--Ines POV--
Mermaids are beings that keep to themselves, we don't interfere in the businesses of any other species unless it somehow involves us, that is how its been since the beginning, and it's not something that would be changing.
But every now and then, we'd get curious and travel up to the surface. With no intention of speaking to any other species, we'd simply look at the world from an unfamiliar perspective.
But if we saw a drowning man or woman, we'd save them. How could we simply watch as someone was about to lose their precious gift of life? Back when pirates were more prominent in traveling over the seven seas, their beliefs often led to many women being thrown overboard, and I remember saving as many of them as I could.
But on that day when I first met him, it was different than the rest. He wasn't thrown or pushed into the water; He was the first person I met that had willingly put themselves to the mercy of the Ocean.
The first time I met Malachi was on a day he wished were his last.
And I now wish that I had let him die.
I thought it may have been too late, but I held his heavy body in my arms as best I could, swimming up to the surface where I gently lay him down on the rocky sands, curiously looking at him for a long moment as I wondered if he had already been taken by death.
And eventually, I hit his chest, and we both jumped, me into the water, and him to the side as he coughed and spluttered out buckets of water, eventually calming down as I hid underwater, cautiously staring at him with half my face above the surface.
But he noticed me, and I went on high alert, ready to swim away if he so much as took one step closer to me. But he didn't.
He was just as cautious as me, sitting on the ground, soaked in water with crystals of sand stuck to his clothes and body.
"You saved me?" He had a deep voice, and it was only then that I realised that he was the first male human who I held a conversation with. But I didn't respond to his question with words, slowly nodding my head instead.
"...Why?" And his eyes narrowed, seeming like he was holding back anguished tears, the deep voice breaking as he whispered.
Somehow, seeing him like this made me think he wasn't all too dangerous. While he may have been a large, muscular man, he wasn't anything to the point that I would struggle killing if he proved himself to be nothing more than an enemy.
So, I swam forward a little until the water was just above my breasts, and I opened my mouth, speaking to him in the language of humans.
"Should I... not... have saved you?" I asked, wondering if I worded it right when he raised his head to look at me as if he'd never heard the voice of a woman before.
"You... What are you?" He whispered, not answering my question.
"If I tell you that, will you answer my question?" I swam closer, curious. It dawned on him that he didn't answer my question, and he released a deep sigh, running his fingers through his damp brown hair.
"I didn't jump into the water for a swim." He spoke.
"No? Then why?" I went closer, his eyes running up and down my body which slowly crept out of the water as I sat on the shore.
"What are you?" He whispered the same question from before, more fearfully this time.
"A mermaid. What about you?"
"...Human." He spoke in one quick breath.
"But then why did you jump into the water if you weren't going to swim back up when you ran out of air? Don't humans need air to survive underwater? Do you not know that? If you weren't going to swim, then why did you go in the water?"
"You... are a curious person." He mumbled, eyes not daring to look away from me.
"Thank you." And I smiled, my smile causing him to jump as he stared at me oddly.
"You're welcome?"
"So, can you answer my questions?" I was grateful that my father had forced me to learn the language of humans, it proved itself to be quite useful at times like this, not that these situations were common for me, and I wasn't fluent in the language either, but if he understood then it's good enough for me.
"I wanted to leave this world." He summed it all up with a simple yet complicated answer which only left more questions sprouting to life in my mind.
"But-"
"I wanted to die."
"Because you don't like this world?" I guessed, and correctly, seeing as he nodded his head, eyes finally looking away from me and down to his lap.
"Then why don't you just change it?" He scoffed dryly, an amused smirk creeping onto his face, and it was the first time I saw his lips go up, wondering what he would look like if he were to smile instead of smirk.
"You say that as if it's so easy." He mumbled.
"But does it not make sense? If the world you live in doesn't make you happy, why don't you change it? I wouldn't know since I'm happy with the world I live in, but not you..."
"I don't have any power, and you need power to survive in this world." Despite looked annoyed, his voice told me otherwise as he answered in a quiet mumble of words.
"I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?" He changed the subject, looking at me once again.
"I didn't tell you. But if you really want to know, it's Silvia." I answered with a friendly smile, one I hoped he would eventually return.
"Silvia? That doesn't really suit you." Now it was my turn to glare at him.
"Don't be cruel."
"...Sorry," He, once again, mumbled apologetically.
"Ines Silvia Agua. It's my full name, although we mermaids don't usually tend to have more than one name. The Royal mermaids are different. And, I'll let you call me Ines since that might suit me better than Silvia." I explained.
"You're a royal?" He asked, seeming to not be able to take his eyes off me while we spoke, was that a habit of all humans? But nevertheless, I nodded my answer as he hummed in response.
"And what about you? What should I call you?" I turned the question back to him.
"Mal is good." He didn't miss a beat in answering.
"Just Mal?" He nodded.
"Just Mal."
"Okay, just Mal. Are you going to keep trying to kill yourself now that I saved you?" I went back to the main topic at hand. There was no point in me having saved him if he would just jump back in the water when I turn my back on him.
"I'm not sure." I frowned, not satisfied by the answer.
"Then I'll have to keep coming here every single day from now on to make sure there aren't any dead or drowning bodies. And I'm a busy woman, believe it or not."
"I don't believe it." I huffed, glaring at him through my puffed-up cheeks filled with frustration, but somehow, despite my words, and his uncertain ones, he didn't look like he'd jump off any cliff again any time soon.
"But I wouldn't mind you coming to see me every day." He lightly spoke, his hand raising to ruffle my hair, an action that I had gotten used to all my siblings doing to me.
"Why do you say that?" I asked, not pushing him away when his hand mingled for a second.
"You're beautiful, and talking to you is... Interesting."
"Well, in that case, you're beautiful too."
"Really? If merpeople are even a fraction of your beauty, then you must think we humans are ugly." He laughed, and his words took a moment to process since the sound of his ringing laughter caught me by surprise.
"Not really." I mumbled, finding words to say. "I don't care much about looks. Rather, I tend to find beauty in one's voice."
"Voice? Like singing."
"No, more like... How someone speaks. With respect, fondness, laughter, things like that... I find it prettier than anything. Looks come and go, but the voice stays," He was silent for a while, looking at me as if I had spoken some philosophical words, but I just spoke what was common where I'm from.
"What?" I eventually asked, snapping him back to reality.
"You really are beautiful, Ines." He repeated.
"Why, thank you very much." A laugh laced my voice as I spoke.
That was how we first met.
After that meeting, we met up with each other every day and before I knew it, they quickly became meetings which I found myself looking forward to. Days turned to weeks, and weeks to months, until it became normality for us.
I craved his presence as I believed he did mine. But I made a mistake when I sang for him. If the first mistake was saving him, then this was definitely the second.
He sat, mesmerized by the voice which held no power in it, it was purely my voice, my controlled vocal cords working to create a tune which I often sang to my father, a famous lullaby that all merpeople knew of.
If I wanted, I could so easily have killed him, and I wonder if he knew that? Mermaids have a special vocal cord, one which is used when hypnotising prey to lure them in, a magical sound that you focus on your chosen victims, but as I sang to him, there was no magic in my voice.
But why did it look like there were cogs turning in his head?
"Ines... Can you turn into a human?" The question had me on alert as I snapped my head up to look at him, surprised.
"Why do you ask?"
"I'm just curious. The little mermaid turned into a human."
"The little what?" Was he calling me little?
"It's a movie,"
"What's a movie?" He was baffled by my lack of knowledge of a world I wasn't very interested in, but I didn't say anything as he thought up a reply.
"A sort of story where you see it with your eyes instead of reading or hearing it. But, anyways, the movie is about a mermaid that wants to become a human, and she transformed into a human to be with the one she loves. Can you turn into a human?"
I've heard of mermaids that left their family and loved ones behind for a different species, very rarely humans, since they're a species famous to fall out of love quickly, but I never thought myself to be one of those mermaids. At the very least, if I were to abandon my mermaid counterpart for someone, it would be for a species like the wolves or vampires since they had literal soulmates, and abandoning me wouldn't be an option.
"I can. I just need to get out of the water, but I'll never do it." I quickly shot down his hopes.
"...Why?" He mustered up the courage to ask.
"Because it hurts, I still regret the first time I did it out of pure curiosity... To put it simply, it felt like the bottom half of me was being split in half, and it was; One tail became two legs. My organs shifted around to accommodate my human body, and the pain wasn't worth it, even after I transformed, my skin was still prickling in pain, and I couldn't move." I ended up jumping back into the water as soon as I could, but I shivered at the memory, hoping to completely forget it.
"Oh, I'm sorry for asking." He mumbled.
And after that apology, I thought that would have been the end of his curiosity towards me being a human. But I was, once again, ignorant to the truth.
"So, there's no painless way for you to become a human?"
Now that I think back on it, he was a scheming man. Limiting himself to asking one question every now and then about me leaving my mermaid self for him; He slid it into the conversation so easily that I didn't think anything was amiss.
"No, and even if there was, I wouldn't leave my world for another. Especially as a Royal."
"I understand."
But a month later, I answered a question he had asked so easily that I gave the answer before even knowing what I was saying.
"So, are witches evil?"
"Witches are possibly the most complicated species to ever exist. They're greedy, but some with morals, others are moved by pure greed, I've not met many so I can't really say much... But with the right resources, they could so easily have the world in their control."
"Why do you say that?"
"Witches are the only ones that are capable of cursing someone."
"Even me and you?"
"Yes." I nodded.
"If they have the right ingredients, they can curse you to do anything. They could curse you to be poor your whole life, they could curse me to be human. Anything is possible, as long as they have the right ingredients."
"Really?" I nodded, amused by his curiosity. If only I knew it was all an act.
"Do they look as evil as they sound? And do they live in cottages in the woods? And have familiars? And a cauldron?" I couldn't help but laugh, but now that I look back on it, I want to slap myself, what a fool I was.
"No, that's all rumours. They look like normal humans, and they cast spells in an ancient runic language, they also live in normal abodes like humans. But you never know, some might live in a cottage in the woods and have familiars, but the same can be said about humans too."
I don't know how he found her, but it didn't matter, because he found her.
Cordelia was her name, and that's all I was able to find out about her to this day, as well as the fact that she was a witch that dared to insult the Royal mermaids by cursing one. And she knew what she did; Because she hid like a sinner.
I don't know when, but at some point, he managed to take a drop of blood from me as well as a scale, and all that was left was the confession of love. But that wasn't hard.
He put up the perfect act right until the moment the deal had been sealed.
"I love you, Ines." He whispered, his hands on my cheeks as his eyes gazed down at mine like that of a lover. And I fell for it, my heart beating like it belonged to him.
"You are the reason why I am still alive today. I'm not rich or nearly handsome enough to deserve you, but I will promise to speak words of bliss to you like you said you love. Please stay by my side, and I promise to look at no one but you for the rest of my life."
He didn't need to curse me to have my love.
I had realised long before that day about my feelings for him; My heart was already his, and all I had to do was let him know that he had it. I was prepared for the pain of transforming for him, I was ready to say goodbye to my mermaid counterpart and I was going to give up my lifespan to match his, I was going to leave it all for him. A Human.
And unlike Humans who can love as much as they want, mermaids can only love once. And if they're betrayed, they're as good as dead. After giving a confession, their fate is sealed, but if love fails them, they'll fade away into seafoam. That's why mermaids only stick with mermaids, there's no fear of betrayal.
But I risked it all for him.
"I love you too, Mal,"
And as soon as my lips touched his, the click of a lock being put in place was heard, but when I opened my eyes, there was nothing to see. Afterall, a curse isn't visible to the eye.
But what I did see, was the golden signet ring on his finger. He, a poor man who told me he had nothing to his name, suddenly had an expensive golden ring on his finger that glowed under the brightness of the hot sun.
I fell under the sudden weight around my neck, and he caught me in his arms, kisses showering down on my head as I realised what was happening. I'd only heard stories before, but it wasn't something that one would expect to become a victim to.
"I'm sorry, Ines."
His words hurt more than the sound of the curse being put in place.
And it hurt far more than the excruciating pain that racked over my whole being as my body, for the second time, transformed into one of a Human, beings that I had grown to hate in that second because of this one man.
The scales fell off my body, my tail splitting in two as my legs formed, and the scream ripped through my throat as he held me tight in his arms, unaware that him being this close to me only hurt me more, but my hands gripped onto him for life right until the second I finished shifting, my body numb as I gazed down at the legs that formed.
I hated it all. I hated everything.
"What have you done?" I whispered.
"We can be together now, Ines."
"I was already going to be yours, why did you have to curse me!?" What started as a whisper ended in a scream. "I was going to leave it all for you! Me! A Royal mermaid was going to leave it all behind for you!"
"I'm sorry, but this curse had to be put in place. If I wanted to be deserving of your love, then I need to have influence to my name. And your voice will give me that,"
I hated him. More than anyone could ever know, but I hated myself more in that instance, suddenly realising why some people threw their lives away. If they suffered like I did, then I couldn't blame them.
He took me back to his home after that, and I left everything behind. I lived life according to his rules, hoping and praying that it would all end, time has never felt so long.
Since that time, I've transformed a number of times from mermaid to human, and human to mermaid, that I'd quickly managed to get accustomed to the pain, and now I can do it without so much of a flinch. One good thing that came with Malachi.
But while I hated him, Malachi was able to teach me more in five years than I had taught myself in 200 years of living; There is good and bad in every species, and Mal wasn't on the good side.
"Ines? What's wrong?"
Maxwell asked as I stood up, going to stand on the edge of the yacht as I looked down at the water. I was far from home, but I was on my territory, so easily, if I were to shift into a mermaid, it would only take a few hours to get home to the Atlantic Ocean.
But I could hear my family, I could almost sense them, and they were close.
"I miss home."
But more than home, there was someone I couldn't help but miss more. He swooped in like a dream, and gave me shelter without asking any questions. He's been stood by my side, and worrying for me in ways that made me wonder if he was truly a human and not a saint. And he's only a few steps away from me right now.
Why is my heart beating for him in ways that it never even beat for Malachi?
I looked behind me as if I would see him, but it was only Sandra and Maxwell that stood there staring at me, worry lacing their features which I calmed down with a gentle smile.
"Why do I miss him more though?" I asked.
"Who?" Sandra asked, coming to stand beside me.
"...Rick."
"Alaric?" They both echoed to which I nodded.
"...Well, the heart years for those it loves. He feels the same, so you're not alone." I blinked, her words taking me by surprise as it all clicked into place.
"Love?"
"Yes, you love him. Right?" She spoke, confused.
Love? Me? Him, Alaric? But I thought Mermaids were only able to love once in their lifetime? But whether that's true or not, it's a fact that my heart couldn't help but yearn for him in the way I thought it was supposed to do for Malachi.
Love? Maybe I was given a second chance. With the right person this time.
And at that realisation, I felt the grip of the curse around my neck loosen, it was cracking, breaking under my realisation that I didn't love Malachi anymore.
Freedom wasn't just a dream anymore.
Because I was loving again; Loving a man that truly deserved it this time.
...