The Seelie Curse

Chapter 61

Kyma turns her circlet over in her hands, not wanting to look at Cáel's face. "I both do and don't have a role among my people."

"I don't understand. What does that have to do with the thing in your hands?"

Kyma sighs. "It's representative of who I am, but I don't have a real role on the island."

"Who are you then?"

Kyma lifts her chin, looking Cáel straight in the eyes. She has to do this. No fighting it, she just has to say it.

"The Queen of the Western Merrow Kingdom is my mother. So that makes me . . ." She can't help but trail off.

"Their princess?"

Kyma nods. "Yes, but it's not a job, really. I don't do anything."

She glances up to see Cáel raise an eyebrow at her. "Would your people say that?"

She shrugs. "Some would, I think."

"Would your friends?"

Kyma frowns at him, her brow furrowing. She tries to deny it, but it doesn't take long for her to realize the truth. "No, they wouldn't. Not after . . . not after he came."

"Who?"

Kyma stays silent, not wanting to speak and let everything rush out. It's not that she doesn't trust him enough to tell him, it's just . . . it hurts to think about. The memories are recent enough to still invoke fear in her. She doesn't want to overwhelm him either. She glances up to see Cáel frowning.

"Is this what you and Star wouldn't tell me about before?"

Kyma nods. "Yes, it is."

He's quick to speak again, his words blurring into each other in his rush to get them out. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Her lips quirk up in the corners at his frantic tone and she has to hold in a laugh. "No, it's alright. I can tell you, but I'm not sure if you'll actually want to hear it."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"It's . . . not exactly a pleasant subject."

Cáel's expression sobers and he nods. "Tell me, please."

Kyma motions for Cáel to take a seat. He does so quickly, getting himself settled before he looks up at her expectantly. With a stifled laugh, Kyma sits on the forest floor across from him and takes a deep breath, preparing herself to begin.

"I wasn't born a merrow. In fact, until a few months ago, I didn't know the magical world existed. I was a normal girl. My best friends and I, we were all in the same foster home-"

Cáel cuts her off. "I thought you said your mother was the merrow queen?"

"I didn't know her then. All I knew was that she left my father, and my pendant was from her. Can I return to the topic now?" Cáel nods, his cheeks turning a bit pink at her raised eyebrow. "One of my friends went missing, and we went looking for her. That's when we were kidnapped."

Cáel jolts opening his mouth to speak. "You were-"

"Yes. I woke up with a tail in an enclosure. It turned out that we had been kidnapped to be experimented on. Whatever he-" Kyma pauses. "Whatever Dr. James did to us, it turned on my merrow genes. My tail was locked away inside of me until then, it never would have emerged. But he brought it to the surface. With my friends though, they didn't have that. He gave them a permanent tail, they can't leave the water."

"But you can."

"Yes, because I have true merrow genes, not ones that imitate them. We were rescued from the facility by a scout from the kingdom and when we arrived, I learned that the Queen was my mother. Things were fine there for a time, but then he found me. It turns out that he put a tracker in my tail, but all my shifting made it harder for him to track me. I'm glad that we were able to keep him away that long. It gave me time to learn to defend myself. But he came to the island for me. I was able to stop him from taking me or harming my people, but it came at a cost."

Kyma looks up to see Cáel's face pale with worry. "What was the cost?"

"I almost died. I would have died, if not for my guard."

"How?"

"I was shot, twice. Once in my thigh, and once in my side. The wound on my thigh was worse, I was bleeding out from there."

Kyma winces when Cáel's skin takes on a greenish tinge. "You were bleeding out?"

"Yes. I got to the water and shifted, so that the bleeding from my thigh would stop. I passed out there and I still would have died, but my guard found me. She took me to the healing pool. I still can't really talk about it much, I can't talk about him."

Cáel nods. "Thank you for telling me, it must have been hard."

She gives him a strained smile. "It was, but I think you needed to hear it. So you could understand more about the things I do."
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Poor Kyma, that must have been hard to talk about. What do you think of Cáel's reaction to her story? What do you think is going to happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out