Promises (Book One of The Syrenka Series) (4 page)

“
Miss Dumahl. Please.”
Jeffery ushered me to the back door which he promptly opened and
encouraged me inside. A blast of chilled air hit me like a wall and
I instantly tightened the sweater around me. The leather seat
squeaked when I sat down and the smell of the sea mixed with a hint
of cologne overpowered my senses.

“
Hey Eviana,” a warm,
smooth voice greeted me. I turned to see Kain’s beautiful smiling
face. The baby blue eyes paired nicely with his light blonde hair.
It was longer now, and hung around his face and ears. He was
wearing a pair of jeans and a black sweater with a white collared
shirt peeking out from underneath. In simple terms, he looked good
as always.

Kain removed his sunglasses and
flipped them around a few times in his hand, seemingly anxious to
see what my attitude would be like today. It was a nervous habit of
his; he always had to have something moving in his hands. I
couldn’t help but smile.

“
Hi Kain. What are you
doing here?” Although he split his time between Los Angeles and
Boston, he usually stayed on the east coast. And if he was in town,
my parents made sure that he stopped by our house.

He smiled. “My dad had business in
L.A. and he wanted me to tag along. We drove up here this morning.”
Yes, apparently so they could officially arrange our marriage
behind our backs.

“
And now they’re shipping
us off to Florida for a fun-filled weekend,” I said with more than
a hint of sarcasm.

“
Not so thrilled to go, are
you?” He laughed at my discomfort. “It might be kind of fun, don’t
you think? I mean, we’ve never been to Florida before and the water
is actually warm. Plus, they have lots of dolphins!”

“
We have dolphins too,” I
countered.

“
Porpoise. And how many
times do you actually see them here? I think the sharks scare them
away.” I rolled my eyes at him in response. Jeffery began driving
away from the school to the awaiting airport. The weekend had begun
and my heart ached as I thought about Brendan.

“
So, did they tell you
where we’re staying?” Kain continued.

“
Nope. All I know is that
the Donnellys are hosting this year. My parents didn’t even tell me
about this until last night.”

“
Well, that’s because they
hadn’t settled on a date yet…” his words trailed off, realizing
that he’d just brought up the subject of our impending
marriage.

“
So where are we staying,”
I asked trying to break the tension.

“
Oh, with Master Donnelly
himself. Actually, I think they gave us the boat house. We’ll be so
close to the water.” His eyes were filled with excitement and hope.
I wasn’t sure if it was the tranquil Florida seas or my presence as
his betrothed that had him so elated. Time for a quick subject
change.

“
How’s your dad doing?” I
asked.

His smile faltered and he sank back
into the seat. “Okay, I guess. Some days are good, some are bad.
He’s going to meet us there tomorrow morning. I think there were
some things he and your mom planned to discuss without us being
around.”

“
I’m sure there were,” I
groaned. My mother had completely planned this. Not only did her
little stunt force Kain and me to travel together as a couple, but
she had the opportunity to finalize the wedding plans while I was
out of the state. I was reminded of another meeting and pulled out
my phone. Kain shifted in his seat and stared at me with a look
that made my stomach drop.

“
I’m sorry, but I need to
call Brendan.” I could see the excitement fall from his face and
disappointment settle in instead. “We were supposed to meet after
school, so I need to let him know what’s going on.”

Kain shook his head a little too
ambitiously in an attempt to feign understanding. “Yeah, sure. Go
ahead.” He put his sunglasses back on and looked out the
window.

I felt really uncomfortable making
this call in front of someone who had feelings for me, but my
mother gave me no other option. The phone rang three times before
he answered.

“
Evs? Where are
you?”

“
On my way to the airport,”
I sighed.

“
What? Oh, wait, let me
guess…your mother?”

“
Bingo. Totally planned,
I’m sure. She even arranged to get Kain here.” I turned to look at
him when I mentioned his name, but he continued to stare out the
window. “We leave in an hour, and it will probably be late by the
time we get there. I’ll let you know though.”

“
When do you get
back?”

“
Monday,
sometime.”

“
Okay, well we can get
together the night you get home. Let me know when you’re back and
I’ll tell you where.” I smiled and my heart fluttered. I could
always trust Brendan to come through with a plan.

“
Thanks,” I said
wholeheartedly.

“
For what?”

“
For being you. I love
you.” I tried to peek over towards Kain again, lowering my voice so
that he wouldn’t have to hear so much. It was pointless though, and
I saw his head drop.

“
Love you too. Have a safe
flight and try to enjoy yourself. I’ll be here when you get back.”
He was so confident and sweet that I couldn’t stop my eyes from
tearing up. I hated to spend more than a day away from
him.

We hung up and I pulled my sunglasses
back down to cover my sorrow. The car was turning onto the highway,
reminding me that we were getting closer to the airport. Kain and I
didn’t speak for several minutes until he brought up a subject that
I was hoping to avoid.

“
Did you tell him?” I knew
he was referring to the marriage and I rolled my head against the
seat to look at him. He was nervous but sincere in his question. My
relationship with Brendan had never been hidden or off limits, even
though Kain was the last person I wanted to discuss it
with.

“
Yes, last night.” I didn’t
elaborate and after a few moments he continued.

“
I know that you don’t want
to marry me,” he shook his head when I opened my mouth to say
something. “But it looks like we don’t have much of a choice. I’m
glad that I get to spend this weekend with you because I’d like to
talk more about our situation.” He ran his hands through his hair
and started playing with his sunglasses again. “I think that we can
make some sort of arrangement.”

I arched my eyebrows towards him.
“Arrangement?” Unless he could stop this unity, I couldn’t think of
any other type of arrangement I would want to negotiate.

“
With you and Brendan.” My
mouth dropped open in surprise. ‘”I know how much he means to you,
so I was thinking that maybe there is a way that you can still see
each other. In private, of course,” he added with a forced
smirk.

I didn’t even know what to say. What
kind of a guy would offer something like this? How could I possibly
deserve someone as good as him? He would allow me to cheat on him
with Brendan, and it was his idea? No one is this good,
unless…

“
Does this apply to you as
well?”

He laughed and shook his head. “No. I
don’t want to date anyone else on the side.” His blue eyes stared
through me and I could see how much it pained him to offer this
type of compromise. He was right in stating that we had no choice
in getting married. His family and my family were the most powerful
of all the clans, and our union would join us together as one. We
would be unstoppable, powerful, and safe. And this man in front of
me was willing to sacrifice his own happiness for everyone
else.

“
I don’t know what to say.”
It was the best I could do.

“
Just think about it. We
have to be married, but I don’t want you to be miserable the rest
of your life because you are stuck with me.” His voice nearly
cracked during those last few words. Without thinking, I reached
for him and grabbed his hands.

“
You would not make me
miserable, Kain. You are an amazing guy with the biggest heart of
anyone I know. A girl would be lucky to marry you.” He looked
perplexed. “You’re smart, gorgeous, nice…you are a real catch.
Trust me.” And as I said those words, I realized that I meant
them.

He squeezed my hands and winked.
“Gorgeous?”

I laughed and nodded my
head. “Yes, simply
gorgeous
. My sister is very jealous
of me.”

“
Is she? Perhaps I
will
consider an
alternative arrangement for myself too.” He smiled and wiggled his
eyebrows, so I punched him in the shoulder.

“
Gross. My sister can’t
count. Besides you can do much better than her.” His laugh helped
to lighten the mood and within a few minutes, we were pulling up to
the departure level of the airport.

Jeffery and Kain grabbed our bags and
we checked in without incident. As I was standing in the security
line, my heart began to pound in my chest again. This time it had
nothing to do with boys, but instead it was the fact that I was
actually getting on a plane. I’d only flown a couple of times, and
every trip cut a few years off of my life. Me and machines that
defy gravity do not mix well. Every little bump, twist, and turn
gives me a heart attack and a bout of anxiety. I was so busy
imagining a crashing, burning plane I didn’t notice that someone
was speaking to me.

“
Miss? Ticket and
identification please.”

I looked up to see the TSA man waiting
to check me in for what seemed like the third time with Kain
standing a few steps ahead waiting. He cocked his head to the side
and gave me a questioning look. I just shook my head and absently
handed the security guy my stuff. Once we were on the tram to our
terminal, Kain asked me what was wrong.

I felt like such a child, but I told
him anyway. “I hate to fly.”

He laughed and wrapped his arm around
my shoulder. “Well, you haven’t flown with me yet.”

I didn’t understand what he could
possibly mean until we were settled into our first class seats with
a glass of milk in front of me. The plane was still loading and my
anxiety was in overdrive.

“
Here,” he said and pushed
something into my hand. I looked down to see one of those eye masks
that people wear to block out the daylight. It smelled like
chamomile tea. “Put that on and drink your milk.”

“
Yes dad,” I replied with a
groan and he just laughed at me. I drank the milk blindfolded,
trying not to spill it all over my face, and then settled into my
seat.

“
Good, now just lay back
and relax.” He grabbed my hand and I squeezed. We started to move
away from the gate and soon enough were rushing down the runway and
lifting off. It was bumpy and I squeezed Kain so hard, he’d
probably be bruised tomorrow.

I heard him chuckle again and I
flipped the mask up to give him my evil eye. That only encouraged
him some more, but instead of laughing, he leaned in close to my
face. “I’ll sing until you fall asleep.”

I looked at him suspiciously. “Why
would I fall asleep?” He just smiled wider. “Kain, what did you put
in my drink?”

“
Just an anti-anxiety
remedy. All natural, don’t worry.” Merfolk were the original
holistic healers of the world. Our remedies have been working their
magic for centuries from the Egyptians to the indigenous people of
the New World. Many of the clans had family members owned holistic
centers, health food stores, or alternative therapy practices. And
most of those relied upon medicines derived from plants and animals
in the sea that humans didn’t know had healing properties. I was
guessing that my milk had been doused with a mixture of ground up
urchin spines and starfish eggs.

“
No more drugging me
without my knowledge,” I said with mock indignation.

“
Deal, even though I know
that you’ll thank me later. Now, sit back and enjoy my wonderful
voice.” He cleared his throat and started to sing
Baby Beluga
. I had to cut
him off.

“
Really? This is the song
you choose?” He ignored me.

“
Baby beluga in the deep
blue sea. Swim so wild and swim so free
…”
His voice was pleasantly soothing, although not surprising given
our nature. All of those old wives tales about sirens leading
sailors to their death were not that far off. There was one clan
who had refused to live on land for several generations, and they
would use their voices and beauty to mesmerize sailors into giving
them money and goods. As the shipping industry developed and
technology became more standard, they had to abandoned those
practices or risk being exposed.

Kain moved on to other songs about the
ocean. I vaguely remember him singing about a bump on a log in a
hole in the bottom of the sea before I passed out for good. I woke
up once with my head on Kain’s shoulder and his resting against
mine. Even though my neck was cramped, I couldn’t pull myself away.
I didn’t want to. Apparently he could hypnotize me with his voice
just as well as our ancestors could.

The flight to Miami was followed with
another shorter one to Key West. I was still tired, but couldn’t
help marvel at the city lights and the views of Cuba from the air.
Kain had snuggled back against me in an attempt to look out the
window too. His warm breath and unique scent continued to relax me,
and even though we had moved beyond our usual awkward silences, I
was still concerned about spending the weekend together.