Free A Mermaid’s Wish by Viola Grace Page B

created that could be hidden in her hair so that her fussy mother would not destroy it and wreck the charm.
    Her beauty had slowly faded over the next year so that instead of blooming, she withered. By the time she was an adult, she was normal and average in every way, and her mother had ceased pushing her to enter society.
    She had what she asked for.
     
    “Josnal has made your father an offer. He wishes you to move in with Rewma and him as their nanny when the baby comes.”
    Taem stared at her mother in shock. “I have a job. I have a life. I am not going to go anywhere near that pervert.”
    “Are you still on about that? You should be flattered that he is paying attention to you, but really, next to Rewma you are nothing. Why would he want you?”
    Taem had learned what drove Josnal. It wasn’t beauty, it was vulnerability. Out of her three sisters, she was the only one who was unsure. She had always been unsure and that was an aphrodisiac to a man like Josnal, used to being pursued. The more she ran away, the more he chased her.
    “Mother, I do not know why he would want a creature like me around his infant. After all, a child should be surrounded by beauty, do you not agree?” It was manipulation, pure and simple, but she said it anyway.
    She left her mother in the wet entrance and headed for the kitchen. Scavenging for her dinner was something she was used to. It seemed no matter when she came home, she had missed it.
    Her mother wasn’t done. “You would relieve your father of the burden of caring for you. It would be welcome to have an empty home.”
    Taem shuddered. Swinger parties weren’t her thing, and the fact that her parents wanted to use her room made returning to it unappealing. “I suppose I should just move out then.”
    Here was the other argument. “You can’t live alone. What would the court say?”
    “I will file for a dispensation. Don’t worry. You and Father will be well mentioned in the court filing.”
    She entered the kitchen, and her mother stopped at the door. When Taem was a child, she thought that there was a force field that kept her mother from setting foot in the kitchen. Now, she knew it was just snobbery.
    Taem raided the cooler and piled a plate high, heading to the breakfast nook on the other side of the kitchen. Haslin, the maid, gave her a wink and polished the counter to ruin the sightline that Taem’s mother was trying to maintain.
    Being glared at while eating wasn’t new. Taem calmly ate her meal, drank a glass of juice and washed the dishes before putting them away. The moment that she started washing her dishes, her mother started to splutter.
    Timea-sah was a noble only because her beauty had gotten her a rich noble husband. For her, beauty was the key to wealth and happiness, and for one of her daughters to be without that key was mortifying. No child of hers should have a normal life.
    Taem walked back into the firing line, and her mother harangued her all the way through the house until they reached Taem’s room. “I will be out of your hair within the month, Mother. We do not need to wait for you to whore me out to Josnal.”
    She closed the door in her mother’s face, hearing the gasp as the panel shut. She would pay for that, but for now, she enjoyed silence.
    Her appeal to the court was nearly complete when a sharp knock at her door told her that her father had come. Dimeal-sah was formidable, lovely to look at and had no idea how to connect to his youngest child.
    “Come in, Father.”
    She got to her feet and inclined her head as he entered. “Sit down, Taem. I have come to speak to you.”
    He took the chair opposite her desk, and he leaned forward. “Josnal has made an offer to take you into their home as nanny.”
    Taem nodded. “I am aware.”
    Her father frowned. “Why?”
    She blinked. “What?”
    “Why does he want you in his home? Rewma is appalled at the idea, so I can’t understand why he is so insistent.” He looked