Marius
There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment.
― Sarah Dessen,
I stood there still grasping the coin Sage had given to me to make my wish.
“1”
“2”
“3”
Sage inhales deeply. The single coin she threw clanks against the bottom of the fountain. I didn’t need to make a wish because all my wishes have finally came true. I have Sage. A girl I still don’t know everything about but am hopelessly and incandescently in love with. So I keep the small copper coin in my hand and wait for Sage to make her wish.
“I wish I could be Marius’s mate.” She whispers.
At first I think my mind is playing tricks on me. But when I open my eyes, and I’m left alone, my side which previously occupied Sage is empty. As the patter of Sage’s bare feet and the swirl of her green dress disappear into a darkened core way I know I heard her right.
“Sage come back here amor” I yell and chase after her. The mall starts to become increasingly confusing with every turn I make. I’m not even sure if I’m on the right track. I stopped hearing Sage’s feet and soft breathe a while ago. While part of me is bouncing off the walls at the fact she wants to be my mate the other part is scared to death because I can’t find her.
“Deliciae, it’s alright. We really need to talk love.” I yell into the darkness.
Wandering around in the dark mall has proven useless. Sage is hiding somewhere good and no matter the searching I do. I doubt I’ll find her during the night. I retrace my steps and end up at the fountain. My darling girl is sitting with her feet swinging over the edge of the fountain. She is humming softly to herself.
“Sage” I say softly into her ear.
“I’m sorry Marius.” She says not looking up to me. I sit next to her.
“Why are you sorry? You didn’t do anything wrong?” I ask amused slightly. Trying my hardest not to break down and kiss her.
“Because it was a stupid thing to sa—I mean wish. I shouldn’t have said it aloud. I’ve been humoring the idea we could be together after this whole thing was said and done with. But I promise I understand that you’re meant to be with someone else. Probably someone who understands you more like a duchess or whatever you call a high ranking mermaid. Can we forget I said it?” She asks still refusing to look at me.
“But what if I don’t want to forget about it my darling.” I ask and move her face in-between my palms forcing her to look up at me. Her eyes a glazed over and her cheeks are tinged pink.
“Wh…why would you want that?” She asks.
“It’s hard to just forget the woman you fell in love with the moment you saw her Sage. And it’s even harder to just forget about a person like you darling. From the moment I met you and saw how hard you’ve been fighting all I wanted to do was take all that pain away. When I had to sew your face up and you made it through, your fierce passion for your family that drove you to the brink of madness just to know they were safe. You’ve put me in my place multiple times. And since the second you moved your lips and began to speak I’ve been entranced ever since. But it is impossible to forget my beautiful mate.” I say and both of us are smiling. Her mouth is quirked in a questioning way.
“You love me? I’m your mate?? Oh Marius…” She throws her arms around my neck.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She says while still embracing me.
“I didn’t want to scare you love. I didn’t want you to be utterly appalled by the fact that you and I will spend the rest of our extremely long lives together.” I shrug.
“Mar. That would never appall me! You have no idea how much I’ve wished I could be your mate. Because truly the thought of ever being without you scares me…” She says.
We pull away from our hug and just stare at each other.
“Want to hear something funny?” She asks with a lazy smile.
“Of course my love” I say twirl a piece of her hair around my finger.
“I’ve always wanted to swim in a fountain. You see it in all kinds of movies. I always thought it would be fun.” She giggle.
“Your wish is my command.” I say and lift her to her feet.
“What??” She asks very confused as I shoo her a good distance away from the fountain.
“I’m going to fulfill that dream of swimming in a fountain. But first you cannot see my magic. Close your eyes.” I wink.
“Oh no way am I missing this!” She exclaims.
“As you wish my love.”
I start to untie the black boots I’m wearing and toss the jacket aside. Pushing up the sleeves I relax and clear my mind. Water is everywhere. Being able to manipulate it makes it an almost god like power. Every living being has water inside them. Plants and the air both hold water. Pulling water from the air is easy if the air is heavy as it is in the mall. I can only guess because so many places are dark and hidden the penetrating sunlight has not dried out all the air. The tricky part of gathering the water is pulling the right amount. If you pull too much the air will be dry and like a desert. I pull water from the air all over the mall and concentrate on bringing it to the fountain to fill it up. I know it’s working when my muscles start to twitch and Sage gasps. When I open my eyes the fountain is over filling with water. My skin is glowing and Sage is looking at me with awe.
“Your eyes are shinning.” She says. I duck my head away knowing I must look mad. When merpeople are using their gift their eyes will shine in an otherworldly manor.
“No, it’s beautiful.” She says pulling my face back to hers and placing a light kiss on my lips.
“So I can swim??” She says pulling away.
I just nod still in a cloud from the kiss. She squeals and runs to the water not bothering to take her dress off. The green fabric clouds around her. She dunks herself into the water and when she gets up her hair is soaked. She walks toward the middle of the fountain where stone swirls are carved and stand high in the middle. The light from the moon shines down on her. Sage’s dress reflects the light making her whole body look like she is shining silver.
“Mar! Come swim with me!” She yells and smiles splashing the water around.
“Okay but on one condition” I holler back.
“Oh what condition would that be my prince?”
“I get to use my tail to swim not these awful legs!” I smile and start to take off my clothing.
“Mar! Warn a girl.” She yells and when I look her eyes are covered with her hands and her face is beat red.
“I don’t know where your mind is going darling but my fins are covering everything.” I say and walk towards the fountain.
She lowers her hands and chuckles. I step into the water and immediately feel at ease. My legs slowly start to disappear and my gold tail sways under the water.
“I thought mermaids couldn’t change in freshwater?” Sage asks paddling over to me. Her dress flowing around her creates the illusion that she is a mermaid.
“That’s just an old fisherman’s tale. They thought that since we lived in salt water that freshwater would be bad for us. But that’s a complete myth. Some merpeople lived in freshwater. Especially if their mates were humans they would live near lakes. Ever heard of the Loch Ness Monster?” I ask.
“Of course! Oh my… You’re not saying that the Loch Ness Monster was just some merpeople swimming?”
“That exactly what I’m saying. My grandfather said that our people along with the humans who knew of us made up the story to cover it up. That’s why when people would search Lock Ness they wouldn’t find anything. The merpeople could quickly escape in a very deep underwater cave and wait out the searchers.”
She laughs and floats on her back beside me. Both of us stare up at the moon through the sky light.
“Can we continue to change me tonight?” She asks.
I grab her hand and nod. She darts up out of the water and runs into one of the small stores tripping oh so gracefully on the wet fabric around her feet. She reappears seconds after she recover from the fall and exits the store holing her knife.
“Can we try now? When you have your tail?” She asks.
Surprised at her energy I just smile and pull her into the water.
“Okay… But it’ll be a bit stronger this time. I’m going to drain more of your blood before I give you any of mine.”
I take the knife and open the skin up on Sage’s forearm. She flinches but not much else. Which is wrong… This should still hurt. She’s still almost completely human. Her body pumps a lot of blood out of her arm. She hang it over the edge of the fountain and when her face starts to turn pale and her skin clams up I slice open my own arm and pull hers toward my. Her body draws my “blood” in fast. Almost pulling it out of my body. I have to forcefully remove Sage’s arm from mine. She looks up at me and her eyes are glowing. Her normal deep brown eyes have silver running through them. Her body feels like its a hundred degrees as she leans into my side
“I feel really different Mar.” She sighs
“Something strange is going on love. You’re still human. You shouldn’t be having these effects till we’ve at least drained you of half your blood.” I say.
“The side effects of? The healing and warmth? I can feel myself radiating it.” She says looking down into the water.
“Don’t be worried love. We’ll figure this out.” I smile and kiss her dragging her across my body. Her legs tangle with my fins.
“I love you so much” She says. And kisses me. We stay like that floating in the water her hot hands running down my face and into my hair. And me kneading her back with my hands and trying to keep my tail from bucking Sage off. The pure joy of having my mate is making my body go into high alert.
The kiss is broken when Sage groans and pushes off me.
“Sage?” I ask.
She is holding onto her right leg. It’s pulled tightly into her chest.
“God my leg is on fire.” She yells.
I grab the hem of her dress that is floating on the top of the water. Pulling her to the edge I lift up the hem. On the top of her right thigh is a mass of twenty large scales. They are pearly green and reflect the moon light into my eyes. I gasp and go to touch the scales. They are literally pulling out of her skin. But instead of blood coming out. A mix of silver and gold ooze from around the scales.
“Marius… What’s going on?” She asks. Her voice is filled with excitement and fear.
“I don’t know my love…”