Faebreaker

11: Heart

Erik turned away. "Lia?" He didn't know what to say.

"I love you," she said. "Do—do you remember when you took me in on that rainy day?"

Erik nodded.

"I..." She trembled. "I'd always been told that I'd find no happiness on land," she said simply.

Erik froze and stared ahead at the wall with wide eyes.

"And that I should always stay at the sea."

He continued to look at the wall.

"But running the inn, having you, the family, the patrons—" Looking back, Erik saw her shaking her head. "I need you to promise me something," she said again, struggling to make her point.

Erik nodded. "Tell me," he said, his voice quavering.

"I never told you, because I might as well be one of you folk." She giggled, kicking her feet up a bit. "No fins, feet! But I want to tell you now. I need to tell someone."

"I'm listening."

"My people live in a kingdom near the rocky shores of the northern coast. Few tales of our kind have ever made it to Westerland...or ever will at this point."

Erik pinched himself.

"Erik...?"

He chuckled. She'd actually noticed that. Inconceivable. How many times could he apologize before it didn't matter anymore, he wondered. "Just, a lot happened while I'd been missing, and questioning reality has become a bit of a routine for me."

Lia nodded. "It's okay." Tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'm selfish if I should expect you to understand just like that."

"No, I—I do."

The girl exhaled. "Oh..."

"Why are you out here?" he asked simply. "I—" He gulped. "I want to know more."

"A great serpent came one day." She shook, and her breathing quickened. "And devoured my people as it swept the shores clean of all life."

"That's—" He wanted to pinch himself again, at this point. "I don't—"

"It's okay," she whispered soothingly. "The people of the sea called us selkies. Seal people." She smiled. "Not like the lake fiends, or river whores or—" She put a finger to her lip. "Oh, I made a curse."

The boy nodded, looking down.

She shook her head. "But promise me this." She picked the boy's chin up, bringing him to face. "Promise me, that if perchance you ever find it in your heart, you'll take me back to the sea someday."

He blinked.

"And if you don't," she shrugged, her tears landing on Erik's shirt. "That's—that's okay." She nodded sharply, with her eyes closed. "Because no matter what happens."

Erik's lips parted. He wanted this. He wanted her.

"I'll always love you to the day I die."

Erik felt his heart ache. He didn't care what she was, but only that she was Lia. He didn't care that she wouldn't start a life with him out in the middle of nowhere one day. No, all he cared about was now, this moment, and that he wanted it to last forever.

She sat trembling, but he eased in, wrapping his arms around her lower back. "This sounds weird but, I don't know what to do," he said honestly with a laugh. "You're beautiful." He met her in the eyes.

She giggled. "The northern folk told stories about unwilling selkie lovers, their beloveds hiding their seal skins so they might never return to sea."