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

glowworm that thrived in dark places. The beauty of the silk was not just in its tensile strength, but also in its shimmering quality. Any type of light that it caught caused the silk to flicker different colors like crystal catching flame.
    The mermaids had many different shades of dyed silk, but Nimue found herself repeatedly reaching for anything red as the color contrasted nicely against the paleness of her skin and darkness of her hair.
    She had a few minutes before she would be called in for dinner. Nimue had tried all she could to keep herself locked inside her room. But after reading the same page in a book she’d been trying to get through for the past three nights, she’d realized she needed to get out.
    But she really had no friends to get out and go see. So here she sat, in the palace gardens, watching the sun set behind a watery horizon.
    Mother had told her the first time she’d come that she’d been shocked by the fact that sun was visible in Seren, but Nimue was convinced that it wasn’t the sun at all, more so one of its many illusions. She could stare directly at the golden-yellow orb without flinching in pain.
    Parrotfish dipped and dived within the cerulean waters, chasing horsefly and fruit fish around. Kelp waved long fingers, swaying to and fro in the gentle waves.
    So pretty .
    She sighed. A little nudge traced across her skull, then Jian popped through a strand of hair and blinked little beady eyes back at her, neighing softly.
    In such a short amount of time, she was coming to know him. She felt almost as though she could hear his thoughts. That was not possible since she wasn’t a fish, but she knew he was worried for her.
    Rubbing a finger across his ear fin, she gave him a wimpy smile. “I’m okay, Jian. Just a little lonely, is all.”
    He cuddled against her palm, vibrating with a contented purr.
    “I wonder how they’re doing. My parents. I wonder if they miss me.”
    She watched the rest of the sunset through watery eyes.
    *
    S ircco watched her from the hidden vantage point of a tower window. For weeks, he’d ignored her presence. Not that he wasn’t constantly aware of her. He was. Her scent teased him, that mix of land and sea bells, flowers that grew only in Seren.
    How was it possible that a legger could smell so foreign and yet so... familiar?
    She didn’t move, simply stared at the setting sun, but she wouldn’t have needed to turn for him to know she was horribly unhappy.
    “You could talk to her, you know.”
    His sister’s intrusion caused him to jerk back, moving away from the window as he nervously flicked at his arms, as though brushing away dirt that did not exist.
    “Brother, she is unhappy. No matter what I do. No matter how often she goes to visit her great-mother, she is not happy. Maybe you could help her.” Sirenade’s amber eyes looked concerned.
    “She is my prisoner, Siren—”
    “Argh!” She flicked at his tail with hers, hard enough to make him stumble back. “Will you get over that already? She is far from a prisoner, but even if she were, she’s been a model one and deserves better than you’ve given her these past two weeks.”
    “What do you want from me? There is nothing I can do.”
    “Yes, you can. Speak with her. Take her to the mystical gardens within the moors. I would, but I’ve so much work to do here. She is bored, lonely, and in desperate need of a friend.”
    “I’m as busy as you. Council meetings, visiting the tenants—”
    “All matters I can handle on my own.” She laid a restraining hand on his.
    “I thought you just said you were busy.”
    She gave him a snarly look, her eyes going frosty for a moment. For whatever reason, his sister had taken a shine to the legger. It wasn’t common for her to take someone under her wing the way she seemed to be doing with Nimue. Perhaps it would be worth his time to figure out why.
    Switching tactics, he shook his head. “I don’t know why you think I could do something for