Page 71 of She Who Was Once the Sea

And rising above the rest was a voice I recognized instantly.

I stepped out of the side street into the open air of the piazza. The moon was bright, and the whole space was lit by silver light. There, by the fountain, was a small crowd of people. A tall man I didn’t recognize, but who seemed immediately familiar, and a small gaggle of women.

Lucas was there, supported by Marella’s sister and looking both uncomfortable and pained.

And there, at the center of it all, was Marella. Even from far away, I could see her green eyes shining. She looked happy to see her family, but also sad somehow. Like she was missing something.

As I watched, she began to slowly extricate herself from her family, letting them embrace and speak without her. Her face collapsed. She raised her eyes to look around the square, as if she were searching for answers in the stone walls.

At first, she looked right past me.

Then, her head whipped around. Her mouth fell open. The light from the moon reflected off her face, making her look like she was shining.

Finally, her expression transformed. Her lips, which had been pulled into a tight frown, rose to form the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen.

And that’s when we both started running.

Disregarding the stiffness and pain I still felt, I ran as fast as I could. I couldn’t move quickly enough. Even as I sprinted with every ounce of strength left in my body, I felt as though I was wading through sand.

But then our fingers met, and we crashed into one another, arms finding purchase, hands tangling in hair, and lips pressing to every available surface we could reach.

"You’re alive," she whispered into my neck, like she still couldn’t quite believe it. "How are you alive?"

I explained how I had watched her fight with the witch as I was trapped inside the stone, just as she’d watched the world go by for all those centuries. I told her how I’d simply woken up nearby after Ordina had dealt the killing blow.

I was as astounded as she was.

But it didn’t matter.

All that mattered was that we were here.

We were alive.

We were free.

And we were together.

And there, under the light of the moon, I took her face in my hand and kissed her fully, no teeth, no hunger, and no curse between us.

Just the promise of a mortal lifespan.

Together.

Epilogue - Marella

Once, we belonged to the sea. We roamed through its depths, swimming freely through canals and rivers and streams—as far as we could go—into land.

Those waterways had long since dried up. We had to take a train—a train—from Rossaia to the coast. The closer we got, the more I could feel my legs itching. I could smell the salt and taste the brine long before the train pulled into the station at the end of the line.

Garrett held my hand as we disembarked, and it was only his presence that kept me from sprinting to the shore. We walked, together with my family, as quickly as we could without drawing too much attention to ourselves.

The humans had long since forgotten we existed, and we didn’t particularly want to remind them. So, we walked, far away from the beaches crowded by tourists, until we reached a quiet inlet surrounded by cliffs where blue water lapped at the rocky shore.

My family didn’t hesitate. They ran forward, pulling clothes from their bodies as they went, diving headfirst into the waves. The sight of their tails, shining and bright, nearly brought me to tears.

I held myself back. Garrett still gripped my hand tightly. His blue eyes were shaded by dark sunglasses, but I could tell by the tightness in his jaw that he was feeling something more than he would ever say out loud.

"It won’t be forever," I said gently, both of us staring out at the place where my family had disappeared beneath the surface. "I’ll be back before you know it."

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. "I know. I just—"

He turned to face me, dropping my hand to grasp my shoulders. "It feels like we just found each other. We haven’t had nearly enough time… together." He laughed, but the sound was hollow. "Not that I don’t want you to go home—I know what this means to you. I just—"

I lifted my hand to press a finger against his lips, trying to fight the tears forming in my own eyes. "I know," I said gently. "But like I said, it won’t be forever. I’ll always come for you. There’s no force on land or sea that could keep us apart."

He leaned his forehead against mine.

"I’ll always wait for you," he whispered before our lips met.

He did. And when the day came that I was ready to once again step ashore and mingle with humans, he was there, waiting with a smile and a stolen red dress, ready to welcome me home.