“No. At least not of the kind you think. I wouldn’t endanger you like that, Alora, you’re my only friend!”
A warm feeling bloomed in her chest at those words, and a smile stretched her cheeks. “As are you.”
Lennox grinned back at her, though her gaze was somewhat off from Alora’s person, as she still wore her coat. Her hand rested upon the knob. “Ready to feel better?”
Am I ever.“Yes, please.”
The door swung in.
The floor was tiled in gold, the walls glittering beneath the sconces lining them. In the center of the extravagance was nestled the pool. The water rippled, a deep, dark blue. Iridescent steps led down into the depths.
“There’s a mermaid in here,” said Lennox, and finally Alora remembered. “Normally, they’d be dangerous, but Master has this one muzzled. Did you know their faces look different to every person? It’s like a lure, so they might bring you in and feast on your bones.”
“This isn’t making me feel better at all,” said Alora, horrified.
“Well, that part doesn’t,” agreed Lennox. “But mermaids are also capable of making you relive your happiest moments. I think so you’re distracted in your death. Sort of a kindness, isn’t it?”
“Sort of,” replied Alora, clutching her robe tighter.
Lennox tossed her slippers and her robe, ignoring the hooks and cubbies supplied for just that purpose. Alora watched her step into the water. “It’s warm. If that’s what is worrying you.”
Alora didn’t say that the temperature was the farthest thing from her mind in that moment. Instead, she hung up her coat and the borrowed robe. She took off her slippers and tuckedthem away. The tile was warm on her bare feet. “You’ve done this before?”
“Every day,” said Lennox, and with a deep inhale, dropped below the surface.
“Every day,” murmured Alora. Then she, too, stepped into the pool.
It was warm. Not luxuriantly warm, but comfortable, and Alora braved another step down. The water bubbled and rippled where Lennox had disappeared, and she waited and waited. Lennox surfaced. Her eyes were shining, her grin wider than Alora had ever seen.
“Don’t be scared.”
A deep breath, a final nod, and Alora stepped off the final stair and fell beneath the water. She opened her eyes without preamble, wanting to see what swam in the depths with her. She was surprised to find they didn’t sting in the slightest, and that Lennox had dropped in beside her, blinking at her and pointing.
Alora followed the gesture.
The mermaid floated placidly in the corner. The creature was only half her size, the bottom half consisting of great fins in a pinkish hue the color of coral. Its top half was a mixture of pale skin and turquoise scales, with arms similar to a human’s but with nails more akin to claws. Alora couldn’t tell the creature’s sex from the body alone, but the mermaid’s hair was long and yellow, mouth a perfect rosebud red and eyes silver like a winter moon. A face only she could see. But a golden cage broke up the mermaid’s features, bars over plump lips. A flare of compassion overwhelmed Alora then.
Like most everyone else in Opulence Mansion, this creature was obviously entrapped.
Then the mermaid bared fangs of a kind she’d never seen, all bone-white needles, and she immediately shrieked a slurry of bubbles and flew to the surface.
Lennox sputtered beside her a second later. “Sorry! I should have warned you what they’re like. But don’t worry, the mermaid can’t bite you.”
“What is Merridon thinking! Capturing a creature like that?”
Lennox lifted a shoulder above the water. “Probably that it would add to the enchantment of the mansion.”
Alora kicked her feet beneath the water, hoping to deter the mermaid from latching on. “And nobody has ever been drowned?”
Lennox shook her head. “That isn’t their way.” She must have noticed Alora’s continued distrust, because she reached out and gripped her arm. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want. I just thought it would help. You only need to get a little closer to feel it.”
Alora released a shuddering breath. “You’re a brave thing, aren’t you? Fine. I’ll try.”
Lennox beamed and nodded, and she didn’t wait before sinking beneath once more.
This time, Alora followed her.
The muzzled mermaid remained in the corner, watching. The creature turned its attention to Lennox first as she approached, but when Alora swam near, those silver eyes shifted to focus on her. Alora swallowed, drawn in despite herself, and once the creature ensnared her within that wintry gaze, that was all it took. Alora felt herself drifting, drifting, and then, quite impossibly, leaving the pool behind.
