Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
When they finally stopped for the night, Theo didn’t know what to expect. He had a few camping supplies in his pack, but didn’t have enough to accommodate Lyra. She quickly informed him that she wouldn’t spend a night on shore and she’d stay in the water.
“We’re traveling down the river Shiel now,” Lyra informed him. “It’s selkie territory. It’s safer if I’m in the water and close by. If any of them approach you at night, I’ll sense them coming.”
Theo paled. “I didn’t think selkies preyed on men like that?”
Lyra rolled her eyes as if this were something she was forced to explain repeatedly.
“Everything in the water would try to take a bite out of a fae male like you.”
“A fae male like me?” Theo started to set up his bedroll, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Lyra.
“Simple and easy pickings,” Lyra clarified with a smirk.
Theo clutched his hand to his chest and pretended to be gravely wounded. It earned him another small giggle from Lyra, which was quickly becoming one of his favorite sounds—on the rare occasions he could coax it out of her. If he didn’t know what else to do, he still seemed to know how to flirt.
“At least you didn’t say unattractive.”
“It was implied. I was attempting to be polite.”
“I didn’t know you knew how to be polite.”
Lyra leveled his gaze at him, sharp and penetrating, and Theo only preened under the attention.
“It's a required skill now, apparently, since I’m escorting a prince.” Lyra turned her back on Theo, effectively indicating the end of the conversation.
Theo waited a few more minutes, desperately hoping there was still banter to be had before going to bed, but it became apparent Lyra had ended the conversation.
Theo set up his bedroll and spent an inordinate amount of time staring at the water’s surface while pretending to be asleep.
His chest stirred when, fifteen minutes later, Lyra quietly broke the water’s surface, made sure Theo was asleep, and disappeared again.
Content that his siren was watching over him, Theo allowed the exhaustion of the past few weeks to catch up to him and fell asleep on the shore.
Theo woke up to the sound of screaming. He sat straight up, his brain coming online before his vision could focus.
His first inclination was to start scanning the water for Lyra, but the surface of the water was covered in tumultuous waves and ripples.
Theo had better eyesight in the dark than most humans, but it wasn't anything compared to some of Scotland’s other magical creatures, and he cursed his inabilities.
From where he was standing on the shore, he couldn’t see anything breaking the surface, but the churning water betrayed a greater commotion happening out of sight.
There was no indication where the screaming had come from, and Theo prayed it hadn’t come from Lyra.
You’ve seen her. He tried to sound encouraging. Don’t you think a woman like that could defend herself?
Not a mermaid, his brain supplied, a maighdann-mhara.
The splashing continued for another few minutes without any other sounds or even brief glimpses of what was happening in the dark water. It seemed to drag on forever, and Theo started to debate walking into the river himself to try and help.
Lyra would kill you herself if you tried that, he reasoned with himself. Besides, anything in the water with her right now is a better swimmer than you.
“Gods damn it!” Theo finally shouted in frustration, his hands running through his long hair.
He felt an undeniable urge to try to keep Lyra safe, even though he knew it was irrational. She was the one who was supposed to be keeping an eye out for him after all. Still, Theo had known plenty of people and creatures alike, and everyone needed someone to look out for them.
“Lyra!” Theo called out into the night, cupping his hands and hoping she could hear him underwater.
The splashing only intensified, the freezing water now dousing Theo from head to toe.
He barely even registered his own body beginning to shiver.
His focus was so intensely fixed on the fight in the water.
Finally, after what felt like eons, Lyra shot up from the depths.
Her teeth were bared, fangs extended, and she looked as wild as the sea.
She sucked in a breath and let out a wild, angry screech that echoed off the trees surrounding them.
Theo recognized a victory shout when he heard one and relaxed, but only partially.
Lyra’s right hand broke the surface, holding onto a stringy mess of bright green hair.
She started walking towards the shore, her eyes completely blown out and black, dragging a body behind her.
Theo took a few steps back to make way for Lyra as she approached him, trying to determine whether or not whoever Lyra was dragging was dead.
The body twitched ever so slightly as it hit the sand, hissing in a language Theo didn’t understand.
Once Lyra stepped closer to the firelight, Theo held out a hand towards her.
“Are you all right?” He dared not get too close. The look on Lyra’s face was feral. He knew battle lust when he saw it and wanted to make sure she recognized him—or else she might drag him to the depths too.
“Who is this?” Theo tried again, nodding towards the mermaid Lyra was still holding by the hair.
The second mermaid hadn’t shifted into her human form, and her tail flicked back and forth impatiently on the sand.
She seemed to know she was beaten, however, and didn’t try to evade Lyra’s grasp.
While Lyra’s tail was more serpentine, this woman’s lower half was shaped like a salmon.
She was curvier with ample features, skin as pale as the moonlight but tinged with a green tint that matched her hair.
If Lyra looked like a mermaid that was half watersnake, this one looked like she was the daughter of a fish.
“This one,” Lyra hissed, her teeth still fully extended, “knows better than to try and come in between me and a bounty.”
Theo paused for a moment but wisely kept his mouth shut.
He assumed Lyra was keeping up the pretense that she was going to turn him over to Cliodhna to keep their cover.
It was still jarring to hear the words come out of her mouth.
Theo shivered as a chill went down his spine.
Lyra was downright terrifying when she wanted to be.
“I thought you’d want to share.” Lyra’s captive hissed, her cold eyes sizing up Theo. “This can’t be the one that s-she wants—agh!” Lyra tugged the woman’s hair sharply and cut her off.
“It doesn’t matter. That’s not for you to decide, is it?” Lyra’s lip curled. Her claws were extended, and she tilted the mermaid’s chin up to meet her gaze. A thin trail of blood trickled down the mermaid’s throat where Lyra’s claw pierced her jaw.
“No, it isn’t,” the mermaid acquiesced, clearly not looking pleased with the deal whatsoever, but realizing she wasn’t in a position to barter.
Lyra practically threw the mermaid back in the water, tossing her head towards the shoreline.
“Get out of here,” Lyra growled.
As she moved, the moonlight illuminated her face, and Theo realized there was blood mixing with the water dripping down her forehead. A rush of panic welled up in his chest, but he knew it did him no good to fuss over Lyra while they still had company.
The green-haired mermaid made no arguments, quickly shimmying back towards the water and disappearing with the flick of her tail.
A few seconds later, her head broke the surface of the water several feet away, her face contorting in a sharp sneer as she hissed in Lyra’s direction and then disappeared.
“Yeah, fuck right off with that.” Lyra quipped in response, letting out a long, slow breath. “Are you okay?” Lyra turned towards Theo, flicking some of her hair off her shoulder.
“I should be asking you that question!” Theo snapped, his anxiety boiling over.
He crossed the distance between them and gently placed one hand on Lyra’s shoulder.
He moved a couple of strands of hair away from her forehead and carefully tilted her chin back and forth, trying to get a better glimpse of the cut in the dim light.
Lyra seemed content to let him fuss for a few minutes before her patience started to run thin.
“Theo,” she whispered, pulling him from his panicked trance, “I’m fine. It’s a small scratch.”
Theo grumbled, completely thrown off guard at the sight of Lyra’s blood. “I don’t like it. When do you think that mermaid washed her hands last? She might be carrying all sorts of diseases…”
Lyra started to laugh. Theo took a step back, crossing his arms over his chest. He tried to look imposing, but most of his fears evaporated at the sound of Lyra’s laughter. It was nearly as melodic as her siren song and twice as joyful.
“Whatever her claws are made of, mine are the same,” Lyra reminded him gently. “I know you haven’t spent much time near the water, but I’m a creature of the deep, Theo. She can scratch me, but I’m hardly going to get sepsis over it.”
Theo nodded, his cheeks blushing red when he realized how silly his complaint must have sounded.
“Ah, yes. Right then.” He coughed a few times and awkwardly tried to look anywhere but at Lyra.
“Besides, you saw the other guy.” Lyra winked and started walking back towards the water.
“Wait, where are you going?” Theo followed her until he was ankle-deep in the river.
“No, Theo!” Lyra spun around and pushed him out of the water. “You’ve got to stay on dry land.”
“So should you!” Theo countered, pointing towards the inky depths. “If the mermaids are coming after you for your ‘bounty’ now,” Theo used air quotes around the word ‘bounty’, “then surely more of them will try it.”
Lyra studied him for a minute as if she couldn’t entirely understand what he was saying. Her expression softened ever so slightly, and she shook her head in amazement.
“I’m going to be fine.” Lyra insisted. “It’s better for me in the water than on land. Trust me on that. I’ll be crawling out of my skin by sunrise. Besides, that bitch got a few hits in, and I’ll heal better in the water.”
“That’s what I mean!” Theo interrupted her. “If you aren’t well…”
“I am okay,” Lyra repeated, reaching out to grab Theo’s wrists.
“Everything you learned about mermaids from watching Peter Pan is a lie, Theo. We aren’t social creatures.
Very few of us keep ties outside of our blood relations at all.
We’re mean. We’re ornery. We’re vicious, blood thirsty, and murderous. ”
Lyra unsheathed her claws and gently dragged them up Theo’s arms and across his chest, careful not to draw blood but pressing just enough to get her point across. Theo sucked in a harsh gasp and stopped breathing, desperately trying to keep some blood in his brain as it rushed south.
“What…” Theo’s voice cracked. “What’s your point?”
Lyra smiled, and it was all fang. “My point is that I can handle myself against a couple of opportunistic bitches who think they’re going to weasle me out of a payday.”
“A pay day from…” Theo held his breath, suddenly unsure if Lyra meant to turn him in but almost too turned on to care.
You’re going to need a really good therapist when this is all over, if this is what it’s doing for you.
“Your brother, of course.” Lyra winked. She turned around and started wading back into the water.
“I’ve heard the royal coffers are abundant.
I wonder if he keeps all of his gold in a big room like a dragon.
If he does, I’m going to swim in it.” Lyra tossed her hands in the air and cackled, before executing a perfect swan dive and disappearing beneath the water.
The last thing Theo saw was a flash of her serpentine tail breaking the surface. He stared for a few more minutes before heading back to the fire to try and catch some sleep, but he knew attempting to sleep was going to be futile.
He could still hear her laughter echoing off the trees.