14. A Midwife for a Mermaid
A Midwife for a Mermaid
SAPPHIRA
T he week after Kaelen’s birthday, they settle into a nice routine.
One day, Isabel takes Sapphira into town to get fabrics and makes her new clothes. Sapphira keeps a few silky pieces to use as sarongs, which instantly makes her feel at home. She even collects some shells, and Isabel makes jewelry and hair accessories.
For dinner, they have stew and bread. Afterward, Sapphira goes to the lake for a late bath. When she returns, Isabel is jarring medicines and moves to the sink to wash her hands. She looks at Sapphira over her shoulder, a warm smile on her lips.
“Greetings, Sapphira Tuisaravere,” she says, her eyes half-lidded and sultry in the low light.
Sapphira loves the sound of her full name on Isabel’s lips, which are pink and fleshy like the inside of a guava.
Drying her hands, Isabel turns entirely to face her, eyes roving down Sapphira’s long, loose hair, which is still damp from her bath and hanging down to her thighs.
“Come,” Isabel says, moving to the plush couch. She spreads her legs and motions to the pillow she placed on the floor. “Let me brush your hair.”
Sapphira swallows, following quickly. Her eyes don’t leave Isabel as she crosses over and sits in front of the woman with her back to her. She imagines Isabel’s fingers in her hair, and her stomach twists.
Isabel picks up the brush she had already placed there, and Sapphira figures she’d been doing her own hair while she was bathing because the wooden comb is there, too, and Isabel’s hair is styled up.
Isabel’s hand is light and gentle, and there’s a rhythmic motion to her brushing.
Sapphira relaxes, but the sound and pressure against her scalp are causing her to feel tired.
It reminds her of when her old nanny, Allura, brushed her hair, except there was nothing relaxing about those brushing techniques.
Isabel’s brushing feels like a loving act. The smell of her makes Sapphira’s eyes roll back, and she wants nothing more than to drown in that warm, creamy, spicy scent.
Sapphira lets out a breath, trying to calm her racing heart. I shouldn’t fool myself. Isabel is sweet to everyone. Just because the chimera braids my hair with care, I shouldn’t feel special or humor myself with the idea that she might actually like having me here and want me to stay.
As much fun as Sapphira is having, she feels like she’s a drain on Isabel’s and Kaelen’s lives.
An extra mouth to feed and back to clothe.
Unlike that Tiera woman, she doesn’t have much of her own coin left and no job to get more.
Isabel does well as a healer, but she doesn’t make nearly as much as she should.
And she does many jobs for little to no coin.
Besides, I have somewhere to get back to. Don’t I?
Sapphira doesn’t know why she is feeling such intense emotions toward Isabel.
She had flings in the past, dalliances with kitchen maidens back at the castle, meeting up in dark corners to whisper sweet nothings.
None of it led anywhere. Most of it was done out of boredom, and the girls were never serious.
It wasn’t her they liked. It was what she had, and what she could do for them.
And their fear of her aunt kept them from coming back.
But, what she feels for Isabel? She has never felt anything like this before.
“What are you thinking about?” Isabel asks softly, her voice just above a whisper.
“Oh, I don’t know. About how I miss home. Don’t get me wrong. I love Cielo, but I have my own Kaelen, don’t you know?”
Isabel hums. “I didn’t. Are you a bonded pair, too?”
Sapphira laughs. “No, we don’t have bonded pairs where I’m from. We’re perfectly human, I’m afraid. We have no magic back home, remember? Anyway, his name is Dorian. He was one of my guards. We learned how to wield swords together.”
“So that’s how you got so good,” Isabel says. She puts the brush down and runs her fingers through Sapphira’s hair. Sapphira’s eyes roll in pleasure, and she sighs softly. “I wondered why a princess would be so skilled with a blade.”
“I’ve always admired the knights and guards who served my kingdom,” Sapphira says. “As a child, I wanted to be one. I’m not good at riding, but my skill with a sword was the best on the island.”
Isabel begins to style Sapphira’s loose braids, pulling them up into two low tails with looped ends. “They sort of look like bunny ears,” Isabel says. “We match.”
Isabel touches the ends of her horns as Sapphira says, “What’s a bunny?”
“You’ve never seen a bunny?” Isabel asks, eyes widening.
Sapphira bumps Isabel’s knee with her shoulder. “I told you I never left the castle after my parents passed.”
“I’ll have to take you to visit Campo de Flores sometime before you leave,” Isabel says.
“There are lots of wondrous creatures there. I haven’t even begun to record them all.
Ooh, I can take you to Festival de Luces Eternas—the Festival of Eternal Lights.
It’s a celebration of the dead, where they light up the whole city with lanterns—stars they catch in glass jars—and bright colors to celebrate those who have passed.
I heard that the living actually walk among them for a single night.
Since the city is so bright, the spirits have no shadows to hide in. ”
Isabel looks sheepish and twirls her hair between shaky hands as her rambling quiets. “I thought since neither of us has parents, we could go and see them.”
Sapphira’s chest is heavy as she turns to look up at Isabel’s pretty face. The chimera’s cheeks darken, her gaze stuck on the cushion below her.
“I think that would be lovely, Isabel Bajiyah. And what about Kaelen? Does he have any parents?”
Isabel nods, her smile wistful. “Yes, he does. We haven’t seen them in many years though. His mother is the head of a draek?n clan. The Eld?nlán clan.”
Sapphira’s eyebrows raise. “So he’s like royalty too?”
“I guess you could say that. Kaelen wants nothing to do with leading though. His mother used to be best friends with mine. They were a bonded pair like he and I. When my mother passed, she was devastated. She returned to her homeland, and Kaelen chose to stay here. She wasn’t very pleased with the decision. ”
Later that night, Sapphira thinks about her words while she tries to sleep.
Listening to the hooting and tittering outside the window, she remembers the feel of Isabel’s hands in her hair and her words about Kaelen.
She hadn’t liked him before because he was annoying, and she was jealous of how close he was to Isabel.
Now that she knows he has no feelings for Isabel, Sapphira feels guilty for despising their friendship. She’s glad Isabel has someone. And when she inevitably leaves, it will be nice to know Isabel won’t be alone. She’ll need someone to watch her back, considering how reckless she is.
“I can’t believe the shop was out of sweet bread,” Kaelen groans, his upper half splayed dramatically across the table. Looking up with sweet eyes, his lip jutting out, he says to Isabel, “Couldn’t you make some?”
Isabel rolls her eyes. “Sweet bread isn’t an emergency, Kaelen.
You see, I’m busy here.” She nods toward the giant painting she’s working on, which takes up most of the floor.
It’s for a festival coming up in a few weeks.
She said she wanted to get started on it early.
“Besides, aren’t you a cook now? Make it yourself. ”
Sapphira stifles her laugh against her palm. She loves it when Isabel doesn’t give Kaelen what he wants. It’s sweet justice for his constant picking on her.
“But it’s not as good—”
A buzzing sound rips through the room. As the odd noise grows louder and louder, Isabel hops up from the floor and rushes to her netted bag by the front door. Kaelen and Sapphira are right behind her as she opens it.
“What is that?” Kaelen asks, breathing all over Sapphira’s shoulder as he tries to see what Isabel is taking out of the bag. She shoves his face away.
“That’s what the serpere gave you,” Sapphira says before Isabel can answer. Isabel nods, her brown eyes shifting green and red and blue in the reflection of the glowing orb.
“It’s . . . calling to me,” Isabel says. She puts it up to her ear. “It can’t be.”
“Can’t be what?” Kaelen moans, his shoulder sagging as he pouts.
“A portal world,” Isabel says. “All I know is no two are the same, and it’s unknown why they open. But it’s said that they call out to you when you’re most needed. They’re rare and fascinating finds.”
Isabel rubs the runes on the egg’s shell, and it begins glowing brighter. The scales shift colors, and Isabel drops the egg, hissing, “Ow, hot.”
It rolls a few times and then the scales open like the gills of a fish, like it’s breathing as the egg expands larger and larger. All three of them jump back as an opening appears, a tunnel leading into the darkness. Isabel glances back at Sapphira and Kaelen before stepping forward.
“You’re not going in, are you?” Sapphira asks. It looks dangerous, and Isabel is a beacon for hazardous situations.
“Of course I am. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and whatever is in there must need my help.”
Sapphira groans, blowing a stray hair from her face. Isabel and her lone-knight complex.
Isabel descends into the portal, with Sapphira and Kaelen following. The air becomes cloudy and humid, with Sapphira’s breath visible. She can hear the tinkling of water and see blue shadows lit on the moist, warm cave walls as they travel down the winding way.
Isabel gasps and Sapphira echoes it when they enter a small cavern. It opens to a pool of water, the depth of which is unknown, but it appears to open out to a larger body of water through underwater caves, tunnels beneath the water with dark openings that lead into the abyss.