Sea God's Siren (The Brother's Keep) by Tessa Stockton Read Free Book Online Page A

Dagon gathering food for them both, they had remained in the sea’s rainbow cave delighting in each other.
    Syrena supposed the time came for her to venture away from their bubble when Dagon asked her if she was ready to get into the water. She hesitated.
    “You have fear?” he asked.
    “I do. I don’t know why. I guess it stems from not having the ability to swim.”
    He gently pinched her cheek. “That’ll be easily remedied.”
    “And it’s so comfortable in here. I don’t know what we’ll find out there.” She pointed.
    “More of each other.” He grinned.
    Syrena stood and slipped her dress over her head.
    Dagon watched her every move. “I don’t think you need that.”
    The heat of a blush still managed to climb into her cheeks. She smoothed her hands over the fabric.
    “Uh, it might feel cumbersome in the water, yes?” he suggested.
    A staccato song erupted from the water, bouncing off the walls.
    “Blue,” they both exclaimed.
    “Shimmery-shim-shimmery Blue, I come-come to check on you,” the creature said gaily.
    Dagon answered with a hearty laugh. “We’re grand, Blue! Tell us, how does the open sea fair, our friend?”
    “F-f-f-fair, w-w-well. F-f-f-fair-r-r-r-r! S-s-see you there.” With great athleticism, Shimmery Blue leapt into the air and plunged sideways, then dove. A giant splash doused Syrena as Blue disappeared into the pool. Then something else happened.
    Syrena felt odd. Her legs tingled. The sensation rippled from her torso down to her toes and beyond. She gasped and fell back, the air knocked from her lungs. “What’s happening?” she wailed.
    Dagon knelt beside her. “Your tail is beautiful, Syrena!”
    “What have you done?”
    He tilted his head, his brow furrowed as if confused. “I’ve made you mine.”
    “That means I’m to become like you? I am like you!” She stared, bug-eyed, at the light pearly green sheen of the scales that now covered the lower half her body. “But I,” she sobbed, “but I—”
    “Oh, Syrena.” Dagon clasped her chin with his palm while his other hand stroked her tail. “Please, don’t be frightened, please. You’re beautiful.” He sought her eyes. “We’re supposed to be one.”
    “I didn’t know . . .”
    “Would that have changed things? Changed how you feel about me?” His hands slipped from her. He leaned back, reluctant. “How else did you think you could survive, a life in the ocean, unless . . .” Dagon stood, staring at her form with both admiration and anxiety. “You gave me your decision. You can’t go back.”
    “I didn’t know you were going to turn me into a fish.”
    “It was my seed that did that. I cannot help nature.” He turned his back, silent, and his eyes seemed to bore a hole in the stone. “Anyway, a fish ? Is that all you think of me?”
    Before she could answer, Dagon dove into the water.
    “No, don’t leave me,” she begged, tears running the gamut of her face, dripping off her chin. But after Dagon’s departure, the cave grew unbearably silent.
    Syrena struggled to sit up in her new form. At last she perched, gaping at her tail in a moment that seemed to run forever. She had a tail! And, just like Dagon’s, when it dried she gained her legs.
    For a long stretch, she paced the inner walls of the cave, careful to keep away from the water’s edge. Until she felt certain Dagon would never return. Then she inched to the entry. Kneeling, she lifted the hem of her dress. She dipped a finger into the water then smeared it over a bare leg. The effect was immediate. That light pearly green reflected back at her at the spot she touched. She gasped and fled once more to the back.
    After another length of time, she missed Dagon something awful. Her heart ached. Would he ever come back? Did he leave her? But mermen mate for life, she reminded herself.
    Syrena crept back to the opening. While hanging on to the edge, she lifted herself down into the water. The weight of the tail unfolding beneath