The Mermaid's Tale by L.E. Richmond

Author:L.E. Richmond
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Christian
ISBN: 9798886050738
Publisher: Enclave Escape
Published: 2023-07-04T00:00:00+00:00

He’s seething as he watches Conway and Locklyn swim away.

I’ve known her since she was born. But as soon as the prince starts taking an interest in her, she seems happy to sink twenty years of friendship.

Darin can’t take it anymore. “I’m sorry,” he says to the Nebulae Merwoman, cutting off her flirtatious remarks midsentence. “I’ll be back shortly.” And without another word, he leaves her staring after him and swims away in the same direction Conway and Locklyn went.

As soon as he is out of sight of the rest of the group, he dodges behind a massive outcropping. With a muffled oath, he slams his fist into the rock.

He could have said something months ago. Now that Conway is so openly pursuing Locklyn, Darin has no way to express his feelings without it coming across as jealousy. No way to keep it from becoming a competition.

He imagines her, small and slight, with her creamy skin and wide, ever-changing eyes, her long hair twisting around her like a dark blue curtain. In his mental picture, she is smiling, the expression lighting up her usually serious face. The vision fades, replaced by the image of Conway, his fingers interlaced with hers, grinning with the confidence of someone who is used to getting what he wants. Pain twists in Darin’s gut as he remembers her soft skin against his lips that night in the palace.

Their friendship was crumbling, as he always feared it would. He seemed unable to keep his pain and jealousy from lashing out in the form of anger and cold indifference.

Wave Master.

The name rises in his mind almost subconsciously, like the bubbles of his breath rising in a never-ending stream toward The Surface waves. But no other words come to complete the prayer.

Instead, his mind teems with other thoughts. If Locklyn were to marry Conway, she would be free of the stigma she had endured her entire life. And she would have the power to make lasting changes in the laws of Undula to protect all other Crura. Avonlea would never have to go to Atlantis.

Emotions tear into him. He’s loved Locklyn all her life. First, as a little sister. Then, as his companion, his closest friend. And now, as the Merwoman he wants to cherish and be with always.

There will never be anyone else. For Darin, it has always been Locklyn, and always will be.

Rest in me.

The words echo in his mind, the voice one he has known since he was a small boy.

But what do I do?

Rest, Darin.

The words make him slump back against the rocks.

I don’t know how to rest. I’ve always protected people. Led them.

I don’t understand.

The water seems to darken around him as he stays that way, head down, heartsick and weary. Seconds turn into longer moments, and when his head finally lifts, dim shapes lie on the ground around the magma pit. He must have drifted off.

He shoves away from the rock and swims closer to the pit, scanning the slumbering group for Locklyn’s legs and Ginevra’s distinctive tail.

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