a siren’s song, stolen
“There are better ways to get my attention, you know.”
The mermaid paused in struggling to free herself from the fishnet to shoot a glare at the pirate captain.
The pirate captain only chuckled quietly before crouching in front of the mermaid. The mermaid winced as the pirate captain unsheathed her knife, but she stilled as the pirate only cut away the fishnet ensnaring her beautiful ocean-blue tail.
The pirate sat back on her heels, twirling the knife in her hands, and taking a moment to study the mermaid.
“Do you have anything to say to me?” The pirate captain asked, her voice lowered so to avoid being overheard by the band of no-good misfits she called a crew. “No siren’s song to pull me back into your good graces?”
The mermaid colored. The pirate captain tried to suppress a flinch back as the mermaid opened her mouth to sing, but the mermaid seemed to choke on her voice. She could not seem to produce her hypnotic melody.
The pirate captain frowned. “No siren song, huh?”
The mermaid shook her head, clenching her jaw. She stayed silent.
Something heavy sank in the pirate captain’s stomach. “No voice… at all?”
The mermaid confirmed with only a nod and the pirate blanched.
A mermaid without a siren song was one thing. Not all mermaids were blessed – or cursed – with the deadly song to begin with. A mermaid without a voice, however, was a completely different matter.
The pirate captain’s own voice grew dangerous. “Who did this to you?”
The mermaid’s gaze grew wistful, and she nodded in the direction of the sunset – towards land.
“A human?”
The mermaid nodded quickly before the pirate could say more, reaching a cool hand to touch the pirate’s chest – her heart. Despite the coolness of the touch, heat flooded the pirate’s body. All of the memories she’d pushed away, hidden at the back of her mind seemed to flood to the surface - the mermaid’s hands on the pirate’s hips, lips brushing between verses of a song in a language only known to the merfolk. The pirate shook herself, ignoring her aching heart.
“Love,” the pirate managed, hoping she was on the right track and not simply projecting an old memory. “You fell in love with a human?”
The mermaid nodded.
Wouldn’t be the first time, the pirate thought bitterly. Still, the pirate had to wonder if just anyone could have succeeded in this pantomime game, or if the mermaid had come to the pirate for that exact reason. Because they knew each other.
The mermaid brushed a hand along the pirate’s forehead just above the eyebrows.
The pirate cocked her head, assessing. “Royalty? The prince?”
The mermaid nodded again.
“You fell in love with the prince and lost your voice?”
This time, the mermaid grabbed at her own throat, desperately clawing as if to rip it out. As if it were not her own hand at her throat but someone else’s. She looked at the pirate, desperate for her to understand.
“Hey,” the pirate said softly. She acted before she could think, taking the mermaid’s hand to cradle it in her own. Anything for the mermaid to stop hurting herself. To stop feeling this hurt.
“He stole it?” the pirate asked quietly.
The pirate knew mermaids could not cry. Not for the first time, she wished they could. The look the pirate got in response was nothing short of heartbreaking.
“Anything stolen can be stolen back,” the pirate mused after a moment. “Right?”
The mermaid’s eyes widened, not daring to believe.
“Right,” the pirate confirmed, more for herself than for the mermaid. “That’s why you came? You needed a criminal?” she teased.
The pirate had to laugh at the reproaching look the mermaid shot at her.
Still, the pirate nodded once again. “Well, little mermaid, it looks like we have a castle to raid.”
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