The Merman Trap - Chapter 1

That day, Father sent every servant away from the villa.

A freight truck rolled through the gates. Several men in black suits slowly wheeled in a square object more than ten feet tall, concealed beneath red velvet.

Fanatic hunger shone on Father’s face. His sticky gaze seemed ready to burn through the cloth.

“Careful! Careful with my darling!”

I looked away.

The butler shifted uneasily. “Miss Shi, this is…”

I silenced him with a glance. “Father’s getting old. Let him do as he pleases.”

He did not have many years left anyway.

Then something struck the inside of the covered object. Water sloshed with the impact.

Glug—

A smile slowly entered my eyes.

Something alive?

Interesting.

If I had not seen it myself, I would never have believed my usually dignified father capable of such disgrace.

What he had brought home was a merman.

A mermaid, perhaps.

The enormous aquarium was his territory. Silver-gray hair fell to his waist. A beautiful tail coiled and stirred beneath him, sending ripples through the water. His face was too exquisite to belong to a mortal. Chin resting lazily on folded arms, he regarded everything around him with open curiosity.

As though he had noticed something, he suddenly tipped his head toward me.

Then he smiled.

There was a door between us, only the narrowest crack to look through, yet my heart began to race.

As if beauty itself had marked me for the kill.

Father’s delighted cry broke the spell.

“Siren! Siren, were you smiling at me just now?”

Eyes wide, he pressed himself almost reverently against the aquarium glass. He rose on his toes, reaching clumsily for Siren’s fingers.

Siren curled his lip and vanished beneath the water.

Father did not mind. Instead, a strange smile spread across his face.

He drew a dagger.

Blood struck the water and bloomed.

Siren looked tormented. He swam frantic circles, desperate not to let the blood touch him.

“Eat. Go on, Siren. Good boy.”

Father’s voice was an incantation meant to bewitch the mind.

Siren thrashed his tail, but the aquarium was too small. He slammed straight into the glass.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Once. Twice…

A bruise darkened his pale forehead. That exquisite work of art—something anyone would ache to possess—seemed bent on destroying itself.

Still, he would not stop.

His resistance finally forced Father to yield. Father dropped to his knees and pleaded with him, then retreated from Siren’s sight with painstaking care.

Siren went still almost at once.

As though bewitched myself, I slipped in through the back door.

“Siren,” I called softly.

He deserved the name. I fought down the tremor the syllables sent through my chest and slowly, awkwardly shaped my lips into a kindly smile.

Come here, little merman.

I’m a good person, you know.

Siren sprang happily from the aquarium and perched on its rim, his tail hanging over the side. Cool mist beaded over my wrist.

So smooth.

The hunger in my eyes was almost impossible to hide.

Of course. Father’s rotten blood ran true in me. Even our tastes were identical.

I almost wanted to thank him for bringing me such a magnificent gift.

“Hate.”

Siren’s voice was young and unpolished, like a child only beginning to learn to speak. There was a petulant sweetness to it.

My hand tightened without my permission.

He hated me?

“Li… like.”

His tail curled around my finger. He bent over me like a god gazing down upon all creation and cradled my face solemnly in both hands. It felt as though I were enclosed in cool jade.

A pristine god had dared to touch a demon with a belly full of wicked schemes.

Little merman, you truly knew nothing about guarding yourself against people.

I lifted a hand to his neck. The skin was pale, soft, and slick beneath my palm—as if the slightest squeeze could snuff the life from him.

Father’s eager voice sounded outside.

“My darling is hurt!”

“Drain the water, quickly!”

“I’m going to carry my darling out and treat him myself!”

His filthy intentions could not have been plainer. He wanted to touch the merman.

But like me, Father would not permit anyone else near the creature. Even another person entering this room would, in his mind, contaminate his precious darling.

That shambling gait. That wrinkled skin. Tsk. There was not a single part of him that compared to me.

It had only taken a moment for me to decide the merman was mine.

“No.”

Siren looked toward the door in panic. Tears gathered in his sea-blue eyes. His body bowed close, scales scraping my wrist.

I savored the way he depended on me with his whole being.

I patted his hand and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Don’t worry.”

“Wait for me.”

The instant Father pushed open the door, I slipped out through the window.

My guess had been right.

He had come alone.