Jamies-Merman by Harris-Daisy

Author:Harris-Daisy [SBS]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Marin listened to the angry calls of the males who patrolled the portal. They griped at him for his trips to the human realm but even more for having brought the human through.

He could have answered, but the vocalizations his kind made underwater didn’t allow for nuances of communication. Selkies had very few hard-and-fast rules, since their only mechanism of punishment was injury or death.

Not wanting to engender more anger, Marin felt it was best to allow them their scolding and only reply with a general call of, “Sorry. I will not do it again.”

Of course, he knew he would very much use the portal again. Next time, he thought, he might not use it to return.

When he arrived on the beach, it was empty. Marin climbed out of the water and stepped over the strewn logs with a heavy heart. He felt that he had failed his mate but still wasn’t sure how it could have been avoided. “Sally?” He walked to their cottage, but it was empty. Then he strode into the woods, through the crisscrossed paths of the forest. Leaves and twigs crunched under his feet, and birds chirped in the trees. The scent of ocean bled into the sharp bite of pine until he rose above even the woods and saw only rocks and open sky.

At the top of the atoll, he found her sitting on a rocky ledge. Marin crouched next to her. “Sally?”

The faded sun shined off her face and hair. She looked sad—more so than he’d ever seen her. Sighing, she asked, “He’s gone?”

“Yes.” Marin sat on the rock next to her. He could not bear to see her unhappy, not on the same day he’d failed Jamie as well. “Sally, I have a question.” He cradled Sally’s hand in his own. “Do you want to make sex with someone else?”

Sally didn’t answer, though her eyes filled with tears.

So Marin asked something else. “Maybe with a human?” He waited. At first he worried that he might not like the answer. But as tears ran down Sally’s face and Marin felt helpless to stop them, he decided it was better to try and understand her desires rather than simply dismissing them.

Finally, Sally nodded. “Yes. Marin, I care for you, but—”

He pressed a finger to her lips. Marin thought he might sob along with her. He truly wanted Sally as a lifelong friend. In fact, he couldn’t imagine living without her. But Jamie had been right—Marin could never be to her what she deserved. “Then we will find you your own human.”

Sally looked up, her eyes shining with tears. “Really?”

When Marin smiled at her, he knew that for once he was the more hopeful one. “Yes, my mate. I’ll find you a lover.” He watched the clouds clear from her eyes and her natural optimism rise to the surface.

“And yours?” Sally’s lips twisted into a smile.

He hugged her close. “If he’ll have me.” Marin pressed a kiss into the top of her head, hoping Jamie would be as quick to forgive as he had been to anger.

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