The Mermaid Prophecy (On Hiatus)

Chapter 12

(Author's Note: Today, I got my first follower, first comment and first person to save my story to their reading list all in the same day! I want to say thank you to all of you who are supporting me in my quest to write my first book :)

Thank you so so much for reading and don't forget to vote and comment! I would love to hear your ideas about what I should do next!)

Arsulu

My hands immediately fly to my knife wound and cover the remnants of crystal healing powder. I hadn't expected that I would need to hide it from anyone. I also hadn't expected that I would still be in the human world.

It was normal enough to see crystal powder used all sorts of ways in the mer-kingdom but the way that Eric stumbled over his words made it clear that it was much less prominent here.

"O-of course not." I mentally smack myself for tripping over my own words. Straightening my back and steeling my nerves, I try again. "Surely you must be seeing things.

His eyes continue to search for traces of the crystal glow around the edges of my hands.

"Look, I just mixed some moon kelp with medicine and covered a wound with it. In certain light, the kelp can look like it's glowing... Maybe that's what you saw."

It's a lie. Not a very good one at that.

Questions dance around in his eyes and when he looks into mine, I know that he can see the fear in mine. I try to act with nonchalance and shrug off the questions in his eyes but my body is still tense. My muscles still pulled tight, ready to run if need be.

"I've never heard of moon kelp before."

"Oh? It's the best. Fresh Kelp in general is the best for healing," I say. I pull the "sheets" up to my chin and lay down in the fluffy "bed". "You know, I'm getting kind of tired."

I make a show out of holding back a faked yawn.

He reluctantly takes the hint. "I leave you to your slumber then."

His hand grazes over mine, pulling back sharply as if I burned him.

"Goodnight," he holds his hand against his chest and turns to walk out the room.

***

The following morning, I hear the familiar knock and brace myself.

Carlotta's personality seems to grate on nerves for some reason. She is nice enough, nicer than most humans as far as I can tell but something about her just rubs my scales the wrong way.

I sit up in my bed with a sigh. Mentally, I prepare myself for another fight. I am quickly running out of excuses to give her for why I won't eat.

Knowing her personality, if I don't think of something quickly, I know she will happily shove food down my throat with a serving smile and maybe even a little tune she'll hum. The knock sounds again.

"Come in," I call.

Instead of the older woman, my eyes fix on black hair and eyes blue like the sea. Those eyes pin me to my spot and send shivers across my skin.

He closes the door behind him then enters further into the room.

"Eric," his name a breathy whisper. I shake my head and clear my throat. "What are you doing here?"

He smirks. "I have relieved Carlotta of her duties to you."

I've never been good at dancing. No matter how often I tried, I just couldn't get the idea of rhythm down like others. But in this moment, I want nothing more than to jump to my feet and glide across the floor.

He chuckles, clearly reading my face.

On my lap, he sets down a wooden bowl that I didn't notice he had with him. But then again, if I'm honest, I don't think I've even seen what he's wearing today.

All I really saw when he came in was varying shades of blue.

Looking down at the bowl in my lap, I see green mush in it. I'm not sure what it is, food maybe? It has no shape but doesn't smell offensive as most other foods do in the human world. It resembles food that Carlotta brought one day to my living quarters.

I raise an eyebrow and peer back up into Eric's face.

"Eat."

"I told you, I don't need food." I try to push the bowl back into his hands but he raises them up above his head and he takes three measured steps backwards.

"You like kelp don't you?"

I blink a few times and look back down into the bowl. It could resemble kelp if I scrunch my eyes together and angle my head to the right.

"Just try it," he commands again.

It bothers me yet again that he thinks he can command me to do things and get his way. And if I were properly fed, I may have fended off from eating this slop he has placed in front of me but when my stomach growls, I know he has won the battle. This time.

I pull a piece from the bowl with my fingers, noting the warmth radiating from it and take a bite.

It is kelp and it is fresh and it is the one thing I didn't expect it to be. Delicious.

I slurp the remaining strand into my mouth, chewing and swallowing before moving onto the next piece.

"So you like it then," he grins with pride.

I debate if I should tell him otherwise but I already feel guilty for lying last night. "Did your fancy chefs make this for you?"

"No, I made it for you. I jumped into the ocean this morning to make sure it was fresh."

"You made it?" I snort. Disbelief colors my tone. I almost want to call him out on his lie.

Glancing in his direction, I see his fingers have bandages on them. Bandages that weren't there yesterday.

He did make it for me.

"I don't understand. Why would you..."

"Because I don't want you to die."

Author's Note : Chapter published originally Nov 9th and Revised November 24th.