Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 1

his sisters stirred from their slumber. Lana would never know.
    His stomach churned at the thought, remembering a week of smiles and flushed cheeks, a young man who seemed so quiet, but clearly was filled with life. A man who looked sad when he thought no one was watching and rarely slept at night. Seree had thrown away too many opportunities to kill him, but could not make himself take this one.
    Stifling a sigh, he abandoned his balcony and made his way down to the beach. Though he made no sound in the soft, giving sand, Aimé half-turned and saw him, breaking into a smile. "Seree."
    "Highness," Seree murmured and joined him at the water's edge, standing so that the tide came up to his shins when it reached for the shore. "Can't sleep? You seem to struggle with that a lot."
    "I was never much for sleeping at night," Aimé said with a shrug. "I manage well enough."
    Seree turned to face him, one corner of his mouth tilting up in a half-smile. "It sounds like you have a restless mind."
    For a single moment Aimé looked as though he was going to cry— but then he regained control, schooled his features, and only gave a shaky laugh. "My grandmother used to say the same thing. She said I reminded her of her father, who could not sleep without his wife beside him."
    "Yes, my father is much the same," Seree said. "Though he is on his third wife. My mother was his first, but she died of illness when I was very young. His second wife died three years ago, attacked by—" He bit off the words 'a shark' and corrected himself to, "while she was sailing."
    Aimé looked at him in dismay. "I'm so sorry! That must have been terrible for you and Lana."
    "Harder for Lana; I was too young to remember my mother's passing well." Seree sat down beside him in the sand and finally surrendered any thought of killing the prince. He couldn't do it. His opinion of humans was not high, but he was not as blind as some of his fellows in thinking all humans were the same.
    He had six days to find another solution, and if he did not find it… well, he hoped someone worthy took up his knives and his duties. Seree looked out at the ocean and tried not to let the fear gnawing at him take control. He had faced death before and managed to live. He would not let his grandmother's stupid curse end him.
    "I was sent here as punishment," Aimé said softly.
    Seree turned, surprised by the words— and yet not. The remote location, the simplicity of the 'palace', the lack of an army of servants, the absence of friends and peers… It all added up to something, he had just never quite figured out what. Punishment seemed so obvious, suddenly, but it had never occurred to him someone so sweet would be in that much trouble. "Why?"
    "I'm an embarrassment to my family," Aimé said, and though it was too dark to tell, Seree was absolutely certain those fine cheeks had flushed again. "My grandmother was… eccentric was the kindest word anyone ever used. She was an only child and very close to her mother, my great grandmother." He licked his lips, looked at Seree, and then looked away. "My grandmother was also very close to me. She would tell me stories all the time about her mother, about growing up here— this is her 'getaway palace' as she used to call it. Anyway, her stories were always about my great grandparents. Her favorite was about how they met here, how her mother washed up on shore after a shipwreck."
    The words made the back of Seree's neck prickle. Aimé glanced briefly at him again, then looked away, and the growing sense of alarm Seree felt increased. Before he could figure out what to say or do, Aimé continued, "She couldn't speak when they found her— my great grandmother. For two months she spoke without words, and my great grandfather fell in love with her. Then a witch appeared and tricked him away, and my great grandmother nearly died before he broke free of the witch's spell."
    "How did he break free of it?" Seree asked, though he already knew the answer.
    "A great ship set sail, the couple to be wed at sea, and my great grandmother, in her despair, threw herself overboard. My great grandfather saw, realized she was going to drown, and it broke the hold the witch had on him. He saved my great grandmother, who regained her voice, but it was too late for her to keep her human shape. Because, you see, she was a mermaid and had fallen in love with a human, and a cruel spell was her only chance to win my great grandfather and stay as a human