Page 47 of Entangled

“End? Sorry? What are you talking about, Merrow? I can fight off one man, don’t worry. I can take care of myself.”

“Mayhap a man, you could,” she told him. “But not my father.”

“Because he’s a sea nymph?” asked Sebastian. “I hardly think he is dangerous since he can’t leave the water.”

“Think again,” said Dee, nodding at the swirling water before them. Up rose a man with long, white hair and an even longer white beard. His chest was bare. Instead of a tail like the girls, this man had the body of a sea serpent! He was huge. Nereus held a shell-like horn of some kind in one hand and a long pointed three-pronged trident in the other. The end of his tail slapped the water, and it looked like a sharp spike.

“Merrow, this is your father?” he asked in a low, steady voice.

“Yes, Sebastian. It is he.”

“I don’t know how to fight a…a…sea serpent, or whatever he is.”

“He’s not a sea serpent, Sebastian.” Merrow looked at her father and then back and him. “However, he is shapeshifter, so I would advise you and your army to run.”

“Run? I have never run away or backed down from a fight in my life and don’t intend to do so now. I will never ask my men to do so either.”

“He’ll turn into a land creature and hunt you down,” said Dee. “Take my daughter’s advice. Please, go back to your castle before you are hurt or killed.”

“I can fight him, don’t worry. Merrow, I promise I will also defend you and your mother and sisters.”

“There is no way you can do that, Sebastian,” Merrow answered, making him think that she thought of him as less than a king or a man with good fighting skills. What did he have to do to prove to her his worth?

“You don’t believe in me, Merrow. That hurts right here.” He thumped his balled-up fist against his chest. “I can see that you don’t think much of me as a man, a soldier, or a king.”

“Stop saying that, Sebastian. It’s not true,” she cried. “I wish you would stop caring what others think of you once and for all.”

“Well, I had really hoped you’d have feelings for me like I do for you.”

“You do?” she asked, her brows arched and a smile slowly spread across her face. “Of course, I have feelings for you, Sebastian. I don’t know why you’d even think that I didn’t.”

“I love you, Merrow, and came down here today with your mother to ask you to help her get back home. I am sorry for the mistakes of my uncle and I will do anything I can to make things right.”

“I appreciate that,” she told him.

“That’s not all,” he continued. “I also came here to ask you to stay in Mura with me.”

“Stay here?” The idea seemed to surprise her but please her at the same time.

“Merrow, will you marry me and be my wife?”

“Oh, Sebastian!” she cried. Her smile was wide but then it slowly disappeared. “I wish I had known all this before. Mayhap it would have made a difference. But I feel my father’s wrath and I am afraid there is no stopping him now.”

“Say something to him about us. Explain to him that we want to stay together,” said Sebastian, hoping that Merrow really wanted to stay.

“He’s read my sister’s mind and already knows what happened with my mother. He will never let one of his daughters stay and marry a human from Mura after that.”

“Then let me talk to him, Merrow.” Sebastian knew this might be his only chance. “I’ll get him to change his mind. I’ll calm him down.”

“Sebastian, there is no changing Father’s mind once it’s made up. I’m sorry, but you are only fooling yourself if you think you can stop him.”

“Then I’ll fight him if need be.”

“No, you don’t understand. There is no way to stop him or to fight him and win.”

“Why would you even say such a thing? Don’t you have faith in me, Merrow?”

“Of course, I do, Sebastian.” She released a heavy breath. But you are only human. You have no power to go up against my father in a fight.”