were sitting on the parapets of the towers again. It was a whole flock of them now.
“I’d give you one,” Moran intercepted her gaze, “but they’re too free-spirited. They’d wither in a cage. And if you capture them, there’ll be a great flood. That’s why they’re feared. If sailors see a morilla near a ship, it means the ship will sink within 24 hours.”
“It is cruel!”
“The sea is cruel.”
“But it is beautiful too!” Desdemona cast a glance at Moran from under half-lowered lashes. He can only be compared to the harsh beauty of the sea. He is beautiful and dangerous.
“Let’s play a game!” She found an old ivory chess set.
“It is all right! Strip chess is a popular game in the mortal world. If I win something you take it off, if you win something I take it off.”
She flared up, but agreed. Winning from him wasn’t hard. The undressing game took her by surprise when she realized he had nothing on under his robe. He undressed first, showing off his tentacles and some shiny growths on his forearms that looked like scarlet bracelets.
“Next time we’ll play sea chess. I’m better at it!” Moran pushed the board into one of the newly dug pools. The chessboard sank. But Desdemona wasn’t upset. What caught her eye was the sun pendant with unusual milling around the edges on it around Moran’s neck.
“I feel like I’ve seen this symbol somewhere before.”
“It’s the mark of my goddess!” Moran put his robe back on and carefully hid the pendant. “We are all slaves to Alais. But I want to be your slave.”
It seemed to her that it was the other way around – She is his captive. But he reached for her and all sense of inequality vanished.
“Moran! If I start drowning again…” she remembered the night he had rescued her.
“You think you can drown yourself in my kingdom without my permission? Water is my element! I rule it, not you. No one is allowed to drown themselves in my domain without my permission. Besides, you won’t get rid of me that easily!”
Is he joking or is he serious? Probably it is both.
“You are mine. That’s all!” The corners of his lips parted in a happy smile, and his face was no longer cold.
For fun, he made the mirror show her the lily nymphs.
“They live on the lakes,” he explained. “Their clothes are lily petals that grow from their skin and give off a marvelous fragrance. They are called lilies. The boys dream of them, and I dream of you.”
“And what is about your brothers?”
“For them, to love a girl is to drag her down. In the beginning they were still choosing, but then they split up. Now they drown anyone they think is pretty.”
Some sounds suddenly alerted her. The clinking of metal and quick footsteps! Desdemona didn’t even realize they were suddenly aware, because Moran instantly blew the heads off two people. The corpses fell into the pool, staining it with blood. And some fish-like creatures devoured the dead flesh.
“They are conspirators! They’re like bedbugs! No matter how many of them you take out, they keep coming back,” Moran grumbled. Their axes had wounded him.
“Shall I call for the king’s physician?” Desdemona was worried.
Moran shook his head negatively. It appeared that all he had to do was sink into the water and all his wounds would heal themselves.
“Water heals all our injuries,” Moran braided his tentacles around the edge of the pool
“You were better off in the water. You’re vulnerable on land,” she concluded. That’s probably why there are so many new pools. While he was targeting his injuries in the water, she stroked his hair. They’re softer than silk!
“I held you captive as my queen, and you pity me.”
“I have had time to love you.”
Moran sighed as if it was too late. Somewhere in the distance, a long trumpet sounded over the sea, making my blood run cold.
“It’s Father’s horn,” Moran explained. “When he wants to summon someone or attack the shores, he blows that wonderful horn. He needs me for something.”
“Swim to him!”
“I can’t!” Moran kissed her quickly. “I can’t leave you alone. I don’t want any sea monsters to come to you in my absence.”
Desdemona remembered Alais’s dagger, which she still kept with her.
“I am ready for them,” she said bravely.
“You cannot stand alone. Or do you want me to go somewhere else?”
The only answer he would have had before was, “You are the ruler. We are vassals. You want me, and I have to be here,” but now she wouldn’t have sneered anymore.
One scar didn’t go away even in the water. Moran intercepted her gaze.
“There’s a legend that Lilophea’s youngest son was cut in half with a sword: one human, one watery. The halves fused together.”
“It is monstrous!”
He grinned. How beautiful his face was! What a contrast to the ugliness of his body!
“Am I a monster? Or is the act monstrous? I’m a fairy tale monster. You’re the girl I forced to be my bride by force. Of course you’re unhappy. Or are you finally happy?”
“Are you in pain?”
He didn’t answer.
“Who did it?”
“My own father did it.”
“You mean the water king? But why is it?”
“He didn’t want us children. That’s why my brothers are so angry and sink ships, including your brothers’ ships. My father was obsessed with one object, the Earth princess. For her, he would move mountains and seas for her. It’s hard to live with someone who would do anything for a woman. She’s worth more than a kingdom, more than a lifetime, even if it’s an eternity. And we’re just unwanted fruit.”
“It is not for me,” Desdemona ran her hand over his cheek.
He clawed his webbed hands around her face. She would probably die because of him one day, because he couldn’t live on land, she couldn’t breathe in water. All that remained was to perish together. If he wished to drown her now, she wouldn’t even try to resist. Moran mesmerized her, so much so that she said:
“I love you.”
“Is it now?” He grinned. “When you know we could be harmed by both my kin and attacked by another conspirator?”
“It is now and always!”
Desdemona nestled her lips against his in a long kiss. Even if they cannot be two, they will die together happy. But the one conspirator attacked no more today, and the calling horn was silent over the sea.
The shell game
Livia hung the magic mirror in the partition between the column and the canopy. It didn’t seem to show its magical ability to look wherever you asked it to. Vayra, for example, wouldn’t even realize it was magical unless she wanted to see a certain place when she was near it. One can only hope she’s reasonable. Or she could wish aloud to see distant places while cleaning, in which case the mirror will reveal itself.
Desdemona herself had already had time to ask the spy’s eye to show her everything, even the Blue Islands, where the Morgens and an earthly queen named Adriana had settled.
It was indeed beautiful there. There were pearls instead of berries