MERCILESS (The Mermen Trilogy #3) by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff Read Free Book Online Page A

flipped him over.
    It was Roen. “Oh my God. What happened to you?” She didn’t know what to do. He had dark spots all over his face, torso, and neck. What was it? A plague? Roen’s beautiful lips were chapped and cracked, and he had blood matted in his chin-length, brown hair. The rest of his skin was pale and damp with sweat.
    Liv then glanced at his shoulder, the bandages soaked with blood. Dear Lord, there was an entire piece of his shoulder missing. He looked like he might die any second.
    “Roen. Roen, can you talk? Do you have any water?” The sacred water worked on him. It worked on all of the men from the island. One sip would heal a fatal wound.
    Roen groaned. “Liv, you’ve come to take me.”
    Take him where? “No. I need to get you water. Is there any here?”
    Roen didn’t respond.
    “Fight, Roen. Do you hear me, you bastard? Fight!”
    He couldn’t die. He couldn’t. She stood up and started thinking. There had to be water around here somewhere. Even if it was just a drop, something to keep him from dying.
    She began looking around his immaculate room. He had papers and contracts piled up on his dresser and only a few outfits and personal items in the closet—his human-world clothes.
    I have to find him water.
    Liv snagged a pillow and the plush burgundy blanket from Roen’s bed. She returned to Roen and tried to get as much of the blanket around him and underneath him as possible. As she gently lifted his head, sliding the pillow underneath, she kissed his lips. It didn’t matter what was wrong with him—mer-bola or bubonic mer-plague—she needed to feel his lips again.
    “Don’t you dare die on me, merman,” she whispered. “You still owe me.” Yes, she referred to sex. They still hadn’t slept together—a very, very huge oversight on both their parts. But since the day they’d met, roughly four months ago, their life together had been chaos. Still, the moment she saw him, she’d wanted and never stopped wanting him. She knew he felt the same. So on the off chance he could hear her, the promise of hot sex could only encourage the man to hang on. Right?
    Liv rushed downstairs and stopped at the front door, looking over her shoulder. She didn’t want to leave him. What if he died while she was gone looking for water?
    She took a deep breath. You have no choice. You have to go find him some water. She bolted out into the dark night, praying she wouldn’t run into any hungry maids or angry mermen on her way to the Great Hall.
     
    ~~~
     
    Roen was ready to let go now, feeling comforted by knowing that their folklore had been true. His people believed that when a merman died, he would be united in the afterlife with his mate. That had to be why Liv was there. She’d come to take him so they’d finally be together, free from pain and the island.
    But why then was she telling him to fight to stay alive?
    “Liv,” he mumbled, “no more fighting. I’m ready…”
     

CHAPTER SIX
    The Great Hall. Liv had never been more petrified of any place on earth. It was a giant cavern with soaring ceilings and a deadly chill in the air, where the mermen’s sacred water trickled from the stone walls and collected in pools toward the back. That, in itself, wasn’t all that scary. But the place had an evil, sick vibe. It was where they held violent, bloody ceremonies and many people were killed. For her, however, this would always be the place where she’d been forced to watch as Roen almost died, fighting for control of the island and for her life. By some miracle, he’d won that day and had gotten her home, but she’d never forget the moment she thought she’d lost Roen, helpless to do anything about it.
    Well, now she was in a position to do something. She would not let him die even if it meant facing her biggest fears.
    Liv took a breath and entered the dark, massive cavern. The smell of mold and darkness hit her nose. She winced. “Hello?” A few wooden chairs lay toppled over on the