The Selkie Sorceress (Seal Island Trilogy, Book 3) (32 page)

“That’s Brigid,” Kelsey piped in.

Sam nodded as footsteps clattered down the steps. Liam pulled out a chair at the table beside his brother. “The younger twin was more adventurous,” Sam continued. “She preferred to spend her days exploring the kingdom, and she didn’t understand why she was only allowed to roam so far. When she asked her parents why she couldn’t explore the entire sea, they told her that the mermaids ruled the sea and the selkies were given this small part of the sea in exchange for peace between the two species.”

“Sam,” Brennan cut in. “I didn’t realize this was the story you were going to tell. I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

“Why?”

Brennan lowered his voice. “I know this story, and it doesn’t end well.”

“No,” Sam admitted. “It doesn’t. But you’ve only heard one side of this story. I’m going to tell you the other side—the one with the
right
ending.”

Brennan glanced across the room at Liam and Dominic. A shadow of guilt passed over his eyes. “I don’t see what good can come of this.”

“Why don’t you help me out with some of the details,” Sam suggested lightly, “and I’ll fill in the rest.”

Brennan studied his pipe for a long time before nodding his consent.

Sam stretched out his legs, his boots leaving a trail of dust on the wood floor. “One day, when the princess was sixteen years old, she was exploring the outer edges of the selkie sanctuary and she spied a mermaid. It was the first mermaid she had ever seen and she decided to follow her, deep into the ocean.”

Kelsey pulled her stuffed starfish into her lap. “Wasn’t that dangerous?”

“It was.”

“But she followed her anyway?”

“All the way back to her kingdom.” Sam paused, glancing up at Brennan.
Come on. Help me out.

Brennan shifted in his chair, the leather creaking under his weight. “It was the most beautiful palace she’d ever seen,” he said slowly. “The mermaids were gathered in a great hall, dancing and laughing and eating rich spreads of seafood.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Kelsey said.

“No,” Brennan agreed. “It wasn’t. And the princess longed to join the mermaids, but it was getting late and she knew she should turn back before anyone discovered she was gone. But just as she was about to leave, the princess spotted a young merprince about her age. He had thick blond hair, a gleaming white smile, and a glittering tail that sparkled when he laughed. She fell in love with him at first sight.”

“It’s like in
The Little Mermaid
,” Caitlin murmured, “The princess fell in love with a man she couldn’t have.”

Sam ran his hands over the knotted wood of the chair, picking up where Brennan left off. “After watching the prince for a long time, the princess swam back to the selkie kingdom and slipped home without anyone noticing she’d been gone. But as the days passed, she kept thinking about the prince, and she dreamed of marrying him and joining their two kingdoms together.”

“Ambitious,” Tara murmured.

Sam nodded. “Over the next few months, the princess snuck away as often as she could to visit her prince, even though she could only watch him from afar. But one day, as she was swimming back to her own kingdom, she crossed paths with the sea witch—a woman known and feared throughout the ocean for her power, beauty, and dark magic.”

Kelsey hugged her starfish to her chest.

“The princess tried to slip away,” Sam continued, “but the sea witch stopped her and told her she recognized her. She said she’d been watching her and understood that she was in love with someone she couldn’t have. She told the princess that she could help her get what she wanted—the prince—if she would do something for her in return.”

“What did she want her to do?” Kelsey asked nervously.

Sam picked up a piece of Owen’s knotted rope, toying with it. “The sea witch told the princess that all she needed was a pearl from the selkie queen’s crown.”

“A pearl from her crown?” Liam asked.

Sam nodded. “The princess was surprised, because that wasn’t so difficult. Especially since the queen was her mother and they lived in the same palace. She agreed, and a few days later, she brought the sea witch the pearl and the sea witch was pleased.”

Liam reached for the candle in the center of his table, picking at the pieces of wax stuck to the glass. “That was too easy.”

“It was,” Brennan agreed, lighting his pipe and puffing on it a few times before picking up the story. “Once the sea witch had the pearl, she told the princess that she would help her meet her prince. The princess was overjoyed, but when the sea witch saw how excited the princess was, the sea witch decided to add one more condition. She told the princess that if the prince did not return her love, then the princess would have to come and live with her.”

Kelsey’s eyes widened. “She wanted the princess to leave her family?”

Brennan nodded. “The princess didn’t want to live with the sea witch, but the sea witch told the princess that she was getting tired and needed to teach someone her ways. Who else would help the desperate souls in need when there was no longer a witch in the sea?”

Kelsey shrank back into her chair. “She didn’t make the trade, did she?”

Brennan cradled his wooden pipe in his palm, the sweet scent of tobacco filling the room. “The princess was confident she would be able to win the prince’s love since she was the most beautiful selkie in the sea, save her twin sister, Brigid. She agreed to the trade and swam away.”

Kelsey shuddered. “I think that was a bad idea.”

Sam studied the elaborate knots tied into the piece of rope in his hands. “Months passed with no word from the sea witch. When the princess turned seventeen, she began to worry that maybe she shouldn’t have made the trade, that maybe nothing was going to happen. But then, one day, everything changed. A new white selkie was born into the selkie kingdom.”

Owen glanced up, watching Sam closely.

“As you know,” Sam said, “a white selkie is a very unique and special selkie. She is only born every few hundred years and she is always born into a different family than the current ruling family. But she is destined to be queen. As soon as she is old enough to bring her land-man into the sea, the current ruling family must relinquish the throne to her.”

“Is this…Nuala?” Caitlin asked.

Sam nodded. “The sea witch had seen a vision of Nuala’s coming, and knew it was only a matter of time, so she forced the birth by casting a spell with the enchanted pearl from the selkie queen’s crown.”

Owen scooted closer to Sam.

“Nuala’s birth was a really big deal,” Sam continued, “and the selkies invited the mermaids to their kingdom for a celebratory ball in honor of their newest queen. It was the only time their people were allowed to mingle.”

“That’s how the princess got her chance to meet the prince,” Tara said.

Brennan blew out a long stream of smoke, and the air around him grew hazy. “On the night of the ball, the princess knew she had to make the prince fall in love with her or she would have to go live with the sea witch. But the king and queen introduced their eldest daughter to the prince first. The moment the prince laid eyes on Brigid, he fell for her.”

Kelsey’s eyes widened. “He fell for her
sister
?”

Brennan nodded. “Brigid had no idea that her twin sister had feelings for the prince, and as the prince doted on Brigid throughout the night, she began to fall for him, too. The younger princess watched it happen, desperately trying to think of a way to stop it. But it was too late, and before the end of the night, the prince and Brigid had made plans to meet in secret the following week.”

Kelsey squeezed the starfish. “I have a feeling this is going to end badly.”

“So do I,” Tara said, standing and walking over to join Kelsey. She eased her hip onto the arm of the chair, putting her arm around her daughter.

“The princess was heartbroken,” Brennan went on, “but she couldn’t tell anyone the truth because of the trade she had made with the sea witch.”

“But that night,” Sam said, leaning forward, “her sister confided that she and the prince had made plans to see each other again.”

“Let me guess,” Caitlin said, crossing her arms over her chest, “the princess offered to ‘help’ them.”

“That’s right.”

“But she wasn’t really trying to help them,” Caitlin muttered. “She was trying to steal the prince away from her sister.”

“That may be,” Brennan said slowly. “But things didn’t work out so well for the princess. A few weeks later, the prince’s parents announced his betrothal to another mermaid, and he and Brigid decided to run away together.”

“Run away?” Kelsey asked.

Brennan nodded. “They knew if they remained underwater, there was always a chance they could be found. But if they went on land, they could live out the rest of their lives as humans. They would never see their families again, but at least they would be safe and have each other.”

“But mermen can’t shed their tails like selkies can shed their skin,” Dominic protested.

“No,” Sam agreed. “They can’t. He had to go to the sea witch and make a trade for human legs.”

“Did the princess try to stop them?” Tara asked.

“She did,” Sam said.

Brennan frowned, because he didn’t know this part of the story.

Sam stood, wandering over to the window and looking out over the dark fields. “On the day of the escape, the princess disappeared pretending to communicate Brigid and the prince’s escape plans with the prince’s messenger. When the princess returned she told Brigid that the prince had changed their meeting spot.”

“But it wasn’t true?” Kelsey asked.

Sam shook his head. “That night, after everyone went to sleep, the two princesses snuck out together. They swam to a busy port town and the princess told Brigid the prince was waiting beyond the town. The sisters said goodbye, and Brigid swam to the beach, thinking she’d found a secluded spot behind a boulder to shed her skin.”

Kelsey hugged her knees to her chest. “I don’t think I like where this story is going.”

Sam glanced down at Owen and he saw that the child was watching him intently. “The younger princess had come to this spot many times and there was always a man at the beach this time of night, stringing his nets. He was kind to the birds, feeding them scraps of fish, and he was friendly to everyone. She assumed he would capture her sister’s pelt and maybe one day they could love each other. Unfortunately, a
different
man captured Brigid’s pelt, and he was nothing like the nice fisherman the princess had seen before.”

Dominic glanced up, his expression clouding. “My father.”

Sam nodded. “When she realized her mistake, the princess swam as fast as she could to the original meeting spot. The prince was already there, and she shed her pelt quickly, running from the water to tell him everything. But since the two sisters were identical twins, and the prince had never seen Brigid in human form, the prince assumed she was Brigid. He kissed her, and she forgot all about saving her sister and anything other than her love for the prince and how this was all she had ever wanted.”

“But he wasn’t in love with her!” Kelsey exclaimed. “He was in love with her sister!”

Sam glanced at Brennan. The elderly man was watching him with a pained expression on his face. “Now the prince could tell something was wrong as soon as he kissed her, but the princess said she was just nervous about what they were doing. He comforted her, and they snuck away from the shoreline in human form, deep into the mountains of Connemara.”

Kelsey shifted closer to Tara. “I can’t believe she left her sister like that!”

Sam took a deep breath. This was going to be the hard part. “When night fell, they built a fire and the prince fell asleep, but the princess laid awake, haunted by terrible grief at what she’d done.”

“At least she felt bad about it,” Kelsey muttered.

“She did,” Sam said quietly, “and the next morning the princess decided to tell the prince the truth, or at least a version of it. She told him her sister had changed her mind at the last minute and she had come in her place. She told him she loved him, had always loved him since she’d first laid eyes on him, and wanted to be with him.”

“She told him who she was?” Caitlin asked, surprised.

Sam looked down at the frayed rope in his hands. “She wanted him to know the truth. But the prince didn’t react the way she’d hoped. He didn’t believe Brigid had changed her mind. He demanded to know where she was and what happened to her. He told the princess he could never love her, and he would never stop searching for her sister.”

Owen stared up at him, wide-eyed.

Sam laid the piece of rope on the windowsill. “When the prince turned to leave, the princess realized she’d failed. She’d cost her parents the throne, betrayed her sister, and made a foolish trade with the sea witch—all for nothing. She was unable to live with the idea that the prince might one day find Brigid, that he might recover her pelt and reclaim her freedom from the man who stole it, and that the prince and her sister might live happily ever after.”