The River Maid (32 page)

Chapter Thirty Eight

Christian slid off the bed, careful not to wake Adrianna. He tucked the blankets closer around her. Even in her sleep, she shivered. He stroked her dark hair which was spread over the pillow and kissed her forehead before he left, locking the door behind him. He went down to the drawing room. He found Gaspard there with his mother, talking softly. They broke off when he entered.

“It’s getting worse,” he said quietly. “I don’t know what to do.”

“
I don’t think there’s anything we can do,” Gaspard replied with a heavy sigh.

His mother rose and placed her hand on his shoulder. “
I’m sorry, Christian.”

He was watching her die. He was afraid of reaching the end of the book, sure he would lose her once they did. He sat with her every waking moment and slept in a chair next to the bed. He still read to her, although there seemed little point. She drifted in and out of consciousness. She still shivered in her sleep and complained of being cold, although she was hot to the touch. It was all he could do to get her to sip some water. He was afraid to leave her alone, afraid he would return to find her gone.

“You need to get some sleep,” his mother said. “I will stay with her.”

He shook his head.
“I can’t leave her.”

“It will do Adrianna no good if you’re too weak to help her. Let me sit with her. Please.”

He knew she was trying to make amends for her earlier comments against Adrianna. Reluctantly, he nodded. “Thank you.”

But sleep eluded him. In the end, he rose and dressed. He went down to the stables and saddled his horse. He did it himself, leaving the stable boys to sleep. He cantered down to the river. The morning light said dawn was not far away. He reined his horse in at the river
’s edge and jumped down.

“Lorelei!” he shouted. “Lorelei!”

Mist rolled across the river, slowly creeping around his legs and coiling around his boots like ghostly chains. He called her name over and over again, until his voice was hoarse. In desperation, he shouted, pleading with her to come and show herself.

“
Lorelei,” he begged, one final time. “I know you’re out there. Please talk to me.”

He was about to give up and leave when Lorelei emerged slowly from the water. First, her head appeared and then the top of her white shoulders. She regarded him for a long moment and then he saw the flash of a tail as she swam toward him. Gone was the girl he had known. Huge violet eyes dominated her gaunt face. The irises seemed to ripple outward, like waves in the sea. The remains of her green dress was torn and shredded and it hung around her in tatters, barely covering her pearl white skin.

He went to move closer. “Stay where you are.” Her voice was different, the timbre low and husky. It sounded as if it came from some cavern far below the sea that had never seen the light of day.

“
I know what you are,” he said. “You don’t have to hide from me.” She didn’t move. She watched him, her inhuman eyes unblinking. He gathered his courage and went on. “I need your help. Adrianna was out of the water too long. She’s dying and I don’t know what to do.”

“
Why didn’t you love me?” she asked, ignoring his question. He could hear the pain in her voice.

“
I’m sorry,” was all he could say. 

“
I would have given up everything for you. I would have loved you forever.”

“
That was never what I wanted.” There was silence. “Will you help Adrianna?”

“
Why should I help her? She stole you from me.” She spat the words. Her eyes blazed with anger and fury. The river started to churn, sending waves washing against the bank.

He took a deep breath. “
If you help her, I will be with you.”

The waves died down. “
You will love me?” There was hope in her eyes.

“
I can’t promise that, but I will try to love you.”

She laughed. It was painful to hear, full of sorrow and bitterness.
“Come and be with me then, Christian. Come into the river and stay with me forever.” She reached out a hand for him. Green veins marbled her arms. Her skin seemed to glow with its own light and the hand she reached out had nails long like blades.

She would kill him. He knew what she meant when she asked him to stay with her forever. He waded into the river until it reached the top of his boots and waited for her to pull him down and drown him.

“You would give up your life for her?” She sounded like a girl again, bewildered and unable to understand. The rage had gone and all that was left was a deep sadness that haunted her incredible eyes.

“I love her,” he said, not caring if she killed him for saying it.

Silver tears pooled in her eyes and slowly trickled down her cheeks. “Go, Christian, never come here again. Go and be with her.”

She dived into the water and vanished.

~~~~~

Adrianna woke feeling like she
’d had the strangest dream. No longer cold, she finally felt warm. For a moment, she thought she was in her bed at home, but then she opened her eyes and took in the huge canopied bed and stone walls. Christian sat on a chair next to the bed, his handsome face filled with concern.

“
You’re awake,” he said, rising from the chair. He carefully sat on the bed beside her and took her hand in his.

She tried to lift her head from the pillows, but failed. “
What happened?” she asked.

“
You had a fever. I nearly lost you.”

He squeezed her fingers. She squeezed back as much as she was able. She felt so weak. He helped her to sit up, supporting her with his arm while he moved pillows behind her back. He picked up a glass of water from the table beside the bed and held it to her lips.

“How long was I asleep?” she asked when he took the glass away.

“
A week.”

Her eyes widened at the news and she tried again to sit up, but it was too much effort. “What about t
he French?”

“
They haven’t come. They will at some point when Fournier doesn’t return, but we should be safe for the moment.”

She looked down. Blankets were tucked around her, covering her tail. She didn
’t want to look at it, afraid of what she might see. She could no longer even feel it.

“How bad is it?” she asked.

His eyes followed her gaze. “I haven’t looked at it for a few days.” She could tell by his expression that it hadn’t looked good when he had last seen it.

“You should go,” she said.

“I’m not leaving you.”

“Please, Christian. I don’t want you to see it.”

“You shut me out once before remember. I won’t let you do it again. Whatever happens now, it doesn’t change anything between us.”

“
Christian…” she began. He stopped what she was about to say with a finger to her lips.

“Whatever happens,” he said firmly.

Reluctantly, she nodded. She braced herself for the worst as Christian drew back the covers. She was now wearing a white nightdress, although she didn’t remember when that had happened. She could see her tail sticking out of the bottom. The fins looked limp and wilted. She lifted up the nightdress and had to choke back a cry. It was a mess. Flakes of translucent scales were scattered across the sheets and her tail looked like a grey lump of charred ash. 

Christian gently touched her tail.
“Does it hurt?” he asked.

She shook her head. “
I can’t feel anything.” He moved his hand further down to her fins and suddenly she could feel the warmth and pressure of his touch. “Wait, I can feel that.”

“
There’s pink here underneath the scales.” He carefully brushed some of the scales away. A chunk broke off and crumbled into dust. A frown creased his brow.

“What is it?” Adrianna asked.

“I’m not sure.” He pulled out a small folding knife from his pocket. “I won’t hurt you.” Carefully, he used the blade to scrape more of the scales away. He drew in a breath.

“What is it?” Adrianna asked, trying to see.

“It’s your legs. Underneath are your legs.”

Sure he was mistaken, she looked down. She could see pink underneath the grey peeking through. She couldn
’t believe it.

Christian rushed to the door and shouted for Gaspard. Gaspard appeared panting and out of breath.
“What is it? What’s happened?”

Laughing, Christian clapped him on the back. “It’s
Adrianna. She’s awake and she has her legs back.”

A huge smile filled Gaspard
’s face. “That’s wonderful, mademoiselle,” he said, coming in to look.

Christian carefully scrapped more of the scales away to reveal healthy pink flesh. He had to cut away large chunks of scales near the top of her legs, but they fell away easily, crumbling into powder.

“We’ll leave the rest to come away by itself,” Christian said after most of her legs had been exposed. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

She had to blink away tears as she looked down. She could see her toes amid the remains of her tail.
“I can’t believe I have my legs back.” She wriggled her toes, watching them move. She tentatively touched her skin. It felt so smooth and soft after the feel of her scales.

The scales continued to come away slowly over the next few days until nearly all of her legs had been revealed, except for a few patches of green scales that still remained. There was a large patch at the top of her left thigh and another over her right calf. Christian tried to gently scrape them away, but it hurt.

“I don’t think they’re going to come off,” he said.

She touched the shiny patches, watching as the scales caught the light. They seemed to be fused to her skin. But it was a small price to pay for having her legs back and it was a reminder that it hadn
’t all been a dream.

Christian
’s mother was horrified when she found Christian in Adrianna’s room examining her legs one morning and immediately ordered him out. He jumped up from the bed, flushing guiltily, but he came back later once she had gone. 

She
’d spent over a year as a mermaid and it was strange to have legs and be a girl again. She kept looking down expecting to see green fins and a tail.

She had to learn how to walk again. Christian coaxed her out of bed.
“Try a few steps,” he said, pulling back the covers and helping her to turn round and slide to the edge.

She placed her feet on the floor. Her legs felt heavy and clumsy.
“I can’t.”

“
I won’t let you fall.”

He held out his hands. Helpless to resist the boyish gleam in his eyes, she stood up, but immediately her legs buckled. Christian caught her and steadied her, his hands on her waist. She wound her arms around his neck for support. He was all that was keeping her upright.

“I can’t do this,” she said.

He continued to hold her.
“Just one step and then you can rest.”

It felt like her legs wouldn
’t take her weight. She would have fallen if not for Christian. She awkwardly shuffled one foot forward and then the other. Having a tail was much easier than having two legs. She had to keep remembering to move them separately. The wooden floor felt hard under her tender feet. They were as soft as a newborns, the previous calluses gone. She missed the ease of moving through the water. She was exhausted by the time she had taken two steps and Christian had to help her back to the bed.

Each day, he made her walk a little further, at first just around her bedroom, then along the landing and then down the stairs. He took her outside onto the parapets. She could see the river below, where she had once thought she would spend the rest of her life. The town looked so small from the castle. It would soon be time for her to go back there, but how could she go back after everything that had happened?

Christian stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist. She leaned back against him, content to be in his arms. Neither of them spoke of the future, afraid of breaking the spell.

Now that she had her legs back, she had no reason to stay at the castle. She should go back to the town, but she didn
’t want this to end. They were pretending again. Whatever was between them, it couldn’t last. The French would catch up with them eventually and they would have to face them.

“What are you thinking about?” Christian asked, his mouth against her hair.

“I wish we could stay like this forever.”

His arms tightened even more around her.
“We can. No one can take the castle. If the French come, we could stay in the bergfried and lock ourselves away from the world. No one would be able to reach us there.”

She wished they could do that. A thought suddenly occurred to her.
“We never finished our story,” she said, twisting her head round to look up at him. “What happened to Don Quixote? Did he marry Dulcinea?”