Elias

She was glaring one moment and distraught the next, tears spilling from her eyes as she threw herself into my arms. Her hug was crushing, and I was all too eager to keep her in place. She buried her face into the dark shirt of my tunic, and I held her there with one hand, the other skirting around her waist. Sobs racked her body and something inside of me clenched.

“There, there, little fish.” I pressed a soft kiss of comfort on top of her head. “Who has wronged you?” I’d kill whoever had hurt her without blinking twice. I did not like to see a mermaid cry. It crippled me.

She sniffled and pulled away, but her fingers were still fisted at my shirt. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t come here to weep all over you.”

I almost told her it was alright, that she could weep all she wanted. I liked her there, pressed up against my chest, showing a vulnerability she’d tried to hide the night we first met. Before I could say anything in response, she was pulling away and wiping away at her tears, ever strong and fierce as she looked up at me.

“I’ve been looking for you,” she said.

I smiled. “I know, little fish. I was told. Take more caution around this part of Eramaea. Though the mer know I am here, they don’t use my name. It would bring soldiers straight to their shop doors. Now—” I broke off and looked around. “Let’s go somewhere more private so we can talk, yeah?”

She complied and didn’t protest when I slipped my fingers into hers, pulling her deeper into the alley and through an opened door. I closed it behind us and led her into the comforts of a small home. She stopped by the door and looked around at the place.

“Is this yours?” she asked. Her eyes glued to the décor. It was rather bare, a small couch, a table, and a clutter of trash and various human paraphernalia.

“This is the back room used for storage,” I replied, guiding her to the couch and sitting her there. “It’s not mine, but the owner lets me use it on occasion.” I perched myself on the edge of the table across from her. “Now, tell the Black Blade all of your troubles.”

She glared at me. “Don’t mock me,” she snapped.

“I would never do such a thing.” I smiled. Anger was better than sadness, and if I could rile enough emotion out of her, she’d forget she was ever sad in the first place.

“You’re a liar, Elias.”

I really liked the way she said my name. I liked it a lot. My eyes roamed over her slowly, from the aquamarine color on her tail fin to the purple-blue of the exposed part of her tail. A sea foam green dress floated loosely over her body, and at her shoulders she wore a purple cloak. The outfit did not do her beauty justice.

“Perhaps. But you must like something about me, since you came calling. Want another kiss?” I raised my eyebrows, smirked, knowing it would infuriate her. When her face flushed angrily, I knew it had worked.

“Ugh, why did I come to see such a barracuda like you?” Her words were angry, but there was no bite to them. And then she answered her own question. “Because I needed a break. I needed to get away from them.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Them?” I echoed.

She nodded and sighed, tossing her head back on the couch. “The royals. I was suffocating in there. I wanted to get away from the pressure. I wanted something... normal...”

She looked so sad sitting there. I sighed and looked around. There was a lot I had to do. Blades needed making to be sold, and there were some locals I’d promised I’d help out by moving furniture and tending to their animals. But... I looked at her lip stuck between her teeth. The locals could wait.

“You fancy swimming around town with me, little fish?” I asked, hopping off the table. I didn’t wait for her reply as I began digging through the clutter around the floor. I picked up a long strip of black cloth from the corner of the house and went to the other side to rummage through an old chest.

“I’ll probably draw attention to you,” she said. “The Princess of Thalassar out in Eramaean streets with the kingdom’s most notorious criminal. I can hear it on the broadcasts now.”

I found what I was looking for and turned back to her, handing her the folded fabric. “Ditch the dress and cloak,” I ordered. “And put this on.”

She took the folded fabric from my hands and let it unfold to reveal a long, black dress. Her eyebrows rose. “Yours?” she asked sarcastically.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

She chuckled as she floated up and untied the strings of her cloak at her throat. I watched the workings of her long, slender fingers move, jerking the strings and dropping the cloak from her body to float to the floor. My throat tightened.

“Do you mind?” she asked, eyes narrowing.

I laughed and crossed my arms against my chest. “Not at all, little fish.” She glowered and I laughed again before slowly turning around to give her enough privacy to change.

I heard the swishing of fabric, felt the stirring in the water as she moved. I had that sudden urge to turn and look at her, to steal a glimpse at the curves of her waist, the shape of her scales, her perky breasts...

“Finished,” she announced.

I couldn’t turn fast enough. The dress fit her a bit tightly, pressing up against her chest. It ran down tight across her tail, though the sides were slit to allow free movement in the fins, it was obviously designed for a thinner mermaid. She still looked stunning, the material pressing against every dip of her body.

“Come here,” I demanded quietly, my voice heavy. She swam forward until we were nearly touching. “Turn around.” She did as she was told and my fingers got to work, sweeping her hair behind her head and tying the black strip of cloth onto her head like a swashbuckling pirate. I ended up braiding her purple strands in with the remaining strips of black cloth and tying the end. When I finished, she turned back around. “There,” I said. “Now you’re just a simple mermaid named Maisie taking a swim around Eramaean streets with a simple merman named Elias.”

I loved everything about Thalassar, though the royalty of Eramaea were the exception. There was something about Eramaea that was rather beautiful. It could have been the colors, swathes of pinks, golds, and blues that cast a sunset-like hue over the entire city. Maybe it was the food sold in stalls along the streets. Maybe it was the variety of mer that swam about with all sorts of tails in all shapes, sizes, colors, and styles.

Today, I loved Eramaea because of her.

Her eyes widened as she took everything in for what seemed like the first time. It had me observing every little thing about her. There was always so much to learn, so much to see, new details to pick up. Like the fact that she swam with a slight limp that she seemed to be desperately trying to hide. Or the fact that her eyes shone almost blue when the golden rays of the palace shone down on her. Or the way she spoke in a small pond accent with much more ease than when she spoke in the Eramaean one.

We swam side by side, though I didn’t reach for her hand again, and she didn’t reach for mine. I didn’t mind. It was enough to swim beside her and enjoy her reactions to the city. When we passed a stall that sold river frogs stuffed with water leeches, I noticed her nose twitch in that direction.

“Do you want one?” I asked, stopping her.

She looked so excited at the prospect of real food. They probably starved her with nonsense that they passed off as meals in that palace. I ordered two frogs skewered on kabobs and handed one off to her. She dug in without hesitation, smacking her lips as she swam.

I ate mine much more slowly, and when we finished, we went to discard the kabob sticks into a fishing net used for trash.

On and on our adventure went. She’d stop at stalls and look over the things there. Before I could offer to buy anything, she’d move on to the next. The only things she truly held an interest in were foods. Foods, I noticed, that were authentic from the small pond of Lagoona.

She was devouring snail stew from a to-go bowl like she was starving.

When she finished, she used the back of her hand to wipe her mouth. “So...” She set her bowl onto her lap. We had stopped near the public park. There were coral benches and reefs with hundreds of fish swimming all around. I lifted my finger up to stroke a passing clown fish. “Why are you here?” she asked.

I leaned back on the bench. “Because I wanted to wipe the sadness from your eyes.”

She flushed but shook her head. “No, no, no. I mean why are you here in Eramaea?” She looked around cautiously, afraid someone might overhear, then she leaned closer to me. “You’re an outlaw,” she whispered.

My eyes glittered in amusement. “You don’t have to whisper, little fish. I know I’m a criminal.”

She rolled her eyes. “So if you’re wanted by everyone here, why stay? Why not leave Thalassar and live somewhere without having to look over your shoulder at every turn?”

I batted away a shrimp that came over to buzz around our faces. When it was gone, I smiled. “Misdirection,” I explained. At her confused look, I elaborated. “That’s what everyone expects me to do, little fish. I’m the most wanted mer in the capitol. I’ve fled Selection and have helped other mer flee Selection and find sanctuary. Where? At the one place they’d never think to look.”

Her eyes widened and she smiled. “Right under their noses.”

“Exactly. They wouldn’t expect the Black Blade to be hiding a few strokes away from their palace. They never look. And all those mer you saw today? They were all Selected at one point. After a few weeks in hiding, they change their appearance, change their names, and they can live comfortably in the only kingdom they’ve ever known.” Home. I had no home. Not anymore. Mine was brutally stripped from me by tyrant royals who did not like the idea of a free merman.

“Why do you do it?” she asked.

No one had ever asked me that before. The smile on my face died. Everyone always thanked me for what I did for them. They treated me like a hero, like the savior of the broken. I’d never wanted to be that. I never wanted titles that weighed heavily on my shoulders, and I hadn’t been born with them. They’d been bestowed upon me because of what I could do and what I’d done.

“Because I love Thalassar.” My reply was simple enough. I didn’t think I needed to explain my love of it to her. I didn’t need to elaborate and tell her I loved the mer, I loved the currents, the schools of fishes. Her eyes were bright with understanding. Royals would never understand the love I had for the ocean we resided in. But she held the in-depth understanding of someone who had been Selected would.

Her hand found mine, and instead of looking down at it, I was captivated by her eyes. By her smile. “Thank you,” she whispered.

And she didn’t need to explain to me what she meant.

I already knew.