Page 50 of Broken Hearted
The siren started to reach for my throat with its claws. I tried to swim away, but I couldn’t, I didn’t have any energy left, even to save my life.
Just as the creature was about to wrap its clawed hand around my neck, it froze. Its black eyes went wide as a blade punched through its chest.
My vision started to wink out as the siren’s body was pushed aside and then strong hands grabbed the sides of my face. Before I knew what was happening, someone’s mouth was pressed up against mine and then my lungs filled with sweet air.
The hands dropped from my face and I blinked once. Twice.
I could suddenly see perfectly under the water and floating in front of me was an unfamiliar man. His face was more seelie than the siren’s, with familiar facial features: a nose, pointed ears, bright green eyes and a full mouth. But on either side of his neck were rows of gills and his skin was tinted green. He was barechested and when I glanced down his body, his lower half was a tail instead of legs.
Merman? Were those real?
Shock caused me to suck in a breath without thinking, but rather than my mouth and lungs filling with salty seawater, I breathed in sweet, life-giving air.
What magic was this?
The merman smiled at me when I pulled in more air, my eyes going wide in disbelief.
“I’ve used my magic to give you the ability to breathe and see underwater like we do until you resurface again. You’re safe now,” he said and even though we were underwater, I heard him just as clearly as I would out of it. At least with the ear that was still working. I appeared to be temporarily deaf in the other, but I hoped that my enhanced healing as a royal would repair the damage quickly.
“I’ll take you to the others in your group,” he told me.
The sailors. Adrien! Were they unharmed? Was Adrien alive?
My heart rate spiked again.
“Where are they?” I asked, discovering that I could also speak underwater.
I twisted in the water, but even though I could see through thedepths now, the only things around us were regular sea life and coral. The clouds had clearly been chased away as the sun’s bright rays pierced into the water, illuminating all for me to see. I didn’t spot Adrien or anyone else.
“Is everyone all right?”Was Adrien all right?I wanted to ask, but the merman probably wouldn’t know who I was talking about.
“Calm yourself,” he said, reaching for me. “Let me take you to shore, where we brought the others.”
I didn’t want to waste time arguing, so I just nodded. I didn’t put up a fight when he wrapped me in his arms, and then with a mighty swish of his tail we were propelled through the water.
Questions about what had just happened with the sirens and who my presumed savior was rose up in my mind, but I couldn’t push anything past the knot in my throat.
Yes, I was traumatized by what had just happened, but fear for Adrien overshadowed it tenfold. I tried to tell myself it was concern for all the men that was choking me, but in truth, it was not knowing if Adrien was okay that left me paralyzed.
What if he was hurt? What if he was dead?
The merman cut through the water at a rapid pace and before long, we approached the shallows of the island we had been swimming toward. He slowed down his speed and brought us into a cove where I could see at least a dozen other unseelie similar in appearance to him under the water with us. They peered back at us with unveiled interest as we swam by.
When we were almost to the shore and it was shallow enough for me to stand, the merman surfaced. The instant my head broke through the water I heard shouting.
“Release me. I’m going after her.” Adrien’s furious voice echoed throughout the cove.
Relief poured through me, soothing my frayed nerves. He was alive.
“Cap’n, they said they’d bring her here. There’s nothing you can do,” I heard Mathis say.
Thank goodness the young sailor was alive as well.
The unseelie released me and I twisted to see Adrien struggling against his men atop a jagged bluff on the side of the cove. Many of them were bloodied and bruised, but all eight sailors and Adrien were accounted for.
Thank the stars.
Adrien continued to argue with his men, going as far as to threaten their lives if they didn’t release him. It appeared he was trying to dive back into the sea.
