Read Online A Pirate's Dream by Marie Hall - Free Book Online Page A

siren’s?”
    Mother had always spoken of the siren song she heard anytime she and father entered the under.
    Laughing, Maiven tucked a red curl behind her ear. “Not the way Ariana is. No one is the way Ariana is. But unfortunately, I think we should call it a day. I’ve stew to make and Ariana will be here for a while. Unless, of course, you wish to stay?”
    Her great-mother’s eyes looked hopeful, but Nimue was starting to feel a little tired. “No, thank you. I think I’ll return to my dungeon for now. But I’ll be by again at some point this week.”
    “Tut.” Maiven chuckled, gave her a quick hug, then pointed at a bowl of glittering sea snails. “Take those to the cook at the palace, and do try to stop calling your room a dungeon. It’s the first step to accepting one’s fate.”
    “Yes, great-mother,” she said it dutifully, if not with a bit of an eye roll, which her grandmother generously ignored.
    After setting her apron down on the razor clam kitchen shelf, she grabbed the bowl of snails, and with one final glance back at the woman who was naught more than a girl, she returned to the palace.

Chapter 5
    N imue had barely stepped foot inside when she was violently shoulder bumped. She fell to her knees, dropping the bowl of snails so that they scattered like tiny projectiles across the marble kitchen floor.
    Cook, a broad mermaid of a woman with plump fish hips and a stout middle section, harrumphed. “Stygia, you saw that girl coming in here. Did you really need to shove her as you did? Look at my kitchen. What a mess!”
    Though the snails had felt soft and delicate coming off the stems, they were now sliming the kitchen floors as they tried to hide within shadow. Maiven had warned her that frightened snails made messes, but the green glop that reminded Nimue of snot, was more than just a little mess.
    Curling her nose, she shot Stygia a venomous glare. “You did that on purpose.”
    The green-haired barracuda smiled an evil smile. “No, I didn’t. You were just in my way, legger .”
    Normally, Nimue didn’t let the insults get to her. But she’d been in a bad mood that morning to begin with. Jumping to her feet, she hooked her leg behind Stygia’s tail and her arm through the crook of her elbow. Then, using a move that Smee had taught her, she flipped the fish onto her back, so that Nimue was the one standing above her.
    “Do not,” she stressed, “do that again.”
    Hissing, churning water with the agitated swish of her iridescent pink tail, Stygia righted herself and glared at Cook as though she were also to blame. Without saying a word, she slammed the swinging doors open, exiting with chin held high.
    “Oh, boy.” Cook chortled as she plucked a squirming snail out from under the butcher’s block. “You have angered the beast, legger. You have angered the beast.”
    But the way she said the word, Nimue didn’t quite hate it so much. Lips twitching from a runoff of adrenaline and a touch of pride, she brushed at the snail stains coating her skirt. “She deserved it.”
    “Aye.” Cook’s brown eyes gleamed. “But will she see it that way?” She winked then waved a hand. “Go, dear. I’ve got this. Just clean yourself up before the king sees you this way. He’s been quite a bear fish these past few days.”
    Turning on her heel, Nimue opened the door and muttered beneath her breath, “You’re telling me.”
    *
    S he’d bathed and changed her clothes, which was a miracle of ingenuity. Down here, there was no needs for skirts. But Nimue was a legger, with all that it implied. Mermaids could show off their tails without impunity, but for any of them to catch a glimpse of her legs was apparently as scandalous as if she’d shown off the womanly bits with them.
    At first, when the servant had shown her the closet full of clothes, Nimue hadn’t exactly been sure what to expect. Maybe seashell bras and kelp skirts, but her clothes were made of annelid silk from a type of