Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 156907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
Cassius did not smile back.
He looked to Mac and answered his unasked question.
“As you can see, we will not be calling the dragons, not yet. For we’ll be using the Zees.”
He glanced to Silvanus and caught a bloody sparkle in the man’s eye before he turned back to Mac and finished.
“And Fern’s army.”
115
The Mer
Queen Ha-Lah
Nautilus Beach, Strait of Medusa
MAR-EL
“I do not like this,” my husband shared something that I was in no doubt about, considering his expression and the way he held his body.
We stood in the sand on the empty beach, the pre-dawn wind whipping about us, and we did this holding hands.
“I will be fine,” I assured.
“You could catch a chill,” he returned. “It is coming on winter and that water—”
I squeezed his hand. “Aramus, I am Mer, my darling. I do not feel it.”
He glowered down at me.
I leaned into him and gave him a reassuring smile.
“We are here while all are still abed. No one can see us. I will go, then I will return, hopefully with new allies in the seas.”
Close to the end of my words, I noted I was losing his attention as his gaze drifted to the ocean.
It was then I felt it, so intent on assuring my king, its coming did not register with me.
Thus, I whirled and but only glanced at the waters before my hand tightened in his and I shouted, “Run!”
Aramus did not need me to share this warning, he was already bracing to drag me up the beach.
Thus, together, we bolted up the shore.
His boots sunk in the sand, and I lost a slipper before I’d taken two steps, the other one on the third, but the both of us knew it was useless as the roar of the water filled our ears.
This was why Aramus tossed me to the sand. And I had barely hit before he was throwing himself bodily over me.
He wrapped his arms around me tightly, just as the tidal landed on his back.
Being dragged uncontrollably into the sea, I wrapped an arm around him too, cupping the back of his head with my other hand and pulling his mouth to mine.
I opened my lips, he opened his, thus our lips were sealed, and we held to each other tightly as the power of the seas drug us deep.
I felt my legs knitting, the scales pressing through the skin as they formed, my gills opening, while the water twisted us and towed us, flipped us and twirled us.
I knew only one thing in the tumult, I had to keep hold of my husband, and I had to keep his mouth to mine, breathing air into him, until it was over.
For if I did this, no matter how deep it swept us out to sea, I could take him with me as I swam back.
I simply had to keep him alive until the furor was over, and we could surface.
Aramus knew this was my strategy, thus he held my head to his as I did the same and locked his long legs around my scaly hips.
We could do this, together.
I could help him survive.
I would help him survive.
All we had to do was hold on.
On this thought, he was ripped from my arms.
My underwater scream formed large bubbles as I began to flip my fin to regain my hold on my king, but I got nowhere, and not only because I froze at what I saw before me.
Hands had seized me under my arms.
I turned my head to the side and looked angrily at one of the mermales who had a hold on me and was drawing me deeper into the sea.
My watery words I knew he could hear.
“He cannot breathe!” I screamed, violently trying to pull at his hold.
The mermale remained facing forward, his grip on me unbreakable as we swam deeper.
“The pressure!” I shrieked.
The male just glanced at me and carried on swimming.
I tugged and fought as we followed the males dragging my husband into the depths of the ocean, my heart beating a fierce tattoo, my mind sending messages to my friends to come and save me.
Save me.
And my husband.
Save us…
From my people.
I saw the dolphins, and the octopi, even a few whales in the distance.
But I did not think to call out to them as I also saw the manner in which Aramus’s body floated in the hold of the mermales before us.
“No!” I screeched.
He could not be dead.
Please, no.
He could not be dead.
My mind scrambled.
How long had he been separated from me?
Too long.
Oh, Medusa.
He could not be dead!
I struggled with all I had against the hold on me.
“You will calm, maid,” the mermale on my other side demanded.
“You will let me go!” I shouted.
“You are not queen here, Ha-Lah,” he told me.
No, I was not.
Sirens dammit.
“By the gods, by Medusa, by the sirens,” I chanted, so fraught, I paid no heed to the dim light I could now see shining from below.