The Abyssal King Only Wants Me Chapter 2

Bayberry Cove isn't large, and on a night like this, there was nowhere to hide. I walked with my head down, wiping my eyes, my breath hitching in the salty air.

Before I realized it, I had walked into the Abyssal Aquarium.

Usually, I came here to buy specialty brine shrimp or treats for Caspian, trying to buy his affection. Tonight, I just wanted to disappear into the blue.

Suddenly, a massive silver-white tail breached the surface of a nearby tank, sending a spray of cool water over my face. I flinched, remembering the sting of Caspian's fin earlier that morning. I braced myself for an attack.

But the tail didn't strike. It waved gently in the air, shedding water, before slowly, tentatively, curling around my waist like a silk ribbon.

I looked up. A merman with hair like spun moonlight and eyes of deep sapphire was floating there, watching me through the glass. When he spoke, his voice was a low, resonant thrum that seemed to vibrate in my chest.

"I’m sorry. Did I startle you?"

As he spoke, a stream of tiny, shimmering bubbles floated toward the surface. He looked genuinely embarrassed, reaching out with a delicate, webbed finger to pop one.

Against my will, I laughed.

He smiled then—a real, gentle smile—and gestured toward the base of the tank. There was a small, brass plaque there:

[ABYSSAL DEFECT. TRADE-INS WELCOME.]

I froze. A "defect"?

I looked at him closely. His skin was the pale ivory of the deep ocean, his features more refined than any merman I’d ever seen. But then I saw it. His dorsal fins weren't smooth and rounded like Caspian’s pampered, bred-for-show fins. They were jagged, tipped with sharp, defensive spines. His tail, though magnificent, was scarred, with missing scales that broke the silver pattern.

He was imperfect. Just like me.

Seeing me stare, he tightened his tail around me slightly—not to hurt, but to hold. His blue eyes locked onto mine with a desperate intensity.

"Mistress..." he whispered. "Please. Take me home."

He called me Mistress. A title Caspian had never uttered without a sneer. He gave me the dignity I had forgotten I possessed.

I looked at his pure blue eyes, then back at the "Trade-In" sign. A sudden, wild thought took root in my mind.

If Caspian hated me so much, why was I fighting to keep him? Maybe setting him free—and bringing this silver ghost home—was the only way we both could breathe.