Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 1

attempt to make myself respectable."
    Lana giggled when he had gone and cast Seree a sly look that he did not like to see on her young face. He narrowed his eyes. "What?"
    She rolled her eyes. "Oh, do not pretend not to have noticed."
    "Noticed what? That you were moonsick over a silly boy?"
    "No, urchin ," she said, poking him. "The reason that he would never have loved me, even if I had really loved him."
    Seree raised his brows. "Because he still needs a nurse to put him to bed?"
    "Oh, for Deep's sake!" she said, throwing up her hands. "You're such a starfish! The reason he has no interest in sanding me—"
    "Language!" Seree snapped.
    She rolled her eyes and continued as though he had not spoken, "Is because he clearly is more interested in being sanded by someone like you."
    "Language," Seree hissed again. "You're a princess of the Deep! Where in the ten seas did you learn such vulgar language? I will clam you myself if you do not stop this instant!"
    "I learned it by listening to you and the other warriors when I used to sneak into the armory and watch you practice," Lana replied, smiling.
    Seree pinched the bridge of his nose and prayed to the Savior for patience. "I'm not sure the Deep is better off having you back," he finally said and took her arm, all but dragging her out of the palace. She finally twisted free once they were away from it and scowled at him before brushing out her skirts and setting a more sedate pace.
    They made it back to the beach in less than half the time it had taken Seree to find the palace. Lana abruptly threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. "Thank you for saving me," she whispered, then drew back. "And Aimé. I don't know how you're able to overcome the curse, but I should have known you would. Nobody knows magic better than you, Seree. I'll see you soon!" She kissed his cheek, then stripped of her clothes and waded out until the water was deep enough for her to dive.
    Leaving Seree on the beach, feeling wretched and lost. His plan had been to trade places with his sister, send her home, and then go back to slit the throat of the worthless prince.
    Except the prince was not what he had expected, and his sister had just ruined everything. Why was she so good at that?
    Heaving a long sigh, Seree trudged back up the beach and back to the palace.
    ****
    A week had passed. He had another six days left before the three months stipulated by the curse were up and the curse killed him. He could feel it in his blood, writhing, waiting. It should have been such a simple matter to find the prince alone somewhere, slit his throat with the black-bladed knife, and be free. He had killed numerous humans in the past, vile bastards who tricked or hunted merfolk, hurt them for reasons of greed.
    And that, right there, was his problem. One week was a trivial amount of time, but it was enough to know that Prince Aimé was as innocent as Lana. He might have been human, but he acted like no human Seree had ever met. He stirred the same protective instincts as Seree's impetuous sisters… and roused feelings never before woken by a human .
    Seree heaved a sigh and braced his arms on the railing of his little balcony, looking out over the ocean. Moonlight glistened over dark, calm seas, and the salty air was at once both balm and tease. His body ached constantly from being forced into an unnatural state, and it had gotten worse the moment he'd taken over Lana's curse.
    The curse craved the human— one way or another. Seree did not know what to do. He might not have hated the human, but he was not in love either. Had never been in love, even with another of his own kind. As near as he could tell, love was for fools. Look at what happened to his sisters whenever they went in pursuit of it, and his father was on wife number three and child number fifteen.
    Seree shuddered just thinking about it and tried to think about something else. Like how to get out of the mess he was in without killing an innocent prince or himself.
    Movement caught the corner of his eye, and he watched as Aimé slipped from the palace and down to the private beach behind it. He sat down in the sand with his legs bent, arms across his knees, just close enough to the water that the tide lapped at his feet.
    Seree's skin prickled with awareness. It would be easy to slip down to the beach, lower the prince's guard, and bare his blood to the moon, give his life to the sea. It would take only moments, and Seree would be home before