His beauty was unparalleled, even as he lay asleep in her bed, even with his face marred with small red lines and his body hidden under layers of bandages, and her quilt. His golden hair cascaded onto the pillow, shimmering in the sunlight which streaked through the curtains, and Alanis sighed.

It had been a full day, and still he had not awoken. She and the physician had taken the liberty of bathing and stitching him, and now she hid him away in her chambers.

The guards, handmaidens, and indeed her advisors, had pleaded to accompany her, but she saw the wickedness, the lust, and the impurity behind their words. She refused.

He was a prisoner to them, an asset, an experiment, a toy.

The King hadn't chosen her accompanying court without reason.

"We can not have an heir as naive as you." His words rang in her head, "it would do you good to learn that."

Fourth in line to the throne, and yet it seemed unlikely that she would ever acquire the cruelty, or the ruthlessness the King desired.

Until then, her morals had doomed her to this isolated Isle of Silthia. And unless her courtly mannerisms improved - or the reaper claimed her, she would remain.

"Your grace, dinner is prepared." Came the voice of her handmaidens from behind the oak doors.

Alanis turned in her velvet chair, set down her embroidery. "Hush, you may go to it yourselves. I will join you later."

"Your grace, has he awoken yet?"

She glanced back at the creature - man - in her bed. "Not yet."

"Then come, your grace, if you are hasty, he will not miss you long."

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With a relenting sigh, Alanis consented to the wishes of her maidens, and left her chambers for a time.

She returned within the hour, bringing with her a bowl of fruits should the mysterious creature have awoken.

He had not.

Alanis was slowly coming to the realization that it had been a rather daft idea to place a creature of the sea in her bed.

Suppose he awoke in the middle of the night, frightened, and took it upon himself to fight his way back to the sea? The mess of bloodied Merfolk corpses they had found scattered near him was proof enough that he was a force to be reckoned with.

Quietly, she set the bowl next to her embroidery, and crept towards the edge of the bed. Her footsteps were delicate, and she made no noise as she knelt beside him.

It had been long enough.

She took a slow breath, and in a soft voice, spoke hushed words of old. They were no more than a distant memory to her, but the words aligned, and she felt a light sensation flowing from her neck, her eyes, her fingertips.

At first, there was only quietude, the distant laughing of her maidens through the open windows. A murmur of the sweet song from the birds nesting in the wisteria. The sigh of a breeze dancing in the curtains.

Then the echoed whisper of her words touched him, and his eyes fluttered open, and he awoke with a gasp. The golden streaks of sunlight bathed him in its touch as he sat up hastily, in a confused daze.

Alanis rose slowly from the side of the bed, "do you remember me?"

The creature fell back against the bed frame, dragging with him the quilt, pulling it against his chest as if that alone could save him.

"I am called Alanis." She said, placing her hands on her chest as she sat on the edge of the bed, facing him. "Alanis."

"Maiden of Mercy." The creature replied in a hushed whisper, eyes refusing to meet hers. "I know."

"You speak our language."

"You merely have ears willing to listen." He sunk a little lower, his voice barely audible, "thank you for saving me."

"You didn't require much saving." Alanis smiled gently, "we just stitched you up a bit. You should be alright in a week or two, and then you may return home."

His eyes widened at that, and then narrowed just as quickly. "I can not. "

Alanis hesitated, "why?"

"You rescued me from the clutches of death." His eyes trailed up to meet hers, and she was taken aback by the vibrant ocean of colours staring back at her. " Alanis of Mercy, I can not leave you without repaying the debt."

"What do you mean?"

"You saved my life, and now it is yours." He leaned across the bed, holding the blanket to his chest with one arm, the other taking her hand in his own. "Take me as I am, wretched, and broken, and wholly indebted to you. I will guard you. Evermore."