Chap 12 #2
Her mouth dropped open at his breathtaking beauty.
"You have something stuck in your teeth."
He popped one of the berries into his mouth.
Penny laughed.
Of all the things she expected a sea prince to say, that had not been one of them.
"I have things stuck everywhere."
She looked down at herself.
"Mud. Twigs. Brambles."
A berry-stained finger pointed at her ruined gown.
"I've heard rumors I was murdered, buried in a swamp, and rescued by a mermaid."
She said it in perfect mermaid language.
The blue-haired flower stopped chewing.
For one terrible heartbeat, he didn't move.
The remaining berries fell from his hand.
Penny watched the realization roll over him in waves.
Shock.
Disbelief.
Hope.
Then he was suddenly moving.
He crossed the distance to the gate so quickly that she was startled.
His fingers wrapped around the iron bars.
"You speak our language?"
The question came out breathless.
Penny nodded.
The prince stared.
As though afraid the answer might disappear if he blinked.
"You've met the mermaid?"
Penny smiled.
"I spent the morning with her."
The color drained from his face.
For a moment, he looked younger.
"You know Alyrina?"
Hope filled his voice.
"You know my sister?"
The kind of hope that survives only because despair failed to kill it.
Penny recognized it immediately.
She had seen the same shade of sea-green eyes.
"Her hair is silver," Penny said softly. "Her voice sounds like bells across the water. She came here for a prince long ago."
The sea prince closed his eyes.
For a moment, he simply stood there.
Then sadness settled over him like a wave.
"I prayed she had escaped."
His fingers tightened around the bars.
"I prayed I was too late."
Penny lowered her eyes to her handful of berries, hating that she had become the bearer of more bad news.
"She lives in the lake."
The sea prince looked toward the distant water.
"Still?"
The single word broke her heart.
"She lost her legs."
The sea prince laughed softly.
"Of course she did."
The sadness in his voice made Penny look up.
He wasn't surprised.
Just disappointed.
As though he'd known exactly how Alyrina's story would end.
Then he looked back at her.
"Will you help her?"
Penny nodded immediately.
"Of course."
The answer came without hesitation.
"She's my friend."
The sea prince smiled.
The expression transformed him.
Not beautiful.
Human.
"Then I hope to be your friend too."
His hands slipped through the iron bars toward her berry-stained fingers.
Penny immediately dropped the remaining berries.
Then hurriedly wiped her hands on her gown.
Unfortunately, the berries left dark purple streaks across the front of the dress.
Or what had originally been the back.
She sighed.
The gown was beyond saving anyway.
"Of course we can be friends."
Smiling, she placed her hands in his.
Relief flashed across his face.
"As my friend, I need you to carry something to her."
Penny's smile widened.
Finally.
Something useful.
If only the girls back on the docks could see her now.
She'd arrived in the vampire kingdom with no friends.
Now she apparently had a mermaid, a sea prince, and a conspiracy to overthrow a queen.
"What do you need me to carry?"
She expected a shell.
A jewel.
A letter rolled into a tiny scroll.
Instead, his hand rose slowly to her cheek.
Penny blinked.
The sea prince's expression softened.
Not romantic.
Homesick.
Achingly so.
"I can't visit her."
His thumb brushed her cheek.
"But you can."
Before Penny could ask what he meant, he leaned forward.
Much like Alyrina had beneath the lake.
His lips touched hers through the bars.
But unlike his sister's gift of breath,
Magic surged into her.
Her berry-stained lips parted in surprise.
The world vanished.
Not into words.
Not into spells.
Into memory.
Ocean waves crashing against black cliffs.
Children racing along sunlit beaches.
Silver laughter carried on salt wind.
A little girl with shining hair, chasing gulls across the shore.
Family.
Love.
Home.
The sea flooded through Penny's chest so suddenly that tears filled her eyes.
The magic poured through her until she thought her heart might burst from it.
When the sea prince finally pulled away, Penny swayed where she stood.
The garden suddenly felt too small.
The sky too far away.
She wanted her ocean home.
Wanted more of his magical kisses.
The sea prince smiled sadly.
"I know."
His voice sounded distant as his thumb caressed her cheek.
"The first taste always hurts."
Penny pressed trembling fingers against his hand.
The magic still lived in him.
His finger pressed to her lips.
A motion to keep them sealed until the magic was to be released.
"Take it to her."
His eyes drifted toward the lake.
"Tell her she was never abandoned."
Penny nodded.
The sea prince smiled again.
This time, the smile carried years of waiting.
"And tell my foolish sister to stop giving away her magic in kisses."
Despite everything, Penny nodded.
The sea prince's smile lingered as she turned away.
Yet she could still feel his hope following her through the garden.
Hope for his sister.
Hope for a future neither of them could quite reach.
Penny slipped away from the paths, weaving through flowers and hedges while distant voices drifted through the garden.
"Songbird?"
"Where are you?"
"Has anyone checked the fountains?"
Penny hid a grin.
Apparently the search party was still looking for her.
She continued toward the lake.
Toward the quiet stretch of shoreline where the great lilac bush leaned over the water.
At last she knelt at the edge.
The lake shimmered beneath the afternoon sun.
Penny dipped her fingers into the water.
Ripples spread across the glassy surface.
Moments later, silver hair broke through the water, then eyes.
The mermaid appeared.
The moment she saw Penny, her face brightened.
The sight alone made Penny's chest ache.
No one should be that happy simply because someone came back.
Alyrina looked at Penny in horror.
"What happened?"
Penny splashed into the shallow water and opened her arms.
The mermaid froze.
Still staring at her ruined dress.
The twigs in her braid.
The mud, and streaks of berry stains.
Penny laughed and wrapped her arms around Alyrina's waist.
Then gently cupped her face.
Alyrina's eyes widened.
"Penny?"
Instead of answering, Penny kissed her.
Sea magic surged between them.
Alyrina gasped softly as power flooded into places that had sat empty for far too long.
For a heartbeat she wasn't feeling the magic.
Only the kiss of a friend.
Penny didn't know how to release the gift except the way sea witches always had.
Through song.
A quiet hum vibrated between them.
The notes carried the magic deeper.
Stronger.
Alyrina's hands tightened desperately around her waist.
Then she felt it.
Not the power.
The source.
A familiar current woven through every thread.
A signature she would have recognized anywhere.
Her brother.
The realization shattered through her.
When they finally parted, tears glittered in her eyes.
"My brother."
The words broke.
Penny nodded.
"He lives in the men's flower garden."
A shaky laugh escaped Alyrina.
Half joy.
Half grief.
Penny slowly stepped back.
Only then did she notice the emptiness inside herself.
The sea magic was gone.
The warmth of sunlit beaches.
The comfort of family waiting at home.
The certainty that somewhere, someone loved you.
Gone.
And suddenly Penny understood.
Not completely.
Only enough.
Enough to make her stomach twist.
She wanted it back.
The thought arrived before she could stop it.
She wanted to feel that magic again.
The realization frightened her.
Then something seized the back of her gown.
Hard.
Penny barely had time to gasp before she was ripped out of the water and onto the shore.