Promises (Book One of The Syrenka Series) (3 page)

“
You will not see that boy
again, do you understand? The Matthews have finally agreed to
conduct this marriage and you will respect your duties and your
family. This is very important to our survival. Can you even begin
to comprehend what type of message your behavior is sending
them?”

I could see the frustration building
in her eyes, and before I even realized what was happening, my
tears were spilling over. I pushed her hands away and turned to my
father.

“
Please, dad. Please! Don’t
make me do this!” I waved my arm back towards the house. “Marisol
would kill to have the chance to marry Kain and provide him
children. Why can’t she just do it?” I was hysterical
now.

“
Oh Eviana, please don’t
upset yourself like this.” He glided over to me and wrapped me in
an embrace. His warm body and soothing voice kept offering me false
hope.

“
Stop babying her,
Charles,” my mother snapped. “She is almost eighteen now. It’s
about time she started acting like it.”

Marguerite, my mother and the Dumahl
Clan leader, didn’t stop there. “You and I had to endure our
arranged marriage when we were much younger than this.” Turning
towards me, she continued, “I became a leader when I was your age.
I survived. Charles and I survived. And so will you. Stop acting
like a spoiled brat and accept your responsibility!”

My mother walked away towards the
deck’s edge to regain her composure and my father sighed. I knew
what was coming next.

“
Eviana, you must do as you
are told. Kain is a nice young man with a good family. And from
what I can see, he is already quite taken with you.”

The sobs were out of control at this
point. I really did hate to disappoint my father and even my mother
sometimes. But this is not the life I wanted. I suddenly realized
that I wasn’t crying because I’d have to marry Kain, I was crying
because I knew that I had to run away. There was no other choice at
this point. Feigning total defeat, I pulled away and looked up at
him. His middle-aged face could pass for someone ten years younger,
but the wrinkles around his eyes did little to hide his distress.
I’d probably been the cause of most of those lines.

“
When is it?” I
asked.

Both of my parents looked at me in
shock. They shared a glance between them, no doubt trying to figure
out if this was a trick. My mother replied hesitantly, “The first
of the month.”

“
What? But that’s in less
than two weeks! I won’t even be eighteen yet.” And Brendan and I
won’t have a chance to leave.

“
You don’t have to be
eighteen. We are giving our permission,” my father said with a
questioning tone.

“
But…can’t we postpone it
until after my birthday? That’s only another couple of days. I’m
sure that Kain wouldn’t mind.”

“
It’s already been
arranged, Eviana. Stop being so difficult,” my mother said while
wrapping her arms around my father’s waist.

He looked down at her. “Marguerite,
I’m sure we could wait a few more days. The Matthews would be
amenable.”

“
You spoil her, Charles.
This is why she acts the way she does.” She sighed dramatically and
thought about his request. Her lips pursed together and she stared
intensely at me for a full minute. “Fine. I’ll talk to them. But
you will be married the weekend after your birthday. That gives you
plenty of time to say goodbye to that selkie boy.”

My gut twitched with a mixture of
relief, anger, and anticipation. I’d just bought myself a few extra
days, and although I hated my mother’s attitude towards him, I knew
that Brendan and I would be gone by that time.

“
Thank you,” I said
somberly. “I won’t disappoint you.” My mother huffed and my dad
smiled. I turned to walk into the house when they called my
attention back to them.

“
There’s something else.”
Her voice was clipped with the business tone and I knew that I
wasn’t going to like whatever it was that she planned to say. “We
are sending you to The Cotillion this year. You leave
tomorrow.”

“
What? Why?” The Cotillion
was an annual gathering of the merfolk
syrenka
, or the apprentice adults.
Once we reached marriage age, which was anywhere from sixteen to
twenty, the guardians would prep and train us for our future in
clan politics. Likewise, if someone wasn’t already promised in
marriage, The Cotillion served as a sort of matchmaking
ball.

My mother continued, “Since you will
be marrying Kain, you both will be attending this year. His father
is not aging well, and Kain is the next in line for leadership. You
will present yourself as a couple and Harlan will serve as your
guardian.”

Harlan Matthew was Kain’s father and
leader of their clan. I’d only met him a couple of times, so I
didn’t know how horrible the next few days would be. Kain and I got
along well enough, but it was never a completely comfortable
situation.

“
But what about
school?”

“
The arrangements have been
made.” I think that was my mother’s favorite phrase.

“
Well, when do I
leave?”

“
Tomorrow evening,” my
father said calmly and then smiled. “I think you’ll like the
location.”

“
Yeah?”

“
Yes. You are going to
Florida. Well, the Florida Keys to be more specific. The Donnellys
are hosting this year.”

Florida didn’t sound like that bad of
an idea, although I really wished Brendan could go with me instead.
I’d never been there and apparently the Donnellys were one of the
wealthiest clans next to the Matthews and the Dumahls. Rumor had it
that they owned their own island.

“
Enough for now,” my mother
cut in. “Go inside, shower, and pack for tomorrow. I’ll get your
travel documents ready.” She stepped closer to me, put her hands on
my shoulders, and stared into my eyes. “I expect you to be on your
best behavior Eviana Dumahl. If I so much as hear
one
negative comment from
anyone, and I mean anyone, you will be locked in this house until I
can marry you off to the Matthews. Do you understand
me?”

I swallowed hard, fighting my urge to
respond. My father caught my glance and pleaded with his eyes until
I reluctantly nodded to my mother.

“
Good,” she breathed. “Now
get inside.”

I turned to cross the rest of the
deck, but not before stripping off my blouse and sashaying away in
all of my naked glory. There is always a way to get the last
word.

Once inside, I immediately went up the
stairs towards my third floor bedroom. Our house was ridiculously
large with eight bedrooms and nine bathrooms plus a guest cottage
over the garage. The beach location was prime and many years ago,
our ancestors purchased multiple tracks of land to allow for the
privacy our kind desires. We all went to elite private schools, all
had new cars as soon as we could drive, and wanted for nothing. I
guess that was part of the tradeoff for being forced to marry and
mate once you became an adult. They stole your freedom later in
life therefore they spoiled you rotten early on.

“
So, did they rip you a new
one?” Marisol’s high-pitched annoying voice ripped me from my
thoughts. “Are you permanently grounded for the next two weeks?”
She was standing in the hall, blocking the path to my
door.

“
Get out of my way,” I
threatened.

Ignoring me, she stepped closer and
stood on her tip toes to get right in my face. “You are a disgrace
to this family. I can’t wait until you leave with the
Matthews.”

I envisioned how good it would feel to
punch her and watch as her bloody nose clogged her piercing voice,
but I just took a deep breath instead. The best way to handle
Marisol was to not take the bait. So I stood and waited for her to
give up.

“
Not going to fight me,
huh? My, my…they must have really punished you this time.” She
swayed from side to side, trying to encourage a reaction. Believe
me; it was hard to restrain myself. Finally, she sighed and blew a
cloud of hot air in my face. “Whatever,” she huffed and walked
away.

I stood there for another moment
wondering if I would miss her when Brendan and I left. My father,
yes. My mother…probably. But Marisol, I don’t think so. She had a
mean streak in her ten times worse than my mother’s. In all
honestly, she would make for a much better leader than me. Her
cold, detached personality would serve her well in that capacity.
And when I left, she would be next in line. Although she was only
fourteen, perhaps they would send her to Cotillion next year and
marry her off to Kain. It would be her dream come true.

For the next hour, I packed all of the
cute sundresses, wedges, and jewelry I could fit into my suitcase.
I did manage to squeeze in my one ball gown that we purchased last
year at my mother’s insistence. It had never been worn, and I was
secretly excited to finally try it out, although I would never let
my mother know.

After my shower, I tried to call
Brendan. He didn’t answer, but when I realized what time it was, I
knew the reason. He had just turned twenty-one and was now a full
bartender at one of the beach bars in the next town over. It was a
little dive, but during the peak season, it was packed with
tourists and an eclectic group of locals. At least that’s what he
had told me; I’ve never been there.

I envied Brendan for his work ethic
and drive. He was forced to leave home at sixteen and managed to
graduate from college last year with a biology degree while working
every night at one job or another. His maturity far topped mine,
and I often wondered why he would even want to put up with me. I
was spoiled and pampered and never really had a goal other than to
not marry Kain and not have his children.

Opening my journal, I
jotted down three words:
Find a
purpose.
Since I had a long flight and even
longer weekend ahead of me, I vowed to make Brendan proud of me by
maturing. As I smiled to myself in pride, my phone beeped with a
text message.

Sorry. Busy tonight.
Everything OK?
It was Brendan.

I replied instantly.
Yes. No. They are sending me to Cotillion
tomorrow night. In Florida! Meet after school?

It was another minute
before he responded.
Absolutely. See you
at the point.
That was our second favorite
private spot, and it wasn’t as far away as our island.

OK. Be there by 4. Miss
you. Love you.

Love you too Evs. Sweet
dreams.

I wanted to run to the bar and wrap my
arms around him now. The only thing keeping me in my bed was my
visions of what our life was going to be like together. No one
telling us that we can’t date. No one telling us what to eat or
drink. No one making plans about our future. It was going to be
wonderful.

I fell asleep with a smile on my face
dreaming about our first apartment together and counting down the
days until my escape.

Three

The school day was one of the longest
ones ever. It was a Thursday, which meant extra long classes but
fewer of them. I managed to talk with a couple of my girlfriends at
lunch which only made things worse. Apparently Justin Bernard was
having a major party this weekend and that was all anyone could
talk about. Justin was a senior and the coolest guy in school.
Cute, athletic, rich, human…enough said. He’d actually invited a
few of my friends personally and it had made their entire
week.

Unfortunately, I was not going to be
able to go and when I thought about the reason why, it just
depressed me more. When the final bell rang, I checked my watch to
see that I had thirty minutes to get to our meeting spot. Brendan
usually slept during the day due to his night schedule, but I would
imagine that he’d still beat me there.

I was fumbling with my bag that kept
slipping off my shoulder so I wasn’t paying attention to my
surroundings. When I got to the end of the pathway and raised my
head, my heart dropped. Sitting in front of me, waiting for the end
of the school day, was a sleek white limousine with tinted windows
and a distinctive blue wave emblem on the side door. I sighed and
let out an oath.

The driver’s side door opened, and a
tall man in a black chauffeur suit stepped out. He nodded his head
at me and waved towards the back door. “Miss Dumahl.”

“
Hi Jeffery.” I moved a
little closer and bent down to try and see inside. “Why are you
here?” Maybe my suspicions were wrong.

“
I am taking you and Mr.
Matthew to the airport. Didn’t your mother tell you?”

I knew it. This had probably been her
plan all along. “No, she didn’t. I wasn’t supposed to leave until
later tonight.”

Jeffery looked perplexed and said,
“Well, there must have been some kind of miscommunication. But your
flights are in just over an hour, so we need to go to the airport
now. Mistress Dumahl gave me your belongings and I’ve already
collected Mr. Matthew.”

“
Kain’s in there?” I
squinted my eyes in an attempt to see through the tint. My heart
fluttered slightly knowing that our weekend was already beginning.
But more importantly, I felt nervous because I was going to have to
talk to Brendan in front of him.