6. Under the Sea
Marina
Sending Demi back to the shore made my heart ache. I lingered as I watched her walk back to her lighthouse, waiting until she disappeared inside. It took a few minutes, but eventually I saw the light flick on in the window at the top of the tower.
There’d been many times over the years where I’d watched this lighthouse. I needed to ask her more about her family and how they came to own the lighthouse, as it did feel rather kismet.
I always wanted her near me. I was possessive. I didn’t like the idea of her being somewhere I couldn’t reach. What if she fell? What if she hurt herself? How could I possibly help her or protect her if she were on land?
A wave pushed me forward, and the undertow pulled me back.
Was that how our fates would forever be?
In a way, perhaps it was good for us to take a little more time before fully mating. Although, after coming twice and making her come, I really couldn’t understand the need for space.
Humans had such a fickle view of time. I’d been alive for so long, maybe it was ironic I was being so demanding, but I knew what I wanted.
And I wanted Demi.
Forever and always.
I did need to figure out how I was going to prepare my home for her to share.
Having a human as a mate was a little tricky for mermaids. We had the cave, of course, but that wasn’t a home. Surely there was a way I could somehow bring her where she belonged once we were fully mated.
I had friends who’d made it work. Delphin and Aegaeon who were mated to their human, Matt. Since Matt was fully mated, there were times he could be in our cities and be just fine. But the long term . . . It was more difficult.
My brother, Nerio, made it work with Ofelia too. But he often spent his time near the shore when he wasn’t busy being a prince. I did love Ofelia, she was a very clever and amusing person to be around.
With one more longing glance at the lighthouse, I dove deep into the water.
My tail pushed me deeper, fish giving me a wide berth as they rose toward the surface for their nightly feeding.
Nighttime was when the ocean was most alive, and it was when I felt the strongest, too.
My body hummed with energy, especially after tasting my mate.
Ugh, she was going to be on my mind all night, wasn’t she? Of course.
I swam deeper and deeper until the moon was no more.
It took almost an hour, but eventually, I swam through the opening to our city beneath the waves.
About two thousand merpeople lived here, a medium-sized city.
Our largest city was right on the equator between the North and South Atlantic Oceans, a sprawling marvel we kept carefully guarded from humans.
I went through the stone archway, and was immediately met by two of our guards and my brother.
Oh gods. I did not have time to deal with his antics right now.
This was the thing about my family. All of them were needy. They always wanted my help.
“Sister,” Adonis said, crossing his bulky arms. “Where have you been?”
“You know where,” I said, pushing past him. Our guards followed us as I glided faster through the water, heading straight for the passageway between civilian homes.
“Marina,” he growled. “You missed breakfast.”
“I was with my mate.”
Suddenly, he was right in front of me.
Fucking Adonis. He was going to be all big brother about this, wasn’t he? This is why I preferred Shel, my younger brother who worked with me.
“Your mate? Where are they? I didn’t know—”
“She is on the surface,” I said sternly.
Adonis’s eyes softened. “A human.”
“Yes,” I said.
“How did you meet her?”
“The Barista owed me a favor after his offspring portaled me to a bathtub in a human apartment.”
“Oh.” He nodded. “The Barista. Of course. You should talk to Nerio then when he returns in a couple days, I’m sure he’ll have much advice for being mated to a human. I’d forgotten about you being portaled away, it was quite jarring.”
“It was. Also, I already spoke to Nerio. Well, I spoke to Ofelia, and I know she told him already about my human. Now, do you need something? I need to talk to some of our friends with human mates. I want to speak to Delphin and Aegaeon again.” They’d been very excited for me when we last spoke, which was very sweet. I loved them dearly.
“Why? What is so urgent?”
“I want to figure out long-term living arrangements for humans here,” I said.
Adonis’s eyes widened, and I pushed past him. He was not going to stop me. No one was going to stop me. There had to be a way to make this happen, and I was a princess, gods damn it. Merpeople had magic, and plenty of it. Surely there was a way for us to do something.
My older brother followed hot on my tail, never letting up, even as I reached the sixth quarter along the outer wall where I set up my office. I went through the doorway and wasn’t surprised to see Shel already there with blueprints spread out over a table.
He glanced up from it and cocked his head. “Adonis and Marina and two guards. What’s happening now? I thought you were with your mate.”
Adonis growled. “So he knew too?”
“You act like we talk every day,” I sniffed, shooting him a dark look.
My brothers looked very similar, and yet they were so different.
Adonis had bright orange scales and long silver hair that billowed around him in the water.
Shel’s scales were a deep cerulean blue, and his hair was pitch black.
He kept it back in a bun, as he claimed it got in the way while swimming. He wasn’t wrong.
“I want to create a space for human mates,” I said. “And other monster mates, for that matter. We have friends who are mated to witches and gargoyles and dragons and all sorts of creatures—not just humans. We have magic. Can’t we come up with something?”
“Mother Nature works against us, sister,” Adonis said, crossing his arms.
Shel shook his head. “It was tried. About five hundred years ago, correct?”
“Yes, before we had as much knowledge,” I said. “We are friends with more creatures who use magic. Surely some witch has a spell.”
“Maybe your Grim Reaper friend could help,” Adonis teased.
“He’s hardly a friend,” I muttered. “The Barista owes our family for the favor we did for him centuries ago. But, his entire family will probably be the end of us all.”
“Perhaps,” Shel said. “Who knows what the future holds.”
“It holds destruction,” Adonis said darkly. “We’ve received word from other cities. It’s not just our region where the sea is restless. I’m uneasy all the time. I can feel it in my scales.”
“It does not concern us,” Shel said absently.
I scoffed, glaring at him. “It does concern us. What happens on the surface affects all of us, Shel. You might be young, but I know you’re smarter and more empathetic than that.”
“It sounds like the Barista’s battle, which I was alive for the last time. It worked out.”
“This does feel different,” Adonis agreed. “I do think Marina makes a point, but it would be better to talk to more people. Perhaps the Kings and Queen?”
We never called them mother or fathers, at least not in conversation.
They were our parents, yes, but we’d been alive for so long—most of the time they really just felt like our bosses.
I had a very strange relationship with them.
I loved them, but it was a very distant sort of love.
It wasn’t like the love I had for my friends or even what was starting to grow for Demi as well.
How long had I known her now? Just a couple days really, and I was about to rebuild our centuries-old city for her.
“Look at our sister,” Shel teased. “She has that look about her, like she’s about to go to war or something.”
“Shut up,” I hissed. “Once you find your mate, you will understand. It’s as if my entire world has changed in a blink. You don’t understand, but you will if you end up with a human or any land-dwelling creature.”
He sighed, back in his own world. Shel was a dreamer, and he created wonderful designs, but he was always up in his own head. Sometimes it drove me a little mad.
“You will find a solution, I’m sure,” Adonis said. “But . . . I don’t suppose you have time to help me?”
I closed my eyes for a moment, praying for patience.
This was the problem with having such a large family and being the competent one of the bunch.
Even though I wasn't very close to many of them, they always came to me for help.
Why was it always me? I wasn't even the oldest sibling.
I wasn't even the highest-ranking one in our family.
And yet everyone treated me as if I were the problem solver, when in reality, Adonis should've been the one doing all of this.
Did I want to know what he needed help with?
Did I even have the time? I was already running on fumes trying to imagine how the hell I was going to find a solution for all of us with human mates.
All I wanted was to be able to come home from a long day of work and see my mate without swimming all the way to the surface.
Although, I happily would if it meant I got to see her.
But I knew that it would also complicate things for Demi as well. She had her hobbies, and her job . . .
Her job on a boat.
Speaking of . . .
“I will help you,” I said slowly. “But only if you agree to assign guards to my mate when she is working on a boat.”
His brow shot up. “You want to assign guards to a human? Are you sure you want to use our resources that way?”
“Yes,” I said. “If I am not there, I require someone to keep an eye on her in case something goes wrong. Especially with how angry the sea has been.”
He narrowed his eyes. “What does she do on the boat?”
“I don't know exactly,” I said. “I don't believe it's anything evil, if that's what you're getting at.”
We had a stare down, but ultimately—as always—I won.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll request that for you.”
“Thanks,” I said. “Now, what do you want?”
“Will you explain mating rituals to our youngest siblings? The Kings and Queen asked me to do it, but—”
“Yes,” I said immediately.
The last time Adonis was in charge of sex education, we had an entire class of younglings who thought penises were called swords, because he hadn’t used scientific language.
“I will take care of it.”
He grinned. “Thank you, sister.”
“Now go away. I have city planning to do.”