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But when I return to the lake the next day, he’s not there.
Frustrated, scared and angry, I pace the shore, fingering my iron bracelet. This is the same spot as yesterday. There are the brambles, there is the log. So where is he?
“Adar!” I shout into the stillness and glance uneasily around in case Lesser Faeries are lurking there to jump on me. “Where are you? Adar!”
There is no reply. A bird flies over the lake, a black line over the mirror. Gods, is my pendant gone forever? What am I going to tell Prince Iason? That I lost it in the woods? That’s not a good first impression. He’ll believe that I’m not interested in him.
Can’t afford that. I won’t let it happen. I’ve already told my parents that Iason is the one I want, and he’s a good match. His kingdom isn’t far, it’s rich, and his family looks like nice people. There are only so many young princes one can choose from, after all, and my mother has been pressing me to get married. She says if I grow older, I won’t be desired anymore.
Which is weird. I’m barely an adult. Yet this is the world of royalty. Your age and looks are paramount, just as important as your inheritance, when a prince comes looking for a wife to bear his babies.
The question of children again.
Ugh.
You don’t hate children, I tell myself.You’ll be happy when they’re there. Prince Iason will make a wonderful father.
But what about what I want? Who I want?
These strange thoughts shouldn’t plague me now, not with my suitor’s visit looming, and my pendant in the hands of a merman.
“Adar! Come out right now!”
A ripple goes through the lake as if something large has moved underwater. A shiver racks me but I make myself stand still and watch. The ripple widens, heading toward the shore, and my body betrays me, my feet stumbling backward. I’ve never seen anything like it, and although I can guess what is coming at me, my mind refuses to believe it.
The merman breaks out of the lake in a spray of cold water, grabbing onto the log with his powerful arms and turning to look at me. Tendrils of blue hair stick to his neck and temples, and his braid drips.
“You’re back,” he says in that low, seductive voice of his and I try to hide how my knees are shaking. “Selina.”
“Where were you?”
“Hunting,” he says and his mouth pulls into that grin, the one that sends waves of heat through me, causing those dimples in his lean cheeks, putting a sparkle in his eyes.
“Oh.”
“One has to eat.” Releasing the log, he lowers himself back into the water and swims to the shallows, stopping right in front of me. He props himself on his hands, muscles rippling in his arms and chest. His blue braid swings over his shoulder. “Eat or die.”
“What do you eat here?”
“Fish. Birds. Raw and bloody. Yum.” He grins wider when I grimace, his dimples deepening. “Too savage for you, princess?”
“Well, you’re Fae. I shouldn’t have expected any better.”
He flops over, propping himself on his elbows in the mud. His chest is like a map, all ridges and valleys, muscles rippling in his stomach. He huffs. “We had a civilization before you decided to come out of your caves, you know. We taught you everything you know. Arts, crafts. Told you about the movements of the stars, the herbs of the fields, the turn of the seasons. Gave you fire to warm yourselves up and cook with.”
“And then… forgot it all?” I lift a brow at him.
He chuckles. “I’m stuck here, if you recall. It’s not like I can get out and start a fire to cook anything. Start a fire with what?”
“What about your magic?”
“Remember the curse? Well. No more magic for me.”
I go and lean against a tree, folding my arms over my chest because I feel too vulnerable with him lying there on his back, all naked masculine beauty. Not to forget his naked cock, so indecency exposed and yet fascinating, jutting half-hard from his crotch. He’s the one exposed and yet I’m the one feeling vulnerable. How is that fair?
“So the curse means you’re stuck in this form and have no magic?” I ask, keeping my voice casual, though this is important. If he has no magic, then he can’t get me sick, right? Can’t affect my body or break my mind, as the Fae often do with us humans. Can’t force me to lie with him.
“The curse took away my magic,” he says, his voice soft, “and that is why I am stuck in this form. I thought you realized.”
