Siren's Song

Chapter 14

Prince Patrick ~~~

I stood there completely shocked at the news I'd just received.

"A mermaid? She has legs!" I shook my head in disbelief

"Her leg is injured. If it heals..Once it heals, she'll be going home. She was never supposed to be here but she's stuck without the help of mer-healing so she has to endure the pain like a normal human girl. Meeting her was a revelation for me to find someone like her that my mother would approve of since I'm no longer eligible to marry Serenity." Sebastian explained

"May I ask why?" I didn't know why i was being polite. I felt lied to in the short while that I'd known her. He didn't deserve to even have potentially been her husband when it should be me. I'm the best candidate. Not that silly Irish boy and absolutely not this half-breed.

"It's..against the law to break an engagement. It's considered a human thing to do. Mer-people mate for life. You can't really get out of a marriage unless you kill them. But you truly cannot break a marriage. The whole mating thing isn't a choice. You can find your actual soulmate or be in an arranged marriage. Everyone is normally put in arranged marriages because finding your actual soulmate is so rare.

"Don't get me wrong I loved Serenity. She's a very lovable woman. Very forgiving thats for sure."

"Get to the point Lannaster." I interrupted

"I cheated on her. Or something of the sort." he blurted

"Something of the sort?" I narrowed my eyes

"I understand if you think low of me but you have to understand I had thought I'd found my soul-mate. I'd been told of the stories of merfolk who had found their mates. When you see them it's like everything gets clearer and every smell is more noticeable...her name was Rebekah Green. She was very beautiful..for a human."

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Prince Sebastian ~~~

"Her hair was blonde. So blonde it appeared white. She had the most beautiful soft brown eyes. She made my heart stop and at the time I had thought only Serenity would do that. Of course I was 18 at the time and she was 16 so we hardly knew anything about love." I sighed "She was a older than me which surprised me at first but then I thought it was actually quite sexy to find an older woman. The short month that we were there I got to know Rebekah very well..I wasn't at all mad when she told me she wasn't pure. I suppose I should've left her there. Women weren't allowed to be with men even if it was only one. Those are the rules."

I pushed myself up from the door frame and sat in a vacant chair near Patrick "That night we made love. Well to me it was making love because I had thought she was the one so I wanted it to be special. The kind of special I had intended to be for Serenity. When we finished she didn't want to cuddle or have me hold her. She immediately shot up from the bed and put her dress on." I began to laugh thinking of what had happened next "She looked me straight in the eye and said "That'll be 1000 pounds." I was laughing harder now. Enough to have teas fall but I knew they weren't laughter tears.

I ran a hand through my hair and cleared my throat. "After I left, without paying her seeing as she had led me on the whole time, I went straight to find my mother and tell her what exactly had happened. You should've seen her face Patrick Stormhold. It was a face I'd never thought I'd see on my mother."

I paused then unsure of how to continue knowing I could quite possibly break down saying these next words

"Later in the evening..I went to find Serenity. We were on land but I knew her family was in the water near the shore next to our castle. We had a pier that was made of wood and only a few inches above the water. I laid on my stomach so I was able to look for her.

"She was swimming by and one of her servant girls pointed up to me. The smile on her face when she saw me made my heart clench. It was such a loving smile. It made me feel so guilty. But I watched her swim up to me until she broke the surface." I looked at Patrick "If you think she's beautiful now with silk gowns and makeup, you ought to see her while she's truly her. She had shells in her hair that hold up the braids instead of those elastic bands. Actual shells that cover her chest area and blue green scales for her tail. She's one of the few that have those scales along her body besides her tail. If you get to see that and see her smile it's a very beautiful sight.

"She greeted me with a kiss on the cheek and asked me why I looked so down. I told her I needed to say something important. Her smile never faded until I told her I was with someone else. She looked so crushed. She began to cry. I wanted to reach down and hold her and kiss her to comfort her but I knew that I could never do that again. That the wedding was off and that we would never get to be together. Serenity shook her head and dove underwater. At that moment I was sure I'd ruined the best possible thing that would ever happen to me. I just sat there thinking of all the bad names I could call myself. " I chuckled "But she came back up again and grabbed my face with both of her hands and kissed me. Not a passionate kiss. A sad kiss. A goodbye kiss. Then she said 'I forgive you' and that was the last time I saw her. Until now."

"You said the only way to end a marriage is by killing them. Not adultery." Patrick said

"By killing them I mean by killing a part of them. Any part. For me I killed her trust..and her heart."

"I see." he said "So there isn't a chance you two could be together again?"

"Well we don't know if she was ever my soulmate. We were to be married when she turned 18 because she would be an adult mermaid and you find your soulmate when you turn 18 but only if the other is 18." I explained

"So..you're saying that Serenity can still find her soulmate and it could be you?" He asked

"More or less. But yes it is very much possible. She could just as easily mate to me as she could to a full merman and to a human. The one you mate to is the one who can make you the most happy and can pass on your traits successfully."

"So she can easily mate to you as she could to me?"

"Yes..."

"Good," he smiled "I've always loved a healthy competition."