A searing slap sent tendrils of pain down my left cheek. My head snapped to the side with the force of his hit.
“Why won’t you kiss me?” Tavvy screamed, spit hitting my face.
If goading him didn’t elicit the reaction I wanted, I would try stony silence. Again, my thoughts shifted back to the image of a pendulum. One extreme followed by another.
“Answer me!” He shook my shoulders. Crazed. Desperate.
Envious.
The man was overridden by the sin he was born with, an inherent part of himself. He couldn’t control his nature just like I couldn’t control being born with blonde hair.
It wasn’t the sin that made people act like monsters; it was how people wielded them.
Tavvy’s hands clumsily pulled at my shirt, and I once more held perfectly still. My eyelids were squeezed shut, blocking out his hideous face and cruel smirk.
I knew what was going to happen. I knew it, and a little part of me died inside because of it.
“You’re mine,” Tavvy whispered hotly, tongue lapping at my neck.
One second he was touching me, and the next his body’s weight left mine. I peeled open my eyes, scarcely believing what was happening.
Another face hovered a hair’s breadth away from my lips.
He was an avenging angel in the flesh. A being materialized straight from heaven to smite the creature who dared to harm me.
Dair’s eyes flashed with a rage unlike anything I had ever seen before. It burned me, burned my very soul, and was exactly the balm I needed. He would protect me when I couldn’t protect myself.
“How did you...?” I couldn’t finish my sentence, my eyes taking in his face. He looked positively murderous in the sliver of moonlight, his eyes flaming with an elemental fury. A darkness emanated from his eyes like a spilt cauldron of ink. He looked like a monster.
My monster.
“I told you,” he whispered roughly. His hands grabbed something behind him, but I couldn’t see what it was. “I’m not letting you go.”
One of his hands held both my wrists together as he led me back a step, and then another. He brought my wrists to a wooden post.
And then abruptly tied my hands to the post, the rope sinking into my skin and no doubt leaving red gashes. I couldn’t even fight back at first, the shock I felt at his actions leaving me speechless.
“Dair!” I hissed, pulling at the rope. It held. “Dair!” My voice was a screech, an accusation, and a condemnation all in one. Still, my Mermaid Prince didn’t falter under my glare. There was no sympathy or guilt in his blue gaze. Only resolution.
And it was then that I understood.
“Dair!” I kicked at the post, wiggling my wrists futilely. Without a word, Dair grabbed my dagger from my sleeve, being extra careful not to cut me, and then reached behind me to grab my sword. His eyes were dark when he finally faced his brother.
Tavvy rolled to his feet, blood gushing from his nose. It gave me great satisfaction to see him injured, though a part of me screamed in fury.
I had to protect him. I had to...
No!
I tried to ignore the Mage spell. My mind knew that I didn’t want to protect such a monster, but my body refused to listen to me. It struggled helplessly against the bindings in a desperate attempt to get to Tavvy.
“What are you doing, little brother?” Tavvy asked gleefully. He either wasn’t aware or chose not to care about the blood staining his palms as he opened his arms in a large, swooping motion. “We’re family. You share your mate with those...friends of yours. Why can’t you share her with me, your brother?”
“You’re not my brother.” Dair’s voice was dark and raspy, an inarticulate growl.
In the next second, Dair had Tavvy on the ground, punching him repeatedly in the face. The sword clattered as Dair dropped it, his need for vengeance, for the satisfying sound of flesh hitting flesh, overcoming his logical reasoning.
I began to struggle in earnest. I needed to get to Tavvy, I needed to protect him.
The need was almost uncontrollable. Sweat dripped down my forehead, and not just from my struggles.
My body and mind warred for dominance, each one believing to be right. I knew, innately, that I didn’t want to help the monster bleeding on the floor, but my body refused to listen. And, if it listened, it didn’t obey.
“You. Hurt. My. Mate,” Dair seethed between blows. Tavvy released a manic laugh.
“I would’ve done more than hurt her,” he rapped out. “I would’ve stuck my cock into her sweet cunt.”
His words pierced a part of my brain, the part that warned against helping such a monster, but it did not completely override the need I felt to protect him. I needed to get to him. I needed it more than I needed air to breathe.
His statement had the desired reaction from Dair too. His movements became erratic, just sloppy enough for Tavvy to slide smoothly out from underneath him and jump on his back. Dair fell to the ground, twisting. Their positions reversed, Tavvy began to level punch after punch to my sweet mate’s face, cackling beneath his breath.
I couldn’t help Dair. My body refused, but my mind stayed sharp. They could take away my body’s autonomy, but they couldn’t take away my voice. I would not be silenced.
“Get angry, Dair!” I shouted. “Get fucking enraged. He hurt me! He hurt you! Fight back! Fight back!”
Even as I screamed this, my body worked to break free and fight for Tavvy. Fight against my mate.
I hated myself.
My wrists were red and raw, but I did not relent. It was a helpless feeling, these contradicting emotions battling inside of me. A part of me wanted to stay chained forever, while the other part wanted - no, needed - to break free. Protect Tavvy.
No! Protect Dair!
No, Tavvy!
“Think of all that he’s done
