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“Then manipulate me,” he returned. “Command me whenever it pleases you. I know I’m safe under your spell, princess.”
He took my hand and put it on his chest, over his heart.
“You made me look at my own darkness until I could find light,” he said. “Your power didn’t harm me, Esmeralda. It made me who I am now.”
He drew me in closer, my hand still on his heart. The heat from his body mixed up all my senses, making me wonder which one of us was the one with power over the other.
“Whether it’s a spell or a curse,” he said, “I want nothing more than to have you by my side.”
I wanted to speak, but I couldn’t, all the words stolen away from my throat. He leaned in closer, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to close my eyes and let him take over.
Which he did.
He pressed his lips against mine, soft at first. There was a warmth in his lips that stole away all of my resistance, and when he knew I was at his full mercy, he kissed me stronger. Wrapping an arm around my back he pressed me in closer, his kiss deepening until I could barely breathe.
My voice may have controlled his actions, but his lips were now controlling my heart.
He broke away slowly, leaning his forehead against mine.
“I’ll do anything you ask me,” he said, “but don’t ask me to leave. Even if this is just a result of a spell, it’s a spell I want to be under.”
I looked up into his eyes, sincerity filling them. Looking at him I knew that even with the power to make him do my every desire, I could never hurt him. I wanted to use this power to protect him. I wanted to keep him close to me even if his love wasn’t completely true.
Because even if his feelings weren’t real, mine were.
“Remember your words, Captain,” I said. “Don’t regret them when I grant you your wishes.”
He smiled as he looked down at me. “I won’t regret my wish, Siren Princess. Does this mean you will grant it?”
I nodded, running my fingers through his hair as I brought him back in close.
“I’ll grant it,” I said, “but only because you have me under your spell too.”
We kissed again, the wind and the moon the witnesses of our vows.
***
I had five more years with my father until he passed.
Jacques’s father paid for all the expenses for the funeral. I sold him our house for only a single franc, telling him to do anything he wanted with the estate. All I needed was my mother’s necklace and my father’s wedding ring around my neck to go where I was going.
Adrian and I were married only weeks after he had returned from the den. Perhaps it was the spell he was under that made him so adamant about marrying me so quickly, but I was the one who agreed, so I wasn’t any better. Jacques had told King Melchior of the event, and when I asked him what the king had said, all Jacques replied was that no one was surprised.
Adrian and I had our first child a year after our wedding, our second child two years after that. I was grateful that my father had seen his grandchildren before passing. Perhaps that’s what helped him to live as long as he did.
And even though my parents were gone, Adrian’s parents took me in as their own. Adrian’s mother healed in due time, his father still crippled physically but not spiritually. Adrian’s parents loved watching and playing with their grandchildren, which came in handy when Adrian and I went out to sea.
Adrian had become a ship trader for Jacques’s trade business—a business none of us realized he had. Apparently, Jacques had created an entire trade business while sailing between the den and the city (that was the reason he could pay for his passages between worlds), and he put Adrian in charge of one of the ships. It made Jacques’s job easier, and it was the best way for Adrian to see Henrik on a regular basis.
Henrik was strong under Jacques’s command and guidance, and he was given a strong position among the Judges. He was able to be himself—with no one fearing his abilities—and to see a new peace in him because of it made my heart soar.
My relationship with Henrik mended, and he became a dear friend to me once again. He was no longer under my spell, and the demons that once haunted him didn’t bother me; after all, I had my own demonic past.
Luc became a dear friend of the family as well, and when we weren’t on our way to see him in the Den of Sirens, he came to visit us in the city. He flew into the children’s bedroom window once a week and told them grand stories at bedtime. He never truly forgave Adrian, but they seemed to decide that me and the children were a type of neutral ground, and that no blood would be shed between them on account of us. (For now, anyways.)
I knew that someday I would return to the den and get my wings, but I had no intentions now. I wanted to watch my little ones grow, and grow old with my husband. If I came back home in this body or the next, it didn’t matter. I was content. Adrian’s love was pure and enchanting, adventurous and thrilling. That was all I wanted.
Whether it was a spell or reality wasn’t important. Being together—loving each other whether it was genuine or delusion—made me crave nothing else.
