Beneath the Loch

A Dark Lesbian Romance

Beneath the Loch by S D Simper

www.sdsimper.com

Copyright © 2018 Endless Night Publications

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN 978-1-7324611-0-9

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Enthralled by stories of faeries and spirits, Mairi

snuck from her bed early one morning and ran to the meadow.

Every night, her mother told her tales of spirits who danced on the water at midnight, of sprites who urged the flowers to blossom, of shapeshifters and sorcerers, those who granted wishes – though perhaps not for little girls who snuck from their beds. And every night, Mairi asked if those stories were true.

The response was always the same: “They’re as real as you believe them to be.”

The sun had not yet risen, and morning dew clung to her skirt as she darted through the sea of green. Patches of flowers dotted the scene, but Mairi found no faeries there.

The forest was forbidden, marked by a wall of dense trees Mairi had never dared to pass. Yet, what if that were where her quarry hid? If spirits were easy to find, everyone would have seen one.

Mairi passed the invisible wall into the forest, the muted light from the morning sky disappearing behind dense branches and leaves. Within, night creatures squawked

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and chattered. Mairi kept her eyes alert, both for bears and for glowing sprites.

Sprites glowed, right?

Her boots broke branches and crushed fallen leaves. She should have been fearful, but the muted cacophony of the night’s singing brought peace, and when Mairi heard the distant babbling of water, she ran to greet it.

The sound grew louder as she approached, and what she found was no idle brook but a rushing river, wider across than her home and the road combined. Splendid warmth teased her through the break in the trees, the barest hints of sunrise sparkling along the rapids.

The dancing lights along the river’s current delighted her young soul. Mairi knelt along the bank and reached forward to touch the enchanting display. Disrupted, the spray of water splashed her face and clothing, gently sprinkling a bit of its magic onto her form.

Not the faery she sought, but a magical sight nonetheless.

When Mairi looked up, she caught sight of a shy interloper. Golden eyes stared from behind a rock jutting from the river, ones that disappeared when Mairi looked up.

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Curious, Mairi stood and stepped into the stream-

And was immediately swept away.

Icy water engulfed her body. She couldn’t scream, couldn’t breathe. Her skin tore, scraped along the rocks.

Darkness threatened to consume her, and Mairi no longer knew which way to swim to find air. Her burning lungs screamed in revolt, but Mairi held her breath, petrified until something sharp gripped her arm and tugged.

Mairi saw golden eyes match her own.

Then, air. Mairi sputtered and coughed as she struggled to breathe, grasping at the smooth rocks along the bank for support.

She felt, again, sharp claws though her clothing, this time against her back.

A girl knelt beside her, one who appeared to mirror her nine years of age, with inhuman golden eyes larger than any Mairi had ever seen. Plantlike growths sprung from her head and fell down her face like water reeds, and her skin matched the grey-blue of the early morning sky. The girl’s clawed hand stroked soothing lines along her back.

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Of all the questions she might ask, something more practical escaped Mairi’s lips. “Why are you naked?”

The girl was entirely nude, her skin sleek and shined like a seal.

“Aren’t you cold?” Mairi continued, and she sat up, oxygen calming her startled heart. Cold seeped into her skin, exasperated by the faint breeze and icy water clinging to her dress.

The girl shook her head, no other response leaving her lips. When her mouth spread into a smile, Mairi saw rows of razor-sharp teeth, more akin to a shark than a human girl.

Mairi knew not what sort of faery she had met – but a kind one, it seemed. “Thank you for saving me,” Mairi said, unsure of what else one might say to a naked faery girl who lived by the river.

Again, the girl smiled, and this time a dark blush colored her cheeks. Deep green, darker than her hair, and it blossomed all along her face.

“You live here?”

The girl nodded.

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“What’s your name?”

This time, the girl offered Mairi her hand as she stood. Though hesitant, Mairi accepted, watching as her odd companion pointed expectantly at the water before dragging her toward it.

Mairi wrenched her hand back. “Why would I want to go back in?”

The girl’s eyes widened, and Mairi wondered if she’d hurt her feelings. The faery girl opened her mouth, and from her throat came a guttural screeching, like a sickly dolphin. Again, she pointed to the water.

If this strange interloper wanted her to drown, she would have let Mairi be whisked away down the river. Though instinct screamed to not, Mairi offered a hand and let the girl lead her into the water.

The rapids threatened to drag her away, but the girl’s arms wrapped around her, holding her in an iron embrace. Mairi took a deep breath. They sank, and once underwater, a melodic voice met her ears. “My name is Olphia,” said the girl, and through razor teeth, she offered a sweet smile. Green hair tangled with Mairi’s red, floating freely as they

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sank. At the girl’s throat, slits along the sides had opened. “And I’m not cold. I think humans are silly for covering themselves up.”

Then, cold air touched her face. Mairi took a deep breath, protected from the rushing current by the girl – Olphia. “My name is Mairi, and I’m lucky to have met you.”

Olphia shook her head, laughter in her wide smile. When she gestured down, Mairi took a breath before being dragged beneath the water.

“You wouldn’t have almost drowned if you hadn’t seen me,” Olphia’s magnetic voice said, and when she laughed, Mairi nearly forgot herself and joined her.

The water parted. Mairi took a breath. “I guess that’s true.”

Olphia took her back to the water’s edge, allowing Mairi to sit on the bank while she stayed in the cold water.

“Do you often find people here?”

Olphia shook her head.

“I came here looking for faeries,” Mairi admitted, amused when Olphia sat up with intrigue. “Is that what you are?”

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Again, Olphia shook her head.

“My mother always tells stories about faeries and spirits in the forest. She says you have to believe in them to find them.”

Olphia simply stared, visibly hanging on to every word.

“It’s hard to have half a conversation-”

Mairi’s gasp stole her words. Olphia suddenly leapt out of the water and sat by her side, excitement in her expressive face. Startled, Mairi leaned away, but watched with interest as Olphia touched the nigh invisible lines on her throat. Olphia took Mairi’s hand and brushed it along those raised lines, though no more raised than if she’d been scratched by a cat.

Then, Olphia touched Mairi’s own throat, her sharp claws gentle against the tender skin.

Mairi furrowed her brow. “I don’t have gills,” she said, but then Olphia nodded rapidly, gesturing forward, trying to convey something-

Startled at the realization, Mairi touched the same invisible lines Olphia had drawn on her skin. “You want to give me gills?”

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Delight shone in Olphia’s face as she nodded.

Wary, Mairi asked, “Will I still be able to talk on land?”

Olphia nodded.

“Will it hurt?”

Olphia brought her fingers together, scarcely an inch between them.

A little. It would hurt a little, the odd creature gestured. A warning sang in Mairi’s memory, bits of stories her mother so often repeated: “Beware of making deals with fey. There’s a cost to everything.”

“What do I have to give you?”

Dark green blossomed along Olphia’s cheeks. She brought two fingers together and placed them on her lips, miming a kiss before placing them against Mairi’s own. Those slick, cool fingers lingered a moment, and Mairi understood. “If you kiss me, it will give me gills?”

Perhaps she should have been scandalized at the notion. So often she’d been teased by her mother and the women in the village about the fisherman’s son, or the shepherd boy who corralled the goats each night. Embarrassed, Mairi had

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told them off, expressed her distaste for all things romantic and affectionate. Adorable, they said. At nine years old, it was as it should be.

Kissing Olphia didn’t seem nearly so bad as being teased about the boys in the village.

So, when Olphia nodded, Mairi said, “All right. Do it.”

Lighter than butterfly wings, Olphia’s lips touched Mairi’s, pressing against the corner of her mouth less than a second before she darted away, a bee buzzing off to a new flower.

Then, pain seared Mairi’s throat. Gasping, she pulled back, her hand clutching tender skin as gashes appeared under her touch. No blood stained her fingers, but the skin split and tore. Tears stung her eyes.

Olphia’s arms snaked around her. Mairi clung to the comfort even as the pain dissipated, her skin still tender and raw. At her throat, she felt gentle, raised lines and wondered what other magic her new friend could conjure. “Can you grant wishes?” she asked, and she heard nothing guttural or coarse. All sounded as it should.

When Olphia beckoned, Mairi followed, allowing her to

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lead her back down into the rapid current.

This time, when they plunged into the icy water, it hardly raised goosebumps along her skin. Perhaps there was more to this magic than mere gills. Instinct screamed to not, but Mairi took a breath, panicking a moment as water filled her mouth and throat – and escaped through the slits at her throat. Air filled her lungs. It was uncomfortable, yes, but remarkable, and Mairi laughed. The sound echoed as clearly as Olphia’s.

“I do grant wishes,” she heard Olphia say. “But you have to give some magic of your own so I can give it back.”

“I didn’t know a kiss was magic.”

“Haven’t you heard stories of princes and princesses and ‘true love’s kiss?’ A kiss is a small bit of magic, and a first kiss is enough to give you gills and the fortitude to withstand the current.”

The logic seemed sound, as much as magic held logic. “So, the bigger the wish, the greater the cost?”

Olphia nodded. “There are sea witches out there with much more power than me, though. I’m still learning.” Olphia released her hold, and Mairi realized she could float

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perfectly still, if she wanted. “I’ve never had anyone my age to play with. Can I show you the river? Please?”

“I’d like that,” Mairi said, overjoyed at the prospect.

A new friend and a set of gills seemed as perfect a day as she could imagine.

For hours, they swam, Olphia excitedly showing off every particularly lovely patch of water lilies and babbling about frogs and fishes. They chased schools of fish; they chased each other.

When the sun shone directly above, Mairi realized the discomfort gnawing at her stomach. Olphia, a perfect hostess, offered to catch her a fish.

“Ew!” Mairi replied, giggling fiercely at the prospect. “Humans don’t eat raw meat.”

“I only ever eat raw meat,” Olphia said. “But we can build a fire.”

Mairi swam toward the shore. “I should go home. My mother will be worried.”

She didn’t expect small hands and sharp claws to suddenly clutch her arms. “You don’t have to go!” the water spirit

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said, and when Mairi burst from the water, Olphia followed, her eyes larger than Mairi had ever seen as they watered. That throaty, wordless noise cried out instead of her voice, but Mairi heard despair.

“I’ll come back.”

Still, Olphia attempted to pull her under the water.

“If you don’t let go, I won’t come back!”

This time, Olphia’s grip left her, and the little girl looked near tears. Mairi watched her tremble, and she wondered if Olphia had a mother to go home to at all.

“Do you have a family?” Mairi asked, unsurprised when Olphia shook her head. “I promise I’ll be back. Tomorrow morning, same time. Will you be here?”

Olphia sniffed, dark green spreading across her cheeks as she nodded.

Mairi swam back to her side and pulled her into a hug. Claws dug into Mairi’s back as Olphia clung to her, but her quivering form relaxed. “I promise,” Mairi repeated. “You won’t be alone for long.”

She felt Olphia nod against her shoulder, enormous eyes

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watching as Mairi left the water and climbed onto the shore. The familiar set of rocks jutting from the river meant this was where she had first fallen in, and a quick run through the forest would take her to the meadow beside her village. “It was good to meet you!”

Olphia nodded, smiling wide.

Mairi didn’t think those teeth were so scary. With a wave, she ran into the trees.

--

“I’ve told you time and time again to be careful of the loch, Mairi!”

Mairi shied from her mother’s scolding, her frazzled wet hair hiding her face.

The path to her home was laden with stone, and wild grass grew out in sparse sprigs beneath. Mairi’s mother had been waiting at the door of their cottage of brick and wood.

“What if you’d drowned?! What were you doing, sneaking out so early, anyway?”

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“Looking for faeries,” Mairi said quite honestly, and her mother released an exasperated sigh.

“Perhaps you’ve grown too old for bedtime stories,” her mother said, and she knelt to face her downcast daughter. A warm hand, rough from years of housework, touched her chin, forcing Mairi to match her mother’s green eyes. “You won’t be a child forever-” Her mother frowned as she brushed back Mairi’s hair and carefully grazed the raised lines on her neck. “What’s this?”

“I fell.”

“If you’re lying, you know I’ll find out.”

Mairi shook her head. It was much easier to lie nonverbally. She held out her arms, showing the scrapes from the rocks beneath the river.

“Oh, Mairi.” Concern furrowed her mother’s brow, but she smiled and patted Mairi’s cheek. “Let me clean those, wildfire. Get some breakfast; I won’t have you put to work on an empty stomach.”

Mairi quickly ate her meal of leftover potatoes and fish as her mother patched her scrapped arms and hands.

When she’d put on fresh clothing, she ran out the door to

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her father’s brewery, where she helped him each day.

--

“I can’t stay as late today. My mother will be furious if she knows I’ve disappeared.”

This time, Mairi brought a second dress. How she’d explain away her wet hair would be a problem for the future.

The little water spirit beamed as Mairi approached. Olphia offered a hand, and the moment they touched, Olphia all but threw her in. The cold water embraced her, as did the girl’s laugh. “Or you could stay. If you never return, your mother will stop looking eventually.”

Under the water, Mairi shook her head. “If she thinks I’m dead, she’d tear this forest apart to try and find me.”

“She’d never find my home. No human can swim to the bottom of the loch.”

The loch in question was Loch Loraine, and it connected to the river scarcely a mile upstream. “My mother would still try. That’s what mothers do.” Olphia’s palpable confusion

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sparked a question. “Don’t you have a mother?”

“I used to,” Olphia replied, and then she tugged on Mairi’s hand to pull her forward. “I found some coins in the water yesterday. Want to see?”

Mairi did. She followed.

--

Thus sparked a friendship Mairi kept close to her heart. Every morning before sunrise, she left to see Olphia and explore the river, and she’d return in the morning with a bundle of flowers, or perhaps fresh bread for breakfast – something to explain her early morning rising to her parents.

Until one day, Mairi returned home, her pockets jingling with gifted coins from Olphia, only to linger at her cottage door.

“. . . worried she may have been charmed. I know it’s blasphemy to speak of such things, but-”

“It’s not blasphemous to suggest there are spirits who

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work against our Lord,” said the second voice. The first was her mother, the second was . . . familiar.

Mairi opened the door, unsurprised to see Preacher Alastair seated by her mother at the table. A fireplace sat dormant beside them, along with an empty, plain sofa and a small table. The preacher smiled at Mairi’s entrance. “How are you doing this fine day, Mairi?”

“I’m well,” she said, shutting the door behind her.

“Your mother said you’ve been spending more time alone in the woods.”

Preacher Alastair stood and knelt before her. Mairi nodded, unsure of what else to say except, “I love the woods and the meadow.”

She’d left her wet dress in the forest to dry. Olphia had promised to watch it.

The preacher frowned as he stared at her neck. Mairi stepped back, uncomfortable under the scrutiny. But she watched his eyes change from wary to polite, and he stood and said, “Mairi, I have a gift for you. Will you promise me you’ll wear it?”

From his pocket, he withdrew a small wooden cross on

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a chain. When she didn’t respond, he placed it carefully around her neck, the pendant settling nearer to her bellybutton than to her neck. “Wear that whenever you go to the woods.”

Mairi nodded, sparing a glance for her mother who watched with wide eyes from the table. “What’s going on?” she finally asked, and the preacher merely smiled.

“We want you to be protected, Mairi.”

“From what?”

“Hopefully nothing,” he said, and when he stood, he tipped his hat to her mother. “We’ll be in touch.”

Without another word, he left.

Mairi ran to where her mother sat at the table. “Momma, why was he here?”

“Nothing to worry about, little wildfire.” Her mother stared at the table, idly scraping at the sturdy wood.

“Momma-”

Mother suddenly stood, the chair scooting against the wooden floor. “Go help your father. I have work to do.”

She said nothing else and disappeared into the kitchen.

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Mairi removed the cross and chain and placed it into her pocket.

--

Olphia was confused as well, as conveyed by her frown when she handled the small pendant.

“He told me to wear it in the woods,” Mairi said, grinning when Olphia placed it around her own neck. “That’s more clothing than I’ve ever seen you wear.”

Olphia merely wrinkled her nose and beckoned for Mairi to follow her to the water.

The initial shock of the icy waves had become commonplace, and soon Mairi heard a familiar voice. “You’d swim better if you didn’t wear clothes. It’s why I always beat you.”

Olphia wasn’t wrong. Mairi stuck out her tongue. “I’d freeze to death.”

Olphia swam circles around her, giggling as the chain trailed behind her.

A hand from above grabbed Mairi’s hair. She shrieked

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as a strong arm ripped her struggling form from the water and forced her onto the rocky bank of the river. Not just one figure – several. The man who dropped her was her own father. “Mairi-”

“Papa, what-?”

Gunshots shattered the air. A mob gathered at the river bank, men from the village wielding guns and pitchforks and torches in the early morning light.

The man with the gun was Preacher Alastair himself. “There’s the monster! It bleeds green!”

More gunshots. Mairi struggled against her father’s hold. “Olphia! Olphia, run!”

“Search the river!” the preacher cried. “We’ll catch the demon before sunrise.”

“Stop!” Mairi yelled, pounding against her father’s chest as he lifted her into the air.

“You’re safe now, Mairi.”

Her wet form drenched his clothes. Gunpowder filled her nostrils. She screamed, “Olphia, run!”

“Mairi-”

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“Papa, you have to stop them!”

Her father carried her away from the river, ignoring her struggles. She screamed; she sobbed, but he held her thrall, away from the river, and through the trees. More gunshots, the sound of men’s cries filled her ears, but soon her misted eyes obscured the trees and the leaves.

At the meadow, he placed her down, grabbing her collar when she tried to run. “Listen, Mairi, my wildfire, listen,” he said, his voice gentle in his reprimand. “That thing was-”

“She was my friend!”

“She was a monster, wildfire. A monster who would have eaten you the moment you were caught off-guard. She’ll say pretty words to draw you close, and when you were at your most vulnerable, she would have killed you.”

Mairi thought of Olphia, laughing, playful Olphia, who stole a kiss to have a friend, and shook her head. “No, papa, she wouldn’t-”

He cupped the back of head, her damp hair clinging to her face and his rough hands. “Kelpies are demons,” he said, staring directly into her eyes. “Young ones can subside off fish, but give her a year or two-”

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“She’s not a demon. There’s no such thing-”

“Every story your mother tells has a bit of truth to it. Scarcely a year ago, we caught a full grown one in Loch Loraine, after she’d stolen the preacher’s son.”

Mairi remembered, but not those details. The boy had been fifteen. “You said it was a fishing accident.”

“That’s what all the children were told. But I was there, Mairi. I was there when they drove a bullet into the monster’s head.”

Mairi recalled Olphia’s words, her innocent reply to the damning inquiry about her mother: “I used to.”

“She wouldn’t have hurt anyone, papa,” Mairi said, tears streaming down her face.

“She charmed you, wildfire. It’s what demons do.”

This time, when her father lifted her up, she didn’t struggle. She only sobbed.

--

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Alone in her bed, Mairi lay awake. Sunset filtered through her window, and from without she heard voices talking. Tidbits met her ears, here and there: “There’s no sign of the demon-” “Alastair still hasn’t been found-” “We’ll resume the search tomorrow-” “Where is Mairi? Has she been checked on-”

She’d been confined to her room, meals brought at intervals but nothing else.

The doorknob twisted, and her mother entered, exhaustion coloring her freckled face. “Let me see your neck, wildfire.”

Mairi sat up from her bed, flinching when her mother’s hand brushed against the raised lines. “Answer me truthfully: did the demon girl do this?”

Mairi said nothing, simply stared with wide, swollen eyes.

“You’re not in trouble. You couldn’t have known.” Her mother shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. “My mother used to tell me faery stories as a warning to keep me away from the woods. But you have always been adventurous and brave, my sweet girl. I should have known you might actually find one.”

“Olphia wanted a friend,” Mairi whispered, voice shaking.

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“She was lonely.”

Sorrow settled on her mother’s features, her downcast gaze staring at the floor. Her lip trembled as she said, “Preacher Alastair still hasn’t been found. He was dragged beneath the water by . . .” She hesitated, her voice finally spitting out the words, “. . . your friend.”

“But is she all right?”

“Mairi, this is serious! Your father says he told you of the kelpie they slew a year ago – this girl would have become a monster. If they don’t find her, the preacher will be only the first.”

Mairi gasped. “They haven’t found her?”

“Mairi!”

Mairi flinched at her mother’s fury.

“If I ever hear that you’ve gone back to the river, I’ll tan your backside. Anyone can fall under a demon’s charm, but a man might be dead. Do you understand this is serious?”

Mairi nodded. Fresh tears welled in her eyes.

Mother’s voice softened, pain settling on her soft features. In slow movements, she pulled Mairi into her lap, clinging

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tight as she cried into Mairi’s thick, red hair. “Demons and faeries never offer anything for free. Your father and the rest don’t think much of the rules of the old stories, but I do. Wildfire . . .” Her mother’s grip tightened, her hug both crushing and comforting. “Wildfire, what did you give her?”

A pure thing, something innocent and warm, yet Mairi hesitated to voice the truth, praying to not rekindle her mother’s anger. Her whisper came small and shy. “A kiss-”

The door burst open. Her father’s silhouette breathed heavily, his words hurried. “The preacher’s been found. He’s-” He spared a glance for Mairi, then back to her mother. “He’s alive, but only barely.”

“What happened?” her mother asked.

“The kelpie tried to drown him. She tore off part of his hand when he escaped.”

Mairi listened with rapt attention, her stomach churning with nausea.

“He claims he shot her, but we have yet to find the body. They’re still searching out there.” He looked again to Mairi. “How is she?”

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“She’s fine. Go help the men.”

Her father left, and Mairi felt a kiss against her temple. “That could have been you. Mairi, swear to me you’ll never return to the river.”

Mairi nodded. What else could she do when her mother cried into her hair.

“Some would call it evil for you to have kissed a demon girl. I . . .” Her mother stopped a moment, words fading as she held Mairi close to her chest. “I don’t know what I believe, wildfire. But tell no one. I’ll keep your secret.”

Her mother stayed a while, and when Mairi said she wished to sleep, she was kissed goodnight and left alone to sob.

Within the hour, all noise ceased. Mairi trembled as she opened the window.

Her booted feet raced across the meadow, taking no care to whatever she crushed beneath the sturdy leather. She thought of the gentle kiss, of Olphia’s shy lips against her own.

Was it evil?

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Past the line of trees, through the brush, and finally she reached the river, where the water rushed. In the darkness, Mairi peered out, desperate to spot green reeds among the rocks. “Olphia?” she cried. “Olphia?!”

No shy gaze. No golden eyes. Nothing but the rushing of water, the shadowed trees, and the distant torchlights of the mob.

Alone, Mairi wept.

--

“Your house brew is the finest ale in all the ports I’ve stepped foot in.”

With a wink, Mairi placed another stein in front of the gentleman seated before the bar. “Flattery won’t get you free drinks.”

“Naw, Miss Mairi, it’s worth every penny,” the grizzled man said, and he placed a few coppers on her countertop.

In the nine years since, Mairi had devoted herself to her father and his craft, learning the secrets of proper brewing.

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Now, as an adult, she worked in front of the tavern as well as the back, hearing stories from sailors from all over the world. Through them, she lived vicariously, mesmerized by tales of the great, wide world.

Life was good. There was no place she’d rather be.

The door to the tavern opened, letting in the scent of moist, salty air. Mairi waved when she recognized her father, then saw the morose resignation on his features.

Beside him stood a man she knew in passing as Sir Aaron of Edenburg, one of many businessmen who came to port and bought barrels of her father’s ale to resell on the mainland. A young man, rich and handsome, and when he smiled, Mairi was reminded of when the dogs spotted a squirrel in the distance – excitement, yes, but only in preparation to pounce.

“Mairi, would you come with us?” her father said, steel in his eyes as he kept them to the floor. “There’s some news we need to discuss.”

In the doorframe, Mairi saw her mother. Tears stained her eyes, and Mairi quickly nodded and followed them out of the tavern.

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--

Amidst the clouds and the storm, Mairi’s tear-streaked face would hardly be noticed. Rain fell in speckled sheets. Her worn boots shifted against wet rocks as she left the village she called her home and ran, instead, to the meadow.

Though drowned in a wet sheen of rain, colorful buds shone among the sea of green. The forest and the river were forbidden, but she had still been permitted to enter the beautiful meadow. Every day for eighteen years, she had turned over each rock and climbed every tree.

Today, she stepped beyond the forbidden, invisible line and disappeared behind the trees.

Her skirt clung to fallen branches and twigs, the bottom stained irreparably with mud. The memories of angry words, from herself and her parents, replayed in her memory: “He’s a wonderful man, Mairi-!” “His family comes from money-” “Your pride isn’t worth-”

A wonderful man, indeed, that Sir Aaron. A man who saw her from afar and sought to claim her, like a hunter to a deer.

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Mairi considered herself no fawn, yet when she had been faced by the offer, she had done little more than freeze, a wide-eyed doe staring down the barrel of a rifle.

Soaked with rain, the thick mane of her hair fell in heavy ropes. The rain might drown the fiery red locks this day, the hair having darkened from sheets of water.

There was no path to follow, merely her footsteps moving in steady motions. Mairi hoped she would be lost. Still, her tears fell, despair filling her at the thought of leaving her home and family to be the property of some man she had hardly met.

Despair, yes. A soul-wrenching wrongness consumed her at the thought of submitting to him. Mairi had never spent time contemplating this inevitable fate, instead content to help her father in his tavern.

Mairi had no siblings. Who would inherit the beloved brewery now? She would be off in England, enslaved under the pretense of riches.

She continued forward, hands idly touching the bark of trees, kissing the rain, desperate to distract the sorrow in her heart.

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Then, rocks scraped beneath her boots. The river expanded before her, the roaring water nearly deafening as the rain joined the tumultuous stream. Mairi froze, idly running her fingers along the raised lines at her throat. This stream was forbidden, her adventure nigh a decade ago deeming it a cursed place.

Mairi knelt on the bank, the soil shifting under her knees, dirt caking the damp fabric of her skirt. Her hand skimmed the rushing water, but then she stole it away. Mairi’s head fell into her hands, pained sobs tearing from her throat as she wailed at the edge of the river.

Could she sit idly here and simply accept fate?

Through the cacophony of the river and torrential rain, Mairi heard a light ‘whiney.’ Confused, she looked up and through swollen eyes saw, not twenty steps away, a horse.

With a coat of pure white and hair the color of water reeds, the horse stared with large golden eyes. Hesitant, it took a step forward, and Mairi dared to follow, entranced by this strange, beautiful creature.

In slow, measured steps, Mairi bridged the space between them, crouching so as not to scare it. She swore the horse’s

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eyes glowed, vibrant despite the vicious weather.

This could be no mere beast, Mairi knew. Though she had long ago buried the memory, she knew she had met fae before, and whatever creature this horse belonged to, Mairi hoped it was friendlier than Sir Aaron.

When the horse stood directly before her, Mairi stopped, then gasped as it snorted in her face. Laughing, her tear-stained cheeks sharpened as she smiled, and when it nuzzled her hair, she dared to present a tentative hand. The fae horse sniffed the offering, then rubbed its nose against her fingers.

It was not soft with fur, but sleek, like the smooth skin of a dolphin. As she contemplated the strangeness of its skin, the horse knelt. She swore its eyes plead for her to follow.

Mairi quickly glanced about, wondering if the owner – whatever sort of faery or demon it was – was nearby, waiting to pounce and devour her whole.

Keeping one hand against the horse’s sleek side, Mairi mounted the beast, compelled by a force she could not give words to. She clutched the reed-like hair as it stood, chuckling a moment as she stood taller than some of the

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trees.

The horse jumped into the water, dragging Mairi down to the depths.

She screamed, her cry of terror unhampered by the water. Though her throat protested, icy water filled her mouth, the gills at her throat allowing her breath. Through the disarray of plants and rocks and rushing water, Mairi felt the horse shift and transform. Sharp claws dug into her arms. She cried out in pain, watching as her blood seeped into the water.

Mairi flailed against whatever demon held her in its clutches, fighting against arms far stronger than hers as she attempted to twist from its grasp. Red hair threatened to choke her as she shook, but through the tangle of drenched fire, she saw shark teeth ready to tear her apart.

“Olphia?!”

Immediately, the arms around her body loosened. Mairi ripped aside the locks of her hair, gasping when she saw her gut had spoken true – before her swam a woman’s body, staring with golden eyes wide with recognition.

Claws suddenly gripped her hips, though this time they

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did not pierce her sides. Mairi coughed when cold air touched her face.

Then, rocks against her back bespoke the bank of the river. Mairi sat up, no more drenched than before in the pouring rain, and saw the woman staring from the water. With inhuman eyes too large for her face and a slight hue of blue to her skin, the kelpie pursed her full lips, apparently as startled as Mairi. Deep green sprung from her head, more plant-like than true hair, and clung to her face.

“Olphia, right?” Mairi said, unable to fight the relieved smile tugging at her mouth. “Do you remember me? I’m Mairi.”

The woman swam closer, the water receding and revealing more of her nude form. Mairi prayed the hitch in her breath wasn’t so obvious to her companion as she absorbed the enticing view, though it only teased the top of Olphia’s breasts. Water covered the rest.

Then, to Mairi’s surprise, the woman smiled, revealing rows of sharp teeth. “You were my friend.”

Mairi’s smile widened, though Olphia’s words brought a question. She struggled to be heard over the river and rain.

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“Last time we played, you couldn’t speak above water.”

She heard Olphia chuckle, amusement playing at her coy features. “I’ve learned a few tricks these last few years.”

Perhaps it was coincidence, but as Olphia rose from the water, the rain suddenly dissipated, the storm silencing before she even knelt at the bank of the river.

Mairi hardly noticed, though. Exposed now, with no water to hide her nakedness, Olphia held an almost innocent smile, though perhaps it was her inhumanly large eyes. Hairless aside for the plant-like growths on her head, nonetheless she held all the curves of a grown woman, with gentle hips and breasts that peaked when touched by the air. Mairi blushed, attention stolen only when Olphia spoke.

“I apologize for trying to drown you,” Olphia said, her rich, luxurious voice something Mairi could bathe in. “Mortals tend to look the same to me.” A genuine smile broke through her teasing airs. “But I certainly remember you.”

“You were the horse?”

Olphia nodded. “As I said, I’ve learned a few tricks.” She scooted forward, uncaring for the rocks beneath her knees,

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it seemed, and sat level with Mairi, their legs brushing together. “Why were you crying at my river?”

A gentle breeze brushed her face. “It’s a long story, Olphia,” Mairi said, loving how the unique name tickled her tongue. She had not dared to speak it in years.

“Oh, tell me your woes,” Olphia cooed, as siren-esque as Mairi had ever heard. The curve of her lips stole a blush to Mairi’s cheeks, especially as she leaned forward, her breath tickling Mairi’s ear. There was no coy turn of stance to hide her bare breasts. The first breaking of the sun through the clouds cast light onto her form, the droplets of water on her shoulders and face glittering.

Was this what it was like to have one’s breath stolen? If this were a faery trick, Mairi realized she would rather drown in it than return to shore. “I don’t wish to burden you with my troubles, not when I’ve only just found you again.”

“But isn’t that what friends do?” Olphia teased, the hint of a laugh in her words. “Though, I will admit I was hurt when you never returned.”

The words clenched around Mairi’s ribcage. “I thought

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you were dead,” she admitted, surprised at the anguish she felt as she said it.

Perhaps it showed on her face. Olphia placed a hand on waist, and Mairi nearly jumped at the touch. “I forgave you long ago, Mairi. Things can be as they were, now that you’re back.” Her face was so close now, and when Olphia placed a finger at her chin, Mairi gave a glance to her mouth, then to her eyes – gold and staring relentlessly at her own. “Unless you wish for something more.”

Olphia offered her pursed lips, and Mairi brushed her own against them.

There had been nothing amorous in that kiss of nine years past. But Mairi had never forgotten it, and it had sparked a desire she couldn’t name. As she grew, there had been instances of coercing her maiden friends to practice for their husbands’ kisses, curiosity on both sides having turned innocent friendship into something their mothers would have beaten their backsides raw for, had they been caught. But while her friends had laughed it off and sworn to secrecy, Mairi had always craved more. A woman’s touch had been her forbidden desire from tender years.

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Mairi had never felt anything so soft and perfect as Olphia’s lips.

When she finally pulled back, shy and blushing, she searched for reprimand in Olphia’s face. The kelpie held only softness in her countenance, and to Mairi’s surprised delight, she leaned in again to steal her lips.

Though demure at the thought, Mairi let a hand fall to Olphia’s waist, reveling in the feel of her smooth, sleek skin. The other slid up her back, just as she felt her companion’s hand caress the back of her dress.

For a moment, the world grew quiet, the peace of her childhood friend’s affection enough to soothe her soul.

But oh, the stabbing pain of dread returned, and Mairi pulled away, her eyes stinging with tears once again. To give a name to the fate she craved filled her with despair. When Olphia’s fingers brushed away the first falling of her tears, it brought the reminder of all she would lose.

“Who’s done this to you?” Olphia asked.

Olphia’s hands settled around her waist, pressing her close. Finding comfort in the gesture, despite the shark-teeth that stared back, Mairi managed to whisper, “I’m

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getting married.”

A chaste kiss from Olphia’s lips touched her forehead. “And you fear this fate?”

“Would I be crying at the bank of a river if I didn’t? Would I be-” Mairi cut off her words, not daring to verbalize the sin. To think of Sir Aaron filled her with anguish, but despite her tears, to think of Olphia was a dangerous thing. To think of any woman was a dangerous thing, but Olphia, it seemed, had no reservations regarding female affection. Perhaps fae held to different rules.

“I’ve hardly even met him,” Mairi said instead. “He’s rich; I shouldn’t complain.”

“And you’d rather kiss the woman who tried to drown you?”

There was humor in the statement, but Mairi couldn’t smile. She offered a nod instead.

Again, Olphia laughed, and Mairi realized she craved the sound. “In deference to our friendship, I can free you from your mortal duties, Mairi.”

“What sort of magic could you do?”

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“It would require no magic.” Olphia’s hand slid from Mairi’s shoulder to her neck, and then her cheek. Mairi found she couldn’t quite breathe. “Bring your suitor here. Consider it my wedding gift to you.” Olphia smiled wide, teeth parting to reveal rows of jagged edges.

Mairi shivered at the sight, not daring to think of what crime she might have agreed to. “I’ll bring him tonight.”

Olphia placed a kiss at the side of her mouth, but when Mairi turned into it, Olphia leaned away. Instead, she rose to her feet, then offered Mairi a hand to help her stand.

Mairi accepted, briefly absorbing the sight of the beautiful woman who offered freedom and a kiss.

“Return home as the compliant maid,” Olphia said. “Kiss his cheek if you must, to earn his trust. Remove all suspicion of your intentions. Tonight, he’ll be nothing but a memory.”

Olphia stood only a few inches taller. Were Mairi to simply tilt her head, she might find solace in those lips again. “Thank you. May I ask why you’re being so kind?”

Olphia’s mischief faded, replaced by something sincere and soft. “When I had nothing, you gave me a friend. Now, I

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can repay that gift.” She smiled and pressed her lips against Mairi’s once again, and this time Mairi dared to encircle her in her arms, trapping her moment as she basked in the kiss.

When Olphia finally pulled back, she said, “And when your intended is gone, we can revisit our friendship.”

She stepped back, her feet disappearing underneath the rushing current. Olphia dove beneath the water and vanished.

--

Mairi left the river and the woods, returning home amid gentle, pattering rain. Thoroughly drenched, she knew she must have been a sore sight to the few who passed her on her way through the seaside village.

But her small cottage bespoke comfort and familiarity. Here she had been born, and for years she had hoped to die here as well, content in that fate. But now came a rich man to steal her away and let her die in a foreign land.

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Well, not anymore. Olphia had sworn to help. The nature of her help had not been precisely named, but her implications were clear, and Mairi wondered if she could survive the guilt.

A problem for the future. For now, she had to be sure she even had a future.

Mairi’s drenched feet sloshed against the stone steps, and scarcely had she twisted the doorknob when her mother threw open the door and grabbed her in a tight hug. “Mairi, sweet girl, I was so worried.”

Mairi returned the gesture, happy a moment until she saw her father and suitor standing expectantly at the back of the room. A fireplace roared, keeping the home warm despite the rain, and a small sofa and table sat between she and the men who watched.

There Sir Aaron stood, handsome and clean, his clothing new and rich. The scruff of his dark beard suggested he had been away from home for some time, yet he still managed to stuff himself into an unworn suit. He smiled at her as she pulled away from her mother’s embrace and stepped forward with confidence. “Mairi, I’m delighted to meet you

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not as a colleague, but as a fiancé.”

Forward, that one. They’d hardly met as anything at all. Mairi offered her hand forward, flinching when he kissed her knuckle. “Forgive my disheveled appearance. When my parents told me the news, I took a walk to properly process this, uh . . . this blessing.”

The correct words, it seemed. Sir Aaron smiled wide, his teeth not as threatening as the smile she longed to see. “Nothing a bath and a change of clothes can’t fix. Your father and I have been discussing the dowry and gifts in exchange for your hand in marriage. We’ll leave tonight, after the ceremony. Will that be enough time for you to pack and say your farewells?”

The ceremony? “Are we to be wed tonight?”

Sir Aaron nodded, his kind smile a betrayal to her panicked heart. “It would hardly be appropriate for a young woman to come unescorted on a ship full of men. For the sake of your honor, you and I will be wed before we travel.”

Tears threatened to fall from her eyes. She looked to her father, saw his downcast apology, and realized her mother looked as near to tears as she.

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Hope seeped away in the shaking breath leaving her lips. But she smiled, despite the despair welling in her chest. “Of course,” she said, her voice trembling.

Again, Sir Aaron kissed her hand. She felt it numb at the touch. “Until tonight, sweet Mairi.” With a nod to her father, the young nobleman left.

She stood by the fire, but Mairi had never felt so cold. When her mother tried to grab her, Mairi ripped her hand away, collapsing into sobs. On the floor, she wept.

Her mother’s pleas echoed in her ear. “At least I’ll get to see your wedding. He’s rich. You’ll be cared for all your life, and you won’t have to work. You have no future here, no marriage prospects-”

Mairi shook her head, her entire body trembling as she cried. “I love my home more than I could ever love any man. Mother, you know-” A sob ripped from her core, stealing her words. Perhaps it was best. She and her mother had sworn to never speak of it.

But as she stared into her mother’s tear-filled eyes, she saw understanding. Guilt settled on her mother’s countenance, and she knelt beside Mairi, setting her stare to the floor.

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“You say he’s rich, but that’s not a reason to give me no choice,” Mairi pled, taking her mother’s shoulders in her grasp. “Momma, why?”

“Because there is no future for you here-”

“You said that, but-”

“Mairi,” came her father’s gentle interruption, “the tavern is struggling. You know this. When I rejected Sir Aaron’s offer of marriage, he threatened to withdraw his business, leaving us doomed.”

When her father rejected . . ?

“But your marriage to him gives us all a future. You can either stay here and lose everything, or go with him and save yourself.”

Sir Aaron wielded money like a weapon and sought to destroy her future, either way. Rage threatened to drown her sorrow. “Momma, I need to take a walk.”

Her mother simply nodded.

Her father said, “Mairi, you just returned from-”

Mairi stood, head spinning as she stumbled and collapsed against the door. Her breathing grew labored. “I need to

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say goodbye,” she managed to say, and neither parent tried to stop her when she ripped the door open.

--

“Olphia! Are you there?!”

At the river’s edge, Mairi cried as loud as her voice could carry. Desperate, she searched along the water’s edge, praying to find her kelpie friend.

“Olphia!” she cried, and nearly sobbed with relief when a head full of green rose from the water.

Inquisitive, golden eyes batted. “Mairi?”

Mairi knelt along the water’s edge, steadying her voice. “I’m-” She released a shuddering sigh, willing her voice to stop shaking. “Olphia, I’m to leave tonight. I’ll be wed and then taken to his ship.”

Those leering lips twisted into a calculating smile. “I see,” she said, and her blue-grey form swam closer to the shore. “I will agree to summon something more dramatic for a cost.”

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“Whatever it is, I’ll pay.”

“Give me your wedding night.”

Mairi grew cold at the thought, even amidst the rain and the water that seeped into her skirts. But Olphia swam close now, revealing herself in steady motions as she pulled herself with ease from the water. Her bare breasts glistened in the sunlight, along with the curve of her hips and what lie between her legs.

Mairi managed to say only, “Why?”

“There’s magic in claiming what’s never been touched,” Olphia cooed, and when she stepped close, Mairi felt her body against her dress. Olphia’s arms wrapped around her waist. “Magic enough to free you and to pave the path to whatever future you desire. The curse of my capacity to grant wishes is that I can never use the power I gain for my own use. Only to help the one who gave it. Consider what you want from the freedom my power can bring you.”

The cold touch turned to agonizing warmth. But she dared not think of what Olphia desired – not yet. Enveloped in the naked woman’s arms, she struggled to fathom any sort of future. “So, I’ll marry him?”

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“Play the part, Mairi,” the kelpie said. “Kiss him once you’ve said, ‘I do,’ and weep when you bid your parents goodbye.” Olphia’s lips brushed against her ear. “But the wedding night is mine; not his.”

Something inside Mairi melted at the gesture, warmth brewing between her legs. When she turned, she saw Olphia’s wide, toothy smile.

It should have frightened her, yet with Olphia’s body pressed against hers, her breath on her ear and her arms around her waist, Mairi only longed to be closer.

“You’ll be his bride, but you won’t be his,” Olphia said, and then she pulled away. “Until tonight, Mairi. Do not fear.”

Olphia dove down into the treacherous waves.

--

With no time to stitch a seam and hardly a moment to rouse the town, Mairi wore a borrowed gown, donated by the preacher’s wife from her daughter’s wedding. The same

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woman sat at the front row of the church, dabbing her eyes at the sight of the couple – of the handsome Sir Aaron, dressed in freshly-pressed finery, his hair immaculately combed and stuck to his head, and of Mairi. With her hair pulled back, her head felt tight, the intricate strands of red braided together with meadow flowers in a vain attempt to restrain the unruly locks.

But the strands escaped, more and more wisps springing from the braid as time went on. A wildfire could not be tamed.

But it could be drowned. Mairi fought tears as her eyes looked beyond the preacher’s wife to her mother, whose tear-stained face conveyed no pride, only sorrow, her own once-vibrant red hair having dulled and greyed with stress and age. Her father sat beside her, forcibly stoic as he watched his only child given away to a rich man, but a man he hardly knew.

The preacher himself stood beside the pair, reciting Biblical verses about the sacred bond of matrimony, completing the small audience. A glove covered his long-ago mangled hand, and for a moment Mairi thought of Olphia’s teeth, and how easy it would be for them to tear

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her apart.

It had been at Mairi’s insistence they have a small wedding. “No need to excite the town just to break their hearts,” she had said. “I don’t want to have to say goodbye.”

Her parents, perhaps guilty at uprooting her, had respected that one wish.

Mairi and her intended drew a circle around their feet as they recited the wedding vows, placed their hands upon a stone as the preacher proclaimed them wed. When they kissed, Sir Aaron’s lips were rough and chapped, not used to the whipping, salty winds her island brought. She imagined he was a tree and not a man who felt entitled to steal her from her family.

Her husband smiled, sanguine and cloying, like the sweets her mother made that hurt her stomach. He leaned in for another kiss, but Mairi turned her face, letting it land harmlessly on her cheek. She forced a smile as she whispered, “Save it for tonight.”

She hoped it sounded coy. Mairi hardly knew how to sound coy, but the lurid glint in Sir Aaron’s eye suggested she had succeeded. Nausea welled in her stomach. She shied her

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thoughts away from whatever he might be thinking and instead turned toward the small crowd, to her mother and father and the preacher’s wife as they applauded the new couple.

When her mother stood, Mairi rushed to her side, sincere as she held her and kissed her goodbye – as Olphia had instructed.

“Mairi, my wildfire, swear you’ll write me. Swear you’ll visit.”

Mairi nodded. She wore resolve like armor, and she knew if she spoke it might tear.

Her father as well, when she hugged him, seemed near tears. “This is for the best,” he said, and she knew he didn’t mean it. He had to say it, but she heard only regret.

When Sir Aaron – her husband – took her hand, they all followed him into the cloudy evening, the rain having abated. “I’ll gladly escort you to my ship,” he said.

“Let her return home for a moment,” her mother objected. “I have a few parting gifts to send with her. Her father and I will escort her within the hour.”

Mairi saw his lips purse. “As her husband, I would prefer-”

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“Just for a moment,” her father said, and Mairi saw something fierce pass between them. “She’ll be all yours soon.”

The phrase burned her ears. Sir Aaron released her, and Mairi’s white fingers suddenly pulsed with blood. “Within the hour,” Sir Aaron said, and he turned on his shined boots toward the docks.

Mairi’s mother placed a hand on her waist. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice quivering. “I mean what I said – I have a gift for you.”

In silence, Mairi let her parents lead her back to her home. The stone steps clicked under their feet, waterlogged grass peeking through the unkempt path. In the springtime, attention could be spared for the beauty of their village, but with autumn on the horizon and winter to follow, families turned their focus on gathering food. There was little time for beautification.

At her home – though her home no longer – her mother offered a letter and a small chest, one whose contents clinked when it passed ownership. “Use it if the worst happens. If you need to come home, this will at least get

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you partway there.”

It was all the money her parents could spare, she was sure. “Momma, I couldn’t-”

“What use is our money if we can’t spend it on you?” her father said, standing apart from the duo.

“Be safe, my Mairi.”

--

They escorted her to the dock, as promised.

A fog had descended, the eerie outlines of ships fading as darkness engulfed the sky. Creaking of wood and footsteps became the only noise, aside from the soft whispering of waves.

Mairi wondered if Olphia were among them. She prayed the demon kept her word, though what a kelpie could do, she did not know. Still, the memory of shark teeth waited behind her eyelids. Plenty could be done with those.

A large ship, one to accommodate copious amounts of cargo and men, loomed above all, and Mairi lingered a

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moment at the plank before daring to move forward. With a final, wordless hug to each parent, she stepped aboard the ship, silent as a nameless man welcomed her and reassured her that, “Sir Aaron awaits your presence.”

Cold, damp air whipped her face as she inspected the deck of the ship, the wetness seeping through her boots and skin and staining her soul. She heard cries to set sail, watched as deckhands went to their posts.

Down she went, to the right, to the captain’s quarters, where she and Sir Aaron would take their marriage bed. The boat lurched with her steps, her home fading behind her.

Perhaps Olphia had lied. Inside, Sir Aaron might await, perhaps already nude, prepared to have his way with her, to claim every piece of her life and body.

The door creaked. Alone, Mairi stepped inside.

Among the rich décor, the silken sheets, the velvet drapery, sat a bed strewn with blood and dismembered pieces of flesh. Half a man remained, his bloodstained face forever etched in fear and pain, but below his trousers what remained were gore-stained bones.

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There lay Olphia, content amongst the carnage. With a mouth stained red, she gnawed on a strip of flesh, peeling it from a cracked bone, razor teeth dripping blood when she smiled. “Breathe easy, Mairi. Your wedding night belongs to me, not him.”

Mairi shut the door, eyes wide at the dichotomy of the gorgeous, nude woman sleek with blood. No rot in the stench, not yet, but blood met her nose. Her head grew light. Every ounce of her willpower suppressed the urge to vomit as she gripped the bedframe for support.

She heard a chuckle. “It is a stifling room. I wouldn’t ask you to submit to me here.”

Mairi dared to look up and face those inhuman eyes as they reflected the blood on her face. “Will you eat me too?” she asked, barely more than a squeak.

“While I do intend to have you inside me,” Olphia said, setting aside the cleaned bone, “I think you’ll find it more pleasurable than not.”

Horror drowned any blush the flirtation could have brought.

“Your wedding night is mine,” Olphia continued, crawling

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forward on her hands and knees. “May I take you to my home?”

Mairi nodded, unwilling to argue with the woman with blood-stained teeth.

Olphia stood from the bed, her curves enhanced by rivulets of blood. Mairi watched, paralyzed at the sight of the beautiful woman who smelled of gore and smiled with a mouth filled with sharpened teeth.

Mairi stepped back, her breath leaving her. With an expectant brow raised, Olphia offered her bloodstained hand.

Mairi trembled. Olphia’s inhuman eyes – enormous and consuming – bore into her soul, and she beckoned with her long, clawed fingers. “Mairi?”

Mairi spared a glance for the blood-soaked bed, for the remnants of gnawed bones and torn flesh. Stomach churning, she managed to step forward and accept Olphia’s hand. The sleek, blue-hued woman smiled gently with bloodied teeth.

Olphia led them to the window, the panel slightly ajar and unlatched – perhaps this was how the kelpie had entered.

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Yet, when Mairi stared down, the serene ocean waited thirty feet down at least. Olphia pushed the window open wide. “Shall we?”

Mairi hardly managed a nod before Olphia dragged her into an embrace and dove into the sea.

Mairi barely had time to gasp before icy water drenched her head and body. Olphia’s arms kept their iron embrace, her adept form swimming easily despite the waves and the chill.

Mairi took a breath, the sensation of water filling her mouth a betrayal to her basic instincts. There was little to see – the murky ocean water filtered past in a stream of bubbles as Olphia tore through.

A river connected to the sea, Mairi knew, and when she caught a glimpse of the river bank beneath the chill water, she remembered what Olphia had said, the ominous words of nearly a decade past, that no human could find her home in Loch Loraine.

Disoriented by the scene, Mairi hid her face in the crook of the kelpie’s neck, clinging tight to her lithely muscled back. Her slick, blue skin would have been impossible to

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hold on her own, but with Olphia’s arms wrapped around her dress, Mairi felt secure.

Or, as secure as one could be when willingly kidnapped by a murderous fae.

Utter blackness suddenly engulfed them. Mairi held tight, her panic palpable, it seemed – she heard, amidst the absence of light, a carefree chuckle. “Breathe easy, Mairi. I see everything.”

When Mairi looked up, she swore Olphia’s eyes radiated faint light.

--

When cold air touched her, it felt like a beating on Mairi’s tender skin.

She opened her eyes and realized that whatever underwater cave they had navigated through had gone. Instead, the air-filled grotto held filtered moonlight from cracks in the cave’s ceiling, dim but illuminate enough for Mairi to see a rocky shore and Olphia’s leering eyes as she

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swam those final few feet.

Mairi took a breath of humid air, her mouth grateful to no longer be filled with water.

“This isn’t my home in any real sense,” Olphia said, and with one arm she pulled herself and Mairi up onto the slate of rock beside the water. The words echoed across the stone walls. “More to say it’s one of many safe havens I’ve created for myself. There aren’t many creatures like me, so there’s little competition for beautiful grottos beneath the earth.”
Mairi’s muscles were fatigued from cold, but she managed to stand when Olphia offered a hand. She spared a glance for Olphia’s sleek form, her soft breasts that peaked in the cold air, but then saw the eclectic mess of rocky alcoves and piles of bones. Stolen clothing had been draped across the walls to dry, wrinkled from the water, and Mairi wondered what use a kelpie would have for human clothing.

Olphia’s hand pulled her forward, and as Mairi followed, shivering in the cool air, the first flame of terror began to rekindle.

She’d had her husband killed by a fae, and now she was led by that same fae to a secluded cave where no one could

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hear her scream. Mairi was acutely aware of the elongated nails jutting from the kelpie’s hands, and the shark-like teeth of her smile.

Olphia said, “Lovely, isn’t it?”

Mairi tore her gaze away from the pile of bones by the water and nodded quickly.

“I stole a few things for your coming. Take off your wet clothes; I won’t have you dying from chill before you fulfill your bargain.”

The wording only fueled her fear. Olphia gestured to the stolen clothing hung from the walls and made no move to stop Mairi when she pulled her hand away.

With trembling, numb fingers, Mairi unlaced the strings of her bodice. Peeling away her clothing reminded her of skinning a fish, and each layer fell to the stone floor with a sickening ‘slunk.’ When she wore only underclothes, Mairi glanced back and saw Olphia lounged leisurely by the shore, the curve of her backside looking human in the dim light. Surprised she wasn’t being watched, Mairi quickly stripped away the last pieces of her clothing.

She dried herself, and instead of wearing any of the

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stolen articles, Mairi wrapped her body in a layered skirt, the yards of fabric covering her nakedness like a blanket.

Warmth returned to her limbs. Mairi turned around, and for a moment she swore she saw the little girl she had befriended nine years ago, her reed-like hair falling in disarrayed curls around her shoulders and down her back. But a teasing peek at the side of her breasts and her supple backside bespoke nothing of childhood, and while Mairi held to terror like a lifeline, curiosity compelled her to cough.

Olphia sat up, revealing her sleek form and wide, animalistic smile. “Join me, Mairi,” she said, patting the ground beside her.

Mairi clung to the skirt, nervous at the invitation, but joined her fae companion nonetheless, the gentle lapping of water the only sound.

When she sat, Olphia’s hand reached over to brush away her drenched, fiery locks. “There’s magic in firsts,” the kelpie said, leaning in close. “To touch what has never been touched . . .” Mairi felt breath against her lips, saw Olphia’s smile as she grinned. “To breach what has never

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been claimed . . .” Olphia placed a kiss on her earlobe; Mairi shrunk back.

To Mairi’s surprise, Olphia removed her touch, her large eyes wide and inquisitive. “Are you afraid?”

Lying would be pointless. Mairi offered a slow nod, never taking her gaze off Olphia. “You’ve never actually said you won’t eat me.”

“Wait here,” Olphia said, nothing coy in the words. Olphia stood from the shore, and Mairi watched her sleek legs as she approached a shadowed corridor of the cave. She disappeared a moment, and when she returned, she stared at an object in her hand.

She knelt before Mairi and offered a small wooden cross on a chain.

A slight gasp filled Mairi’s lungs. She reached forward to take it. “You kept this?”

“It was a token from my only friend,” Olphia said, and this time Mairi saw gentleness in her toothy smile. With some tenderness, she stole the chained cross back and draped it around Mairi’s neck, her smile turning teasing. “Now I can’t hurt you.”

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Touched at the gesture, Mairi felt a shy smile tug at her lips.

“Time has changed us both, Mairi,” Olphia said, this time keeping her hands to herself. “But I still carry affection for you. You’ll leave this cave alive, I swear.”

Holding the wooden pendant in her hand, Mairi thought she might tear up from the sweetness of it. When Olphia gently stole her fingers, she dropped it and blushed when the kelpie kissed her knuckle. Mairi smiled, and in slow, measured movements, leaned in to place her lips against Olphia’s.

So soft, so flush, and when Olphia opened her mouth, Mairi felt her heart open with it and soar.

Olphia’s hand came up to cup the back of Mairi’s head, and the kelpie whispered, “In deference to your first time, we go at your pace.”

Mairi nodded slightly, content to savor the feeling of Olphia’s lips, her fear seeping away in steady waves. She dared to reach up and touch the plant-like growths on Olphia’s head, realizing they held the same elasticity of seaweed. Olphia’s tongue slipped into her mouth, and a

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moan escaped Mairi’s throat unbidden.

Not hours before, she’d feared being stolen by a man she hardly knew, yet here she sat, willingly, joyfully kissing a woman most would deem a monster.

Olphia whispered, “Will you let me look at you?”

Mairi pulled back, nodding slightly as she released her iron grip on the cloth, shy as it fell around her. The lurid grin on Olphia’s face caused her to blush. “Oh, you’re a sight. I almost wish this were our wedding night.”

Mairi’s blush grew dark, and Olphia immediately gathered the discarded cloth and piled it into a pillow. “Will you lie down?”

With a make-shift pillow cradling her head, Mairi looked up as Olphia straddled her hips, breath hitching as she watched those inhuman eyes study her slight curves. When Olphia came down to kiss her lips, their bodies touched. The intimacy of their naked forms brushing together drew a gasp from Mairi, cut off by Olphia’s mouth against her own.

Though she had been content to kiss for hours, every brush of Olphia’s bare breasts against her own drew heat to

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her abdomen, and soon her breathing grew rapid. “Olphia,” she sighed, and at the name the kelpie drew back.

“Let me kiss your body,” Olphia said, her pupil-less eyes boring into Mairi’s. She managed a nod.

Olphia sat up, her fingers lightly skimming the soft contours of Mairi’s stomach. When she reached her breasts, Olphia caressed the sides, the teasing gesture causing Mairi to tremble. Never had she been touched so intimately, and when Olphia finally lowered her head, Mairi’s sensitive skin came alight. Her lips encircled the peaked bud at her breast and sucked lightly, pulling an immediate cry from Mairi.
The cave walls bounced her cry of pleasure up to the ceiling, letting it join in with the faint chorus of trickling water and whistling wind. Mairi’s limbs tingled, her hand shaking as she settled it into Olphia’s hair. When she dared to glance down, the sight of Olphia’s lips against her breast held an obscenity and an intimacy that drove her wild. Whining, she said, “Olphia?”

The fae glanced up, lips parting to reveal her teeth as she smiled. The sharp points reflected the faint light, creating

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a macabre half-moon. “Mairi?”

Though she should be afraid, Mairi melted at that smile, the heat in her abdomen threatening to boil. “I was only going to ask if you treated all your mortal conquests so well.”

Olphia’s chuckle echoed across the grotto walls, and her hands moved to massage Mairi’s breasts. She gasped at the touch but listened as Olphia said, “While I’ve certainly made mortals scream before, it hasn’t usually been in such intimate positions. Unless you consider stripping flesh from bone an intimate affair . . .”

Perhaps horror shone on Mairi’s face too fully, because Olphia’s words faded, and instead she planted a single kiss on Mairi’s lips. “Bargain or not, I care about you, Mairi. I have no intention of hurting you.”

When Olphia placed a kiss on her palm, Mairi chose to believe her, though the kelpie’s words still left her unsettled.

Her fears faded when Olphia’s lips returned to her body – not to her breasts this time, but to her stomach, sweet kisses trailing down in meticulous, lingering gestures. Her hands remained at Mairi’s breasts, and when she reached

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the bone of Mairi’s hip, she whispered, “Are you ready for me?”

Mairi managed a nod, body alight. “Yes, please,” she said, and she sighed as Olphia’s hands left her breasts and drew gentle lines along the side of her torso, nails barely skimming her skin. One arm wrapped around her thigh as Olphia lowered her head.

Mairi gasped, her entire body tensing when Olphia’s tongue drew a line along her wet folds. Her lips kissed in smooth, practiced motions, and Mairi let her hand fall to Olphia’s hair, shaking as it brushed against the reeds.

With her echoed gasps filling the grotto, Mairi swore she saw stars bursting from the ceiling. Olphia’s tongue settled at the bud atop her vulva, kissing and sucking until Mairi thought she might scream.

Then, a single, clawed finger drew a line along her entrance. Olphia whispered, “Trust me, Mairi,” as she teased the slit and slid inside.

Mairi immediately grew tense, body convulsing at the intrusion. A second finger joined the first, smoothly thrusting inside her vestal form. Mairi gasped. The hand

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not trembling against Olphia’s hair beat against the stone floor, desperate to grip something, yet finding nothing. Pleasure became paramount, Mairi’s vision blurred as inarticulate cries tore from her throat.

Amidst her cries, she heard Olphia hum with delight, and with each thrust of her hand, Mairi begged for more. Her sensitive body craved the intimacy, ached for Olphia’s power, and when she swore her body would rend in two, her pleasure peaked.

Mairi gasped, stomach clenching as her body shook unbidden. Olphia seemed to sense this, slowing her thrusts as Mairi rode out the final wave of pleasure.

Though the world spun, Mairi felt she had come back to earth. She glanced down and saw Olphia looking up from her place between Mairi’s thighs, her smile revealing teeth as she pressed her ear against her leg. Olphia shut her eyes a moment, releasing a contented sigh as she clung to Mairi’s leg. Then, she withdrew her fingers, and Mairi missed the fullness once within her.

She quickly dipped her hand into the water, cleaning it of Mairi’s pleasure before coming up to wrap her sleek arms

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around Mairi’s form. “You’ve given me such a gift,” she whispered.

Mairi’s body tingled, waves of ecstasy still wafting from her mind, her blood loud in her ears. She clung to Olphia’s offered comfort, resting her head at the smooth juncture between her breasts, loving the feel of them pressed against her face and wondered if she dared to touch them. “I could say the same.”

Olphia’s chuckle reverberated against her ear, and Mairi fought the urge to giggle as she clung tighter to her body. “What is it that you want, Mairi? You’re free now from your suitor. The world is yours.”

Mairi sensed weight in the offer, the promise of delivering riches or power. She had no aspiration for grandeur, however, only to be left in peace in the home she loved.

It sparked an idea. “I have a few thoughts,” Mairi said, feeling braver now as she tilted her head to kiss Olphia’s chin. But Olphia moved to match her, their flush lips pressing together instead. A bitter taste stained Mairi’s tongue, and she realized it was her own. “But for now, I want nothing more than to touch you.”

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She felt Olphia smile against her lips. Olphia’s hands gripped her wrists, pressing Mairi’s against her full breasts.

Olphia’s sigh of pleasure brought paramount joy. Mairi pursued that sound all through the night.

--

When sunlight touched the land again, Mairi rode back to town on a pure white horse with reeds for hair and golden eyes. Around its neck, it wore a wooden cross.

The sun had barely risen, the sleepy town slowly awakening. The few who saw her stared with surprise at both her presence and her steed.

But Mairi paid them no mind. Her future was paved in faery promises, and should anyone try and detour her, she had no doubt they’d meet an end not dissimilar to Sir Aaron’s.

She reached her parents’ home and dismounted before knocking on the heavy wooden door.

Her mother sobbed as she embraced her, drawing tears

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to Mairi’s eyes. As she clung to her mother’s comfort, she explained over and over that, “Yes, I’m fine. Yes, Sir Aaron is gone. I’m free from my duties.”

Her father joined them, and when they asked how this could be, Mairi said simply, “I found him inside another woman,” and refused to elaborate more than that.

She wondered if they recognized the cross around the horse’s neck. Perhaps this was why they let the matter go, giving no comment when the horse left on its own accord. In later weeks, when a letter declaring Mairi’s apparent bloody death upon the boat was delivered, her father simply burned it and said nothing more.
Instead, Mairi rejoined her father at the brewery, reveling in her duties as brewmaster and concocting drinks to entice even the surliest of sailors. With Sir Aaron’s dowry, she built herself a home by the river, away from the town, proclaiming she preferred to live alone and would do so for the rest of her days.

That had been her wish – for security in the land she loved and to become the greatest in her chosen work.

When asked the secret behind her fine, nigh intoxicating

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brews, Mairi only said that she’d sold her soul to a faery for the secret recipe, and that they’d have to sell their soul as well to hear the answer. It was always met with laughs from the drunken men.

What they didn’t know was that Mairi met that same faery every night by her cottage, willingly, joyfully, selling her soul to Olphia time and time again.

About the author:

S D Simper has lived in both the hottest place on earth and the coldest, spans the employment spectrum from theatre teacher to professional editor, and plays more instruments than can be counted on one hand. She and her beloved wife share a home with their two cats and innumerable bookshelves.

Visit her website at sdsimper.com to see her other works, including Terra Mechanica: A Steampunk Anthology, a short story about a girl who must choose between her preserving her father’s memory or returning home to her sister.