What the Tide Brings

Chapter 49 - Liam - What Happened

Liam opened his eyes to see darkness. He wondered if he had died. Was this all there was? Just darkness. Well, darkness and the most beautiful music he'd ever heard. Music that was all too familiar.

Slowly, everything started to come into focus. It wasn't just darkness that he was looking at, it was the night sky, full of stars. And the sound was a song he'd been hearing for weeks. It was the song Kaelin had been composing to tell the story of their love. At least that's what she said; he couldn't understand the language.

He felt a hand on his cheek. He turned his head to the side to see Kaelin's face hovering over his. She was fully human, laying beside him in the sand, wearing an oversized t-shirt. She stroked his face gently with her soft fingers.

"What happened?" he asked, his head still foggy. "Where am I?"

"You're safe." Kaelin brushed her hand across his chest to soothe him.

"How am I alive? I thought I was drowning. I think I passed out." Liam shook his head. "Why didn't I drown?"

"You passed out because you weren't breathing." Kaelin said. "Once you were unconscious, you swallowed water, which revived you, because of the magic I gave you. The magic lasted longer than I expected. After everything was over, I found you here, washed up on shore."

As everything came flooding back, he bolted up off his back and looked around for the warriors, but they were nowhere in sight. The beach was empty save for the two of them. "Where are the soldiers?"

Kaelin sat up to place a hand on his shoulder and slid it up his neck, slipping her fingers into his hair. "It's over."

"How?" He shook his head. That didn't make sense.

She closed her eyes and dipped her head. He could feel the slight touch of her mind trying to show her memories to him, so he closed his eyes and watched it all play out behind his lids.

Kaelin struggled against Arlen, who had a tight hold on her, when something zipped through the circle of soldiers. It was the harpoon he'd shot. It didn't hit Arlen, as he'd hoped, but it did strike the tail of one of the other mermen gathered.

Kaelin used the distraction and conjured a whirlpool around herself that swept her and Arlen into the spiral, throwing them out separately. Arlen collided with two of his soldiers, and Kaelin flew out to freedom. She swarmed a few of them in boiling water and dodged a few others trying to get ahold of her.

Just as she was about to be skewered by the angry mermaid's sword, a rush of water blasted the mermaid down to the ocean floor, pushing her down into the sand. She fought against the force, but it was stronger than her.

Kaelin looked up to see who had helped her, only to find her mother, golden hair flowing around her, holding her hand out over the raging water.

Kaelin's memories told him that her mother's name was Darya, and she was one of the most skilled magic users in their clan, which was saying something, since their clan was among the strongest magic users of their kind.

Behind Darya, Kaelin's father and dozens of silver-tailed merpeople loomed, each of them gathering water to blast anyone that tried to attack. A few of Kaelin's other siblings were among the crowd. Her brother Leith and Calder's bondmate, Thalasa, swam over to free Calder and Amaya from their shackles.

Kaelin was overjoyed to see her people, especially now knowing that she hadn't killed Zale.

That surprised Liam. She'd confessed to killing him, which was why she left her clan in the first place. Apparently, she'd learned otherwise. He really had missed a lot.

Kaelin swam up to greet her parents. She gave a bow of respect to her father. Then, she threw her arms around her mother to embrace her tightly. She could feel her mother's shock, but that was to be expected. Their kind didn't embrace this way. But Kaelin's time with the humans had changed her. She was so used to showing her affection physically that it didn't occur to her to do otherwise, upon seeing her mother for the first time in so many years.

Her mother pressed a hand to Kaelin's face to send fond memories, to show her feelings, the mermaid way.

Kaelin smiled. If mermaids were physically capable, she would have cried.

Kaelin removed her hand from Liam and the images disappeared. He opened his eyes to see that tears had rolled down her cheeks. He reached up and brushed his thumbs under her eyes to wipe the moisture away.

"What happened to Arlen?" he asked.

"They're going to take him to the Sacred Circle and try him for his crimes, where he'll have no choice but to tell the truth, for doing otherwise would kill him."

"What about you?" Liam asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He wasn't really eager to hear the answer. "What happens to you now?"

"I have to go back." Kaelin stared at him with those crystal blue eyes, so vivid, even in the pale light of the moon. "I have to be a witness to everything I've seen and heard. They must know the full story."

"I was afraid you'd say that."

"It won't be forever." She cupped his cheek, tenderly. "I will come back."

Liam wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his lap to hold her closer. He leaned his head forward to press his forehead against hers. "I love you, Kaelin."

"I love you." Kaelin's voice was quiet, but he still heard the small crack in her words.

Liam pulled back to try to look at her face, which she was trying to hide behind her hair. "Do you have to go right now?"

She pushed her hair back to show that her eyes were bleary. "My father gave me a day to say goodbye."

"Really?" From what he'd heard of her father, he seemed like a strict man.

"My mother convinced him." Kaelin answered, as if reading his thoughts. Her lip quirked up at the corner just a bit. "I think she could sense how much you mean to me."

"So, what now?" he asked.

Kaelin smiled as she stood up and held out a hand for him. He finally got a good look at the shirt she wore—which was obviously meant for someone much larger than her—depicting a cartoon dolphin jumping over an island, with the words Linda Cove above it. It was one of the tourist shirts they sold on the boardwalk. She must've found it in the wreckage that had washed up all along the beach. "Let's go home."