Chapter 5

Five

M errow was about to cry out Mother but stopped as soon as she heard her mother’s voice in her head.

Don’t let the others know who I am, Merrow. We can speak once they all leave.

Yes, Mother, she said back, using her gift of telepathy to converse. But I am so excited to see you, that I can barely keep from shouting aloud. Why are they calling you Dee?

I am not the same person anymore. Dee is what I go by now.

“Why are you staring like that at the handmaid?” asked Sebastian, draining the goblet and putting it down on the table. “Jocet, Merrow said she doesn’t want a handmaid, so send her away.”

“Yes, my lord,” answered his steward.

“Nay! Nay, my lord.” Merrow held up a hand. “Leave her. I want a handmaid, after all. I need her. Please.”

“That’s not what you’ve been saying up until now.” Sebastian took the gown from her mother. “Your services won’t be needed, he told her.

“Please,” Merrow begged Sebastian once again. “I want, I mean I need, another woman to talk to. I beg you to leave the handmaid here.”

Sebastian shrugged. “All right then. But there will be a guard posted at the door when I’m gone, so don’t even think of trying to leave again. I’ll be back in an hour. Come, Jocet,” he said, and both the men left and closed the door behind them.

As soon as they did, Merrow barreled into her mother’s arms, giving her a big hug. Tears ran down her cheeks. “Mother, I thought I’d never see you again. You’ve been gone for eight years now. We all thought you were dead.”

“Merrow, darling, I am so happy we are finally reunited. I could hear your thoughts as soon as you entered the castle. So when the steward said he was looking for a handmaid, I was sure to volunteer.”

“Were you swallowed up by an underwater portal, like I was?” asked Merrow.

“Yes. It happened one day when I visited the Mystic Reef.”

“Father has never stopped looking for you. None of us have.” Merrow walked over to the bed with her mother and they sat down together holding hands. “I asked Sebastian about you, but he said you weren’t here.”

“That’s because King Sethor found me and kept me a secret from the others. I guess there were once three kings of Mura who didn’t allow magic or dealing with magical-type beings at all.”

“Have you been back to the sea?” Merrow asked her. “Mayhap we can sneak out of here together and try to find Melite and Galene.”

“What? They are here too?” asked Dee.

“Yes. Melite wanted to hunt for pink shells and I guided them to the Mystical Reef even though Father forbade them to go.”

“You were wrong in doing so, Merrow.” Hurt shone in her mother’s eyes. “Now, because of your foolish ways, you and your sisters will be trapped here forever, just like me.”

“Now that we’re here, we can figure out a way to leave together,” said Merrow. “You won’t be trapped here any longer.” Merrow always strived to stay positive and see the good in every situation and in all things. “We will find my sisters and then all go back to the sea. We will wait for the portal to open again, and then swim through and go home where we belong.”

“Nay, Merrow. You don’t understand. I can never leave. Never,” said her mother.

“Never? I don’t understand. Why not?”

“Because, I have lost my tail for good. I am human now.”

Merrow’s heart almost stilled. “Nay,” she said in disbelief. “I thought the only time that happened to an undine was if we married a human. To gain a soul.”

“That’s right, dear.”

“Mother, you are already married. To Father. So what are you saying?”

“I am saying that King Sethor stole my personal shell charm. When he did, he controlled me. He controlled my sexual prowess, and liked it so much that he made me get married to him. So, even though I have a soul now, I am trapped forever in the body of a human.”

“Oh, Mother, that is awful. Father will be so angry that he will kill the man if he finds out.”

“He won’t need to. King Sethor was my husband, but now he is dead. He died going through another portal, so his evil deed was repaid, I guess.”

“Oh, that’s right. I heard it mentioned that Sethor died going through a portal. And Sebastian is king now. He is Sethor’s nephew, you know. But Sebastian is not an evil man like his uncle.”

“I know Sebastian since I have lived here eight years, my dear. Sebastian will turn evil in time, just like his uncle, mark my words. All of the humans here are greedy and vengeful and they only care about themselves.”

“Nay. I’m sure that’s not true.”

“It is, Merrow. I know you always try to see the good in everyone and everything, but remember you are no longer home. You are in a foreign, strange land now where people and things are different than what you’re used to. Here, let me help you don this gown.”

“If you were married to a king, why are you only a handmaid?” Merrow didn’t understand.

“King Sethor was married to another woman as well as me, so he had to keep me a secret. His wife died a few years ago. Even after her death, he never told anyone we were married.”

Merrow put her hands over her head and her mother pulled her gown into place. “There is no reason for you to stay here any longer, Mother. You will come home with me and my sisters. We will find a way.”

“Nay, Merrow. I can never go home.” Her mother lifted Merrow’s hair gently, placing it outside of the gown. “I can never return, and you can never tell your father what really happened to me.”

“So, you’re saying that you want Father to go on believing you are dead?” This thought shocked Merrow.

Her mother nodded sadly. “It has to be that way. We cannot undo what has already been done.”

“But what about my sisters? And Nerites? You want your own children to never know the truth either?”

“It is safer that way. You know your father’s temper. We can’t take the chance that one of your siblings will leak the information to him. It breaks my heart, but is the best for all of us. Everyone must go on believing that I am dead.”

“Don’t think that Father won’t want you now, because he still will. I know he will.”

“There you go with your positive outlook again. I admire it, Merrow, but you must come to the realization that just because you want something to happen, doesn’t mean that it will.”

“Give him a chance, Mother.”

“I can’t. I know that your father will start a war with the people of Mura over this. I won’t allow innocents to die because of me.”

“Mayhap you are wrong. Perhaps he won’t do a thing. Since King Sethor is dead, Father won’t need to start a war after all.”

“He still will, and you know it.”

“Oh, Mother this is awful. I finally found you and now I’m going to lose you again? I wish you could just come home.”

“How can I? How can a union between a sea god and a human ever be?” asked her mother, causing Merrow’s heart to feel as if it were breaking. “Besides, it would kill me to know that I could never be with my children under the water again. I would have to live ashore and watch from afar. I miss the sea, Merrow. I miss my old life. A life I can only covet but never have.”

“Isn’t there a way to reverse all this? Can’t you somehow go back to being a sea nymph again?”

“Nay, there is not. When a sea nymph turns human, there is no reversing the decision.”

“But this isn’t fair.You were under an evil man’s control,” said Merrow. “This wasn’t your choice at all.”

“You are wrong, daughter. I did have a choice,” said her mother.“I could have killed myself instead of living with that evil man as nothing but his human wife. Dying would have released me, but I just couldn’t do it.”

“Why? Did you have feelings for King Sethor?”

“Nay. Of course not. The only reason I did not kill myself was because hope still lived inside me.”

“Hope? For what? Of coming home.”

“Sadly, no. It was hope of being here if the portal should ever swallow up any of my children. I wanted to be here to help any of you from going through the same thing as me. And now, it has happened.”

“So by that, are you saying you want to help us think of a way to get back home?”

“Yes. Even though I need to stay behind.”

Her mother picked up a brush and ran it over Merrow’s long, loose hair. “Merrow, where is your personal shell charm? It’s not in your hair where sea nymphs are required to wear it. Did you lose it?”

“It fell out of my hair after I got here.”

“Well, where is it?” Her mother looked around the floor. “We need to put it back in your hair at once. It is very important.”

“We can’t do that,” she said, afraid to tell her mother the truth, but knowing she didn’t have a choice. “Sebastian has it and will not give it back to me.”

“Nay!” Her mother’s knees buckled and Merrow had to catch her or she would have fallen to the ground. “Then, all my hope is dashed. My plan to help any of my daughters who ended up here has already failed. Because now, my sweet Merrow, you are doomed to repeat the horrors that I have lived through. You will never go back to the Aegean Sea, because that man will make you his wife and turn you human. And when he does, you will forever be under his control and will never be able to leave him.”

“Merrow, are you ready to go?” Sebastian knocked quickly upon the door an hour later, but didn’t wait for her to answer. A guard stood watch, so he knew she was in there. Plus, he could have sworn he heard talking and if he wasn’t mistaken, even crying.

He pushed open the door to his solar to find Merrow with her arms wrapped around the damned handmaid. They both had tears running down their cheeks.

“What’s going on here?” he asked, walking further into the room.

“Sebastian.” Merrow sniffled, quickly wiped her tears with the back of her hand, and flashed him a fake smile. “I am dressed and ready to accompany you. Where are we headed? Off to find my sisters?”

“I had planned to go to the practice yard.” He noticed the handmaid didn’t look at him. That wasn’t odd since servants were not supposed to meet with a superior’s eyes. But he got the distinct feeling that the woman didn’t like him. It made no sense since he didn’t even know her. He recognized her as one of his uncle’s servants, but Sebastian had never even spoken to the woman until today.

“Nay. We need to go and look for my sisters. It is vitally important.” Merrow was a stubborn woman. He didn’t like her telling him what to do, but supposed he could see why she’d be concerned.

“I’m sure your sisters are fine. They are probably in the sea. If so, we’ll never find them, so searching is only a waste of time.”

“That’s not true.” Merrow took his arm and led him to the door. The handmaid stayed at the bed fixing the blankets, her back to Sebastian, which he didn’t like at all. It was disrespectful. He’d have to have a word with the handmaid later and reprimand her. “I can go in the water and look for them. I can call for them,” she told him.

He could see what she was doing. She was planning her escape and he wouldn’t fall for it.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”

“Why not?” The handmaid spoke up from the bedside. She looked directly at him, but quickly lowered her eyes when he looked her way. “Pardon me, my king. I beg your forgiveness for speaking out.” She bowed deeply.

“Hmmm,” said Sebastian, realizing something odd was going on here. Perhaps the sea nymph convinced the handmaid to help her escape. He’d have to keep a close eye on the two of them. “We will not be going back on the water any time soon.”

“My lord,” came a voice from the door. It was his advisor.

“What is it, Drell?”

“The Blackseed brothers and that irritating little elf are at the gates demanding to speak to you.”

“Tell them I’m busy. Come, Merrow. We’re going to the practice yard.”

Drell cleared his throat.

“Was there something else?” Sebastian stopped in his tracks.

“It’s just that they’re asking if you caught a sea nymph while out fishing.”

“Why are they asking me that?”

“I can’t be certain, but Farrimond overheard them talking. It seems they have caught not one, but two sea nymphs as well.”

“Oh!” gasped Dee from the bedside, hurriedly clasping her hand over her mouth and turning away.

“My sisters!” cried Merrow. “They found them. We need to hurry down to the courtyard to talk to these people.”

“Nay. Send them away,” ordered Sebastian, not wanting anything to do with the Blackseed brothers. They were a thorn in his uncle’s side for as long as Sebastian could remember. Plus, two of the three brothers took over the kingdoms of Kasculbough and Evandorm, and didn’t deserve to be kings at all.

“But they have my sisters,” cried Merrow. “Galene and Melite are worried about me. I need to see them and tell them I’m all right.”

“Nay, I can’t allow that. I’m sorry,” said Sebastian. But before he could say more, Merrow pulled away from him and ran down the hall, disobeying him once again. His hand went to his pouch and he almost pulled out the shell, meaning to rub it and control her. Then he remembered how sexual she’d been when he did so last time, so he refrained from rubbing the shell with so many others around. “Let’s go, Drell. If I’m going to talk to these Blackseed brothers, I’ll need you to advise me on what to say. We’ll grab Farrimond and a few dozen soldiers along the way. I am not prepared to fight off men who have magical powers.”

Magical power wasn’t what really had Sebastian worried right now. His biggest fear was that Merrow was going to want to go back home with her sisters. The last thing he wanted right now was for this beautiful, enticing sea nymph to leave him.

Then again, he reminded himself that he held all the power. So it was really up to him if she would stay or if she’d go.