He pauses as a moment of sadness passes over his features. His eyes look back onto mine before he starts talking again. "These wars, as humans would call them, lasted for many years. The other creatures sat back and watched in morbid fascination as we destroyed each other. No one could be any happier than the ancient sea witches. They were the only ones who rivaled our wealth of power. It wasn't until the other ruler, Bruinen, killed one of their sons that they started showing interest. All of our females and their mates had already been killed, so Asrai, the witch who lost her son, decided on a fate worse than death. She trapped us down here, cursed to live out our immortality as human men. We've done what we had to in order to survive, but we grow weaker every day. As our magic wanes, so do our people."
I try to process everything that he's told me so far. Merpeople. Sea witches. Immortality. Could it possibly all be true? I saw for myself the underwater dome that clearly couldn’t be mistaken for anything else. My brain, working in overtime here, also has to come to terms with the fact that falling off the boat was no dream.
"Wait a second," My brows drop in confusion as I suspiciously ask, "If you are cursed to be men, how did you save me?"
A sinful smile crosses his lips. "We made a deal with our own witch. She made us talismans that allow us our freedom. But they only last for a few hours at a time. Last I heard, Bruinen's clan had done something of the same, but their desires cursed them to live as monsters, not as men. We haven’t heard tell of them in ages.”
I have so many questions, but my brain decides one is more important than the others.
"What was your part of the deal with the witch?" I ask.
His face is stoic as he replies quickly, "A sacrifice."
It takes a moment for his words to sink in and when they do, chill bumps break out across my skin. I glance at the door, judging the distance between it and the bed.
"Rubi," Zale warns.
I leap off the bed and make a wild dash for the door, but I'm jerked off my feet halfway there. Zale's arm around my waist is tightly holding me against him. Fighting for all that I'm worth only results in him squeezing tighter. He pulls me backwards toward the bed, but not before I stomp my heel into the top of his foot and launch an elbow back towards his head.
"Rubi," he grunts, "please stop fighting me."
"Why? So you crazy fish people can sacrifice me to your even crazier sea witch? No way, Jose!" I yell, kicking against the floor since he’s keeping his feet out of reach. My erratic movements cause Zale to lose his balance, and we end up in a heap on the bed.
He wrestles me around until I'm facing him and pins my wrists beside my head. "For Poseidon’s sake, Rubi. Please stop trying to run away."
A look into his eyes has my struggle ending in defeat. Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way. Stretching as far as my pinned wrists will allow, I press my lips against his. We're both still panting from exertion, and I don't stop him from pressing his tongue into my mouth. The feeling is so exhilarating that it feels like my first kiss all over again. Only, I've never felt this way for any man. Something stirs in my chest, a foreign feeling that reaches for the mythical being on top of me as though it’s trying to tie us together before I can make another run for it.
Story of my jacked-up life. I would feel this way towards someone who is not even human and oh right, trying to sacrifice me.
Zale moves my hands above my head so that he can hold them both in one of his. The other free hand rubs down the side of my ribcage, and an inexcusable whimper falls from my lips. I want to say that it's from fear, but it's not.
This is the moment in which the door opens and Zanthus walks in with Zephyr right on his heels.
"What in the name of Poseidon, Zale?" Zanthus barks. "You were supposed to be talking to her."
Zale smacks another quick kiss against my lips before he pulls away to smirk down at me. "I was trying to, but she keeps trying to run away."
"Why?" Zephyr asks him, then turns to me. "Where would you even go?"
My eyes fill with tears against my will. "Anywhere I'm not going to be sacrificed."
"What?" Zanthus demands, shock and rage warring for his dominant expression.
Zale's soft laugh on top of me turns to full-on belly rolls, which isn’t helped by Zephyr’s own snickers from across the room. The sound and vibration from Zale’s chest sucker punch me in the stomach. At this point, it makes me not care that I'm going to die.
To my disappointment, his laughter trickles off. "Oh, Rubi. If you would have let me finish, I would have told you. We had to give her our magic. She leeches it from us at an incredibly fast rate. The deal was the talismans in exchange for our magic. It has an out clause, though. There are rumors of a lost princess of the sea out there somewhere. If by some miracle we were able to find her, the witch could no longer draw our magic from us. A prophet, years after our father passed, had a vision. He said once we have learned humility and learned from our mistakes, the princess will make her presence known by magic, and she will restore us to our former glory."
I start shaking my head before he's even finished. "I’m not some lost princess, Zale. I'm just plain Jane Rubi."
His smile is sad. "We know this, Rubi. We've suspected since we pulled you through the dome of magic."
His words make me horribly sad. I know they’re true, but for once I wanted to be something to someone.
I take a deep breath and fight those feelings back down. "If this is true then why am I still here? You could have thrown me back out to be swallowed by the sea."
Zanthus' voice has me turning to face him. "When you were standing on that ship, before you went over, my magic called to something. It was so strong that it caused a waterspout right there beside the ship."
The words bring an image to life in my brain. I remember seeing it before I fell over.
Looking back at Zale, he says, "We want you to talk to the witch. Just to be sure."
My eyes fall on the sad yet hopeful faces of the three of them and I know that there is no way that I can tell them no.
I patiently follow them back to the study as I go over everything in my head. I wish I could be what these mermen need me to be to save their people, but I'm just not. I'm not even sure as to why I agreed to meet the witch. Maybe I am clinging to a small hope somewhere deep down inside that I could be their savior.
Fear doesn't take root until we are standing right outside of our destination. Zephyr doesn’t miss my sharp inhale either.
"You ready?" he asks.
Not by a long shot, but that's not what I say. "Let's do this."
They lead me back over to the table where we had breakfast a few hours earlier.
Slinky gray hair is peppered with black streaks and hangs almost to the floor, belonging to a short woman already waiting for us. As we come around the side of the table, I get my first look at the sea witch. After the hair, I’m expecting a much older face than the one that now stares back at me. She doesn't resemble any witch I've ever seen. Her pale skin brings out the thick black eyelashes and pitch-black eyes but also accentuates the fullness of her lips. I'm not going to lie, the eyes freak me out. They remind me of a feeding shark. When she smiles at me, showing sharp teeth, it does nothing but strengthen that image.