Free Fire (The Mermaid Legacy - Book 2) by Natasha Hardy Page B

land, a first in Oceanid history as they’d always remained loyal to the sea.
    “Often when something is different, when it challenges what everyone has always done, the group will try to break it before they accept it. In our case they eventually succeeded by removing the source of the change. Sabine.”
    “They killed her?”
    He didn’t need to answer the question, the horror and devastation of it was etched deep into the bitter twist of his mouth and the spark of rage that burned in his eyes.
    “So many of them were involved, this people I supposedly loved. Their roles were purposeful in some cases and horribly accidental in others. I would have killed every last one of them if she hadn’t made me promise with her dying breath to look after them, to fight for them.”
    He shook his head wryly before gazing up at the star-bejewelled heavens.
    “I first found her by listening to the voices in the water. Human voices and motives are somewhat muted in the water, but when she fell into the pool in the cave, I knew, in that instant, that she was everything I needed. After she passed, I avoided the water at all costs, until one day last winter I accidently brushed the surface of a pool. Timing is everything, my dear, and that day, Neith happened to be communicating with his many followers, and what I heard—” He shuddered. “It will be the abomination of an age if it is allowed to take place.
    “I have been listening to every skin-crawling motive of Neith and his followers for some time now. I have been monitoring as much as possible.”
    “You mean Neith was planning something like this before I came along?”
    Pelagius chuckled. “The self-orientation of youth,” he murmured shaking his head. “Yes, my dear, Neith has been planning this for a long time. You posed a frustrating obstacle when you first arrived at the pod and it took all of your young Merrick’s considerable skills to keep you from his clutches. His current plan of action has only been accelerated by your exceptional talents.”
    “
Was
accelerated,” I cut in. “I’m not accessible to him any more.”Pelagius’s expression was anything but comforting.
    “From what I’ve heard, Neith’s not about to give up because you refused him, I suspect he will continue to hunt you but only as a secondary act to the war he is constructing. He will go ahead with or without you.”
    “And if I try to stop him he’ll kill Merrick.”
    Pelagius was quiet for a while.“Does that mean you will not fight him?” he asked.
    “I want to get Merrick back,” I replied stubbornly.
    “Does that mean you are willing to sacrifice human lives?”
    I stood and began to pace the beach. “No…I mean I obviously don’t want Neith killing humans.”
    “So you are willing to sacrifice Oceanid lives to get Merrick back?”
    I scowled at him, turning his question over in my head.
    “No,” I replied eventually. “Why does anyone’s life have to be sacrificed? Surely we can work this out…” Even as the words left my lips I knew that that outcome was an impossibility.
    I sank into the sand. “Why do I have to choose? No matter which way I turn someone will be getting hurt…I hate this…”
    “And it is that hatred for violence that you must cling to and at the same time overcome. Cling to it so that you remain hesitant to send any innocent soul into the ugliness of battle and overcome it with the knowledge that before this adventure is concluded many will die.”
    “You don’t know that,” I snapped.
    He smiled. “How are you planning to get Merrick out…are you planning to go into Ferengren alone again?”
    “No…I don’t know, Pelagius, all I do know is that I can’t sacrifice Merrick…I won’t. Truth be told, I need an army to get to him.” I sighed, running my hands through my hair as a I stared at the fire.
    He smiled.
    “If you had an army how would you get Merrick back?”
    I’d been turning that exact question over and over in my head