The Little Rose

History

After scarfing down some breakfast and handing our dirty, wet clothes over to be laundered for us, Luna Brooke guided us upstairs to their guest rooms. Nullar and I were on one side of the hallway, with rooms side by side, while Roisin was across from us. One glance between me and the fish boy, I knew we were in agreement, we could not leave her alone. I may have been willing to come here for help getting my mate to my sisters as quickly and safely as possible, but that did not mean I trusted anyone here. Odin was on full alert, as nervous as I was to even think about having Roisin out of our sight.

“What if you stayed in my room instead?”  I asked an anxious looking Roisin, who was standing in front of her door worrying her hands nervously. She was feeling the same upset I was, just thinking of being away from one another. At my words she swiveled to look at me with her sea-colored eyes big and hopeful.

“Really? That’s okay?”  She asked softly, looking at Luna Brooke hesitantly, I sensed she did not want to upset anyone, and that fact alone made her all the cuter.

“Of course it is, you’re my mate.”  I stated, raising a hand for her to take, my Little Rose rushed over slipping her hand into mine with a thankful sigh, which soon faded when she glanced over at a now angry Nullar.

“Why does my fiancée stay in your room?”  He demanded, stepping forward to face off with me. I had to give it to him, he had wide set shoulders and a muscular chest and stomach, he was even taller than most men, but still a good inch or two under me. He’d make an interesting opponent, especially after swimming in the ocean, against the water, for so many years, he was sure to be powerful in his own right.  But with Roisin right here, I was not interested in testing the theory here and now and compared to everyone else here, I felt his intentions as far as Roisin went were innocent.  He cared for her and just wanted answers as to what happened to his intended; of course, this did not mean I wanted him touching my mate.

“We should all stay in the same room.”  I told him, enjoying the look of pure shock that washed over his face before he nodded his head, opening the door and walking in, completely ignoring the Luna who was still standing nearby, looking as surprised as Nullar had when I told him we would all share the room. “Thank you, Luna Brooke, we just feel safer staying closer together, I hope you understand.”

“Yes, of course. Though I would like to put your mind at ease a little, you are completely safe here.”  Luna Brooke said, baring her neck in respect before scurrying down the hallway and out of sight.

Roisin was staring at me with that all too familiar look of curiosity in her gaze. “Yes Roisin?”  I asked her, as we turned and made our way through the door Nullar had entered just seconds before, I kicked the door shut behind us and tossed my duffle bag on a small sofa facing the rather large TV on the wall.

“Everyone did that same thing with their necks tonight. The officer, the guard at the edge of territory, the Alpha, and every person outside, and the Luna just now. What does it mean?”  Roisin moved to sit on the couch beside the duffle bag I had thrown there moments before, her beautiful eyes watching me expectantly for an answer.

“It’s a sign of submission to a wolf more powerful than they are.”  Nullar answered as he walked out of the bathroom, stopping at the door frame to lean a shoulder against it and cross his ankles as he looked between me and Roisin. “Seeing as how Orion is a Lycan instead of just a wolf, he’s more powerful than every werewolf in this pack, add in the fact that he’s royalty and there are few, if any, of his species that can defeat him. Did I get that all right, mutt?”

“Yep, that basically covers it.”  I grumbled, focused on opening my duffle bag and taking my phone and its charger out of the waterproof bag they had been in and plugging them into the wall beside a rather large bed. At least it seemed Nullar would not treat me any different simply because of the luck of my birth and genetics.

“Oh wow, I knew you were strong, but I didn’t realize…”  Roisin started, her eyes trailing me as I put the dead phone on the side table to charge.

“Why would you? It’s not exactly something I bring up in conversation.”  Pushing my fingers through my hair I grimaced at the dirty feel of my sea salt thickened locks and looked towards the bathroom, and there for Nullar, who was standing in its doorway. “I need a shower, can I trust you to keep her here, in this room, and safe while I’m in there?”

“I don’t need a babysitter! I’ll stay right here, promise.”  Roisin exclaimed, pulling her feet up to fold under her on the sofa.

“Yes, I’ll keep her safe.”  Nullar stated, moving out of the way of the doorway, and sitting on the couch beside Roisin. I did not mean to, but a low growl vibrated in my chest, making Nullar roll his eyes and move to the other end of the couch. I had never realized how jealous I could be, there had never been a scenario to test such an emotion with Gracie.  When we had announced she was my mate all others had steered clear, knowing how dangerous a jealous wolf could be.

But Nullar, he was not afraid of me, he was not scared of Odin, he only gave in to my jealous spouts because he did not want to cause drama in front of Roisin; a reason I respected.

“Thank you.”  I muttered before stepping into the bathroom, catching Roisin’s eye as I shut the door, her face lit up with a smile causing warmth to spread through my chest. She was dangerous to my senses.

“I really like her Orion.”  Odin’s voice filled my mind as I turned on the shower and began undressing while the water warmed up, filling the bathroom with steam.

“I do as well.” I told him in agreement, stepping into the water and hissing as the hot water hit my skin, but thoroughly enjoying the heat soaking into my sore muscles.

“I do not like Nullar.”  He growled next, the sour words bringing a smirk to my lips as I washed the salt water out of my hair.

“We are in agreement once again.”  I answered with a chuckle, before sobering up before my next words. “In the car earlier, why did you tell her all of that? You knew I wasn’t really to talk about them.”

“Because she deserves to know why we are the way we are… speaking of earlier in the car, did you her what Roisin called me?”  I knew what he as thinking, I could hear it in his tone.

“Yes, I did. It could be a coincidence…”   We both knew how odd it would be for it to be a coincidence. Roisin calling Odin the exact same name Gracie used for him. The longer we spent around her the more similarities we both saw.

“Do you really think that?”  Odin asked for a huff, already knowing the answer to his own question. I did not know what to believe at this point. All of this sounded like the plot to a bad movie. A dead werewolf’s spirit in the body of a mermaid princess who happened to be engaged to a merman and mated to a Lycan king? The only thing that made sense to me right now was the nothing was making any sense.

“We both know what I think, Odin.”  After rinsing the soap from my skin and the conditioner out of my hair, I flicked the shower nob off and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel to rub my hair and skin dry. The mirror was mostly covered in steam, but there was just enough clarity that I was able to make my self out and for the first time in a while, I really looked at my reflection. My hair was long past my shoulders now, halfway down my back in dirty blonde waves, made darker by the water weighing it down currently. I barely recognized myself from that boy I had been seven years ago. After I had shifted for the first time, I had grown another two inches in height and the hard labor I had done over the years to keep my mind numb and wear out my body had the added effected of keeping me in better shape then I had been in high school.

With the towel wrapped around my waist, I pulled my self out of my thoughts and grabbed the tooth brush they’d left on the counter still packaged for guest use, once my breath was minty fresh and my hair was freshly combed I opened the bathroom door and walked out, relieved to see Roisin and Nullar still sitting on opposite sides of the couch, though facing each other now as they talked.

“So you’re a prince?”  Roisin was asking in excitement as she leaned towards Nullar with wide eyes. She saw the world in a way similar to children everything was fresh and new, and a small part of me knew I would miss that part when she regained her memories.

“Yes, of the Northern Seas, just as you are Princess of the Oceans.”  Nullar answered, a rare smile curving his lips just slightly upward, his white teeth were just as much a startling contrast to his ebony skin as his hair and eyes. He’d never be able to blend in with humans with skin as black as night and hair and eyes the color of stark, freshly fallen snow.  His words made me pause in my tract to the door though, turning back to listen to their conversation.

“Princess of the Oceans? But how is that? You were just saying that each Ocean had its own royal family, such as your mother ruling her domain and you set to take over. How can I be Princess of every body of water on the planet if each body is already ruled by other families?”  Her eyebrows were pulled together in confusion, her full lips pursed as she watched Nullar closely, so engrossed in their conversation I was not even sure she had noticed me exit the bathroom.

“Because you are the daughter of Poseidon, and though we refer to you as Princess, you are a demi Goddess in human terms.”  Nullar stated matter-of-factly, with a slight nod of his head to emphasize his words. My head was spinning, Demi-Goddess? I had accepted that Selene was real, Odin was a testament to that, the powers our species had was proof of her being, but were there others? And if there were, how many were there? Was all the mythology I had learned in high school real?

“Daughter of Poseidon, the God of the Seas?”  I asked in disbelief, walking back to the couch, and placing my hands on the back of it to lean on and watch the exchange, though my words drew their attention to me, and Roisin was now looking me up and down with the same fire in her eyes that I had every time I thought of her under me.  If she did not look away soon, I would be pitching a tent with the towel wrapped around my waist.

“Yes, and no, I have read human’s mythology of the God’s and Goddess’s and while a lot of it is on tract, most of it is jumbled and recorded inaccurately.”  Nullar said, turning in his position on the couch so he could look between me and Roisin more comfortably. “Poseidon is more of a King of the Sea’s, Pontus is the sea itself, the true God of the Oceans, just as Gaia is the Goddess of the Earth because she is the very earth itself, her veins are the roots in the ground and her skin the grass. The skies are Ouranos, the rain is his tears, and the clouds are his eyes, the Underworld is the body of Tartarus, though it is not below your feet as humans like to believe, it is of another world, living among this one, but we can not see and feel it because we are still in the bodies of Gaia.”

“The bodies of Gaia?”  Roisin asked softly, as engrossed in Nullar’s words as I.

“Yes, our earthly flesh is of the dirt, water, light and soul; the land, sea, sky and spirit, we are created from the God’s own flesh and blood, their children.  Our flesh is referred to as the body of Gaia because even though it is made up of elements from all of the ancient God's and Goddess's, our Earthly shells become the Earth once more when we pass on to the next life, which is the realm of Tartarus.  Many believe he is the most important of the originals because he created the spirit, or soul if you rather, that makes each human unique, and accepts these souls back into him self to live forever in his realm."

“In school they said that in mythology, Prometheus formed man from mud and Athena breathed life into the clay figure.”  My words pulled a deep chuckle from Nullar who shook his head no.

“No, no. Like I said, humans have mixed the tales over the years. I have even read the religious books the humans’ worship; all the stories are similar. Christians believe that their God formed their bodies from clay and breathed his own life into them, creating the first man and soul.”

“That sounds very similar to what Orion said about Prometheus and Athena.”  Roisin cut in softly, hanging on to every word like a child to a bedtime story.

“Exactly, Muslims believe Allah created the first man and woman from clay as well. The same concept is repeated in every religion in one way or another. In fact, most religions are similar in nature, calling on loving your fellow man and caring for the Earth home they were given… both things the human aspect in every species has failed miserably on.”  Nullar grumbled, his face turning down in a frown at the thought before he blinked it away than smiled at Roisin once more. “Anyways, we are off topic. You are the daughter of Poseidon, King of the Seas, King of all water actually.”

“Who is my mother?”  She asked softly, leaning back against the couch, and pulling one of the throw pillows between them into her arms and hugging it against her, an unconscious way of trying to protect herself.

“To be honest, no one knows. Poseidon brought you to the coronation of King Alta some two hundred years ago and introduced you as his daughter. We were engaged that day, along with the others, of course.” Many things about his words had me blinking at him in confusion and surprise, apparently having the safe effect on Roisin because when we both regained our wits, we began talking over each other.

“Did you say Two hundred years? She looks like she is barely twenty-one?”

“I was engaged as a baby?”

“What do you mean by ‘along with the others?”

“Yes, I’d like to know that as well, because from the sound of it I am engaged to more than one person?”

“Okay, okay, calm down you two. I can answer your questions but not all at once.”  Nullar cut into our bombardment of inquires with another deep chuckle. “First, yes, two hundred years ago. Siren’s age much differently than humans or even werewolves, more on par with Lycans, we live for hundreds of years easily, which is good since our home is being poisoned and our fertility is at an all time low due to the chemicals humans wash into our waters without care.”  His angry tone trailed off before clearing his voice and continuing. “Off topic again, sorry about that. Yes, you were engaged as a baby, most royals are, especially supernatural royals, it forms alliances through blood. By ‘along with the others’ I mean the four other Princes of the Earth’s Ocean territories. You were engaged to the five of us as a way to bring the worlds waters together. All of us are second sons, since our Kingdoms need their own rulers to govern their waters, and each of us were given a rotation to guard and protect you thus giving us a chance to know you on a more personal level and perhaps grow fond of one another.”  I watched as Nullar moved forward and placed one of his large hands on my Little Rose’s, his eyes meeting hers and shinning with love.  The way he looked at her tugged at a place in my heart and I had to look away, Odin was angry at another touching our mate, but I could not bring myself to separate them just yet. I recognized the way he looked at her; because it was the way I had always looked at my Gracie.

“You said in the Ocean last night that you had been my guard since I was a guppy, how did you five rotate shifts if you have been my guard for so long?”

“We all moved with you to your fathers’ home that day, but we all clashed constantly, and your father began to grow weary of having his home repaired, so It was deemed we would take shifts until you became of age. So I was with you for the first ten years of your life, and these past forty-nine years.”

Roisin was much older than me after all, by almost one hundred and seventy years at least.  I was not sure how to take that in.

“I’m thousands of years older than both of you, in our world time and age have no meaning as long as both are of age… and consent to the relationship as well, of course.”  Odin pipped up in my mind. Out of everything being said, that was his priority for me to understand.

“When do Siren’s become of age?” 

“Normally, much akin to Lycans, around eighteen years after birth. But as a Demi-Goddess, and future ruler of the worlds Ocean, your father declared you would be ready to wed when you turned two hundred.”

“So I am of age now?”  Roisin’s voice filled with worry, I turned back around to face her and watch her a bit more carefully I did not want any of this to upset her, thankfully Nullar’s hand was no longer touching her.

“Not as of yet, but almost, your birthday is next month.”

“So, next month my mate is expected to marry five Prince’s from the five Ocean’s royal families? Do I have that all straight?”  I asked, walking around the couch to place a hand on Roisin’s shoulder, watching Nullar closely as he thought over his words before answering.

“Yes, technically she is expected to wed us next month, but things have changed now, obviously. She is mated to a Lycan King, and if memory serves from my history of Lycan knowledge in school- “

“School? Siren’s go to school?”  I chuckled, unable to keep the irony to myself. “So Fish-men go to school just as their full fishy counterparts swim in schools, good to know.”

“You really are a child, aren’t you?”  Nullar groaned, shaking his head in exasperation.

“I mean, are we shocked at my lack of maturity, by your standards I’m basically an infant. Roisin here is almost two hundred years old and you were an adult when you met her. I’m almost scared to know your age… though it makes since now why your hair is so white.” 

“My hair, eyes, tail, and lunavullar are all white because it is a mark of my royal blood line. My brothers have them as well, along with my father before us, and his father and so on. It’s a mark of the ice that runs through our waters and there for our veins.”

“Lunavullar?”  Roisin asked softly, drawing both of our attention back to her.

“Lunaviullar are the marks on a male Siren’s body that show up only in our Aqua forms. They are the equivalent to the human tattoo, though they are not so barbarically earned. Instead of needles and ink we get ours from the moon, hence the word Luna. We receive them when we are of age and are able to prove our place among the warriors of the Moon and Sea.”  Nullar’s chest puffed out a bit at his words, showing he was proud of his own markings, even though they were not visible in his current form.

“Yes, that’s all fascinating and everything, but you were talking about your knowledge on Lycan history?”  Picking Roisin up from her seat on the couch I sat in her spot and placed her on my lap, wrapping my arms around her waist to hold her close. I’d done this because Odin was agitated at the idea of his mate marrying another and I had hoped the action would calm him, seeing Nullar’s jaw tense and a muscle there seem to tick in agitation was a bit of icing on the cake though.

“Lycan’s mate forever.”  He grumbled in answer.

“For their lifetime?”  Roisin asked softly, her hands on my own sending delicious fire through my veins that I was thoroughly enjoying.

“No, beyond that, Lycans are the only species that mates forever. Even into the next life when both die at the same time. As long as one stays on the Earth, the other’s soul will reincarnate forever into a new human body.” 

“That sounds so beautifully romantic.” Roisin breathed, her fingers gliding over mine in a caress I did not think she even realized she had made.

“It is, it’s one of the very few good things about them.”  Nullar stated with a glance at me, the comment was made to get under my skin, but the way Roisin had cooed over Lycans’ mating for eternity had me on cloud nine for the moment, so I let it pass.

“I should go get my clothes so that I am not walking around in a towel and you two both need to clean up as well… though how we are supposed to wash you without you turning into your Aqua form I’m still unsure of.”  I said as I fingered Roisin’s salt water and sand coated hair.

“I’ll lend her my Transformation Stone.”  Nullar stated, pulling a small, braided leather bracelet with a deep blue toned stone in it from his wrist and offering it to Roisin. “I’m not sure where her necklace is, but until we can get a witch to create another, she can use mine.”

Roisin and I both stared at the bracelet and then Nullar in confusion prompting him to take Roisin’s pale wrist in his dark hand and slip the bracelet over her hand, pulling a string on each side to tighten it to fit her perfectly. “This is a Transformation Stone, it’s a stone that is blessed by a witch to allow you to control when you transform. I can swim in the ocean or play in the rain in my human form as long as I have this bracelet on, to transform to my Aqua form I simply lay my hand over the stone and say ‘Nat Rully Aquaticca’.”

Roisin nodded her head and raised her arm to look at the bracelet in wonder, first thing on the list when we got to Tennessee, find a witch, and get a Transformation Stone made for Roisin. “Alright, now that we have that figured out, I’ll go figure out if they have anything clean, we can wear while we wait for our clothes and get a few more towels, they only had two in there and I used both.”  I leaned forward and kissed Roisin on the cheek before depositing her back on the couch softly as I stood, readjusting the towel at my waist so it was tucked in snug. “I’ll be right back. Roisin, don’t leave the room please, and Nullar, make sure you watch her like a hawk, she likes to wander around.”  My joke made Roisin smile even as she rolled her eyes.

Walking out of the room I thought over everything that had been said and decided that there was a lot of research I needed to do the moment we reached Tennessee. I was not losing another mate.