Page 46 of Sustaining
“We didn’t come here to harm anyone. That was never our intent.” I slowly untangle my hands from the two men at my sides and try to show some sign of amical demeanor. I sit on the edge, teetering but keeping my balance against the washing sea and the gentle breeze.
Another violent spray of water hits my body, jostling my balance, and then a second woman is coiled up behind the first mermaid. And to my shameful horror, she’s holding the dead mermaid Queen in her arms. The woman’s skin tone is a deep-blue color, her arms dangling while her glittering black tail cascades down into the sea. The second woman has enormous silver eyes, but they’re not clouded with rage. Hers are big and filled with tears.
“My mother brought our people to this island decades ago. She said a woman, a woman just like you, would take care of us if we took care of her,” the woman in front of me growls out. Her thin lips never tremble once because the tightness of her jaw won’t allow it.
“That woman said I needed—” I try my best to phrase this as peacefully as I can, but it seems that’s not really possible. “She said I needed a single strand of hair from the person I last harmed. I’m not here to hurt you and I truly wish the attack last night would have ended differently.”
“You!” The single word is a shrieking sound that clatters the very waters of the sea. Water slashes violently into our ship. “You have the disgusting nerve to ask me for a hair from my dead mother’s head?”
“I—” My voice feels lost within my throat, and the pain filling my chest makes it impossible to breathe.
“Leave. Now. Andnevercome back to my cove.” The sharp point of her chin rises, and just as quickly as she rose, she descends. Her hair twirls as her tail coils down, down, down. And then she’s gone.
The young girl holding the mermaid Queen’s body stares wide-eyed at me for several long seconds, tears streaming down her cheeks the whole time. I feel…pathetic. Ashamed.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I hurt you,” I whisper.
Her tail arches, bringing her tear-streaked face inches from mine. She’s so close I can feel her shuddering breath against my cheek. Sharp white teeth reveal as she hesitates to speak to me.
“You said you needed the hair from the person you last harmed.” Her alluring tone is just as beautiful but hauntingly sad.
I nod quietly.
Every one of her lashes glitters against the sun, both from the sea water dripping down her skin and also from the tears leaking from her eyes.
“You killed my mother.” A single breath fills her lungs. “The last person you harmed then, was me.” The emptiness of her voice cuts into me, and I’ll never regret fighting for my life but I’ll always regret the way I hurt this girl.
I know I’ll remember the lost look in her silver eyes for the rest of my life.
She lowers, and my determination to do this one simple task lowers right along with her. At the last minute, her long fingers thread through her pale-white hair. She pulls, and when she lifts a lock of her hair up to me, I clutch it tight in my fist immediately, teetering dangerously over the edge, making Chaos lock his arms around my waist to stop me from diving in after her.
She holds her mother to her chest, her face tilted up to me as the powerful sea pulls her down. “Never come back here,” she whispers.
And then the ocean sweeps her under.
I got exactly what I came for. I just didn’t expect the drowning guilt that came with it.
Eighteen
The King’s Arrival
When the fiveof us trail down the dock and toward the village, Molly’s attention on my soggy attire is obnoxiously heavy. My clothes cling to my body, and I cling to that lock of hair as I hold my arms tightly around myself. We pass the steam room and the judgmental little woman standing in front of it.
“I’m told the King is paying us a visit today. I intend to greet him personally. I think he should be aware of what’s happening in his own village.”
I don’t lift my head to her. I don’t feed her desperate need for an altercation. I just have to get through this. The very little amount of energy I have is being reserved for someone a bit more important than Molly.
Rime, on the other hand, always uses his energy frugally, so he apparently has plenty to spare. “I hear it’s hard to greet someone if you’ve recently had your tongue cut out.” The polite nod he gives her is as confusing as the threat he just subtly dropped by.
His hands remain casually in his pockets as he walks behind me, but the cutting look he passes her steals the coloring from her features. The blood drains from her face, and she slips safely away inside the steam room without another word.
I don’t think about her nasty threats as I make my way toward the bakery just down the warm cobbled street. It’s hard to let a few hateful words slip into your thoughts when all you can think about is how the one person you hurt the most, was the one person to help you when you asked. It restores something in my heart. All the constant suspicious glaring eyes of the villagers are insignificant to the single act of kindness the mermaid girl showed me today. It’s strange how little compassion it takes to dissolve so much hate.
She helped me. I have no idea why, but she helped me.
The men don’t coddle me. They let me hold myself together as we walk toward my mother’s shop. Kain’s big hand settles low on my back, warming me all the way through with the small touch, and his body brushes subtly against mine when he opens the door for me. A chime of bells ring overhead, and I halt there in the doorway to take a calming breath of salty oceanfront air.
A goodbye that I’ve been dreading is coming.
