Page 29 of Gold Mine (The Diamond Trilogy 2)
It took every ounce of muscle in his seasoned body, but when he finally pulled the haul onto the deck, it was not a fish or a dolphin. It was a woman. More specifically, a mermaid.
He approached her with the wonder of a child, but she was panicked, thrashing, tears in her large blue eyes. “Shhh,” he told her. “I won’t hurt you. Let me help.”
His large hands were deft as he cut into the knots and freed her.
“What’s your name?” he asked, but she crawled to the edge of the boat and threw herself into the water, disappearing in a flash of silver-purple scales.
The next day he went back to the same place and waited, no net in the water. For hours the sun beat down on a dry, empty deck and endless water. When he despaired of finding her again, he saw the same flash of silver and purple. She swam right up to the boat and put her hands on the helm. This time she had no fear, not of his muscles or his knife.
He approached her cautiously. “What’s your name?” he asked again.
She gave him a mischievous smile and swam away.
On the third day he did not wait for her to arrive. When he reached the same spot, he anchored the boat and stripped down to his briefs. Then he dove into the water. He swam in large, arching circles—a search pattern—trying to see into the deep waters.
She was underneath him, watching, curious and delighted with this human she had caught. He was hers. She didn’t tell the other mermaids about him, because she didn’t want to share.
Only when he began to tire did she swim up to greet him, thumping his legs with her tail and flicking her hair over her shoulder. He laughed, the sound rusty from disuse.
Weeks passed. Months.
He began to wonder if he loved her, and if she could love him back. Most days the mermaid would come play with him. On some days she would not, and he began to grow resentful of whatever business kept her away those times.
In his small crofter’s hut, he began to build a net, the largest one he’d ever made.
When it was finished he hauled it onto his boat and threw it into the water. He caught her. He caught her, and this time, he didn’t immediately let her go. In that moment it ceased being a game. That is where the love story ends and the real story begins.
* * *
The knock comes two hours after Elijah and Josh leave. I’ve been scribbling in my notebook ever since they left. My new story idea has cramped my hand. It’s been a long time since I wrote about mermaids. Not since my first published book. It must be the seaside setting that’s inspired me to write about what creatures inhabit it.
I’m only halfway curious when I hear voices downstairs. There are occasional deliveries of food from the local merchants.
Liam appears in the doorway, and I know something is wrong.
His green eyes appear dark, and though it’s an expression I’ve never seen on his face before, he’s worried. He gives me a curt nod in greeting. “The lieutenant colonel is here. The man Elijah is supposed to be meeting. I called him, but it’ll be another two hours before they make it back.”
A sense of surrealness washes over me. I know my blood is pounding, but everything is happening in slow motion. The sun seems brighter, the details on the terrace sharper. Leaves that had only been green are now vibrant. The sound of waves rushes in my ears. “What does he want?”
“He wants to talk to you. I would tell him to go fuck himself… but he has an arrest warrant for you from the AISE. The Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna. We’re in their country. They have jurisdiction.”
My voice turns into a squeak. “They’re going to arrest me?”
There’s a telling pause. “No, but it would be hard to stop them. Easier to give in to the lieutenant colonel’s demands. He claims that if he talks to you, only talks, he won’t make the arrest.”
“He wants to talk to me?”
“Most likely he’s going to ask you about the diamonds. That’s what he really wants. Well, he wants Elijah, too, but I think at this point he’d settle for the diamonds.”
Panic makes my throat tight. “We don’t have them anymore.”
Liam’s green eyes look so much like Elijah’s, it makes me ache. “Be honest with him. He would spot a lie anyway. Once he knows that Taggart has the diamonds, he can try going after him. If he has AISE in his pocket, he might even get them back.”
“Do I have to do this?” Part of me is terrified to face the man that even makes Elijah blink, despite all his muscles and confidence. The other part of me is curious to know who this man is and what sort of hold he has over the man I’ve come to love. It’s more than just the coercion. There’s some strange bond between these two men. It keeps Elijah tethered more than any bounty on my head. Even his brothers haven’t managed to break that hold.
