Humiliation burned on my cheeks. Everyone was watching us, but the fury of Lukas’s glare would’ve rivalled the strongest hurricane.
After a few more awful licks, Lyssandra’s frustrated voice stole everyone’s attention away. “Blessed Oceans, could you save this behaviour for your bedchamber?” she scoffed. “I’m trying to eat.”
“Agreed,” Erissa added, not bothering to look up from her bread roll.
“A thousand apologies.” Arenn lifted his head, turning to face his sister dramatically. “Though if there’s nothing more to be said here, I would quite like to retire to my chambers so that Naria and I can continue our… conversation.”
My insides curled.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait,” Lyssandra shot back. “We still have much more to discuss.”
Arenn rolled his eyes, then leaned back in his seat, pulling me along with him. “Get on with it then. Some of us actually have duties to attend to.”
The look Lyssandra flashed at him was verging on murderous, but it didn’t take long for her to compose herself.
After taking a deep breath, she addressed the table, “I’m sure that some of you might be wondering why I’ve gathered us all here today. As you know, it is not common for we fae to dine with our human friends.” She swirled her goblet in her pale hand. “But today is not a common day… Today, dear friends andbelovedfamily, marks the day that the foul, the disgusting, the wicked… Ikelos Forgeborn will be brought to justice.” Her goblet slammed against the table as she cast a long look at Ikelos. The frail King didn’t seem to notice, though. Over the course of the meal, he’d weakened to the point where he was barely able to hold his head up.
“On my journey here I was considering the best way to expose his crimes. I could just tell you, but I feel that I could not even come close to describing the horrors that this man has subjected both humans and faeries to,” Lyssandra continued, her words dripping with venom. “So, I will ask everyone now to hold hands, and I will show you exactly why we are all here and why Ikelos deserves to rot in the darkest pits of the underrealm for all eternity.” From under the table, she lifted her hands, holding them out for her parents to take.
The Faery King and Queen exchanged worried glances, but each took a hand, extending their own to Ikelos and Erissa. Hesitantly, they accepted too as Arenn took Erissa’s other hand and then held mine, squeezing it a few times. I wanted to reach for Lukas, but Arenn held me far too tightly to move.
“Now please, close your eyes,” Lyssandra instructed once we were all mostly connected. “And I will show you a story of love.” She glanced at Erissa. “And betrayal.” She glared at Ikelos.
Forcing down the fear that rose in my chest, I closed my eyes.
Fresh, salty air overwhelmed my nose as I heard the strange, rolling sounds of water. My eyes flew open, immediately squinting from the bright sun that warmed my face. It was hot, so much hotter than the more temperate forests of Drothmore. An intense breeze whipped hair across my face, but after I wiped it away, I gasped at the view before me. Stretching out to the distant horizon, was a perfect, endless line of blue. The sapphire water seemed to go on forever, only meeting the land as it crashed across the golden sand, metres away from where I stood. I’d always dreamt of seeing the ocean, but no amount of dreaming could ever compare to seeing it like this. The view took my breath away.
“Welcome to the beaches of Ryntook,” Lyssandra announced from behind me. Whipping my body around, I noticed tall cliffs that reached up to the sky and strange trees with huge, long, jagged leaves. Most of the dinner party was there, too. Everyone, except for Erissa and Ikelos, was gathered on the sand, all looking equally bemused by our new surroundings.
“Pay attention now, because this is where our story begins.” Lyssandra swept her hand towards the shoreline.
Hesitantly, I returned my gaze to the ocean, then almost jumped out of my skin when a young man walked right by me, passing inches away from my face. He was tall, with dark brown hair and copper skin, while his face and the confident way he held himself appeared oddly familiar – so familiar that had I not seen him so close, I would’ve assumed it was Lukas.
“The star of our story,” Lyssandra narrated as the pieces clicked together in my head.
Ikelos wasn’t gathered with the others on the sand because that was him. This washismemory.
In silence, we all watched as young Ikelos marched towards a large rock that jutted out from the water. He waited there fora few moments before a young lady appeared, too. She pushed herself up from behind the boulder as water dripped down the seashells that daintily decorated her chest. Just like Lyssandra, her hair was an unusual mix of lilac, blue, and green tones, while her face was something else entirely. With her full lips and bright eyes, I’d never seen someone so beautiful and so full of life.
It didn’t take long for my breath to catch as I glanced down and realised that this was no ordinary young woman. Instead of legs, a long, blue, shimmering fishtail swung delicately over the side of the rock. I’d never seen a mermaid before, but I’d heard the stories. Their beauty was supposed to be so breathtaking that it would send sailors diving off ships and plummeting straight to their deaths, just for the chance of a kiss from one. If all merfolk looked like her, then those stories had to be true. Even my heart fluttered as I studied her perfect features.
The mermaid smiled down at Ikelos, then lowered herself so that their lips met. They held each other in a passionate embrace as Lyssandra’s voice cut through the sound of the nearby waves crashing.
“How beautiful Erissa was,” she sighed.
No. That couldn’t be Erissa. I refused to believe it. While the young woman did seem somewhat familiar, her face was too radiant, too glowing with flawless beauty to even be compared to Erissa’s dull and lifeless features.
But before I could argue, the world around us dimmed. The light disappeared for only a few heartbeats before the sun shone brightly once again. When I glanced back at the rock, both Ikelos and the mermaid had disappeared, though the sound of quiet sobbing turned my head in another direction.
A few feet away, young Ikelos stood facing the ocean, while the same woman stood opposite him. Her fishtail had disappeared, replaced by two slender legs. As she sobbedquietly, she clutched Ikelos’s tunic with one hand and draped the other across her swollen belly.
“There’s no need to cry, my love,” young Ikelos consoled her as she wept. “The healers said you’ll be home long before the baby arrives. Just use this time to rest and gather your strength. I will be here the moment you resurface.”
My gaze paused upon her belly. If thatwasErissa then that meant…
“I love you,” she whispered back between cries, “and I’m so sorry it has to be this way, but I will think of you every moment I am gone.” They held each other in a tight embrace until Erissa’s legs slowly morphed into a long, blue fishtail. She gasped at the transformation, while Ikelos just held her for what felt like an eternity, neither one wanting to let go first. Eventually, he lowered her gently into the water. Then, they shared one final kiss before she dipped her head beneath the waves and vanished in a shimmer of blue.
“There is a ritual that the merfolk can perform to give themselves human form, but unfortunately, the effects are only temporary.” Lyssandra’s steady voice pulled me back from the scene once again. I turned away to find her, but my attention instead found Lukas. His bronze skin paled as his gaze remained fixed on where his mother had been.
