He pulled back, looking deeply into my eyes, then scanning my face as if to memorise it. Lifting a hand, he tucked a stray bit of dusty hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering down the base of my throat. "We are all just flesh and bone, Hazel. It will heal. I will heal." "What about up in here," I tapped my stained fingers on his shaggy hair, leaving my hand snagged in his thick locks, "What about the words that are said, the crushing, brittle tone that he uses, recalling every painful weakness you have. Jacob, that kind of stuff doesn't just heal overnight." He held the wrist of my hand resting in his hair, circling small half moons on the warm skin. "That is why I have you, Hazel Evans. You cleanse my soul from that evil piece of shit." Our mouths collided in a bang of sparking energy, entwinning in the heat of our passions.

They are born of myth, legend, and lore. Beautiful women beneath the waves, tempting sailors with playful smiles and beckoning gazed as the break the surface. It is nearly every young sailors dream to encounter a mermaid, to see the beauties of the sea. Maybe, just maybe, to catch one too. That is...until their wish comes true. They find themselves face to face with the strange enchanting girl smiling just above the surface with skin like moonlight and lips like rose petals. Just one touch, is all it takes to seal a sailors fate. Beneath the waves is not ethereal beauty. But claws, and fangs, and blades of stone. Revealed in the sea is a mermaids true face and a sailors deadly fate. And Zariel is the deadliest of them all. Daughter of Poseidon and a deep sea mermaid she is dark, powerful, and beautiful by both mermaid standards and especially that of the humans. There is nothing she enjoys more than a hunt, collecting different skulls of different types of humans. Navy men, merchants, fishermen, pirates, and travelers alike. She has them all. Her collection is as admirable as her ferociousness. Only one type of mortal is missing. One skull she has yet to collect. A royal. Royal bones for a royal mermaid. Zariel, princess of the sea, doesn't want just any royal. No. She wants a prince. One who matches her in both ferocity and blood thirst. Zariel was going to get the skull of Rowan Delacroix if it was the last thing she did. Formerly first inline to the throne. A prince turned pirate. A hunter of mermaids. His ship was one she would take pride in wreaking.

I first noticed the candles, bearing a bright glow that showed the smallest of details. There were thousands of them coating the church hall in a canopy of hungry flames scorching the air. Flowers decorated the pews where maybe one hundred, if not more, well-established Lords and their Ladies positioned themselves, all looking at me. Some women gasped at my appearance, smiling encouraging looks my way. The men looked me up and down, some giving me a small smirk out of the corner of their lips, causing my blood to cool and thicken. I knew none of them. The carpet that led me towards the altar was a dark crimson, the well-trampled material helping move my feet, one after the other. Then I saw him. He stood out from the rest, standing tall, a good few inches higher than the priest. His thick, dark brown hair was combed back neatly, clearly revealing his sharp jawline, chiselled beneath a thin layer of facial hair. A frown was embedded in his juvenile face, creating a sense of maturity about him. His face was long, yet perfectly proportioned, turning around to face in my direction as the organ began to play a delicate tune. Our eyes locked, causing my steps to falter. Behind my veil, I saw the auburn colours swirling and dancing as they burnt into my soul. My lips parted slightly as the frown that seemed so reluctant to move turned its corners into a small smirk, unlike the other men who shot me glances of desire. His smirk was playful, almost full of relief, calming my senses entirely. Father broke me from my stance, tugging me closer to the unknown man. Before I could blink twice, my gloved palms were embracing his, fingers entwining with my own. I couldn't do it, I couldn't look up at him as the priest chanted on, filling the high ceilings with a dull lecture. "Do Amelia Rosebelle Barnette, take his Lordship to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, from this day forth?"

"What kind of situation?" Bella asked cautiously. "Call it an agreement. I require a wife who can withstand a life in danger and on the sea, you need a way out of IronBolt. I can see no other choice for you here but the decision is yours..." Bella was tongue-tied. Never in her life did she think such a thing would happen to her. She was wealthy born, raised in a whore house and now this. To live her life on the sea. But he was right. What other choice did she have? This was her escape. And maybe, when the time was right, she could escape from this man and finally be free from this cursed place. "I'll do it. I'll marry you."

Mature for adult content!! The world we live in is a beautiful, mysterious place. My home, my country, has been my world my entire life, living as the cursed princess of Iris is all I have ever know. Just as the only eyes I have known in the mirror were my own. And my hair was always white as snow. Iris has always been my home, its people my family. The kind smiles of villagers and the curious looks of children seeing me for the first time, the contrast of myself against the rest of my family in portraits. The whisper of the trees and the laughter of the flowers has always been what I lived by. "why are you so sad?" I rested my forehead on the cracked bark of the Soul Tree. My second home from the palace. The tallest tree in all the king's forest. Today it was deeply saddened, rumbling with a sort of bitter energy that leaks coldly into my bones. I wondered what it knew that I did not as I sat perched in its branches, it is not often that it's strong mass wavers. When it does it can only mean change is to come, nothing small. Something altering the kingdom itself. I sighed, my fingers brushing over its leathery leaves, it wouldn't be long until someone else noticed its unease, it will sicken the forest. By then it will be too late. ~~ Flora Duval, the cursed princess of Iris was always a quiet girl, working through her duties as princess and caring for the life in her country. Seeing beauty in the things most could not. Never has she expected an offer for marriage, not with her hair and her eyes the same pink of the Fenni flower. But then, she receives one. Less of a question for her hand and more of a demand, a demand caging her like a white rabbit in a deadly hunters trap. Trapped by the king of Taragon for her unusual features and the rumors of her life, Flora is stranded in a country she has never known, captured in cold castle walls without an ally in sight.

He pulls out a stack of fresh bills and throws them into the dying sky . Time freezes and all I can see is the tears on his face and the palace built upon stars and diamonds towering behind his back. Miracle this man was . The money flew away in utterly reasonable directions and the very ground beneath my bare feet shifted into molten silver . "Ah Darling , now this is what we call wealth ." "Unbelieveable," I pick up the notes of hundreds that were dying next to me . "If only fortune could buy love and I would be the most powerful man standing ." He finally smiles .