The Mermaid Prophecy - Prequel

Poseidon and Amphitrite

Pacing back and forth behind Elephant Rock Cove, my mind races in all the wrong directions. All thoughts pointing to my biggest fear, that this is my largest and most ill-advised mistake.

Thick fingers grip my shoulder, stopping me mid-stride and I know without looking who it is.

"I can't do this," the words are out of my mouth before I second guess myself. 

"You don't love me, you barely even know me! I will be like jewelry for your arm and I cannot agree to a loveless marriage."

Pulling the ring from my trembling finger, I hold it up in the air for him to take back. Several moments pass before his hand squeezes my shoulder then lets go and I find myself missing it's warmth.

"What makes you think this will be a loveless marriage?"

Turning around to face him, I see heartbreak in his eyes before his face hardens, removing all trace of emotion.

"Y-you have visited me maybe ten times since I accepted your proposal more than a month ago."

One of his eyebrows raises higher on his forehead and his fingers tangle in his beard as normal when he's thinking. "Do you remember how we met?"

I nod. "Of course my liege, we met not long after I accepted your proposal from the dolphin."

A smirk ghosts his lips, "don't you find it odd that I would propose without meeting you? I am the son of a sea god after all."

Circling around me, he walks towards the tallest of the colossal stones and pats his hand against it.

"We met right here actually, although I doubt you knew. You were an ambassador for your kind, aiming to secure a peace treaty with my father. For days, I heard of the sea nymph who never gave more than an inch in your demands."

My legs carry me to his side, viewing the rock as if I can glimpse into the past he remembers.

"Your intelligence was even more captivating than your beauty and insulting to my father at the same time," he turns to me, taking the coral-wrapped pearl ring from my hand.

"I followed you home to ensure your safety," he pauses. "When I peeked my head out of the water, you were dancing in the first rain after months of drought." 

His palm rubs over the smooth surface of the boulder.

"Beauty, grace, intelligence and a backbone stronger than any coral reef.. That's when I knew." Rolling the ring around between his fingers, he kneels before me.

"I have visited you every day since I saw you dancing here. Awake, asleep, it never mattered to me. I have enjoyed every side you have willingly shown me and many sides you haven't." 

He reaches for my left hand. 

"So unless you do not love me, I can promise to love you like you've never known love before."

It feels as if my heart is going to burst from my chest when I join him on my knees in the sand and I say, "I do."