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The pain of being stabbed was near blinding, causing me to cry out. Once. One shout of weakness was all I was willing to give. I wouldn’t allow this royal soldier a chance to hear me scream a second time. My hands fell to my sides, palm coming into contact with something hard. I grabbed it, whatever it was, raising it overhead and smashing it into the side of the captain’s face with all the strength I could muster.
It was my turn then to relish in the loud sound of his surprised cry. Once the sound pierced out of him, I couldn’t stop. I smacked him over and over with my makeshift weapon, my only thoughts of escape. I would rather fight until my death before I gave in to a soldier or the royals.
He went slack above me, and I used that to my advantage, throwing him off my body with a powerful push of my tail. I shot up, body protesting in pain. Every instinct in me told me to flee now before it was too late.
I started to leave. There were plenty of mer around these parts of Eramaea who owed me favors. I could find refuge with them, disguise myself, lay low until they forgot about me like they always did. But her voice stopped me mid-stroke.
“Are you alright?” She was eyeing my wound with wide, surprised eyes, and I couldn’t help but smile. Even after what I’d done to her, even after witnessing my brutality for herself, she still found it within her to care for my well-being. She was either very foolish or very kind. Or both.
Her attention drifted down towards her guard. Her posture was tense, and I knew there was a touch of fear inside of her at what I’d done to the captain. At how easily I dove into violence. How easily I could betray her trust.
A part of me wanted to comfort her, but now was not the time for that. Just like it wasn’t the time for the flare of jealousy that rose up as she bent to check his pulse. Would she do that if she knew that he was the reason I’d been captured in the first place? That he’d been the one to order the guards to strip me, steal from me, beat me?
“All is well, little fish.” A lie, but it tasted so sweet when her attention pulled back in my direction, her eyebrows tugging together.
I was hurt. My body ached. I should turn, leave. But instead, I reached for her once more, and it was like the missing piece of me finally settled into place.
“I need you,” I whispered, and even as the words left my mouth, I wasn’t sure what I meant by them. Even so, she didn’t resist this time as I pulled her out of the market, leaving behind the noise, the chaos, and her unconscious guard.
The wound at my abdomen pulled each time I moved. The sharp stabs of pain and the smoking trail of blood was a painful reminder that I should find some place to rest.
But not yet. Not until we were safely hidden from the watchful eyes of Eramaea.
We’d stopped our quick pace. It’d look suspicious, so we kept steady strokes with our heads down. I held tightly to her arm. I told myself it was to keep her in place so she wouldn’t swim away, but it was more to keep myself from flopping to the silt into unconsciousness.
Tugging her along gave me purpose. Though she kept her head down, I was aware she was drawing attention to the both of us, and I wasn’t entirely inconspicuous, wearing the rags of a common criminal and leaving a trail of blood in my wake.
We passed an old merman selling cloaks from a basket. With quick, adept fingers, I snagged one, pulling it around my shoulders and tying it together at the front of my neck with the string. Then, I pulled her close. She was stiff against me, and a sudden swell of irritation passed through me. I didn’t want her to fear me any more than I wanted to die. Some things were just necessary evils. Like knocking a royal guard unconscious, like throwing an ax at the crown prince of Draconi. Like betraying her.
I pressed my lips to her cheek and she jolted, but I kept them there, letting them graze across the warmth of her skin until I reached her ear. “Easy, little fish,” I whispered. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
A shiver went through her that I felt vibrate on my own body. A small smile of satisfaction touched my lips. Before I could even make a clever comment regarding the state of her obvious desire, she turned to press her own lips against my bruised skin. I fought back a wince.
“In your state,” she said slowly, “it doesn’t look like you could hurt anyone.”
Proving her point, she wrapped her hand around my waist, where she dug her fingers tightly into my wound. White lights danced behind my eyelids. I grunted, doubling over to take in sharp breaths.
“You...” I couldn’t even get what I wanted to say out, because she was jamming her fingers into my side again. “Alright, alright, swim down, little fish. Don’t kill me yet.”
She chuckled without much mirth and helped me to straighten again. By the time we were away from the busiest part of the capital, she was practically dragging me through the streets. Even through my haze of pain, I could tell that the castle guards and officers had all been alerted to the abduction of the princess. They frantically swam around looking for her.
Nowhere would be safe.
Nowhere except...
“Take me to the castle,” I ordered her, my voice coming out as more of a guttural growl.
Thankfully, she didn’t argue. She must have known how much pain I was in because she steered me in the direction of the palace of Thalassar. The grandeur greeted us even from leagues away. Tall peaks and towers the color of rose quartz and gold winked and beckoned.
“To the alleyway,” I rasped.
She gave a tight nod, knowing what I meant. It was the alleyway where we’d first met, what seemed so many nights ago. The night she’d thought she was saving my life. The night she met her hero. Now, I was the sea scum who had used her as bait to swim from my fate. Just like I always found myself swimming away from that which did not suit me. War. Soldiers. Death.
And now she realized just how much of a barracuda I truly was. I’d made her believe I cared for her, and then I’d been quick to use her as a shield. I didn’t expect her to understand, though. She owed me. A life for a life, and once she got me to safety, her debt would be paid in full.
At the mouth of the alley, we waited to venture in until the streets cleared. I was grateful we were close, so close, because I didn’t think I could take much more swimming. Once we reached the dead end of an algae-covered stone wall, she stopped and turned to me, letting me go and putting a stroke of distance between us.
“We’re here,” she commented quietly.
Narrowing my eyes but lifting my lips up into a sarcastic smirk, I made a noise of disapproval deep in my throat. “Now, now, little fish, you know where I want you to take me.”
I wanted inside her secret hideout. Her lair. Somewhere on the side of this stone wall where she was able to sneak in and out of the suffocating confines of the palace.
Her eyes became a cold mask, and because of that small action, I knew that there was a secret doorway here. I’d not be fooled otherwise. Not when she was tensing up, readying herself to deny it with her very last breath. The space was obviously sacred to her. A secret.
I didn’t care.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You and I both know there’s a door to your hideaway here. I want you to take me there. Now.”
Her head shook back and forth, the silky strands of purple hair flying around her face. “There’s nothing like that here.”
Because I was running out of niceties, I took a single stroke forward until our bodies were pressed up against each other, so close I could feel the rise and fall of her chest against my own. The press of her turgid nipples against these rags stirred my own cravings, but I tamped whatever desire I felt for her deep, deep down.
“So the night we met, you just happened to be hanging around the dead end of an alleyway?” My voice was menacing enough to send thieves and thugs swimming for their lives. Her heart beat frantically. I felt it. But she still met my own gaze with a level stare of her own.
“That’s exactly what happened, Elias.”
Stubborn little fish.
My hand went up to wrap around her throat. She gasped, but I didn’t squeeze. I kept my palm there, feeling the pulse at her skin. My fingers traced along the lines of her gills, my thumb going in circles along the sharp edge of her collarbone.
“You will take me there now, little fish,” I drawled. She shuddered. “Because if you don’t...” I let the sentence trail off, and let my fingers trail down the length of her skin, touching the edge of her delicate neckline, just where the cloth met the swells of her breasts.
Her breath hitched, and like I knew she would, she moved a little to the side, out of my grasp. I dropped my hand, staring at her intensely.
“Fine,” she conceded. Then, she turned to the furry green wall of stone. Her palms met the dirty surface, moving them around briefly before the sudden, startling sound of stone scraping against stone filled the darkness.
I cast a cautious glance towards the mouth of the alley. No one came. I looked back to see the stone part to form a doorway. Darkness greeted us beyond.
“Come on,” she urged. She swam halfway into the threshold and held her hand out for me to take. I smiled and placed my hand in hers, letting her lead the way.