Hook's Pan (14 page)

Setting her sterling silver fork down, Sirenade pushed her half-eaten plate away. “It’s quite simple really, you open your mouth and say ‘no more.’”
 

Rolling her eyes, Trisha moaned. “Har. Har. Har. You guys are hilarious. The food was good, but I think it’s reached my eyeballs at this point.”

“So why didn’t you say stop?”

“Because you’re a queen and all I kept thinking was, if I stop she might want my head on a pike. Why do you think?” Trisha knew she was acting more familiar with Sirenade, talking to her like they’d known each other forever, but in some ways it felt like that. The beautiful mermaid was so easy to talk to.

A bronze hand patted her own. “Oh, little mortal, you are as funny as Hook claimed. I think I should enjoy having you in my realm. Have you given any thought to staying?”

Trisha tilted her head. “I’m leaving in three days. I can’t stay.”

“Mortal, you can always stay. The choice is yours. Do you not like our realm? Sircco?” The gentle swell of an ocean tide rocked in the depths of Sirenade’s cool amber eyes. “He seems to like you a great deal.”

An uncomfortable sound tripped from her tongue, a mix between a laugh and a snort. “Umm… no,” she said slowly, not sure how to handle this, still not entirely certain she trusted Sirenade wouldn’t go psycho Red Queen on her if she did the wrong thing. Tapping her foot, she made an effort to not look at Hook this time—last thing she needed was someone else assuming she was in love with a man she barely knew. “He’s a king, he can get any mermaid he wants. I doubt he’s thinking of me at all.”

“Hmm.” She tapped her black claws on the table. “I wouldn’t say that, Sircco and Talia were engaged once. Before she met Hook.”

Trisha’s eyes widened, snapping her gaze up toward the two of them. “And he’s not angry at Hook?”

“I should say that is not the way of our kind, that we’re more refined in how we handle emotion, but that would be a terrible lie.”

She couldn’t help but chuckle, she found herself liking the fishy woman sitting beside her.

“He was hurt, he loved her dearly. Talia had a way of bringing out the best in those around her, which was why she was so well loved and regarded. Very likely why Hook fell for her as well. But time heals, and Sircco is a good man, he would never have been happy marrying her knowing how unhappy she’d be. There is a great deal of her in you, you know.”

“Yeah,” she sighed, “so everyone keeps telling me. But can’t you understand how hard all this is for me to believe? I mean I see you,” she gestured up and down, “but my brain is having a hell of a time accepting this reality. Whales with buckteeth, fish that look like flies and frogs, and beautiful people with tails. This isn’t reality in my world. You’re all myth and legends and I don’t think I could ever stay here. I feel like Dorothy in Oz, a complete fish out of water. No pun intended.” She smiled to soften the blow.

A golden seahorse swam from Sirenade’s crown toward Trisha. It was so cute, neighing and squealing as it settled on her finger. Its long pink tongue licked the tip of her pinky, its fan-like pectoral fin fluttered like a little wing.

“He likes you. It’s a great honor for a seahorse to greet you. You see, lovely mortal—”

“My name is Trisha. Trisha Page.”

Sirenade beamed. “Trisha then, whether you accept it as fact or not, your soul belongs here. It’s attuned to this world, these people, even him.” She stared directly at Hook.

“What the hell,” Trisha glowered, “do I have a freakin’ A stamped on my forehead? It is not. I barely know him.”

The mermaid just shook her head. “In my world we have a saying ‘The eyes are the windows to the soul’…”

“We have that saying too.”

“Then you know what I say to be true. Whether you are aware of it or not, yours glow whenever you look at him. It is difficult when the soul already accepts what the heart has not. Sircco is a good man, but he was never the one for you.”

This was a nightmare. What did Trisha have to do to convince these people she didn’t give a damn about Captain James Hook? Kick him in the balls? She didn’t believe in destiny or soul mates or whatever the hell else.

What they saw was lust, plain and simple. That she could admit to. The man was unbelievably hot, but that was all it was. In three days she would leave. Period. Staying away from her life for three months was almost unbearable, if she’d had more family to worry about her it may have even been downright criminal, but all she did have were parents who rarely spoke to her, except maybe on birthdays and Christmas. After her sister’s death the family had fractured. In a lot of ways she was alone, but that didn’t mean she wanted to stay either.

So she just shook her head, but clamped her lips shut, better to keep her thoughts to herself, at this point no one believed her anyway. Except maybe Hook himself who seemed less inclined to begin a torrid love affair than even she did.

“I need to walk, do you have any gardens? The food isn’t sitting right,” Trisha said, giving a weak smile.

“The Kelp gardens,” Sirenade nodded, “but before you go, I want to give you this.” She touched the tip of her black claw to the little seahorse still settled on Trisha’s pinky finger.

The moment she touched it, it wasn’t just a gold colored seahorse, it literally turned to gold. Its eyes were closed, a serene smile painted across its little horsey face.

Gasping, Trisha held it up and tapped its head. “Did you kill it?”

“No,” there was laughter in Sirenade’s voice, “I’ve spelled him. Powerful magic now rests in his body.”

“What can he do?” Trisha looked up, ensnared by the rollicking waves trapped within amber eyes.

“He is now your lifetime companion. I’ve placed him in gold so that when he travels on land he shall not die, anytime you take him into water he will return to what he once was and should you ever need me, he will know how to find me. He will remain faithful to you always and I hope that you will treasure him as I have all these years. Now, a friend will show you to the Gardens, it was good to meet you, Trisha Page.”

She smiled and curled her fingers around the beautiful little horse. Touched by Sirenade’s kindness. “Thank you, Sirenade. This means a lot to me.”

Pushing away from the table, Sirenade and Sircco rose simultaneously. A serene smile graced Sirenade’s lips. “I hope to see you again,” she said, and then swam off without looking back.

Sircco stayed where he was for a while longer, just gazing at her and she knew she’d been right earlier, there’d been longing in his eyes, as there was now. Then raising his hand one final time, he turned and followed his sister from the hall. Not wanting to lose her treasure, she tucked it into a little pocket stitched into the side of the dress by her hip.

Hook cleared his throat. “You’ve bewitched them both, little bird.” His words made her heart swell.

“I liked them.”

“Oh, that was obvious,” a twinkle glowed in the depths of his coal black eyes and she discovered that she enjoyed star dusted black over rolling amber any day. Coming around the table, he latched onto her elbow and she trembled, confused that she liked it so much. That she’d even missed it. “In fact, I think they’re both well on their way to being in love with you all over again.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You’re just jealous I got to sit next to such a hot piece of tail.” Chuckling at her own stupid joke, she didn’t hear anyone else in the room with them until a loud voice cleared.

Startled, she twirled and then clasped onto her breast. The mermaid in front of them was staring at her so intensely it made her want to run. Her skin tingled at the glowing red gaze, and yes…literally red eyes bright as liquid magma, roamed up then down her body. A wild mane of hair trailed like flame down her pale ivory back. Ropes of red seed pearls draped the body from fin to neck. Her tail was a burnished orange with flecks of gold. She looked like fire.

“Is it true?” she asked with a voice that shivered both deep and dulcet. “Are you she?”

Trisha sighed, opening her mouth to beg this woman to please stop. She was sick to death of explaining it over and over. But before she had a chance to say anything, Hook curled his hand tighter around her arm and stepped in front of her, as if shielding her from the woman’s view.

“Maiven.” He inclined his head. His whiskey smooth voice made Trisha’s heart beat just a tiny bit faster. “Talia’s soul is within, but this is not Talia. This is Trishelle Page of the Earthly realm.”

She really wasn’t sure why he’d done that. At least, not until Maiven began to tear up.

“My granddaughter’s soul truly beats inside the body of this one?”

Trisha sucked in a sharp breath. The woman didn’t look older than her, suddenly more interested, she studied her features. Her skin was as smooth and pale as the finest marble, her lips were full, her cheeks round. She was as pretty as all the rest and now that she was really looking, she could see the resemblance with the woman to the picture Hook had shown her on the ship.

He nodded. “But you should know, the soul is much diminished. I find nothing of Talia within.”

Why did he sound so sad about that? It shouldn’t bother her. It didn’t actually. It completely and totally didn’t. Because she was Trisha, not Talia. Not this perfect mermaid that everyone still seemed to have a hard on for. She liked who she was, liked that she was from earth, that she was human, she liked everything about herself and didn’t give two craps that they didn’t.

She frowned, feeling grumpy all of a sudden.

Maiven hissed, snapping at Hook, her teeth looking much sharper than Sirenade’s had been. Hers were fine tipped, and as lethal looking as any blade. “It’s all your fault. Beguiling her, tempting her to leave her realm. Her people. That is not the way of our world, we do not leave, you come to us. But you…you refused, and so she followed you. I’ll never forgive you, Hook, never.”

His jaw clenched and a compulsion to soothe him beat through Trisha’s heart, tingled through the tips of her fingers.

“I know,” was all he said.

Swiping the tears from her eyes, Maiven turned. “Follow me.”

Before she could decide whether to soothe him or not, the moment passed. Hook walked on without her. Forcing her to keep up or get left behind.

After a minute of intense and very uneasy silence, Trisha finally cleared her throat. “She really hates you, you scurvy pirate.” She poked him in the ribs, trying to lighten the mood. Wanting to groan, because she knew what she’d said was the wrong thing the second his eyes flashed.

“I appreciate the effort, Trishelle, but in this I will not laugh. Maiven is correct, I did Talia wrong.” Snapping his jaw closed, he refused to look at or even talk to her again after that.

Feeling like an ass, she followed, dragging her feet along and wishing a hole would just open up and swallow her now. She’d never been good at these sorts of things, trying to cheer someone up. She always said or did something stupid, which was why she barely had any friends. Not real, true blue friends anyway. Betty was the only one who ever really seemed to understand her snark actually came from an honest place.

Trisha really hoped the garden was worth it, because she was pretty much ready to head back to the ship and go to sleep. This day had sucked the big one.

It was amazing how long the days lasted here. Yes it was one thing to say a day in Kingdom was a month on Earth, but it literally did feel like she’d been awake for days.

Paved sea stones meandered around the castle, fish swam freely between them. Moving through the water was a little like walking through a pool. There was a feeling of weightlessness as she moved. And everything down here seemed brighter, colors and shapes more focused. There were hut style homes everywhere, their dun coloration letting her know they were built of sand.

Smoke billowed from chimneys, which how that was even possible was beyond her, but she wouldn’t question it. Very little of this world followed any sort of rules she was used to. The only humans she saw walking around were males, and they were staring at her like they couldn’t understand what in the hell she was doing here.

She chuckled beneath her breath, because she had no idea either. A few mermaids swam between the streets, but none of them paid her any mind. Her novelty had clearly worn off, but what surprised her most was that none stared at Hook either. In fact, they seemed to make a concerted effort to not even glance in his general direction; it was so obvious she was curious why.