re not attractive without it, I just… I should stop talking now…” Dyna couldn’t help but smile. She hadn’t known what to make of the healer before. She’d seemed professional when looking her over, but she couldn’t say much else about her, other than that it was kind of her not to turn Lyna and her over to the other Humans. But now, she couldn’t help but find her awkwardness endearing. “You’re right,” Dyna agreed. “I… I got startled when I awoke without my sister, but I shouldn’t continue to search for them without knowing where they are.”
Doc nodded, indicating to the chair next to her. “Well, come on in. I’ll stick the kettle on.” Dyna frowned. “The kettle?” “So that I can make a hot drink for you. If you were startled, a cup of tea should help.” Dyna nodded, sitting down as Doc got to work, filling a plastic contraption. Silence settled between them, and Dyna found her legs bouncing up and down, her hands clutching the fabric of her trousers. Doc had seen the injuries Hian had given her. Did she know what had caused them? Would she ask? How would she explain things? The longer the silence lasted, the surer Dyna became that she would have to explain herself. Have to justify why she hadn’t told anyone. Why she had stayed so long… Because the truth was, now that Lyna had asked about it - though she hadn’t directly asked why Dyna hadn’t reached out to her before - all of Dyna’s reasons sounded irrational, even to her own ears. She should have gone to Lyna sooner. She should have gone straight to her parents the first time it had happened, cried as they held her, and dissolved her mating immediately. Why hadn’t she? How could she have been so stupid? She was pulled out of her thoughts by Doc’s gentle hand on her knee, calming the bouncing. “Your tea’s finished,” Doc told her. “If you don’t think you can keep your hand steady, however, I can put it on the desk.” Dyna nodded, before realising that wasn’t an answer. Doc just smiled, putting the mug on the desk, ready for Dyna to pick up when she was ready.
Dyna sighed, realising that she wouldn’t calm without asking. “Aren’t you going to ask me about my injuries?” Doc shrugged. “I’m not going to push, Dyna. You can tell me if you want, but it’s not my business if you don’t want me to know.” “Thank you,” Dyna said as she looked over to her mug of tea, her hands finally feeling steady enough to pick it up.
CHAPTER SIX Sam and Lyna headed back down to Sam’s room, only to find the ward broken, and the door unlocked. Lyna threw the door open, revealing the empty room. “Where did she go?” she demanded, her thoughts running faster than she could keep up with. Did any of the Humans get to her? Did she decide to go home herself? Did Hian send someone after her? “Doc might know,” Sam said, his voice calm and reassuring, though not in a way that suggested he wasn’t taking it seriously. More that he was focusing on the practical, rather than panicking. Lyna nodded, steeling herself in an attempt to mimic his calm. It was the pragmatic thing to do. She followed as he led her through to Doc’s office, her awkward, new legs struggling to keep up with his powerful strides. Once they reached the office, however, Lyna let out a relieved sigh, seeing her sister sitting with Doc, a steaming mug in her hands. “Lyna!” she said with a smile. The first real smile since she had arrived. “Have you tried tea yet? It’s amazing.” Doc smiled, shaking her head. “If I had known you would like it this much, I would have made it immediately. Nothing makes you feel better than a cuppa.” She looked over to Lyna. “Though your sister strikes me as more of a coffee person.” Sam folded his arms. “We were worried when Dyna
wasn’t in their room.” Dyna frowned at him. “Everyone had left and locked me up like a toddler. I overloaded the ward and went for a look around.” “What if someone had seen you?” Lyna asked. “So what if they had?” Dyna bit back. “I am fully capable of keeping my glamour in place, and of casting memory spells. Just because you were never any good at it doesn’t mean that I’m equally incapable.” Lyna tried not to wince at her sister’s harsh words. “Do you think I haven’t noticed the pitying looks you’ve been giving me?” Dyna muttered into her cup. “I know I was rattled, but you’ve been treating me like a child.” “Dyna…” “I know what you think. That I’m an idiot. That I’m stupid for staying or not doing anything about it before. And I was going to… Each time, I swore that I would. And then… And then the moment would pass, and it became all too easy to believe that if I just kept my head down and did as he wanted, it wouldn’t happen again…” Dyna simply turned to Doc and Sam. “My mate hits me when he’s angry,” she told them bluntly. “I know that he shouldn’t, but he does love me, and Mers of our station don’t dissolve their matings. Not without disgrace. He’s manageable, as long as I don’t anger him.” She turned back to Lyna. “I know that you think I’m stupid for not escaping earlier, but this is not a long-term solution. We will have to go back at some point. The longer we wait, the worse it will be. For you as well as me.” “I don’t care about that.” “Well, I do. I’m not going to let you throw your reputation away for this. Not when it won’t change anything.” “You can stay on Earth,” Sam assured her. “I have
friends who can protect you.” “On land?” Dyna asked, incredulously. “And what? Stay transformed permanently? Pretend to be Human?” “There are plenty of other magical beings on Earth,” Sam assured her. “There are places where you wouldn’t have to hide.” “Dyna,” her sister pleaded, “we should at least give it a try. For now. I know you think that staying will only make things worse, but I doubt that. We can work out another option, some way to deal with Hian, but in the meantime, we should stay here. Where it’s safe.” Dyna snorted. “Earth? Safe?” She shook her head, her gaze fixed on her mug as she thought over their words. Eventually, she sighed. “Okay, I guess staying a little while longer won’t hurt that much.” “One thought,” Doc interjected, “perhaps you shouldn’t stay with other magical beings. You’ll be harder to find among Humans.” “But less protected if they are found,” Sam said, though his words lacked conviction. “Not if you check in regularly,” Doc pointed out. “And I’m sure the girls can brush up on their combat magic while at mine.” “Yours?” Sam asked. “Well, yes. Did you think I meant a hotel or something? No, my place is big enough for two guests and Philip owes me some holiday.” “Doc, you know he won’t leave port without a doctor. Not after what happened to Liam.” Doc nodded. “We had discussed the possibility. Liam would have lived if treated with a healing potion. Quite frankly, they’re putting ER doctors out of work. Or at least, they would be if they weren’t still so expensive for Humans to purchase, even though there are laws
preventing species-based discrimination in such matters.” Sam raised an eyebrow. “Yes, because no Human has ever denied goods or services to a magical being.” Doc sighed. “I’m not saying that it’s not something both sides are guilty of. What I’m saying is that if you can get a few healing potions to keep onboard, Philip will let me take that holiday without me feeling guilty about the ship being land-locked. Then I can help the girls get settled into my place, and we can see where to go from there.” Sam turned to the Mermaids. “It’s up to you two.” “I think we should stay with Doc,” Dyna said quickly. Lyna blinked at her sister’s rapid response, but then shrugged. “Okay, I guess it’s as good an idea as any.” She turned to Doc. “Thank you for agreeing to help.” Doc nodded with a smile. “It’s the least I could do.” “We should be at land soon,” Sam told them. “I’ll go and make sure Philip isn’t wondering where I’ve gotten to.” At that, he left, leaving Lyna and Dyna with Doc. “Do you live close to shore?” Dyna asked as Doc got up and started moving about mugs. Doc shrugged. “Not incredibly close, but it’s only twenty minutes on the metro.” “It’s probably best that we’re not too close,” Lyna reasoned. “Mers are wary of land, but they’ll chance the shore if they’re determined to follow us. The further inland we go, the safer we’ll be.” “I suppose you’re also wary of land?” Doc asked as she poured a few different things into a mug, before stirring them with a spoon. Lyna shrugged. “If we need to stay away from other Mers, it will be the safest place for us.” Doc nodded, passing her the steaming mug. Lyna blinked at the dark brown liquid inside.
“It’s coffee,” Doc explained, pressing the mug into her hands. Lyna took the mug, politely suppressing a dubious look. “I’ve never really been out of Atlantis,” Dyna confessed. “In fact, I was never often out of the Great Library before I mated…” Doc smiled. “Yeah, I was always a bookish kid too.” “Bookish?” Dyna asked, cocking her head a little. Doc nodded to the blocks all lined up on the shelf above them. They had some kind of markings on the sides. “You know,” she said, “I read a lot of books.” Dyna blinked, still confused. “Right, I suppose books wouldn’t mix well with water. What do you have in the Great Library, then?” “The walls and floors are etched with markings and mosaics,” Dyna explained, “all explaining the history and stories of our ancestors. The library is as big as the rest of Atlantis combined, and even the oldest Librarians haven’t always seen everything it has to offer.” “That sounds amazing.” “It is,” Dyna said, a little wistfully. “I wanted to be a Librarian as a kid, but they can’t have mates.” “And you wanted a family?” Dyna shook her head. “I’m the daughter of a noble house. It wasn’t a case of want, it was expected. I was betrothed to Hian when I was a child.” Doc frowned. “And you didn’t have a say in it?” Dyna shrugged. “If there was sufficient need, I could have protested, but I had no real reason to break the betrothal. Hian always seemed nice when we met before we mated. I guess it just proves that you can never really know someone.”
Doc shook her head in disgust. “This is why I only date women…” She blinked after a moment. “Sorry, that was meant to be a joke, but I guess it sounded a little…” Dyna snorted. “No, that actually seems like a good policy.” Doc smiled as Lyna finally felt as if her coffee had cooled down enough to drink. She took a sip and tried not to wince at the strong flavour. She didn’t want to be rude. “We’ll have to ward your house,” Lyna said to Doc, wanting to get to practicalities before they got to land. Doc nodded. “I already have wards, but they’re not very strong. They’re meant for Human thieves, not magical beings.” “Hian, or anyone he sent in his stead, will easily be able to overload them.” Dyna frowned. “Wait, you have wards? Don’t magical beings charge a lot for those as well?” “Well, yes, but not all Human doctors will treat magical beings. One of my patients was grateful enough to ward my house for me. I told her it was unnecessary, but she insisted.” Dyna’s frown deepened. “Why didn’t she just use healing magic?” “She’s half-Human. She’s too visibly different to get on in Human society, but magical beings have become even more suspicious of those with mixed blood. I get the impression that they were never truly loved to start with, but things have definitely gotten worse. I think she’d have just as hard a time getting access to healing magic as I would.” “That’s horrible,” Dyna said, but Lyna simply took another sip of her coffee. Atlantis was hardly welcoming to humanoids, and that included hybrid children. Lyna
had never heard of anyone even close to her social station going to Earth, never mind mating with a humanoid, but she’d heard rumours of commoners heading to Earth in the hope of a better life. She’d also heard that some of them had children that couldn’t survive in either world, often born with either legs or a tail that didn’t work. In her mind, it simply justified the segregation that Atlantic social order imposed. She just kept drinking her coffee instead of saying anything, finding that the taste was actually starting to grow on her. The ship gave a small lurch, and Doc smiled. “Well, I guess that’s us docked. Come on, I’ll show you what land is like.” Lyna sheepishly put her drink down, finding that she was more than a little anxious at the thought of land. At least on the boat, if she wanted, she could simply dive off the side. It would have been incredibly easy to return to the water. But once they got inland? It wouldn’t be so easy. Of course, that meant that Hian couldn’t easily find them, but Lyna wasn’t comfortable at being so far removed from her element. Dyna was right to say that Lyna had never been particularly skilled with spells. She had always heavily relied on her control over water, as well as her rare siren abilities. To be removed from one of those made her scales crawl. Despite her trepidation, she followed Doc back up to the deck, where Sam was waiting for them. “So, they’re going to stay at yours?” Sam asked her. Doc nodded. “Do you need me to ward your place or anything?” “I can do it,” Dyna told them firmly.
Sam turned to Lyna, making her wince. Dyna had been right. Lyna had no idea how to handle this situation, and her uncertainty had manifested as treating her sister as if she was a child. Lyna may be the older sibling, but only by a few moments. Dyna was a grown woman, and an intelligent one at that, doing her best in a shitty situation. She didn’t need Lyna and Sam questioning her ability. “Dyna is an incredibly skilled spell caster,” Lyna told him. He nodded, seemingly happy with that, before passing Lyna a piece of paper with some markings on it. “What’s this?” she asked. “My phone number. Doc will explain how it works, but you’ll be able to contact me if I’m at home or leave me a message. It should be good for non-emergency stuff.” He then passed her a stone with markings etched into it. Unlike the transformation runes she had watched him make, this looked as if it had been made with proper Dwarven tools or a Witch’s wand. “If there is an emergency, just activate this rune and I’ll shift right to you.” “Thank you,” Lyna said as she pocketed the two items. “I mean it. You could have just left us to fend for ourselves.” “You keep saying that and it honestly makes me wonder what kind of men you’re used to being around.” She smiled. “Clearly not the good ones.” She glanced back over to Doc and Dyna. “Right, I suppose we should go.” Sam nodded. “Just remember, activate the rune, and I’ll be right there.” “I will,” Lyna informed him, but the words felt awkward on her tongue. She didn’t want to burden him further with
her troubles, and she was sure that she could protect Dyna well enough not to bother him. Especially if Dyna warded Doc’s house. “Come on,” Doc said. “I’ll show you to the metro.”
CHAPTER SEVEN The metro, it turned out, was a metal box that transported people from one area to another. Humans seemed fond of metal boxes, Lyna noted as they walked to the station. There were smaller ones roaming between the buildings, another form of transportation, it seemed, and one building they passed had a window filled with tiny metal boxes, all showing them bright, moving pictures. It was impressive, Lyna had to admit. The Humans were nowhere near the technology of the Dwarves, but Dwiivan had been cut off from the rest of the realms almost a century ago, and Humans appeared to be doing their best to catch up. She supposed that, without magic, it was the best they could do. Especially now that they knew what they didn’t have. The metro sped through open fields for a while, before returning to buildings. They started small at first, but Lyna could see huge towers in the distance. Just looking at them made her feel queasy. How did they not fall over with nothing but thin air to keep them in place? “This is us,” Doc eventually said as the metro came to a stop at another platform. The Mermaids followed her through to streets made of stone buildings, all covered in crawling, deep green plants, swiftly arriving at Doc’s house. “So, what do you think?” Doc asked as she opened the
door, leading them through. Dyna looked around with a politely curious look. “It’s cosy,” Lyna noted, feeling a little claustrophobic. Doc smirked. “Really? Because this is a rather large house. Well, for Britain, anyway. I know American houses are much bigger. How big are houses in Atlantis?” “Our parents’ estate was quite large,” Dyna admitted. “But this is a nice change.” Lyna nodded, allowing her sister to take charge of the conversation. Lyna had never been the best at softening her words. “Well, there are two spare bedrooms,” Doc informed them. “If you want to have a look and get settled in, they’re just the first two doors at the top of the stairs.” “I still need to ward the house,” Dyna said, before turning to Lyna. “Why don’t you take a look while I ward the doors down here.” Lyna frowned. As much as Doc was extremely kind to help them, she was still Human, and Lyna wasn’t entirely sure that she trusted her to be alone with Dyna. But then, she had been alone with Dyna on the ship, and that had seemed to break Dyna out of the shell she had been in since they had left. Dyna seemed to trust her, and Lyna didn’t want to undermine her sister’s view of the matter. But Dyna had trusted Hian before they had mated, so it wasn’t as if Lyna’s distrust of her opinion was without reason. In the end, Lyna nodded, heading up the stairs. She opened the door to the first room, finding it decorated in various shades of brown and beige, and Lyna struggled to identify the uses of all of the furniture immediately, as all of it looked alien to her. Lyna looked out of the window, seeing children playing
in the street below, shouting at each other over the sound of the small transport boxes. Occasionally she heard a rumble, presumably of the metro passing by. She frowned, not sure that she liked the noise. She hadn’t liked the noise in Atlantis, and this felt worse. Perhaps it was like this in the common neighbourhoods, but Lyna liked quiet. Not to mention, even at home, she always had the opportunity to slip away if she had to. But now she was trapped in the noise, with no escape. Not without endangering herself and Dyna. Lyna spun around at the sound of knocking on the open door behind her to see Dyna standing there. “Lisa told me that it was polite to knock before entering Human bedrooms,” Dyna explained. “Lisa?” “Doc,” Dyna clarified. “As Lisa is a doctor - their word for healer - Doc is her nickname. Anyway, if you want to enter a bedroom here, you should knock. Humans don’t like anyone but their mates to see them out of their clothing. And apparently, the bedroom is where their mating takes place.” Lyna frowned. “Mating?” she asked, before realising what Dyna must have meant. Before she had a chance to say so, however, Dyna was already explaining. “Humans don’t have magic, remember? They don’t share their magic to produce an egg. Apparently, it’s far more… physical. Which means that it’s considered private. Hence it being considered polite to knock before entering their bedrooms.” Lyna raised an eyebrow. “And you and Lisa were busy discussing Human mating downstairs, were you?” “No,” Dyna said, seemingly missing her insinuation. “She said that it would be polite to knock in case they were found indecent. The rest I learned from the Library.
It had plenty of information on Earth, and I did a lot of research.” “Research about their mating habits?” “Research about everything, but yes. I was curious how Humans had children without magic. Apparently, all humanoid species are more like Humans, though any with magic do have a level of magic exchange.” Lyna nodded, wondering how humanoid/Mer hybrids worked, though she quickly pushed those thoughts away. Worked was a generous word for it, and not relevant to anything besides. “Do you want me to dampen the sound through the window when I ward it?” Dyna asked as she moved into the room. “I know that you don’t like the noise.” Lyna nodded with a smile. “Thank you.” Dyna moved over to the window, working her magic into a shield over the glass. “Dyna…” Lyna started, folding her arms. “You seem awfully… relaxed around Doc. She is a Human, after all.” Dyna shrugged. “Yeah, but she’s not really much of a threat.” “I know that the protection spell stops Humans from hurting us, but there’s no guarantee that it’ll hold.” “I know, but even without that… It’s nice to be around someone who can’t use magic against me.” Lyna sighed, not having thought of it from that perspective. Lyna had never known violence from other Mers. Social isolation, yes, but never violence. Humans, on the other hand, were a complete enigma, and all she had heard about them was how dangerous they were, despite their lack of magic. She supposed that, to her sister, Humans must seem safe by comparison to magic wielders. “She let us into her home,” Dyna reminded her. “She
didn’t have to agree to help us.” Lyna nodded, not wanting any dissent on her part to turn Dyna back to wanting to return to Atlantis. As long as Dyna was away from Hian, Lyna was happy.
CHAPTER EIGHT The longer Lyna stayed on Earth, the clearer it became that she wasn’t built to live on land. After Dyna had finished warding the house, Doc made them something called spaghetti for tea, presenting them with strange utensils along with a bowl of thin worms that were incredibly difficult to pick up and get into her mouth. The taste wasn’t unpleasant, but it was completely alien to her, reminding her just how far from home they were. Dyna didn’t once complain, so Lyna refused to either. As long as Dyna was happy and safe, Lyna would eat as much foreign food as she was given without complaint. Sleeping, however, was another ordeal entirely. Dyna had slept a little on the ship, so she seemed happy to stay up chatting with Doc for a while. But Lyna hadn’t had that same opportunity, and so was exhausted. Despite this exhaustion, however, sleep proved nigh impossible. Mers slept in giant clam shells, curled up in the embrace of their element. Humans didn’t have an element, and so slept in the middle of several layers of fabric to keep themselves warm and comfortable. However, Lyna felt too dry, her scales cracking as she tossed and turned, feeling too cold when she removed the duvet and blanket, but too irritated when she kept them on. The result was her waking up in the morning, feeling
worse for wear. She remained in the pyjamas that Doc had loaned her the night before as she trudged downstairs, her new legs still refusing to work with any finesse. She’d considered deactivating the transformation charm while she slept, but the feeling of going back and forth was so disconcerting that getting her tail back for the night simply wasn’t worth it. By the time she made it downstairs, finding Doc and Dyna in the kitchen, they looked as if they had been up for a while. Dyna was holding something over a small fire, and Lyna remembered that Doc had done something similar the night before to “cook“ their food. “Good morning,” Doc said with a smile as Lyna entered. “Lisa’s teaching me how to cook,” Dyna informed her. Lyna gave a confused grunt. She wasn’t a morning person at the best of times. “Here,” Doc said, passing Lyna a mug of familiar smelling dark liquid. Lyna drank her coffee, feeling much better just a few moments later. “I made pancakes for Dyna and me before you got up,” Doc informed her. “They’re best warm, so I was going to make more when you got up, but Dyna insisted that I teach her.” “If we’re going to stay here, we should pull our weight,” Dyna reasoned. “It’s not fair to expect you to make food for us.” Lyna blinked. She hadn’t thought of that. Whenever she ate at home, it was prepared by servants. But there weren’t any servants on Earth, and Dyna was right. It wasn’t fair to impose on Doc any more than
they had to. And she wasn’t particularly happy with how much she had to. Dyna slid a thin circle onto a plate from the pan, then sprinkled it with small crystals, followed by a little sour smelling, cloudy liquid. She folded the circle up onto itself before handing it to Lyna. “Here, try it.” Lyna picked up the soggy food with trepidation but took a bite anyway. For the first time since coming to Earth, Lyna felt safe in saying that she had found food that she loved. She inhaled the rest of the pancake, wondering if there would be more. Dyna already had another in the pan, though Lyna felt guilty. Her sister had spent the morning learning a new skill to repay their host, and Lyna had done nothing but sleep. Lyna was pulled from her thoughts by a sudden spray of cold water covering her face. She jumped, spinning to see Doc standing there with a plastic contraption in her hands. “Sorry, you looked a little dry,” Doc explained. “Dyna felt her scales begin to crack last night. I showed her the bath, but this seemed the best short-term solution.” Lyna nodded. “Yeah, it made it difficult to sleep,” she admitted. “Well, you should have a bath before getting dressed for the day. It’ll make you feel better.” “I’ll show you,” Dyna said, passing her another pancake. Lyna took her time with this one, seeing that Doc had extinguished the fire that Dyna had been cooking with. Once the pancake was gone, she drained the end of her coffee before Dyna led her back upstairs.
“So, what is this bath thing?” Lyna asked. “It’s a pool of water big enough for just one person. Humans use it to get clean. It’s not big enough to truly submerge yourself, though. Lisa says that you can get bigger ones, but apparently they’re expensive.” “Any water would be welcome right now,” Lyna admitted. “Yeah, I would have told you about the bath last night, but I didn’t want to risk waking you if you were already asleep. Sorry.” Lyna shook her head. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine as soon as I get my scales wet again.” Dyna nodded as they approached the bathroom, showing her the large tub taking up a strip of the far end of the room. “You just fill it up like this,” Dyna said, putting a bit of black rubber on a chain over the drain at the bottom, before turning the taps on, much like the ones Doc had used in the kitchen the night before. “If you get some of the clean clothes Doc left on the table in the hall for you, you can get dressed once you’re out of the water. There are towels for drying yourself in the cupboard, but I just used my control of the water for that.” Lyna nodded at her sister’s explanation, figuring that she could take it from there. “Okay, I’ll be downstairs if you need me,” Dyna said, before leaving her sister alone. Lyna more than easily found the clothes, feeling another twinge of guilt for using more of Doc’s things. What if Doc eventually got sick of them? What if she told them to leave? Lyna’s thoughts went to Sam’s phone number, but she pushed that possibility far away. The last thing she’d
want to do was impose upon him. It hadn’t missed her notice how relieved he’d been when Doc had offered up her home, instead of him having to ‘arrange’ anything. The water filled the bath agonisingly slowly, but Lyna refrained from using her powers to speed it up, not wanting to accidentally break anything. Eventually, the water refused to fill the bath further, a little hole in the top draining away the excess. Lyna sighed. Dyna was right, she struggled to submerge herself fully, but it was better than nothing. She stripped off, then decided to deactivate the transformation charm as well. Having legs was strange enough, she couldn’t imagine being in the water with them. Even if she couldn’t use it to swim, she wanted to feel the water around her tail again. Once the charm was inactive, her legs snapped together, fusing back into a tail. She was sitting on the edge of the bath so that losing her legs wouldn’t cause her to fall, and as soon as her tail had returned, she shifted around so that her tail flopped into the water, then slipped in entirely. She couldn’t fully sink down beneath the water, but what little she could get was enough to make her scales feel less brittle and itchy. Lyna wasn’t sure how long she remained in the bath, but after a while, she was moved to leave the bathroom through a combination of guilt and purpose. If she and Dyna were going to stay there, Lyna was going to figure out some way for them to make their own way. To not have to rely on the kindness of strangers. Contributing to Doc’s household seemed like the best place to start, but it was merely a start. Ideally, they should figure out a way to return to Atlantis, without Hian posing a problem, but that would
be incredibly complicated. Lyna would have to reestablish communication with someone, without Hian being able to trace it back to their location. Unfortunately, thanks to Atlantis’ isolation, there weren’t many ways to communicate with people on Earth. Certainly, none that were untraceable. For now, the best thing to do would be to make sure that Doc didn’t tire of their presence. Lyna dressed, using her magic to dry herself so that she wasn’t using one of Doc’s towels, before heading downstairs to find Dyna and Doc watching another one of the boxes with the bright screens. “I was wondering if there was anything I could do,” Lyna said. “I mean, Dyna’s already helping with the cooking.” Doc rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Lyna, it’s fine. You’re my guest here.” “You could go to the shop,” Dyna suggested. “We were talking before, and it turns out there is quite a bit of food here that is at least somewhat equivalent to what we have at home. Still cooked, of course, but similar.” Doc frowned. “Given that someone is after you two, I don’t think either of you going out on your own is a good idea.” Lyna folded her arms. “I’m a grown woman, Doc. How hard could it be?” “I can’t really go with her,” Dyna reasoned. “If anyone’s being tracked, it will be me, so we’ll be found for sure unless I stay within the wards. “ Lyna nodded. “And whether you come with me or stay with Dyna, one of us would be alone in a new place. Better that it’s me, as Hian will only care about me as a means to get to Dyna, and he won’t be able to track me as well as her. He doesn’t have the same connection to
my magic.” Doc sighed. “It’ll mean going on the metro again.” “I can remember how you got the tickets,” she assured her. “If you get off at the city centre, you should be able to go into any food shop and find what you’re looking for. Do you have shops in Atlantis?” Lyna nodded. “I’m sure I can figure out an exchange of currency for goods.” Doc shrugged, rummaging in her pocket before producing a few bits of paper, and a few round bits of metal. “Here, this should be enough cash for the metro and to get enough food for the next week or so.” Lyna smiled, though it was a little forced. She hadn’t thought about money. She’d have to figure out some way to pay Doc back. “Thank you,” she said. “I’ll be back soon.” She headed out the door, straight back to the metro, remembering where it was. There was a large metal box that Lyna remembered had given Doc their tickets the day before. It had a list of stations, with the required ticket listed beside them. She poured some extra Energy into her translation rune, allowing her to read the strange lettering. She found the city centre station, hitting the button for the correct ticket, before realising that there was another set of buttons. “Single”, “Return”, and “Day Saver”. She blinked, taking a few moments to figure that “return” would probably allow her to come back as well. Lyna keyed in the ticket, and the machine’s little grey display showed the amount of money she was supposed to feed into the slot. At least, she assumed that was what it meant, remembering Doc doing the same the day before.
She appeared to be right, as the machine spat out a hard little bit of yellow paper. She took the ticket, finding that she only had to wait a few moments before the metro arrived. Lyna sighed, hoping that the rest of her trip would be so simple. If she could just get things to work on Earth, she could buy her and Dyna more time. She was sure that if she just had enough time to work things out, she could figure out a way for them to return without Dyna having to go back to Hian. She managed to get off at what she assumed was the correct station, though it appeared to have dropped her off underground. Lyna followed the Humans until she came up to a moving set of stairs. She watched them as they went about their business, trying to not seem as if she was staring as she observed their actions, mimicking them. She swiftly found herself back outside again, caught in a mass of Humans as they moved about their days. Lyna found herself pushed and shoved by the people around her as she tried to get her bearings, her new legs still wonky and incapable of keeping her balanced under the onslaught. “Hey!” she protested as she found herself tripping over her own feet, falling forward, straight to the concrete ground. Instead of hitting the hard surface, however, she found herself hovering a few feet forward, a pair of strong hands gripping her waist. The hands pulled her up and spun her around, leaving her facing Sam as he gave her a concerned look, his hands still resting on her waist. “Are you okay?” he asked. Lyna nodded, more than a little surprised by his
sudden appearance. He looked her over, clearly not entirely happy with her assessment. “I’m just a little startled,” she assured him, becoming very aware of his hands still on her. Not in a bad way. They were… warm. Her gaze flickered down to where he was holding her waist, seemingly reminding him that his hands were still on her, as he immediately pulled them away, taking a small step back from her as he cleared his throat. “Sorry,” he said. She shrugged. “You stopped me from getting my face smashed by the street, you don’t need to apologise.” His face turned a little red, and she wondered what that meant as his gaze averted from hers. “Still… So, how are things going over at Doc’s?” Lyna shrugged. “Well, I think. I thought I’d help out by going to the shop. Doc told Dyna that there should be some food like we eat at home.” “Like seafood and stuff?” “I suppose.” “Well, do you want me to show you where to go? I know my way around the city, and I could also show you where to get magical supplies and stuff.” Lyna bit her lip. She didn’t want to impose, but then, knowing where to go for more magic couldn’t hurt. “All right,” she eventually said with a nod. “Thank you.” He shrugged. “It’s no problem. I need to get some shopping myself.” She couldn’t help but smile as she fell into step beside him, feeling warmth radiate from him. Mermaids were typically cold, their bodies not needing to be kept at such high temperatures to work, but she couldn’t deny that Sam’s warmth was nice.
“So,” Sam said as he led her through the crowds, everyone moving aside to let his towering frame through, “do you have more of a plan now that you’ve had some sleep?” “Huh?” “For what you’re going to do in the long-term. I mean, you said that you didn’t have any short-term plans, but then Doc agreed to let you stay at hers. I’m assuming that’s not going to work in the long-term.” Lyna sighed. “No. Even with Dyna having warded the house, Hian won’t give up looking for her. And our family won’t either. They don’t know why we left. My best bet is to try and get in contact with one of my parents and try to explain the situation. Hopefully, they won’t involve Hian if I tell them the truth.” “And then what? Will they be able to get a divorce?” “You mean dissolve their mating? It… It’s not something people of our station do. It’s seen as dishonourable to break your commitments like that.” “But he hit her. She has scars.” Lyna nodded. “And I’m hoping that will be enough proof, but if he tries to argue that she was hurt another way…” Lyna sighed. “Either way, there will be rumours and our entire family may be hurt. This will have to be handled carefully. I can’t just go back and demand justice before the King.” “Why not?” “Beside the fact that Hian is trained in combat and I’m not?” Sam frowned. “Why would that matter?” Lyna sighed. “Justice before the King usually means a fight to the death. It doesn’t have to. The King can deliver whatever justice he deems appropriate, but he has a tendency to demand that the accuser fights the accused
to the death. He says that you shouldn’t accuse someone if you don’t have the strength to back up that claim. If Dyna brought the claim, she would definitely be killed. I have my siren abilities, but their offensive uses are mostly theoretical to me. I’ve only used them like that the once, when I was getting Dyna away from Atlantis, and I think it mostly worked because I caught him off-guard. I doubt he’d give me the opportunity in a real fight. And even if the King didn’t demand that I fight him, he only ever uses two other forms of punishment. Execution or exile. And exile might as well be a death sentence. A Mer like Hian wouldn’t come to live on Earth - his pride couldn’t take the hit - and the waters beyond Atlantis are deadly. Any way you slice it, accusing him would mean death - his or mine - and killing him will bring the ire of his family, even if it is lawful. It’s safer to consider other options and leave that as a last resort.” Sam nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t think ‘justice’ would mean killing.” Lyna raised an eyebrow. “I know I’m not that wellversed in Earth cultures, but I thought Slayers were a fairly combat-focused society. Do you not have similar rituals?” He glared at her. “Killing is never the answer if it can be avoided.” “‘If’? You seemed too committed to the idea to have such a modifier.” He sighed. “I also remember the war.” She nodded, supposing that would always colour someone’s view. “Though, perhaps if more people were reluctant to fight, it wouldn’t have escalated as far as it did,” he muttered, before shaking his head. “Anyway, we’re supposed to be having fun shopping, not talking about
heavy subjects.” Lyna smirked. “I suppose that’s what happens when your life gets flipped upside down.” “So, is this the part where I should take a moment and sit right there while you tell how you’re going to become the Fresh Prince?” “What?” He shook his head. “I was referencing a TV show. You should give it a watch.” “TV?” “Oh, come on, Doc must have a TV. We’ve had enough arguments about Star Trek for it to be impossible for her not to.” Lyna shrugged. “She might, but that doesn’t mean that I know what it is.” “It’s like a box with moving pictures?” “Oh, right, she does have one. I’ll ask her to show me this Fresh Prince thing.” “Ask about Star Trek as well. That’s my favourite.” Lyna nodded as he led her into a building, the inside of which was filled with shelves upon shelves of various boxes and cartons of different shapes and sizes. “So, what am I looking for?” Sam shrugged. “Anything that looks like Mer food, I guess. Here, I’ll show you where the fish and stuff is.” He led her through to a section of shelves that radiated cold. Inside were various pieces of fish, contained in plastic packaging. Lyna placed her hands on her hips as she looked them over, trying to find anything even remotely familiar. She knew that the creatures of Atlantis weren’t species found on Earth, which meant that she was stuck guessing what would be the most similar. That wasn’t exactly easy, given that she only had a cursory knowledge of the food she
ate in Atlantis to start with. “How much will this get me?” she finally asked Sam, showing him the bills. “I’ll just get a wide selection, and we can experiment.” Sam nodded, raising an eyebrow at the bills. “Wow, Doc gave you a hundred? How much food did she think you’d buy?” Lyna shrugged. “I don’t know. Is that a lot?” “Yeah, it’s a lot. I know she was on decent wages before she started working for Philip, and she still has a couple of patients that she sees every so often, but there’s no way he pays her enough to just be throwing money at stuff…” Lyna frowned. “I’m not comfortable with her giving me money to start with.” “Well, I mean, you have to eat,” Sam reasoned. “I know, but I want to figure out some way to pay her back. Both for the actual money, but also for her taking us in. The trouble is, I don’t know how such things work.” Sam smirked. “What, you don’t have jobs in Atlantis?” Lyna glared at him. “I am the Primary Heir to my house. That is my job. The problem is that it was a job that I was born into, so I don’t exactly have much experience with anything else.” Sam rolled his eyes. “This is why we need to get rid of the aristocracy.” Lyna nudged him with her elbow for his joke. “I’ll have you know that I am exceptionally good at my job.” Sam rounded on her so that she gently bumped into his chest. “Really?” he asked with a smirk. “You know, I do find it quite easy to believe that you’re good at bossing people around.” She glared at him, trying to ignore the way his body
heat was radiating from him, making her want to step closer to him and soak it up. She’d never been so conscious of how cold it was before. “I was exceptional at bossing people around,” she countered with a grin, refusing to take offence at his teasing. He leant forward a little, his face mere inches from hers. “Oh? And no one told you to piss right off?” “They wouldn’t dare. You don’t refuse a siren.” “Really? Too scared of you luring them to their deaths?” Her grin widened. “Of course. Why? Do you think you could resist me?” His gaze flickered down to her lips, and her heart skipped a beat as she became very aware of how close they were. Her body flushed with heat that she suspected was entirely to do with him, though little to do with his body heat. Someone pushed past them and the moment evaporated. Lyna cleared her throat as she grabbed a few of the packages from the shelf. “Okay, where do we go to pay for these?” Sam silently showed her over to the tills, allowing her to figure out what to do with little prompting. “So,” she said as they left with a bag of food, and most of Doc’s money remaining, “what now?” Sam blinked, seemingly a little out of it. “You okay?” “Huh? Oh, yeah. Just… I feel like I should apologise for before.” “Why?” “Well… I got up in your space and… I got carried away and it was a little… flirty, I guess.” Lyna tried to ignore the excited fluttering in her
stomach at his admission. What the hell was happening to her? She would say that she was attracted to him, but that was ridiculous. He was humanoid. And yet when she had thought that he might kiss her, she’d wanted nothing more than for him to do so. But he was humanoid, and she was a Mermaid. She didn’t even belong on Earth. But if she had to be stuck there for a while… “I didn’t mind,” she admitted. His face did that thing where it went slightly red again. “Well… Still…” He shook his head. “Food. We should get food. To eat now, I mean. Or maybe something to drink. It’s almost four… That’s late enough.” Lyna raised an eyebrow. “You can’t drink early in the day?” “I was referring to alcohol specifically.” “I don’t know what that is.” He smirked, the redness finally fading from his face. “Well, I can’t think of a better introduction to this city than getting smashed. Though, Doc would probably kill me if you returned home drunk. Not to mention, I don’t actually know if you can drink it or not…” “What is it?” “Um, well, it’s basically poison.” “Poison?” He nodded. “A very weak poison. Or, at least, we drink it watered down. Humans drink it for fun. Magical beings tend to have a higher metabolism, so it takes us longer to feel the effects, but it’s still worth giving it a try. But then, those of us who live on Earth tend to be similar enough to Humans. I wouldn’t want to chance it with you. Who knows what it would do. But I am now curious, do Mers really not have an equivalent?” Lyna shrugged. “There are certain seaweeds that
commoners grow for their mind-altering properties, but it’s not something a Mermaid of good standing gets involved with.” He grinned, raising an eyebrow. “Really? Not even once?” “Not even once,” she said, folding her arms, neglecting to mention that plenty of her peers engaged in the practice, and she suspected that she might have been susceptible to peer pressure if they had ever spent enough time around her to pressure her. “Want to give alcohol a go, assuming a healer says it won’t kill you?” She smiled. “Yeah, that sounds like fun.” He grinned back. “Then it’s a date.” She flushed once more, sure that her translation rune had messed up. Sam couldn’t have meant what it thought he meant. Even if she was having some kind of deviant reaction to him - probably because of all the stress she was under - there was no reason to suspect him of the same sickness. “Well, if we’re going to do this, we should probably visit a healer. We should probably go anyway, to be honest. As much as it’s unpleasant to think of Dyna’s husband catching up with you…” Lyna nodded, sobering at the thought. “If he catches up with us, we may not get away unscathed. I have healing magic, but if I’ve already been fighting…” “We can get you some healing potions. Maybe a dagger or something as well, assuming you know how to use it.” “I don’t have much in the way of combat training, and I’m not sure that what little I have will be entirely useful on land, but I’m sure that I can handle a dagger.” “I can show you the basics,” he assured her. “I think
the main thing to worry about on land will be your stance. If you can keep your balance, you’ll have an immediate advantage against any Mers who come after you.” “Thank you,” Lyna said earnestly, feeling more than a little better at the thought of having something that would give her an edge in a fight. “I imagine I’ll have to get used to handling the blade in the air instead of water, as well. There will be less resistance.” “Yeah,” Sam agreed. “So, do you guys fight slowly, like in Dune?” Lyna sighed. “You really have to stop making references to Earth culture.” “Get Doc to add it to the list. Or, actually, maybe don’t. The film is weird as shit, and the book’s kind of long to read through a translation rune.” “I’ll have to get you to make me a list of everything to watch.” Sam grinned, shaking his head. “Don’t give me a challenge like that. You’ll end up with a list a mile long.” “If it’ll help me to understand you, I’ll take it.” Sam’s smile turned softer. “You know if there’s anything from Atlantis that’d help me to understand you…” “Just songs, and you don’t want to hear me sing. Siren, remember? It’s kind of… intense.” “I don’t think I’d mind intense,” he admitted, his earnest tone making her stomach flutter. Before she had the chance to figure out how to respond, they entered a large, square building. Once inside, she realised that it was some kind of indoor market, with stalls filled with various, eclectic wares. “Are all of these stalls selling magical wares?” she asked, astounded by just how many there were.
“No, not all of them. Though there has been a magical presence in this market since it was built. It was easier to hide small stalls, rather than full shops in the town. We didn’t exactly start advertising that there were magic stalls here after magic was exposed, but I think it’s a pretty well-known secret by this point.” “And there’s a healer here?” Sam nodded but pointed to a shop with an array of weapons on show. “Yeah, but let’s go to Edgar’s first.” Lyna examined the weapons as they approached. They seemed plain but sturdy. Not that she was an expert in such things, but she at least had some cursory knowledge. She decided that she would trust Sam’s judgement. After all, Slayers were given weapons from birth. “What are you used to?” he asked her as they stood in front of the stall. She bit her lip, looking over the weapons before seeing a dagger that looked a little like her own. It was far plainer, with none of the jewels encrusting the hilt, and it was made of a plain metal, rather than sharp glass, but the shape of the dagger appeared the same. “I should be able to handle that one,” she told him. He looked it over, frowning a little. “I suppose this will do in a fight. It’ll be a good short-term solution, at least, but I should really show you how to wield something more substantial.” “You- You don’t have to do that,” she told him, guilt creeping into her stomach once more. “You’re already doing so much for Dyna and me.” He raised an eyebrow. “You know, for someone who claims to be excellent at bossing people around, you’re terrible at accepting help.” She straightened her back, glaring at him. “Because I
was the Primary Heir of my house. I was in charge of managing a dozen different aspects of my house, ensuring that our people were protected and our district of Atlantis was prosperous, so that we had gold I could use to adequately pay the people I was bossing around. I didn’t have anything I didn’t work for.” Sam smirked briefly, but his expression then softened. “I suspect we have different ideas of working for things, my lady, but I understand what you’re saying. You’re not used to relying on the kindness of others.” “You say as if I should be used to it. If one lacks the strength to endure, one should not act as a burden on others.” “Alright, calm down, Margaret Thatcher.” “I take it that’s an insult?” “In a Northern industrial city like this? Yes.” “So, Earth has more of a culture of relying on others?” “Earth is kind of a big place. For me, growing up in my uniquely-magical environment, it was always about the community, not the individual, and not the family. The idea of not helping someone when they need it is unconscionable.” Lyna simply raised an eyebrow, saying “Earth is an incredibly strange place.” Sam grinned. “Nah, I think I’m just a strange guy.” She couldn’t help but smile, though she folded her arms across her chest. “I’m still not entirely happy with the idea of you or Doc helping Dyna and me so much without us paying you back somehow.” “Well, if I ever need a favour from you in the future, I’ll let you know,” he reasoned. She sighed. “But it’s not just the favours. I don’t have the money to buy a dagger, aside from what Doc has given me, and I’m not comfortable using her money to
start with.” “Well, I’ll get the dagger.” Lyna groaned. “You’re missing the point! You shouldn’t have to pay for things for me.” Sam shook his head. “You’re not really getting the whole refugee, fleeing-for-your-life thing, are you?” He sighed. “You said you’re a siren, right?” She nodded. “Yes, what of it?” “It’s a rare skill. Don’t you have healing songs and stuff?” “Of course.” “Well, we can ask the healer if they need a siren to help out. Like, to heal or to calm their patients. Or better yet, given that we might not want word of you being here to spread, you could work for Doc with her patients.” Lyna nodded, immediately feeling better at the prospect of working for her place on Earth. “For now, I’ll buy the dagger, and you can think of it as a loan. Either pay me back later or give me back the dagger once you’ve figured out how to return home.” Lyna sighed but nodded again. It wasn’t ideal, but she didn’t want to protest too much. As much as she disliked relying on Sam and Doc’s kindness, she didn’t exactly have another option in front of her at that moment, and the last thing she wanted was for them to withdraw their kindness and leave her and Dyna to fend for themselves. She hated feeling trapped between her sense of what was right and necessity. Her stomach broiled with agitation, a song of frustration building in her throat. She took a deep breath, reminding herself that she would be paying Doc back soon enough if she could really use her siren powers to help her with her work. The air felt strange as she breathed deeply, not calming her in the same way that the heavy water did,
but it was enough for her siren song to recede, no longer threatening to spill forth and attack those around her. While she had been calming herself, Sam had turned to the man running the stall, enquiring about the dagger. Moments later, she had both a new dagger and sheath, which she tied around her waist, hiding it under the hoodie Doc had lent her. “So, healers?” she asked, and Sam nodded. “Yep. We’ll get you and Dyna a couple of healing potions to keep on you, just in case. I need to get some for Philip as well so that he won’t worry about Doc not coming with us.” “How much do healing potions cost? I mean, having them must be cheaper than paying for a healer to accompany you.” “Doc’s not hurting for money, so she doesn’t charge much, but you’re right. Philip doesn’t trust magic, but with Doc taking time off that she is very much owed, he’s willing to chance going out with just healing potions. It’s too expensive not to. And hopefully, if it goes well, he’ll start feeling better about not having Doc on the ship in the future.” Before Lyna had the chance to ask more, they arrived at the healer. “Got anything for Mers?” Sam asked the healer at the front of the small store. It was actually closed off within walls, unlike the weapons store, but it wasn’t particularly large. The healer frowned. “A Mer? Like, a pureblood? Not a hybrid?” Lyna bit her lip as the healer looked her over, obviously peering through her glamour. So much for keeping a low profile. Sam leant closer to the healer, glancing to either side.
“Look, she got hurt saving me when I went overboard, and if she goes back to Atlantis like this, they’ll know that she, you know…” The healer gave a knowing smirk and nod. “Yeah, okay, we can brew something up if you give us a couple of hours. Need anything else? If you’re using the Hidal transformation rune, you’ll want a contraceptive potion. Waaay too many hybrids have been conceived through people not realising how much of the reproductive system that charm replicates.” Sam turned bright red, shaking his head. “That won’t be necessary, it’s not the Hidal rune. Thank you, though.” The healer nodded. “Alright. I’ll have to make up a full batch of the healing potion, mind.” “It’s okay, we’ll take all of it.” “Okay then. Come back tonight before close, and it should be ready.” “Will do. And, um, can you maybe not mention this? I don’t want it getting back to Rosaline.” “Of course,” the healer said with a wink, causing Lyna to frown. Who the hell was Rosaline? Lyna was less than happy with the healer implying that she and Sam were together, but she was even less happy with the thought that Sam had someone in his life that he would have to hide that from. Did he have a mate? Surely he would have mentioned it before if he had. But then, she didn’t really know much about him, other than that he was a Slayer who worked on a ship with Humans. “You shouldn’t have let her think we were together,” Lyna told him. Sam shrugged. “I know it was embarrassing, but I figured she would make that assumption. She would
have otherwise gossiped, but Diana will keep your presence a secret if she thinks we’re dating.” “Because of Rosaline? So she thinks you’re being unfaithful to your mate?” Sam blinked for a moment, before letting out a bark of laughter, his eyes watering under the force. “No, no, Rosaline’s not… We’re not… She’s not my mate. She practically raised me. She’s been the closest thing to a mother I’ve had since my own mother died.” “Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t realise.” He shook his head, still smiling. “It’s okay. It was a reasonable assumption to make. But no, she’s not my mate.” “Then why would she be mad about you having a relationship with a Mer? I mean, I know we don’t like humanoids, but I didn’t think the feeling was as strongly returned by the other magical beings.” He shrugged, his gaze avoiding hers. “I’m a pureblood. I’m expected to marry another pureblood to ensure the continuation of the species.” She nodded in understanding. Slayers, much like Witches, were almost entirely made up of a single gender, with Slayers largely being men, whereas Witches were women. With such a split, maintaining a pureblood population wouldn’t be easy. And unless Sam was happy to have children with another woman on the side, entering a relationship with another species wasn’t a smart idea. “I’m sorry, I know how difficult that kind of restriction can be,” Lyna said, her thoughts turning to her own betrothed for the first time since she had fled Atlantis. “I suppose you must get some of the same, being from a noble house and all,” Sam started but was cut off by the sound of someone yelling at him from across the
market. Lyna turned to see who was shouting, but Sam shook his head. “Ignore them.” That’s when she heard what they were saying. “Hey, look, Girly got a girlfriend.” Lyna frowned at the one shouting, realising that he had violet eyes and a sword at his side, with the same kind of Slayer markings as Sam’s. “Why is he calling you ‘Girly’?” she asked Sam under her breath as he tried to hurry her away. “It’s a long story.” “But he means it as an insult?” Sam nodded. “And you’re going to let an open insult stand like that?” “As opposed to what? Fighting him in the market?” The Slayer continued shouting, following them through the market. “Or is she just a whore? Must be with scales like that.” Lyna growled, grabbing the dagger Sam had just bought her and rounding on the Slayer. “Take back your insults to our honour, or I shall slit your throat,” she told him. He held up his hands defensively, though he still had a cocky grin. “Oh, looks like you’ve got teeth on you. Of course, any pureblood Mermaid would. My apologies, I thought you were some hybrid who wouldn’t be compelled to fight me to the death over such comments. Though, that begs the question what an Old World creature, tied to the wild elements, is doing with Girly over here. He’s not man enough for you, love.” Lyna simply growled again, refusing to lower her weapon. “Take back your insults to Sam as well.” “Why? It’s not your honour in question.” “Ask me if I care.”
The Slayer simply rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’d get in trouble if I made a scene…” He put his hands casually into his pockets and strolled away, making it clear that he had never considered Lyna a true threat. She wanted to throw her dagger at his back for that alone. “Come on,” Sam muttered, leading her out of there. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he spat as soon as they were out of the market, folding his arms as he turned to face her. Lyna shrugged, a little caught off-guard by the anger he was clearly directing at her. “He insulted you.” “Who cares? You can’t just threaten people who insult you.” “In Atlantis-” “We’re not in Atlantis! We’re on Earth. Where, by the way, I have to continue living when you swan off back home, and I’d appreciate you not making things worse for me.” Lyna frowned. “Why would this make it worse? And why was he insulting you to start with?” Sam sighed, shaking his head. “It’s a long story…” “I’m not going anywhere,” she told him, folding her arms. The last thing she wanted was to walk away from this with no idea what had happened. Or with Sam mad at her. “I… When I started training with the local Slayers, many of them, Kieran included, objected. They felt that I was too much of an outsider and didn’t deserve their training.” “Too much of an outsider? Why?” Sam simply shrugged, offering no further explanation. “Their Master Slayer agreed that I shouldn’t simply be given the training without earning it. Slayers are quite big
on the whole earning their place thing.” “So you fought them and proved that you were worthy?” Sam cringed. “Not quite. They tested all of my magic, along with combat magic. And… Well, my combat magic was weak by Slayer standards. It was my other skills that allowed me the place among them, but many saw it as a cheat. After all, Slayers value combat magic above all else.” “So they call you ‘Girly’?” Sam nodded. “Slayers are mostly men. Them calling me ‘Girly’ is their way of saying that I’m not truly one of them. That I don’t truly belong, despite having completed the same training as them.” “And that’s seriously enough for Kieran to insult you publicly like that?” Sam gave a rueful smile, shrugging. “Well, he is particularly annoyed by me, given that we had to fight each other as part of our final trials.” “And you won?” Sam nodded. “Though not through brute strength. Kieran tried to contest my victory and was very nearly successful. I think it’s the ‘very nearly’ part that gets him…” He glanced down, his smile fading, as Lyna realised that he was trying to downplay how much the rejection of the Slayers hurt him. “You should have let me slit his throat,” she said, gently nudging his arm. Sam smiled. “Do you honestly think you could have taken him?” Lyna shrugged. “I doubt he would have anticipated my siren song.” “You know, I think you’re right,” Sam said, his smile
finally seeming genuine as he nodded down the street. “Come on, let’s find somewhere to go for a drink. I think we both need it.” Lyna grinned back at him. “I couldn’t think of anything better.” Sam’s smile widened as he put his hands in his pockets, leading Lyna back to the main street. Lyna smiled back, a portion of the tension that she hadn’t even realised she was carrying melting away. As if summoned by her newfound ease, they turned a corner, only for Lyna to catch sight of Ryn walking through the crowd, flanked by two of his guards. He had a glamour much like hers, but it was easy enough for her to see through it. Lyna froze for a moment before grabbing Sam’s hand and dragging him into an adjacent alley. “What the hell?” Sam demanded but followed her without further protest. After stumbling through more than a few winding alleys, Lyna eventually ran out of breath, leaning back against a stone wall. She grabbed Sam by his t-shirt, yanking him close so that he would obscure her from sight if Ryn followed them. “Lyna?” Sam asked, his chest bumping up against her own. “What’s going on?” “I saw… Mers… Coming for us…” she managed through gasping breaths. Sam leant forward, his large frame almost acting like a blanket of comfort, offering her safety between the wall and his imposing stature. He placed one hand on her waist, keeping her steady on her now shaky legs, as the other came to her cheek. “It’s okay,” he assured her. “I’m sensing for any
approaching magic. They won’t catch us off-guard. Now, how many of them were there?” “Three.” “Did you recognise them?” “Yes.” “Do you know if they’re combat trained?” “Two were. The other isn’t.” He gave her a reassuring smile, his thumb gently stroking her cheek. “It’s okay. I can take two Mers on land. With you here with me, it should be simple.” She nodded, her anxiety fading at his confidence, only to be replaced by something entirely different as she suddenly became very aware of how close they were standing. Lyna found her gaze involuntarily flickering to his lips, wondering what it would be like if he closed the small space between them. If they were trying to shield her from view, she couldn’t think of a better way to go about it… Sam leant closer again, the hand that had been on her cheek going back to brush her hair aside instead. It felt strange, as Lyna still wasn’t used to the odd new fur that the transformation charm had given her, but it was certainly far from unpleasant as Sam’s lips hovered over hers. “I promise, Hian’s men won’t get you or your sister,” he assured her. “Not while I’m here.” “They weren’t Hian’s men,” she confessed, her mouth working on autopilot as she wondered if he was ever going to close the space between them. Maybe she should just do it herself… He frowned slightly, though didn’t pull away. “If they’re not Hian’s men, then who were they?” “My betrothed and his guards,” Lyna admitted, her
words reminding her of the danger she was in, distracting her thoughts from the man in front of her. He yanked his arms away as if struck by an electric eel. “Your betrothed?” She nodded, glancing over his shoulder to ensure that Ryn wasn’t approaching. “Yes. Given that we haven’t yet mated, I hadn’t thought that he would make any effort to track me down. I only thought Hian and our parents would make an effort.” “You hadn’t thought that your betrothed would try to find you?” Lyna shrugged. “I… I guess I thought he wouldn’t care that much.” Sam’s frown softened slightly as he shook his head. “Come on, let’s get you back to your sister. Her wards should stop them from sensing your magic.” Lyna nodded as Sam touched her arm, though it was brisk and businesslike as he only kept contact long enough to shift her back outside Doc’s house. Sam knocked on the door as soon as they arrived, stepping inside, into the safety of the wards, as soon as Doc opened the door. “Sorry,” he said as soon as they passed the threshold. “Someone was tracking Lyna’s magic. The wards will stop them, and they shouldn’t have been able to get another lock between me shifting her and us stepping through the wards, but I couldn’t stand outside and risk them managing it.” Doc nodded. “Of course, of course. You’re always welcome here, Sam.” “Thanks,” he said, before turning back to the door. “I’d better get going. The wards will protect Lyna and Dyna while they’re in the house, but they won’t do anything
once they’re back outside. I’ll make a couple of blocking runes and drop them off later with the healing potions. They should stop anyone from tracking them, even if they leave the house.” He shifted away before either Doc or Lyna could respond. “Bye…” Lyna said to the air, feeling more than a little dejected by his sudden rush to leave. Hadn’t they been getting on? “He’ll just be eager to make those runes,” Doc told her, telling her that her feelings on Sam’s disappearance had been more than obvious. “He just wants to make sure that you and Dyna are safe.” Lyna sighed. “I know. I just…” She shook her head. “Never mind.” “Come on, we should tell Dyna what happened.” Lyna grimaced. The last thing she wanted to do was worry her sister. What if she felt that she had to go back to Atlantis again to protect Lyna and the others? “Dyna has every right to be annoyed at you for being overprotective, you know,” Doc told her. “She only considered going back to protect you, and because she truly did consider it the safer option at the end of the day.” “Doc, do you honestly think that she’s thinking rationally? After all of the trauma, after everything she stayed through… She never once asked me for help. I had to push to get her to let me in.” “Because she feared Hian’s reaction if he ever found out that she had revealed the truth about him. I’m not saying that it was the best long-term plan, I’m simply saying that Dyna isn’t stupid, she has simply been thinking in the short-term for a long while now. She’s been thinking about how to avoid the next incident, not
on how to get out entirely. I’ve seen this before, Lyna. The best short-term plan is often just to placate and not risk causing trouble. It did nothing to get her out, but it’s the only way she’s survived.” “If she’d just told me…” “You’d have absconded to Earth with her sooner? That’s a big ask, and from what I’ve seen, neither of you seem all that big on asking for help.” Lyna folded her arms. “We’re sisters. It’s different.” “Is it? Could you honestly say that you would ask the same of her if your situations were reversed?” Lyna looked away. “I’m not saying that she was right not to tell you what was going on, I’m just saying that while there is plenty of blame here, none of it belongs to Dyna. Maybe you should stop treating her like she’s stupid because you don’t understand her decisions, and try to understand them instead. She’s beating herself up about it enough, she doesn’t need you reinforcing the idea that she deserves any of what happened to her for not acting differently.” Lyna sighed, nodding. “Okay. I’ll try.” Doc smiled. “That’s all she wants.” “Though, speaking of helping, I want to repay you for allowing us into your home-” “Lyna, you don’t have to-” “I know, but I want to. Sam suggested that you might have a use for a siren in your line of work.” Doc frowned. “I’m not exactly sure how luring sailors to their deaths would be helpful.” Lyna rolled her eyes. “There are many different variations of siren songs, including healing songs and calming songs. In the past, it wasn’t unusual for sirens to assist healers in Atlantis.”
Doc nodded. “Alright. I took the next week off work, but if everything has settled by then, you can come with me when I return to work. Though I’ll have to think of some excuse for my colleagues. But never mind, I’ll think of that later. For now, let’s see what you got at the shop and get it into the fridge.”
CHAPTER NINE Dyna and Doc spent their time in the kitchen, with Doc showing Dyna how to make the food Lyna had brought home into something edible for all of them. Lyna sat in the living room, figuring out the glowing box. Doc had shown her a few shelves, all full of small boxes. She had explained that they were “videos” and that Lyna could put them into the slot below the “TV” to show whatever Lyna wanted. Lyna looked at the boxes, finding that some had brightly painted images of what the video would show her, while others were in a generic paper box, with a lot of nonsense code written on the front. Only the side of the video itself told her what it would show, in handwritten print. Some of them appeared to be some kind of code. Lyna had no clue what “TNG” could possibly mean. Eventually, she found a title she recognised. “Star Trek I”. Lyna put the video into the slot, pressing the button as Doc had shown her. Lyna grinned, sitting back against the sofa as the video began to play. Doc peered in from the kitchen, only to yell, “No, wait!” “What?” Lyna asked as Doc hurried over to the box, stopping the pictures before they showed her anything interesting. “Did I do something wrong?”
Doc shook her head as she took the video out of the machine. “If you’re going to watch Star Trek, this is a terrible place to start.” Lyna frowned. “It said it was the first one.” “The first movie, and it’s not a good one. Seriously, if you’re going to watch the original series, start with Wrath of Kahn. Or, wait, no, you should probably watch Space Seed first. Or maybe just the series from the start, though… No, it can get a little silly at times, I suppose.” Lyna sighed. “Is there a proper viewing order or not?” Doc smiled, shrugging. “Kind of, but some of it isn’t great, and I don’t want you to hate it. What made you want to watch Star Trek, anyway? I mean, it’s a home recording, so it’s not like it has the cool box art or blurb or anything.” “I… Sam mentioned that I should watch it,” she admitted. “That and something called ‘The Fresh Prince’? He also mentioned Dune but said that it might be difficult to read through a translation spell.” Doc nodded. “Yeah, actually, I’m not sure how well any of this will translate… But seriously? You’re watching it because Sam recommended it?” Lyna shrugged defensively, getting the impression that Doc was insinuating something more than she was saying. “He kept making pop culture references, and I asked what I should catch up on.” Doc sat down next to her, sighing, as she passed her the few videos she picked up from the shelf. “You can start with any of these,” she told her. “And as for Sam… Lyna, you were awfully upset when he left without saying goodbye before.” Lyna shrugged, her shoulders making it all the way up to her ears. “He was the first person we met after arriving here. And I had no idea how we were going to survive. If
you and he hadn’t helped us out…” “Yeah, you seem reluctant to accept help. I’d say it was a Mermaid thing, but Dyna’s not as hard on the issue. I mean, she wants to help out, but I swear I can see you tallying up how much you owe me every time I offer you anything.” Lyna sighed, knowing that Doc was right. “Mers believe in being able to support yourself. In not relying on others.” “And yet you’re more reluctant to accept the kindness of others than your sister.” Lyna’s gaze became stuck to the floor as she muttered, “It’s harder to trust something completely alien to you…” She sighed, shaking her head. She refused to pity herself. “What do you know about sirens?” Doc shrugged. “Almost nothing.” “It’s… It’s a power that the royal family possess. Obviously, the royal family is more than just the people in the direct line of succession. There are plenty of cousins and so on throughout the nobility. But siren abilities don’t easily pass to children. There are a lot of rumours about how the royal family makes sure that those close to the throne have it, but among the nobility in general, it’s rare.” “And you’re a siren?” Lyna nodded. “As is my father, though I’m the only one of my siblings who inherited the power.” “So why does that mean that you’re not used to kindness?” Lyna picked at the edge of her dress, taking a deep breath in an attempt to lessen the tightness in her chest. “Sirens are rare among the nobility, and the royal family stopped socialising with the nobles outside of one ball every several years. The King still runs the kingdom
and holds court, but there’s no socialisation outside of that. Not after one of the princes was killed fifty years ago. Without that interaction with sirens… We went from revered for our connection to royalty to distrusted. Once everyone stopped idolising us, they realised that maybe the power to influence the emotions of others could be used with ill intent.” Lyna gave a humourless snort. “As if that couldn’t be said of all magic.” “So no one trusted you?” Lyna sighed. “Not as such, no. I am the Primary Heir of a great house so no one would be openly rude to me, but it did not escape my attention how my peers would never make more than the bare minimum of effort to include me, and that only at the behest of their parents. I imagine that I might have been able to offset their distrust if I had a softer personality, like my sister, but I am a woman who expects much from those around her and doesn’t have much patience for ineptitude. It has made me a great Primary Heir, but not someone who expects kindness from those around her.” “And then Sam put his own arse on the line to cover for you.” Lyna shrugged. “He says that is simply the way here, and you have hardly proven him wrong. But… I suppose the first show of kindness from someone after so long is rather jarring.” She sighed, standing up. “It matters not. It is likely that he would have acted the same as my peers had he been born in Atlantis. And he seems to have learned to keep me at a distance, regardless.” Doc gave her a reproachful look, also standing up. “You’re too harsh. He was clearly worried for you. As I said, I suspect he simply wanted to make your blocking rune as quickly as possible.” Lyna nodded. “I’m sure you’re right,” she said, though
her words lacked conviction. She was distracted by a knock at the door. “That’ll probably be him,” Doc said. “You should answer it.” Lyna nodded, sensing outside of the house to check that it was indeed Sam. The last thing she wanted was to accidentally open the door to Ryn and his guards. She opened the door, only for him to hesitate, clearly having expected Doc. “Hey,” she said, folding her arms across her chest to ward off the cold of the night air. “Hey,” he responded, bringing a stone out of his pocket. “I have the blocking rune for you. And the healing potions as well.” She nodded, doing her best not to brush her scales against his skin as she took the rune, too afraid that he’d reject even the smallest of touches. “I…” he started, before pausing as he stuck his hands back into his pockets. “Look, I’m sorry about leaving so quickly before. I just wanted to make sure that I made the rune as quickly as possible.” “It’s okay,” she assured him. He nodded, not quite meeting her gaze. “I also got the healing potion for Philip. We’re going to head out first thing in the morning, and we’re going to be back to working heavy hours. I won’t really be onshore much. The emergency rune will call me back if Hian gets too close, but I otherwise won’t be around.” “Okay,” she said, not able to come up with another response. It wasn’t really her place to ask Sam to stay. She was just some random Mermaid he happened to save. “You know that you’re kind of amazing, right?” he asked, catching her off-guard. “I mean, with everything
you’ve done for your sister. I have dozens of siblings, and I couldn’t imagine any of them giving up anything for me, never mind their whole lives. Your sister is lucky to have someone like you looking out for her.” “I… Thanks,” Lyna managed, still at a loss for words. He really thought she was amazing just for that? “But really, she’s my sister. I couldn’t imagine not giving everything to help her.” “And the fact that you think it’s so simple is what’s so amazing.” He smiled as he spoke, but it quickly faded as soon as he finished. He glanced down the street. “I should get going. I guess I hope that I don’t see you again. That you don’t have an emergency and that you get back to Atlantis with no trouble.” “Me too,” she lied. Not that she wanted trouble, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to hope that their paths never crossed again. He seemed to accept her lie, quickly passing her the healing potions before shifting away, leaving Lyna facing nothing but the freezing air.
CHAPTER TEN Lyna woke up determined the next morning. The spray bottle by her bedside table kept her from drying out through the night, and an early morning bath left her feeling almost as refreshed as being at home. She dressed quickly and headed down the stairs as fast as her wonky legs would allow. She knew that Doc wouldn’t return to work for another few days, so she wanted to see how she could help around the house until then. When Lyna arrived, however, she saw Dyna and Doc sitting at the kitchen table with grave expressions. “What’s up?” Lyna asked as she approached, a little afraid of the answer. “I’ve been thinking about what to do going forward,” Dyna told her, as Lyna took the last seat at the table. “How to deal with Ryn and contact our parents.” “All right, what’s your plan?” “I think you need to go back to Atlantis.” Lyna frowned. “What? No way! I’m not leaving you alone on Earth.” “I’m not alone,” Dyna defended. “I’m safe here with Lisa and Sam can be here in a moment if Hian catches up with me. Seriously, Lyna, I feel safe here with Lisa. There’s no immediate need for you to be here. Ryn is the only Mer who has managed to get close to tracking us down, and he’s your betrothed. If he gets you back, he’ll likely back off and stop looking for me. And if you return
with Ryn to Atlantis, you can tell our parents about what’s going on and figure out a way to stop Hian and get me home. If you don’t return, I can’t think of another way to contact our parents without giving Hian a way to easily track me down.” Lyna sighed, having to admit that her sister had thought this through rather thoroughly. And as much as she didn’t want to leave her sister alone - and definitely didn’t want to return to Ryn - Lyna had to admit that this plan was probably the best shot at contacting their parents and resolving the situation. Lyna bit her lip, her stomach churning. At least when she had left Atlantis with Dyna, it had happened so quickly that she hadn’t had time to truly think about what was happening, and what she was giving up. And yet, despite the fact that she had been on Earth only a short time, and hadn’t exactly easily adjusted, the thought of returning home was making her ill. “Okay,” she finally said. “I think that we should start small, however. I want to talk to Ryn first and see what’s going on back home before we make a definitive plan.” Dyna sighed. “It will increase the risk of him following you back here, but… I have to admit that I would be happier if I had some information about what was happening back home.” “Then I’ll find him and talk to him. Maybe if I tell him what’s going on, he might actually help us.” “This is all well and good, but how will you find him?” Doc asked. “I mean, you just happened to run into him yesterday.” “Well, it wasn’t entirely by chance,” Lyna figured. “Ryn was using my magic to track me. I don’t want to remove the tracking rune to allow him to do so again, just in case
Hian’s men are here as well, but I can track him through his magic, just as he did with me.” Dyna frowned. “Do you think you’ll have a strong enough connection? You and Ryn aren’t exactly close.” Lyna shrugged. “He managed to track me down, and I’m at least as powerful as he is.” She couldn’t help but smirk a little at that. Ryn was from a house that was new to their power. It was impossible in the magical world to ever truly extract political power from magical ability. Ryn’s family had clawed their way to power through various social and political ties, but it would take a few more generations of matings with more powerful families for any of their members to even vaguely approach Lyna’s raw power. Of course, raw power was only as good as training. In the case of basic magic use, Lyna would undoubtedly have both more raw power to work with and would have had better schooling. When it came to combat, however, Lyna had never had any interest in learning, and while she wasn’t aware of Ryn being particularly skilled in the area, his guards most certainly would be. “I suppose I shouldn’t delay,” Lyna said, forcing herself to stand up. “I’ll head out and try to find him. I’ll be back later with news. If I’m not, don’t leave the house or try to come after me. I’ll be fine.” Doc nodded. “Of course, there’s not much that we could do. We’ll contact Sam if you’re not back by tonight.” Lyna folded her arms at the mention of Sam but nodded. “Okay, I’ll see you later…”
CHAPTER ELEVEN Lyna headed into town before starting to sense for Ryn. Given that that’s where she had seen him yesterday, it seemed like the best place to start, and she wanted to put as much distance between herself and Dyna as she reasonably could before she drew the attention of any other Mers. This would all be for nought if she allowed Hian or his allies to trace her back to Dyna. She sensed him quickly enough, along with two other Mer signatures that she presumed belonged to his guards, over at the market she had visited the day before. She supposed he must be trying to track her down from the last place he had sensed her. Lyna braced herself, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin as she strode into the market. One of Ryn’s guards spotted her first, alerting Ryn to her arrival. “Lyna,” he greeted as she approached, his voice not betraying even the slightest hint of emotion. “Your parents and I have been worried. You and your sister disappeared after the ball, and Hian was injured. He said that he didn’t see who attacked him, and we had all thought that you had been kidnapped.” He looked her over. “However, you do not appear harmed.” Lyna suppressed a sigh, wondering just how to go about explaining things. If she messed this up, she might only make things worse, potentially undermining their
case, or solidifying Ryn’s determination to find Dyna as well. “I was the one who attacked him,” she eventually admitted. If she kept the truth from him, he would probably find out later and might turn against them for her betrayal. Not to mention, he was supposed to be her betrothed, right? Just because Hian had turned out to be awful, didn’t mean that Ryn would as well. If they were going to be mated, he should stand by her decision to help her sister. “He was about to attack Dyna,” Lyna continued. “I caught them arguing, and he had his hand raised…” Ryn frowned. “But you didn’t actually see him hit her?” Lyna shook her head. “No, I used my siren song against him before he could. But it was very obvious that he meant to.” Ryn’s frown simply deepened, before he shook his head. “I’m sure that it may have seemed that way, but Hian is an honourable man. I can’t believe that he would ever harm his mate.” Lyna folded her arms. “You don’t believe me.” Ryn shrugged. “I believe that you believed that he would harm your sister. Your parents said that you were protective of her and that you never liked Hian.” Lyna glared at him, at a complete loss. She was his betrothed. Why was he taking the word of some random guy over hers? Because your parents told him that you were looking to start a fight with Hian. She knew that her parents thought that her distrust of Hian was an overreaction. Or, at the very least, that they found her vocal opinion on the matter to be problematic. But she had hoped that they would at least believe her when she had witnessed him hurting her first-hand.
“It’s not the first time he’s done this,” Lyna continued. “She’s covered in scars.” “And you’re sure that they’re from him? Hian mentioned that she can be clumsy, and your parents said that she has a habit of being in her head so much that she doesn’t look where she’s swimming.” Lyna shook her head. Yes, Dyna wasn’t the best swimmer, but the scars were far worse than anything she’d picked up as a child. “A healer here confirmed it.” That was a bit of a stretch, but Lyna was sure that Doc could, indeed, confirm that the scars weren’t just from clumsiness. Ryn raised an eyebrow. “A healer here on Earth? And they were familiar with Mer physiology?” “She has Mer patients.” “True Mers or just hybrids?” “Hybrids, but they’re close enough-” “No, they’re not, they’re deformed monstrosities. I highly doubt this healer of yours is familiar enough with Mer physiology to properly say anything about your sister. But never mind,” he said with a smile. “The healers at home will confirm that it is merely clumsiness.” Lyna shook her head. “She’s not going back.” “She has to. Her mate is waiting for her. Her life is waiting for her. She can’t just run away like some petulant child because they got into a spat. And you can’t just run away to shield her. You have responsibilities too, remember? Your parents are worried sick, and they have to pick up the slack without their Primary Heir around.” Lyna glanced down at the ground, well aware of how difficult her leaving will have made things for her parents. “I’m not saying that we planned to stay on Earth forever, but I cannot allow Hian to harm her again.” Ryn sighed. “You have no proof that he hurt her in the
first place.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. If Hian wants to track down your sister, that is his job as her mate. You are my only concern here.” Lyna nodded, though it was stiff, her muscles frozen. It was clear that he didn’t believe her and wouldn’t help, and it didn’t sound as if her parents would be much help either… She took a deep breath as covertly as she could, reminding herself that all she knew of what her parents had said was being relayed through Ryn. There was every chance that they would be sympathetic once she got back and could speak with them. But what if they weren’t? What if they didn’t believe her? What if they just wanted Lyna to tell them where Dyna was so that Hian could find her? Lyna struggled not to bite her lip as she thought. She would have to go back. She knew that, and she knew that there was no point in delaying the inevitable for her own selfish reasons. But there was no way that she was returning home without a true plan. Not with the way Ryn was treating the situation. “I sought you out to return with you,” she assured him. “I know how much my sudden disappearance must have disrupted life for everyone back home, and I never had any intention of staying here longer than was absolutely necessary to make sure Dyna was safe.” Ryn folded his arms. “I want you to return home with me, Lyna, but if you intend to drag me into a fight with Hian…” She shook her head. “No. Of course not. I simply wish to help Dyna find a way to return home without any harm coming to her.” “Your attachment to your sister is unusually strong,” he
muttered in a way that left no doubt that he meant it as an insult. “As long as you do not provoke Hian, however, and you return with me to Atlantis, it is none of my business.” “I promise, I will return. However, my sister had hoped for news of home before I left.” Ryn sighed, nodding. “Fine. I shall answer her questions. Where is she?” “Actually, it would be best if you simply told me and I relayed the information back to her.” He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t trust me?” “Dyna has been shaken by this whole ordeal. You cannot fault her for being paranoid.” “And you cannot fault me the same, given that my betrothed ran off to another realm without so much as a goodbye. Forgive me if I’m not exactly happy about letting you out of my sight again.” Lyna sighed. “I promise, I will return to you by morning.” Ryn frowned, clearly not happy, but he eventually nodded. “Fine. What does your sister wish to know?” “Everything that happened with Hian and our parents since we left.” “About what you would expect,” he explained, shifting his weight a little as his tense stance loosened just a tad. “Hian was found wounded and disoriented. He told everyone that he and Dyna were having a heated conversation, and he was then attacked by someone he didn’t see. When he regained his focus, your sister was gone. Everyone thought that she had been kidnapped by enemies of Hian or your parents. Of course, it wasn’t long before we realised that you had disappeared as well. As soon as that came to light, your parents seemed less eager to find a kidnapper. I suppose that makes sense
now. They said that you disliked Hian, so they must have realised that you were likely the one to attack him. Obviously, they never shared that suspicion, but they’ve also been desperately avoiding accusing anyone of the kidnapping, despite Hian’s pressing.” Lyna had to stop herself from raising an eyebrow. There was no way that Hian didn’t know what had happened. He had to at least have known that he was hit by a siren song, even if he truly hadn’t seen Lyna. Given that he had been about to hit Dyna, and Lyna had disappeared with her, there was no way that he hadn’t put two and two together. Which meant that he was deliberately trying to steer her parents into a political fight with another house. “I’ll relay this information to Dyna and then return,” Lyna promised him, trying not to wince at her own words. Ryn nodded. “But do be quick. I don’t want to stay on land any longer than necessary.” Lyna nodded back before hurrying out of the market, weaving through the crowd to lose anyone Ryn might have sent after her. After all, he had seemed suspicious of her promise to stay, making sending someone to follow her the smart thing to do. If she didn’t return of her own free will, at least he would be able to still find her. And she couldn’t exactly blame him. She hadn’t expected Ryn to take her words completely at face value, but she had hoped. After all, he was her betrothed. After everything that had happened with Dyna and Hian, she had feared for her own mating. That Ryn would behave towards her like Hian did towards Dyna. Of course, Lyna would have the upper hand in their relationship. He would be mating into her family, not the other way around, but was it too much for her to want a
relationship that wasn’t measured by who had the upper hand? She knew that love often sprang from arranged matings, as it had for her parents, but wasn’t trust supposed to come first? And Ryn didn’t even trust her enough to take her word over Hian’s… Her thoughts were cut off by a man with violet eyes shifting in front of her. Before she had a chance to realise what was happening, she was hurtling towards the ground. However, this time, there was no one to catch her, and she crashed into the pavement, the scales across her arms and knees scraping off, staining the stones beneath her with blue blood. She spun around to face the man looming over her. His sword was drawn as he advanced. Lyna screamed, her siren powers knocking him back as she scrambled to her feet. She immediately spun around to sprint away from him, but she barely made it a couple of steps before something grabbed her hair, yanking her back. Lyna hit the ground again, her arm twisting awkwardly beneath her as she realised that her attacker had managed to recover from her siren blast in mere moments. What the hell was he and why was he after her? She went to get her dagger from her side, but her arm refused to move, still awkwardly twisted. The man was upon her before she had a chance to get it with her other hand. Lyna lunged out of the way of his sword, landing on her broken arm again. A cry of pain left her throat, knocking her attacker back just a little as she considered her options at lightning
speed. She couldn’t hold her own with her wrong hand. She doubted she would have managed it with the right one, given her attacker’s obvious skill and power. That meant that her only way out was to escape or call for help. Her thoughts went to the emergency rune Sam had given her, sitting in her pocket, but then she remembered how cold he had been with her the day before. As much as he had tried to smooth things over, he had said that he had hoped not to see her again. Could she really encroach upon his life once more? Surely she could handle this herself. The only other option for help would be Ryn, but that thought left a bad taste in her mouth. As much as he would save her, he certainly wouldn’t let her return to Dyna after the fight. He would sweep her away, back to the safety of Atlantis, before anyone knew she was gone. No, if someone was attacking her, they were probably after Dyna. She couldn’t let her sister go unwarned. Lyna let loose her siren song again, causing the attacker to stumble. She kept going as long as she could, though he didn’t get knocked back again, it simply kept him in place as he tried to shake off the pain. She had to run. That was her only option. She kept singing as she ran away, knowing that it would hurt anyone else she passed who just happened to be in earshot, but she had no other options. Lyna made it to the end of the street before something hit her in the back, sending her flying. She skidded into the road, more scales scraping from her as the emergency rune clattered from her pocket, skating across the asphalt. She reflexively held her hand out to grab it, not
realising that her pain and terror had manifested itself as raw Energy over her scales. As soon as her fingers brushed the rune, the Energy fueled it, calling to Sam. Whatever had hit her in the back had lodged there, causing her to collapse to the ground as a large figure shifted above her, standing between her and the attacker. She allowed herself to relax as she recognised Sam’s magical signature. Before that point, she hadn’t realised how much she trusted in his ability to protect her. And yet, despite the sound of swords clashing above her, she had no doubt that Sam would prevail. After several moments, Lyna managed to gather the wherewithal to start singing just barely under her breath. Not enough for anyone else to hear, but enough to numb her back, though her movement remained restricted. She slowly pushed herself to her knees, turning to see exactly what was happening. Sam and the attacker were still fighting, swords clashing between them so quickly that Human eyes would have been lost. Even Lyna was having trouble keeping up, though she could see enough to recognise that the two of them were evenly matched, even down to the near-identical swords. Lyna frowned, suddenly not so sure that Sam would prevail. But it wasn’t as if she could do much to help. Any song she sang, whether to hurt or help, would affect both of them, and there wasn’t any water to hand. All she had was her dagger… Lyna took a deep breath, steeling herself as she started to sing under her breath again, increasing her reaction time so that she could keep better track of the
battle, as well as numbing and temporarily holding together her broken arm. She poured all of her worry for Sam and anger at the attacker into her song until the two men seemed to slow in front of her, enough for her to see an opening. Lyna’s hand wrapped around her dagger, just as the attacker stepped to the side of Sam, the Slayer no longer blocking her view of the attacker. She threw the dagger faster than either man could see, her aim true as it struck the attacker right in the eye. He stumbled back, before dropping to the ground. Sam blinked, taking a moment to realise what had happened as Lyna collapsed, completely drained. Lyna felt her vision go fuzzy as the pain in her arm returned in full force. If she weren’t so exhausted, she was sure that she would have let loose an involuntary burst of pain-filled siren song. She felt strong arms wrap around her, holding her tight. “Hold on, Lyna,” Sam said softly. “You’ll be okay, just hold on.” She forced herself to nod, but it took what little strength she had left, and she wasn’t sure that it had even been perceptible. Lyna felt the familiar drop in her stomach that came from shifting, only to be gently placed on her side on a soft surface a moment later. She forced her eyes to focus, taking stock of her surroundings. Unfortunately, she was facing a plain cream wall, though it was obvious that she was lying on a bed. “Where am I?” she forced herself to whisper, her throat hoarse from all of her singing. “My place. I have healing equipment here,” Sam
explained. “Sorry, you’ve got a dagger lodged in your back. It’s not hit anything vital, but it’s going to hurt when I pull it out.” Lyna nodded, gritting her teeth. “Just get it over with.” “I promise, I’ll go as quickly as possible.” Lyna heard various noises - some variations of metal, wood, and glass knocking together as Sam got his equipment ready. “Sorry,” he said again, and she felt a warm spread of magic around the intruding object in her back. The warmth was quickly replaced by cold, however, as the area became numb. A moment later, she felt a slight shift, presumably Sam gripping the dagger’s hilt. It wasn’t painful, but Lyna gripped the sheets beneath her regardless, doing her best not to tense up, for fear that it would make Sam’s job even harder. Sam hadn’t been lying when he said he’d be quick. One moment the dagger was in her back, and the next it was gone, freezing air replacing the metal. It took everything Lyna had to remain still as she felt blood gush from the wound, suddenly becoming very dizzy. But a moment later, the blood slowed to a stop. Lyna didn’t feel any other liquid on her back, like a healing potion, and yet the wound seemed to be closing swiftly and cleanly, as if by the hands of a master healer. Lyna felt some strength return to her as the wound finished closing. “That should be fine now,” Sam said, and Lyna sat up, turning to face him. He was putting something in his pocket as she turned to him, before he moved over to his healing equipment, taking a small healing potion in a plastic spray bottle.
“Here,” he said, sitting down next to her. “Let me see your other wounds.” He gently moved his hand over to her scraped knees, and for whatever reason, his gentle touch seemed to open the floodgates, and Lyna found herself failing to hold back a sob. “I’m sorry,” she managed. “I… I didn’t mean to drag you into a fight.” Sam frowned, moving his attention away from her injuries as he moved so that he was sitting closer to her, his hand going to gently cup her cheek, his thumb brushing away her tears. “Hey, it’s okay,” he assured her. “We’re fine. We’re both fine. You stopped the attacker and saved us both.” She shook her head, though kept the move gentle so as not to displace his hand. “No, if you hadn’t… If you hadn’t shown up, I would have been dead. I… I should have been strong enough to protect myself. To protect Dyna…” “Dyna’s safe because of you. As are we.” “I shouldn’t have needed your help.” “I didn’t mind giving it.” “Why?” she asked, the question that had been plaguing her for days finally coming to the forefront. “Why do you help me so much? Why defend me? And don’t just say it’s an Earth thing. I don’t buy it. What is it that you want from me?” “Nothing,” he assured her, his intense, green gaze actually making her believe it. “Lyna, I don’t want to see you hurt because I care about you.” “You barely know me.” “I know that you gave up everything to save your sister. I know that the kind of bravery and compassion that takes is rare.”
Lyna shrugged, looking away. “She’s my sister.” “And you say that as if it explains everything. As if all siblings would do as you did. I… Lyna, I’m a pureblood. Do you understand what that means? My parents had dozens of children with dozens of different partners, at least… Honestly, I lost track of how many siblings I have. They’re just numbers to me. Just as I am to them, as well as my parents. Especially my father… And I will be expected to do the same. I have always known that this was unusual, even among other magical beings, but I don’t think I really got it until I saw the way you protected Dyna. “Lyna, I have always felt alone. As if no one really cared about me. And I thought that was normal. I thought that my loneliness was all on me. That my want for something more was my own personal weakness. And then I saw how much you were willing to give for your family… And it was this confirmation that I really was missing something. That my wanting something more was a want for something that existed, not just some impossible fantasy. “So, yeah, maybe I am happier to save your life than I would be for someone else, but only because you gave me hope for mine.” Lyna blinked, unsure of what to say to that. His belief in her was unwarranted, but for a moment, he made her forget that. She couldn’t quite bring herself to remind him of her flaws, and for just a moment, she could forget just how extensive they were. But, of course, the relief was only temporary, as anxiety over the man who attacked her returned in full force. “The attacker… He was a Slayer, wasn’t he?” Sam nodded. “I might have suspected that he was
targeting you because of me, but I didn’t recognise him. And even Kieran walked away, rather than attacking.” Lyna bit her lip. The possibility of her being attacked over Sam hadn’t even occurred to her. “I assumed he was working with Hian.” “Yeah, some Slayers will take bounties.” “Which means that Hian has one out on me, at least.” Sam put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I can go down to the bounty office and check the details.” “And then what? Can you get it taken down?” “Not without money.” Lyna sighed. “Which we don’t have…” “If it’s a reasonable amount, I’m sure we can get it together.” Lyna shook her head. “Hian is the head of a quite powerful house, Sam. The odds are that it won’t be anything close to reasonable.” “We’ll figure something out,” he assured her. “So, why were you in town? I thought you’d be staying at Doc’s after Ryn caught up with you, even with the blocking rune.” Lyna cringed, looking away. “Ryn was why I was there in the first place.” “You went looking for him?” Sam asked, his gentle look turning hard. “I suppose you’d want to, given that he’s your betrothed and all, but with your sister…” “It was her idea,” Lyna explained, curling her knees up to her chest. “And she’s right. We need to return to Atlantis eventually, and the only way to do that is to smooth things over. We have to ensure that Dyna is protected when we return, and there’s no reliable way to communicate with people back home without returning.” “So you went to Ryn?” Lyna nodded. “I had hoped that he’d only be bothered
about getting me home, not Dyna, and I was right. He’s far more concerned with stopping me from evading our mating than anything to do with Dyna…” Sam frowned. “Wait, evade your mating? Why would he think you would do that?” Lyna cringed, looking away. “Because he’s not completely oblivious… I… Sam, Dyna never found any reason to object to Hian. She thought he was a more than acceptable mate. She didn’t know him super well, but she certainly had no idea of what kind of Mer he would turn out to be…” “And you’re afraid that Ryn will turn out to be the same?” Lyna nodded. “I… I know it’s paranoid. And I’m sure that I just read into his behaviour sometimes, out of fear, but… I just don’t know him. And I know that it can often happen for arranged matings, but I can’t imagine a future where I truly care for him…” “And yet you’re still going to marry him?” Sam asked, frowning. Lyna shrugged with a resigned sigh. “It’s my duty. To break my betrothal… I would need something other than ‘I don’t feel like it’. I may never love Ryn, but mating with him will ensure that our houses are tied, ensuring that House Coral isn’t left behind when houses like his start to overtake the old guard. The balance of power is shifting in Atlantis, and we have to stay ahead of it. Mating with Ryn will be a step towards that.” Sam’s frown deepened as he leant closer to her, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. “Don’t you ever think of finding love for yourself?” She shrugged, trying to ignore the way her breath caught at his touch. “Do you?” “All the time,” he admitted, his voice barely more than
a whisper as she realised that he was just inches from her. “No one ever wanted to so much as be my friend in Atlantis. The thought of anyone ever loving me… The impossibility always made the thought of mating with Ryn easier to bear.” Before she could say anything else, she found his lips on hers. Lyna gasped in surprise, but it quickly morphed into kissing him back as his touch sent sparks down her limbs. He pulled away, and she found herself panting for air, annoyed at his absence. Her thighs instinctively rubbed together, his kissing awakening an ache between them that felt like she was rapidly approaching a cliff that, while daunting, she found herself very much wanting to fall from. “You kissed me,” she eventually managed to say, confusion winning out over her want for him to continue. Sam nodded, giving a slightly sheepish shrug. “Well, I… I figured that you should have someone kiss you because they liked you at least once. I mean, everyone should know what that feels like, right?” He was trying to play it off as no big deal, some simple favour that had meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. But she could see through him, her breath catching as the truth of his feelings shone through his gaze. She surged forward, her lips meeting his once more. One of his hands went to her cheek, the other steadying her waist as her move forward ended up with her awkwardly straddling him. “Lyna?” he asked in confusion as she pulled away again, needing air.
“You deserve to have someone kiss you because they like you too.” His cheeks turned a little pink, and she wondered what it meant. “Lyna…” He looked away, his smile fading. “You should… If you stay this close, I’ll just end up kissing you again.” “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” That seemed to be all of the invitation he needed, his lips once more meeting hers as she moaned, arching into him. This time, however, he shifted around, laying her back down on the bed as he hovered over her. Lyna whimpered, her thighs rubbing together again. “Sam,” she pleaded, “whatever this transformation charm has built between my legs… I feel like I’m going to explode.” Sam failed to hold back a grin, shaking his head. “I should have known Holly would have designed the transformation charm with sex in mind. Like I said, poonhound.” “I don’t know what that means,” Lyna told him, quickly losing her patience. “Then I’ll show you,” he said, before kissing her again. He moved one hand down to her chest, and to one of the fairly pronounced breasts that the transformation charm had generated, his hand gently cupping it through the fabric of her dress. Lyna lost all coherence as he brushed his thumb across the peak. “Creator!” she cried out, arching into the touch. “What the hell was that?” Sam smirked. “So, I know that you Mers form eggs from your magic instead of having sex, but I kind of
figured that it’d still feel the same.” Lyna shook her head. “No, this… Creator… Sharing my siren song is supposed to be intensely pleasurable, but if it’s anything like this…” “Sharing your siren song?” “When a siren falls in love, she shares her song with her mate. It changes their magical signatures and bonds them together. It’s supposed to be the highest form of ecstasy, but this…” Sam’s smirk got wider as he failed not to laugh. “Lyna, we haven’t even gotten to the good bit yet.” “What?” she managed, propping herself up a little on her elbows. “Can you humanoids always experience this? Why aren’t you doing it constantly?” “Well, like I said, I only knew of the one transformation charm, and I think the Witch who designed it intended it for exactly this use. I’d guess that it’s made you a little more sensitive than the average humanoid.” Sam’s look became a little more concerned, and Lyna felt her chest constrict with a flood of emotion. When he looked at her like that… Like he gave a shit. “Are you sure it’s okay?” he asked. “It’s not hurting you or anything?” She felt her eyes sting with tears, wanting nothing more than to kiss him until he smiled again. “As long as you don’t stop, I am more than fine,” she assured him, her breath catching in her throat as his slight frown was replaced with a heated gaze. His eyes raked her over with a promise she couldn’t decipher the details of, but wanted nothing more than to hold him to. A song spilt forth from her throat, and it took her a moment to realise what it was. A lust song.
She’d never sang one before, and immediately regretted that fact when she saw the hunger in Sam’s eyes turn almost feral. “Creator, Lyna, what is that?” he asked, his voice hoarse. “Lust song,” she managed, her own mouth dry at the song, her body aching for his touch. “Then I suppose we should dispose of these,” he said, tugging lightly on her dress, and she could see that he was exercising as much restraint against her song as he could, trying not to go too quickly for her. She hadn’t known that it was possible, but she wanted him even more at that, her song getting more intense as she pulled off her dress as fast as she could, just as he tugged his t-shirt over his head. He threw his top across the room, before returning to her with a hungry look, his gaze raking over her scales. He seemed particularly affected by the sight of the junction between her thighs. “Creator, Lyna, were you not wearing underwear?” She shrugged. “Is that the little bit of fabric Doc left with the dress? I couldn’t figure out what it was for…” He blinked. “Mers don’t wear clothes, remember?” His lips were on hers before she could say anything else, his tongue hungrily seeking entrance as she gasped. She held onto his back as she arched upwards, wanting more from him, even if she didn’t know what ‘more’ was. His lips didn’t stay on hers, however. Instead, he charted a path of gentle kisses down Lyna’s neck, making his way down to her breasts. “Sam,” she gasped as he kissed his way over one of
her peaks, but he didn’t stop. Instead, he kept heading down. Her abdomen twitched as his kisses moved lower, a feeling of anticipation for something beyond her comprehension building to an almost unbearable level. “Sam, what are you doing?” she asked, her voice breaking a little as she struggled to keep her breathing even. He grinned up at her, his mouth just above the intersection of her thighs. “Do you trust me?” She nodded, surprising herself. It was such a random question, and the list of people she trusted didn’t exactly extend far. And yet, Sam was somehow quite far up the list. “Tell me if I do something wrong,” he said before his grin widened. “Or right.” She nodded again as he moved his hands down to her thighs, gently pushing them apart to reveal the strange new formation between them. Lyna hadn’t really given the area much thought. She knew that it was related to Human mating, but she’d ignored it otherwise. As soon as Sam placed a gentle kiss over the area, Lyna knew how ignorant of her that had been. She gasped out, her back arching as her vision suddenly filled with stars. “Creator,” she managed, struggling to regain her breath. “Are you okay?” Sam asked. “Do you want me to stop?” “If you don’t keep going, I will literally explode,” she told him as she gulped down air. Sam grinned before kissing her there again, prompting another jolt of pleasure to race through her.
However, he didn’t just stop at kissing this time, his tongue moving to tease the area. Lyna grasped at the bedsheets around her, her legs bending at the knee. As he went, she realised that the area he was attending to was far more complex than she had first imagined, with his tongue more than happily alternating between less sensitive areas and areas that made her hips buck into his mouth as he went. After what felt like an eternity, she realised that her pleasure was building, her limbs tensing in anticipation of something just beyond her reach… And then a wave of pure ecstasy pulled her under, leaving her gasping for air as she struggled to remember how to breathe, her body seemingly putting all of its efforts into bucking her hips and flexing around Sam’s tongue as it kept lapping her up. Lyna wasn’t sure when coherence returned to her, feeling completely weak as she finally seemed to remember how her lungs worked. Sam kissed between her legs once more, and she whimpered with the pleasant little aftershock it gave. Sam smiled as he moved back up to kiss her neck. “Enjoy that?” he asked. She turned to face him, catching his gaze to see something completely foreign behind his eyes. Something warm and enticing, though not as immediate as the heated look he had given her before. This was more like slipping into a warm bath, and she found herself pressing her lips to his once more, though there was none of the urgency behind it that she’d felt before. No, this was soft and languid, revelling in nothing but the man beside her as he moved his hand to her waist,
his touch gentle and almost innocent compared to how it had been mere moments before. “Lyna…” he said as he pulled away, clearly wanting to say something. He didn’t, however, instead, moving his hand down her waist until it was on her hip, sending another shiver of anticipation through her. The warm look he had been giving her turned cheeky as his smile became a lopsided grin. “Want to know how Humans mate?” he asked her, his voice a low, conspiratorial whisper. She raised an eyebrow. “Wasn’t that what that just was?” “Kind of.” He moved a hand up to her cheek, the fun in his gaze slipping just a little to reveal the sincerity beneath once more. “Want to see the rest?” She felt her heart thunder with anticipation and found herself mutely nodding. Sam responded by removing his trousers as well as he could without moving too far from her. Lyna looked down, wanting to get a better look between his legs. She hadn’t really examined how her new form looked, and she wanted some idea of how it appeared. Except it quickly became clear that Sam had a very different set-up. Hers simply appeared to be more sensitive skin arranged in folds, with possibly something a little more internal, but his was definitely external. Sam kissed her again, once more taking it slow and leisurely as Lyna felt her body’s response build far more slowly than before. Less like an exploding dam, and more like the rising tide, coming to sweep her away while she wasn’t looking.
He moved a hand down between her legs, his fingers gently brushing her folds to tease her, much like his tongue had. “Okay, this might feel weird,” he warned her as he pulled away from the kiss. “But hopefully the transformation charm will make sure that it feels good.” She gave him a reassuring smile, kissing him gently again as he manoeuvred the lower half of his body down to hers, his hands guiding her legs and hips into place. She felt something push up against her, and it felt too big to be a finger. After a moment, she realised that it must be Sam’s… appendage. Lyna gasped as it didn’t stop at her skin, instead, pushing up inside her. She’d known that his tongue had felt a little more internal, but this was different. This was more. “Creator, Lyna…” Sam managed as he slipped into her with no resistance beyond incredibly pleasant friction. Lyna groaned as he filled her, her body arching with want once more. She knew that she’d probably feel disturbed if it didn’t feel so damn good, but it did, and she felt the electric desire of before break through the languid warmth she had been revelling in. Sam started pumping in and out of her, causing her to gasp as he brought his lips to hers once more, one of his hands coming up to gently cup her cheek as the other rested on her hips, guiding them in time with his own. Lyna brought her hands to his face, keeping his lips on hers as she failed to suppress a moan of pleasure, moving her legs to wrap around his as he moved. When the wave of pleasure built within her again, she held him tighter, keeping his body against hers.
“Creator, Lyna,” Sam muttered, the desire in his voice pushing her over the edge. Stars filled her vision once more as she felt him react within her, doing something she couldn’t quite figure out without diverting far too much thought away from just how good having him that close felt. By the time coherence returned to her, Sam had slipped out of her and was simply holding her close against him, gently stroking her hair. “Does that make you feel as good as it makes me feel?” Lyna asked him, curious. She felt him smile as he continued to hold her close. “Definitely.” Lyna smiled back as she felt her eyelids grow heavy. “Does it make you tired as well? I feel like I could sleep for a thousand years…” “Yeah, it does. It’s okay, just rest, Lyna. There’s nowhere else to be.” She was already lost to the world before she could remember that wasn’t true.
CHAPTER TWELVE Lyna awoke the next morning gently, curling up to the warm body next to her with a smile on her face. Of course, that smile was short lived, as she bolted upright, remembering the day before. “Lyna?” she heard Sam ask behind her, his voice still groggy with sleep. “What is it?” She looked over to the window, seeing the sun streaming through. “It’s after dawn,” she said. “Crap.” She jumped out of bed, searching for her dress. Sam sat up, frowning. “What is it? What’s dawn?” She shook her head frantically. “Yesterday, when I saw Ryn, he agreed to leave Dyna alone, but only if I returned to him before dawn. With everything that happened, I forgot…” Sam immediately jumped into action, grabbing his trousers. “I’m sure she’s safe,” he assured her as they got dressed. “I mean, the wards will keep her from being found, and it’s not as if Ryn even knew where you were staying. And he couldn’t have followed you home since you were here.” Lyna nodded as she finished pulling on her dress. “I know, but I’d rather not chance it.” As soon as they were both even slightly close to dressed, Sam took her hand and shifted straight into Doc’s living room.
And straight in front of Ryn. Lyna’s betrothed glared at her as she quickly detached her hand from Sam’s. “Lyna, I knew you wouldn’t uphold your end of the bargain.” Lyna shook her head. “No, I’m here now. I intended to return to you, I swear it, but I was attacked on my way here. It took me all night to heal.” Ryn narrowed his eyes, clearly not buying it. Sam stepped forward. “She’s telling the truth. I’m a local healer. I spent all night patching her up, and I shifted her back here as soon as she was well enough.” Lyna’s stomach twisted with guilt at the lie. When she had said it, she’d simply been covering for the fact that she’d fallen asleep. When Sam said it, it brought home the fact that they were covering for her falling asleep because they had been intimate. Not that that would matter to Ryn. They weren’t mated, and Lyna knew that it was common for even those with arranged marriages to “practice” kissing and so on with others before they mated… And yet it made her stomach twist, knowing that her dalliance had endangered everyone. “Please,” Lyna continued, “we’re pretty sure that Hian has put a bounty out on me, and that the attacker was one of his bounty hunters. Just a quick check at the local bounty office would confirm that much.” Ryn’s expression finally softened. “You don’t need to check,” Lyna realised. “You already knew that he had a bounty out.” “There is a bounty out for you and your sister, alive,” he emphasised that last word as if it made it better. “Hian was getting desperate.”
“The bounty hunter almost killed Lyna,” Sam pointed out, glaring at Ryn. Ryn shrugged. “If she had returned home with me yesterday, this wouldn’t have been an issue.” He turned back to Lyna. “Come now, I have no real interest in your sister. If you return with me now, I’ll forget that I ever found her.” Lyna glanced over to Dyna, who had stayed silent, along with Doc, across the room, clearly having been having to awkwardly entertain Ryn while waiting for Lyna to return. Lyna nodded. “Alright. I promised I would return with you, and I intend to keep that promise.” Sam frowned, stepping forward. “No, wait, you,” he pointed at Ryn, “just learned that Hian almost got Lyna killed and you didn’t even blink. She’s your betrothed.” Ryn raised an eyebrow. “I don’t see how it’s any business of yours, humanoid.” Lyna stepped forward, giving Sam the smallest of reassuring touches. It was as much as she felt she could get away with. “Sam, it’ll be fine. Truly. I never could have stayed…” Sam turned to her, the raw concern in his eyes causing her breath to catch in her throat. “You shouldn’t have to,” he told her, and she knew that he wasn’t just referring to going back. She shouldn’t have to mate with a man she didn’t love. “Neither should you,” she said with a small shrug. “But we both have duties to fulfil.” His eyes started to shine with unshed tears, and she was sure hers weren’t much better. She stepped forward, keeping her voice low enough so that Ryn couldn’t hear as she said, “If I didn’t, I would have chosen to stay. Never doubt that.”
Sam nodded as she pulled away, turning from him as quickly as she could, not wanting to see his hurt mirror hers for a moment longer. “Don’t do this just for me,” Dyna said as soon as Lyna turned to her. “If you don’t want to…” Lyna gave her best reassuring smile, shaking her head. “It’s not just for you, Dyna. I have responsibilities back home. I need to answer for coming here, and I need to help smooth everything over. I am still the Primary Heir of our house. I can’t swim away from that.” Dyna pulled her into her arms, hugging her tight. “Be safe,” she said when she finally pulled away. “You too,” Lyna said, very aware of how much danger Dyna was still in. She turned to Doc. “Thank you for allowing us to stay here.” Doc shook her head. “It was no trouble. Truly. And I promise I’ll do everything I can to keep your sister safe.” Lyna smiled. “Thank you.” Ryn stepped forward. “Come now, it’s time to go home.” Lyna nodded, following him out of the room. It took everything she had not to look back for one last glance at Sam. She thought of her sister, however, and it steeled her back. She was about to enter the electric eel pit, and she’d need every ounce of resolve she had. Which meant not pining for the humanoid that - if she was completely honest with herself - had managed to find his way into her heart.
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