Mermaid_ A Twist on the Classic Tale - Carolyn Turgeon [50]
She was staring into the flames when it came to her that she knew what to do. It was the only thing she could do as a woman, even as the daughter of the king.
Marry him.
THE NEXT MORNING she sent a message to Gregor, asking him to meet her in the library that afternoon, while the king and a group of soldiers went out to hunt.
She washed in the basin by the fire and dressed carefully, Laura lacing her into one of her finest gowns. Then she hurried to the library.
She had decided to tell him everything and prayed that he would help her. She knew her father was planning an invasion soon. Pieter rarely left his side, and they were often joined by the kingdom’s greatest warriors—preparing for battle.
Gregor was waiting for her at the table where they’d met for her studies, behind a shelf of precious manuscripts.
“Marte,” he said, standing. “How are you?”
“I am well, friend,” she said, smiling warmly at him. She remembered the countless hours she’d spent right here, bent over manuscripts of Greek and Latin, old tales of traveling warriors and angry gods, young girls turning to trees and doves and spiders.
“I understand that your talk with your father did not go as you had wished. I was sorry to hear it.”
“Thank you,” she said, nodding. She leaned forward. “Is it safe to speak openly here, Gregor?”
His face became serious, and he got up and locked the door. “We will say we are having a lesson,” he said, “to refresh your Greek, if anyone asks.”
“Yes, good,” she said. “I need your help.”
“Of course.”
“First … I have to tell you, there is something else, something that I have not told anyone. That I can’t tell anyone, not even Edele. I know her too well, and she could not keep this to herself. You are the only one I trust with this information.”
“What is it, Marte?”
“The prince, he did not just wash up to shore. He was brought there. I saw it. I was standing in the garden, looking out over the sea, when I saw a creature from myth. A mermaid. Carrying him in her arms.”
“A mermaid?” he repeated.
“Yes. She saved him when his ship was caught in a terrible storm. He was unconscious, nearly drowned. I’d never …” She choked up with feeling, and tears came to her eyes. “It was the most beautiful thing. Standing there, on a cliff, everything ice and gray and empty, and then she appeared, with him in her arms. I had no idea who he was. You should have seen her face, the way she looked at him. It was rapture. That is how I know he was not there to hurt me. She brought him to me. To me. For a reason.”
To her surprise, he wasn’t laughing at her; her words seemed to be moving him. “A mermaid,” he whispered. “Astonishing.”
“Yes. This is why I am so sure that my father is wrong. But I could never tell him this. I can’t tell anyone but you.”
“You’re right,” he said. “We have lost these beliefs. Your father will find you mad.”
“And you?”
Her face betrayed how much she needed his affirmation, needed him to believe that what she was saying was true.
Suddenly his face seemed to cave in, and he brought his hands to his eyes, covering them.
“Gregor? What is it?” She jumped up with alarm. Never, in all these years, had she seen the old man like this. “Gregor!”
He pulled his hands away from his face. He, too, had tears in his eyes. They were red and watering, his mouth was open, and for a moment she thought he was having some kind of an attack. “Please sit down,” he said, his voice hoarse, strange. “It’s just … Fate, my dear, is a very funny thing.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Let me tell you a story,” he said. He took a long breath and waited for her to sit again. And then he spoke slowly, remembering. “When I was a very small child, my parents