The Wild Mermaid Page 6

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  Cora stirred from sleep to discover someone prodding her shoulder. She had been in a good dream. Something about a beach, a friend had been there, an important friend…

  A hand was over her mouth—someone shook her.

  Cora started awake, nipping at the hand, to discover Sarina was the one stirring her. Cora stopped fighting, and Sarina used her other hand to signal for her to be quiet.

  Cora nodded, and Sarina released her hold. Isain, Triton’s guard, was beside them, and she helped Cora to her fin. Her immortal presence assured Cora, and only half awake, she obeyed.

  Together, they guided her, leading her from her cushions and to the doors.

  They were taking her out of the choir room. Why? She finally felt safe here. She looked around. It was the dead of night, the mermaids of the choir were all fast asleep, and Maestro was nowhere in sight. What was going on?

  “Don’t worry, little fry,” Sarina said. “We’re taking you to Triton.”

  “Triton?” she asked, excited and fearful.

  “He’d like to hear you sing again.”

  She remembered how jealous she’d felt seeing him snuggle with the Queen. She recalled the way he’d looked at her in the recital hall. “Just me and Triton?”

  “Yes,” Sarina agreed.

  Cora was eager to obey.

  Chapter Seven:

  A Private Performance

  Isain helped Cora to swim as they left the choir room. She looked for Davit as they passed the door, but he wasn’t there. That made her uncomfortable.

  Something was wrong here.

  Cora knew she should struggle and retreat to the relative safety of the choir room, but her need for Triton outweighed her fear. Maybe this was only a glamour, but it was strong enough to captivate her.

  Isain led her down a different corridor.

  Even if Cora could find a way to overcome Triton’s pull, she was no longer sure where she was. The palace was like a maze, and retreating back to the choir room was becoming impossible.

  They passed a window but there was nothing to see. No sunlight filtered through the water. And while the rocklights glowed, illuminating the hallway as brightly as they had during the day, no one swam through the corridors.

  Cora knew she had dreamt of something important, that Sarina had woken her at a bad time, but the knowledge of what it had been eluded her. She’d never thought much of her silly mermaid dreams before, as Triton had taught her that all mers had strange dreams. But the vague recollection of this dream bothered her like an itch.

  Isain stopped before a door, and Sarina knocked on it. As they paused, Cora looked around and realized she might know where they were. She’d swam this way earlier today, hadn’t she? If she was right, the recital hall was near, and that door there would take her to the stage… But where did this one go?

  It opened.

  The room beyond was much darker than the hallway. Cora squinted as her eyes adjusted. It was crowded with bulky objects arranged haphazardly throughout.

  A merman’s face appeared, glowing in the light from the corridor. Triton. He looked different—of course he did—but before she’d only seen his transformation from a distance. Now that she was close to him, she felt she was in the presence of the glorious Queen herself.

  Cora’s heart pounded, and she swam to the door, not hesitating to close the distance between him and her.

  Sarina stopped her, grabbing her wrist. “I brought her.” She said to Triton. “Now you need to uphold your end of our bargain.”

  Triton nodded, removed a satchel from his waist, and handed it to Sarina.

  Sarina dropped Cora’s wrist to accept it. She opened it, and Cora saw that it contained physic, maybe a hundred beads of it. Sarina plucked one into her mouth, consumed it, and smiled. Satisfied, she tied the satchel to her waist. “How will you get me out of Atlantis?”

  “Isain knows the way,” Triton said. He grabbed Cora’s wrist and yanked her inside the strange storage room. He closed the door, leaving Sarina and Isain behind.

  The darkness enveloped her. In time, her eyes would adjust—mers could vaguely see in the darkest of waters—but Triton’s vision was already changed.

  Cora tried to feel something, anger or hurt, that Sarina had tricked her. But she felt nothing. Triton had already fooled her, and the physic had helped her see the truth of Atlantis. Sarina’s deception couldn’t shock her.

  Triton turned to Cora, and she sucked in a breath as the power and divinity of his presence threatened to overcome her. Instincts took over, and she arched her back, exaggerating her lithe shape for his approval.

  Cora had lusted after Triton for months, for the duration of their entire migration. Now he wanted her enough to have her brought here. Cora would enjoy the small pleasures that this situation could give.

  She reached forward to touch his chest, longing to brush her fingers against his defined muscles, to feel the shiver that would slither down her spine—

  Triton backed away, beyond her reach. “No, my darling, this isn’t that sort of visit.”

  Cora blushed and curled inward; his words felt like lashes. He didn’t desire her. “Why am I here?”

  “What happened to you, Cora?” he asked, now extending his hand to grasp her hair. He rubbed the strands between his fingers. “You didn’t use to ask such difficult questions.”

  A reply tickled her lips, but she held the words in.

  “Regardless, let’s get to work.” Triton motioned to the corner of the room, where a conical horn hung from metallic supports.

  Now that her eyes were adjusting, objects became brighter against the darkness of the room. It was enough for Cora to see that the room was a storage space. There were not only strange contraptions, like the horn Triton pointed to, but also gongs, crystal bowls, and stringed instruments.

  By comparison, the horn was one of the simpler items in the room. On one end, it had an opening just large enough for lips to sing into it, and at the other, the bell of the horn was as tall as her torso.

  Triton pointed to the corner of the room, from which Cora would be on the mouthpiece side. “You need to sing into it. I will wait on the other side.”

  Cora obeyed, even as her heartbeats began to accelerate. “What’s this?” she asked.

  Triton stroked the outer bevel of the horn. “Again with the questions. The physic is ruining you.”

  Even as he avoided her concern, she did as she was told and swam into position. “What can you tell me?”

  “It’s an amplifier,” he admitted. “If you sing into it, you’ll be able to give me your lifeforce.”

  “Without a choir?”

  “That is how…some meet their end.” He stroked the horn.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m sorry, dear Cora, but I’m asking for your retirement.” Triton grinned.

  Cora struggled with inner conflict. She longed to obey him even as she wanted to live. “I don’t understand.”

  “When someone is retired, they sing their heart out, literally I suppose, into this horn. Won’t you sing for me? Pretty please?”

  Cora swallowed, gathering herself. “No,” she whispered her defiance. Even as she said it, she wondered how far Triton could push her. After all, his name alone had led her from the safety of the choir room.

  “Please, darling Cora, hear me out. We have the opportunity to do this tonight. Your performance in the recital was fantastic. And when I chose you as soloist, I believed I could share someone as perfect as you with the world—But alas, tonight I learned of jealousy. You will never sing for the city again. Instead, you will sing for me.”

  “I… I don’t want to.”

  “Then, I will retire you the hard way.” He pointed to a second device, this one less an instrument and more like a machine. Rollers lay along the bottom, positioned to feed whatever they grabbed into a funnel. Short blades lined the funnel, and Cora suspected they would rip apart anything forced into it.
It then opened to a horn similar to the one before her now.

  First, it would smash her and tear her. Then, it would steal lifeforce from her remains. No. Goosebumps pricked on her skin.

  Triton turned the large wheel on the side of the contraption, and the rollers came to life. She was standing too close!

  It gripped her tail, yanking her closer, pulling her toward the monstrous machine.

  Cora gasped, pulling her fin away but failing. Triton laughed and stopped turning the wheel. She yanked at her tail to no avail.

  “Cora, one way or another, you will give the last of your lifeforce to me.” He unclasped the rollers, releasing Cora’s fin.

  She pulled her fin close, keeping it far from the grasp of the rollers. By comparison, the horn seemed kind.

  “You won’t get away with this,” Cora said, her voice stronger than she expected. “The Queen will find out, and she’ll… She’ll clip your fin! You’ll be disgraced, like Maestro.” She was shouting by the end.

  But Triton snorted with laughter. “Disgraced like him? Now, darling, that’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard from your lips. No, I won’t be caught. Many soloists die after their first recital, their bodies fading as their essence dissipates. Nobody will wonder if you vanished in the night.”

  Cora gritted her teeth.

  “And as for Maestro, this is nothing compared to his crimes.” Triton’s eyes grew a little brighter. “Now, that’s enough chatter. Sing.”

  His command pressed her, telling her that she had to obey, and she knew he had only been playing with her earlier. He had power over her all along. Cora chewed her tongue as the urge for obedience encircled her mind, and the iron taste of blood began to trickle into her awareness.

  She fought, managing to shake her head no.

  Triton sighed, considered, and then shrugged. “Maybe I can still make this fun.”

  He swam forward, and Cora pressed herself deeper into the corner. He reached his hand toward her face, and she screwed her expression tightly, but as his finger brushed her cheek, her body betrayed her and she relaxed.

  His chest was pressed against hers now, he enveloped her with his intoxicating aura, and she gasped with need. Triton kissed her neck and then whispered in her ear, “This is for me, your darling Triton. Won’t you sing a little song for me?”

  He kissed her lips, and as she felt their pressure, Cora forgot why she’d resisted.

  Then he inched away. She was saddened by the distance but nodded vigorously, with purpose. She’d do this.

  “Then let us begin.” Triton settled himself on the bell side of the horn.

  Cora steadied her mouth before the mouthpiece and began to sing as she had done at the recital. No words, just sound.

  “Nothing,” Triton said. “Try harder.”

  Cora swallowed and began to sing a second time. She focused deep within, at the core of her belly, knotting together her lifeforce, gathering it piece by piece until she found all that she was.

  The notes of her ambiguous song grew higher as she brought the power to her chest. But when Cora paused for breath, she hesitated.

  Was this how she really wanted to die?

  She looked from the machine to Triton’s smiling lips. She recalled his perfect kiss, knowing he had asked this of her. Cora brought her lifeforce to the center of her throat.

  She sang the energy from her being. Her mind was ruled by another as she sang without her consent, her strength slipping from her lips. Cora wanted to give this to Triton. She’d give anything Triton wanted.

  The horn swallowed her notes, transforming them another time. Cora could see the power as it rippled toward Triton.

  His body touched the edges of it, his skin rippling as he began to absorb it. Triton smiled. His beauty was unlike anything she’d seen before, and she longed to witness what he’d look like when this was done—when she’d given all of herself to him.

  Cora was about to reach the peak of her song, ready to complete the spell. She had to get there—

  —bang—

  Someone forced the door inward, and one of the Queen’s guards swam into the room. “Clear!” he cried.

  Queen Mari herself followed him. Her gaze wandered, slightly amused, from Triton to Cora. The sight of her filled Cora with disgrace—She’d been caught!

  Cora realized she had stopped singing. The song was beginning to feel uncomfortable, unfinished, and the power of her lifeforce was still hot on her breath. She inhaled, drawing what she could back into her body.

  It worked, for the most part, and Cora gave thanks to Asher—as if facing the wrath of an angry Queen could be considered luck.

  “Seize them!” the Queen cried.

  More guards swam into the room. They carried lanterns that blinded Cora’s darkened eyes.

  Desire, shame, and frustration raged Cora’s awareness, and she sank against the wall, pulling her arms over her head. Tears swarmed at the corners of her eyes, some from relief and others terror.

  She didn’t want to sob—she was an adult, after all. But this was a disaster, and she was scared, frightened of what was happening to her, panicked by the world she had inadvertently joined.

  “Why me?” Cora cried as someone grabbed her wrist. She didn’t mean to speak, but no one listened.

  Guards lifted her, swift and severely, with no notice of the way her back scraped against the wall. Cora righted herself, but they didn’t release their holds on her arms. She steadied and peered through her eyelashes to look around the room.

  It had taken three guards, but they’d pinned Triton to the floor. He struggled as they held him firm. Several more guards stood at the other side of the room, illuminating the small crowded room with their lanterns.

  And there was the Queen. She stayed near the door, studying the scene with twisted annoyance and amusement. Her gaze traveled to Cora, and she considered her as a scientist might consider an interesting but ultimately replaceable bug.

  Cora’s shoulders drooped, her head growing heavy as the Queen’s dissatisfaction shamed her.

  Triton eventually stopped struggling.

  Satisfied, Queen Mari swam toward the horn that Cora had sung into. She snapped her fingers, and a guard at the door signaled into the hallway. Cora heard shuffling, and another mer was led into the room. Maestro.

  His wrists were bound and he stumbled toward the Queen, struggling to balance in the water.

  “Maestro,” Queen Mari trilled, wiggling a finger in his direction and then pointing at the corner. “This is where we found the soloist, and there is where we found Triton. Please state your conclusion.”

  He took in the scene and then stared at the wall. “Triton tried to take Cora’s lifeforce.”

  “Evidently.” She examined her fingernails. “We all know this is not the first time a stunt like this has been attempted. However, it has been decades, and I am now quite disappointed by the disloyalty of my subjects.” She glared at Triton. “Clearly, my gifts are no longer good enough to keep order in my court. So punishment it is.”

  Triton fought against the guards, but it was useless.

  Queen Mari turned to Maestro next. “The good news is that Davit is the one who alerted me to this situation. Your guard is clearly loyal. You’ve been training him, haven’t you? A maestro-in-the-making.”

  Maestro’s expression remained unreadable, and Cora realized she admired him. Maestro faced Queen Mari with a ferocity none of the other courtiers possessed.

  “Someone helped Triton,” the Queen continued, “and your loyalty is…dubious at best. Maybe it was you.”

  Maestro shook his head; he even laughed. “I’d never help someone take a soloist. You know I have no interest in squandering life unnecessarily. It’s why you let me care for the choir.

  “Indeed,” the Queen agreed.

  “However,” Maestro looked to his bound hands. “That doesn’t matter. You need valuable scapegoats to make a proper spectacle.”

  “As spoken by the Gre
at Architect himself.” The corners of the Queen’s lips twitched, almost a smile.

  “I may still be of service—”

  “Enough!” The Queen sighed and straightened to her full height. “My mind is made up. Not only was I disappointed by tonight’s performance, but now the evidence is clear: you have become lax, Maestro, my dear. You’ve lost your touch, and I am no longer interested in your service. I expect your retirement in two weeks’ time.”

  Queen Mari turned to her guards. “Take them to the dungeons. Interrogations will begin in the morning. I want to know how this happened.”

  Chapter Eight:

  Descent into Darkness

  The guards led the three of them to the dungeons. They favored the larger hallways and vertical corridors, ensuring any courtier wandering in the midnight hours would see them. Bystanders looked from Maestro to Triton and then glanced at Cora before whispering to themselves.

  Cora guessed they knew more of what would happen to her than she did.

  They reached a corridor in one of the lower levels of the fortress. It was shadowy and lit only by dim red rocklights. The water was poorly circulated and tasted stale. The dungeons.

  The jail-keep checked his books and guided them to a cell. He opened the door, and the guards ushered Triton, Maestro, and Cora inside.

  It was much larger than the first cell Cora had been in, maybe big enough for half a dozen prisoners, judging from several pallets and a washing station. It was empty except for them.

  The guards swam back to the door, their leader instructing some to stay at the door. The jail-keep handed the key to one of the guards.

  The door closed, the key clicked, and Cora shuddered.

  Triton stretched, shaking the places where the guards had held him, massaging muscles that had been grabbed too tightly.

  Maestro chose a pallet and moved it to one wall. He took a second one and placed it a few feet away. Satisfied with the arrangement, he pointed to the first one. “Cora, with everything that’s happened, it’s important that you sleep. Try to get comfortable. I’ll watch you.” He glared at Triton.

  She swam to the mat but knew she couldn’t sleep. Not yet. She hugged her fin and studied the mermen.