“Cassandra?” I walk up to where she is sitting on the deck, staring up at the stars. The sea is quiet, and half the ship is sleeping while the other half keeps watch. I expected her to be sleeping, but here she is. She turns to look at me, the moonlight lighting up her beautiful face and framing every stunning feature. Her long brown hair moves around her in the wind as she stands up and walks over to me. I can't help myself; when she is close enough, I grab her hips and pull her to me, pressing my lips to hers. She lets out a little moan, and her small, soft hands dive into my hair.

“Dante,” she whispers against my lips, pulling back a little but not going far. “Why are you awake at this time of night?”

“I’m on watch tonight,” I explain to her. “But why are you awake, pretty girl?” I ask.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she replies.

“The sea god?” I ask, knowing he used to invade her dreams a lot.

“Something like that,” she says, putting on a brave face.

“Tell me, Cassandra. You don’t need to hide anything from me,” I say, rubbing circles on her back.

“It’s a selfish thing, and I know we have bigger problems . . . so don’t worry,” she mumbles.

“What is it?”

“I want to marry you all, just in case, well, in case we lose this war,” she admits, and I can’t say I haven’t had the same thoughts.

“Then we will get married on the ship. We only need the blessing of the gods, and I know we have that,”

“Can we do that?”

“If you don’t mind not having a big dress, or pretty things. We can only offer you a ship and our vows.”

“I only want you all, nothing else matters. I want you all as my husbands if anything–” her voice catches, and I lift her head with my hand, forcing her to look into my eyes.

“I’m not going to lie to you and say we will win this for certain. I can’t promise you that, and I won’t ever lie to you. But I do know one thing for certain, you are mine, and my soul will never leave yours,” I tell her, and a tear falls down her cheek as she stares up at me.

“I’m worried and scared, and I don’t like to admit that to anyone. I try so hard not to be, but there is so much against us,”

“Being worried and scared means you are alive. It’s normal, but use those emotions to keep yourself going. Or tell me, and I will help you,” I tell her, and she nods, resting her head against my chest.

“What do mermaids look like?” she asks me, and my memories flash back to the three mermaids I saw once.

“Honestly? They have a beauty to them, but it’s a deadly beauty that makes you want to go to them despite the danger. Their tails almost glow, and I know that they have the ability to change from tails to legs at will. I saw a mermaid transform to legs in what seemed like seconds.” I explain.

“I need to tell you something, but don’t tell anyone yet. She doesn’t want everyone to know, and it’s her secret to tell the world.”

“Go on,” I encourage her.

“Everly is half mermaid,” she says, and I’m speechless for a few minutes, not knowing exactly what to say to that. Mermaids usually all have different coloured hair, and certainly are not blond. They typically have purple or blue hair. It's one of the easiest ways to differentiate their race. I know it’s a good chance she got the blonde hair from her mother, and she clearly doesn't have any of the mermaids' abilities.

“I didn’t expect you to say that, pretty girl,” I finally say. “It might be a good thing, though. The mermaids might want a deal between the land and the sea. She is both.”

“Everly could be the queen of both the land and the sea, it’s her birthright. No mermaid queen or king is going to like her being on the throne,” she says, and there is so much worry in her eyes. So much stress. It’s all we have had recently, stress and fear.

“A worry for another day, another time. Come, I want to show you something,” I say. She nods, letting me slide our hands together and lead us across the deck to the stairs. I let her go down first, and I follow her down the stairs. She waits for me at the bottom, and we walk towards my room. I open the door for her, leading her in and shutting it after. Cassandra sits on my bed, lighting a candle while I open my box and look through it.

“When I saw the mermaids while we were saving Roger, they had these necklaces on. They all wore them, and when they went from their mermaid tails to their legs, it would glow,” I explain and pull out my notebook. I take it over to her, flipping through the pages until I get to the images of the mermaids I wanted to show her. Cassandra looks at every drawing with me, pausing on the necklace. It’s a star shape, about the size of your thumb and filled with lines carved in the purple crystal.

“I think the necklaces are made with the same thing as your crystal stick. If I’m right, they will want it. It’s clear it is something special to them," I tell her, and her whole face lights up. She puts the notebook next to me on the bed and climbs onto my lap. I groan when she starts kissing my neck, her teeth grazing over my pulse, as my hands slide down her back, holding her to me.

“I have to watch the ship, pretty girl,”

“Well, I say it’s time you had a break, and I know just what we could do, pretty boy,” she grins in the most seductive way possible, and I know no man could ever deny her.