Sally looked up at her betrothed in horror. He had seen her put the bracelet back. He knew that she had taken it in the first place. Her look of horror only lasted for a moment before dissolving into a look of faux-adoration.
"Hello, my king," she smiled at him as she slipped her arms around his shoulders. "I was going to see if I could work any magic on it to dispel the enchantment cast over it. I don't think it worked though," she said with a sigh. She slipped her hands to rest against his bare chest. "How was your day, my sweet?"
"Lonely without you," he said with a grin. "But I managed. Been doing some...preparations for our big day, you know? Now...enough about me..." he paused to play with the engagement necklace around her neck, twirling the chain around his finger. "How could you possibly dispel the magic on the bracelet? You can't even do magic, right?" He looked at her, daring her to tell him the truth. "Or might you possibly have some special spark behind those pretty eyes of yours?"
She looked at him playing with the chain around her neck.
"Well, you'd be surprised what happens when you have enough passion," she smiled at him before pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. "And I do have magic in me, I just can't figure out how to use it on command," she muttered.
She gave him a sweet smile after she had finished speaking and after she had removed her lips from his. "
How did the preparations go?" She asked him, wanting to change the topic from her to their wedding.
She knew that he was trying to get information out of her on why she was really using the bracelet but she wasn't going to let him do that.
"Oh...they aren't quite finished yet," said James.
He could tell the kiss was forced, but he didn't really care. He was only marrying Sally so he could have a queen at his side when he finally ruled the ocean. He didn't give two fishtails about her, but her recent actions had been making him suspicious. He hoped she wasn't trying to find out what he had planned for them. He was the only one who knew, and he had worked very hard to keep it all secret. James decided to use a different tactic.
"I heard you were seen out with another merman. Is there something I should know about?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her.
She gave him a saddened look. "He was only a friend, there is nothing going on between us, at least there isn't anymore," she said truthfully.
She didn't expect to see Sherlock again anytime soon. She slowly, and hesitantly took his hand in hers, interlocking their fingers.
"I would never even dream of being with another man..." She murmured.
She brought James' hand up to her lips and pressed gentle kisses to the pads of his fingers.
James frowned, wondering what the hell Sally was thinking.
"Did he hurt you, Sally?" he asked, only pretending to care in hopes of keeping her as his.
He didn't care about her, but he needed her to stay with him. James didn't want any other men having her.
He was eerily calm as he said, "I'm not angry. Just tell me, did he hurt you?"
Sherlock had just spent a good 20 minutes having a heated argument with his father. He lied about how he had obtained the information about the mermaids, saying he had discovered it in the library. His father was justifying his actions by saying he was doing his job as a king. Sherlock couldn't listen to any of this. He stormed out of the room without another word. He went to his own room and fell back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He would never see Sally again. He hated his father, and didn't plan on forgiving him anytime soon.
She shook her head. "No, James, he didn't hurt me." She said honestly while cupping his cheek in the palm of her small hand. She gently ran a thumb over his cheek. "If it's any consolation, he confessed his love to me, I rejected him," she knew that this wasn't the case with them, but it was quite close to what actually happened.
He studied her face for a moment before nodding. "All right, I guess I can't blame him for doing that. You are most beautiful, after all," said James with a charming smile. "Not to mention, very rare..." He slid a hand down her waist and to where the skin turned to crimson scales. "And also mine," he said bringing his lips to hers and kissing her.
She smiled at him as he spoke to her, pretending to be completely in love with him. She cupped his cheek in her hand as she felt his soft lips press against hers. She moved one of her hands to lay over his as it rested on her waist.
James smiled at her before pulling away, still keeping his eyes on her. He was sure she was completely his now. His doubts were now non-existent, so he could relax a little. He could also focus again on the special project he was working on. It needed to be finished by the time their wedding day came.
"Well enjoy yourself, I will check on you again later," he said to Sally before leaving the room.
James moved through the palace halls, going down a descending corridor that led to the palace's lower levels. He went to an old door with an ethereal light seeping out from the bottom of the doorway. He opened it and went inside, and very briefly the sound of hissing and whispering voices could be heard. They were cut off as the door was closed, and there was a click as the door locked behind him.
Despite himself, Sherlock went back out to sea the next day. He knew Sally wouldn't show up, and he was right. She didn't show up that day, or the day after that. A part of Sherlock told him that this was pointless, and he should just give up. But when he tried to, he felt an emptiness in his heart that he knew came from missing her. Sherlock still held on to hope, going out on his boat for the next several days.
One day the air was very cool and there was a slightly strong wind in the air. He had a feeling another storm was brewing. Still, he did not care. He still clung to that hope that he would see Sally again. It was that stubborn side of him that kept him going back to the sea. He still kept the shoreline in view, due to the storm. Sherlock went as far as he could without losing the shore, and then waited. He glanced up at the forming storm clouds, hoping they wouldn't stop him from seeing Sally.
Days passed as Sally began to work on reversing the magical properties of the bracelet, eventually something happened to it and the bright blue opal stone changed to a vivid white. She hoped that it meant what she thought it meant. She shoved the bracelet back into her bag and looked around the castle. She began to swim away, hoping to make it to the surface without the storm hitting. She pounded the water with her tail, letting the water glide over her body.
The current in the water gradually grew stronger and stronger as the storm advanced upon her, it was a race against time. She had to make it to the shore or she was sure that she would get severely injured when lightning struck the surface. She pushed harder against the strong current, trying ever so hard to get through the choppy waves. Soon enough, she surfaced, watching as Sherlock's boat rocked in the storm. She was too far away for him to see her, let alone hear her.
At that moment the strap of her bag holding the bracelet snapped, causing it to begin to sink. Sally followed it, she grabbed the bracelet and hugged it to her chest, swimming back to the surface. But, when she did the lightning struck the water, sending electricity through the waves and shocked through her body. In one last attempt to keep the bracelet on her body she shoved it onto her wrist. A bright spark, like the spark around her hands when she was furious, enveloped her tail; wrapping around it and slowly, but surely, it morphed into a pair of slim legs. Her body was completely bare and her long blonde hair had streaks of dark carmine running through it.
Thinking that she still had her long tail she took in a deep breath before beginning to cough up the water, she couldn't breathe, and panicking on the surface. She splashed around in the water before she stopped moving and her body went limp. She tipped her head back to try and stop the water from getting back into her lungs, but she kept taking on more water as everything went black for her and she began to sink - a desert blessing, an ocean curse.
