Female Fantasy
It is silent for the space of a rolling wave.
Then all the mer begin to speak at once.
“Human?” Kai paces back and forth, his tail swishing behind him. “But that is impossible. How did you get a human past the barrier?”
“I have been hiding her in air bubbles,” Ryke says calmly. “And in my private chambers.”
Kai curses in a language I have never heard before.
Dylan studies me closely, as if I am an endangered species.
I suppose in some ways, I am.
“But humans are not allowed in Atlantia,” he says. “A human has never set foot in our world. Not once in thousands of years. If the sirens catch you, they will kill you.”
Ryke shrugs. “They want to kill me regardless. At least this way, we get to have a bit of fun, no?”
Dylan grins, his face full of mischief.
Without warning, Mira pokes my thigh. I wince, jumping backward.
“I apologize,” she says, her eyes wide as saucers. “But I have never seen a real human up close before. Your legs are so much softer than I imagined.”
I frown. And here I thought I was building muscle in my training sessions.
“We are working on it,” Ryke says, the corners of his mouth turning upward.
Guinn circles me like a predator, concentrated and menacing. I shrink under the heat of her gaze. “You still have not explained what she is doing here, my prince,” she says, her voice cold and measured. “Unless you have finally broken your vow of chastity and taken a lover?”
I blink hard, shocked.
Vow of chastity?
Ryke?
Kai lets out a deep belly laugh. “Trust the prince of the mer to be ruled by his cock like any common guppy.”
Ryke elbows him in his side, shutting him down for the time being. “So many—”
“Questions?” we all sing in unison.
The mer and I exchange looks of surprise. Then we all burst into laughter together. And it feels so wonderful to laugh freely in harmony.
“Before I expose every one of our secrets, perhaps you lot would like to be polite and introduce yourselves to our guest?” Ryke’s words are a suggestion, but his voice is a command.
“Merriah, I would like you to meet Kai, Mira, Dylan, and Guinn, my friends since childhood and my most trusted guards. I call them my Upper Shoal, or the Shoal for short.”
The group and I study one another. Then Mira pulls me in for a hug. I stiffen, unsure of what to do with my arms. I am not accustomed to being held even by those I know, let alone strangers.
“It is so nice to make your acquaintance, Merriah,” she says. “You can call me Mir.”
Her smile heats my cheeks. I nod once.
“Merriah is no bystander in this whole affair,” Ryke continues. “But that is not my cross to bear. Little minnow, would you like to tell the Shoal why you are here?”
I stare at him, shocked that he would have me reveal my hand to those I have never met.
“You are scaring the poor girl,” Dylan says. “Ignore him, Merriah. He has never had a way with females.”
Ryke glares, and I stifle a laugh.
But it is Guinn who speaks next.
“I do not know you,” she says, the harsh lines of her face softening.
“But I trust Ryke. I have trusted Ryke since he found me at the bottom of a ravine and gave me shelter in this very fortress. I trusted Ryke when he fought back against the usurpers, and I trusted Ryke when he fled to the human lands and promised to return one day. He has earned my faith in him.”
Guinn locks eyes with Ryke, and they share a private smile. Their intimacy causes a hot rush of jealousy to flood my veins.
She turns back to address me once more. “And Ryke trusts you. Therefore, we trust you, and you can trust us in return. On the ancients and the unborn, the moons and the tides, the current and the bay, I swear it.”
Guinn reaches out to touch me, and it’s like making contact with an electric eel. So different from the warmth I felt from Mira or the rush of excitement I get from Ryke.
She is not like the others.
Mer, yes.
But something else, too.
I cannot put my finger on it. And I cannot ask.
Not yet.
“Trust does not come easily to me,” I tell her, then turn back to face all of them.
“I have never found comfort in the company of others. My whole life, I have kept my thoughts and dreams under lock and key. The love you have for each other, unconditional and unwavering? It is as mysterious to me as this new world.”
The Upper Shoal listens to my every word, their beautiful faces twisting in pain.
Empathy.
For me.
Even though I am no one.
Then, one by one, they make the same oath as Guinn.
On the ancients and the unborn.
The moons and the tides.
The current and the bay.
They swear fealty to me and my secrets.
When they are done, I blink back tears and clear my throat.
“It was I who blew the Conch of Hippios,” I admit. “The immortal instrument. It called out to me.”
Guinn’s jaw drops. “Holy Furnace, it cannot be,” she says.
Ryke furrows his brows. “Speak, Guinn.”
She looks me dead in the eye.
“Amphitrite,” she says. “She returns.”