Sinking Woman || Yandere!Siren X F!Reader

The Selkie Bride

Recovering from starvation took about as long as it did to starve. You'd thought you'd start getting fed again and that would be it. But no... It took days for you to stop feeling physically ill after every meal. It took even longer for you to recover your strength and mental faculties.

Seren was with you every step of the way, however, whether you wanted her there or not. As much as you resented her for kidnapping you, your isolation made you grateful for the interaction. Without her, you'd likely go crazy.

You were still too weak to keep yourself afloat, let alone swim, so she would clamber up the side of the houseboat every night and lay in bed beside you, her tail trailing behind her like a bridal train. Cuddling seemed common across species.

"Have you ever met a selkie?" You asked one night after the subject of your unique resistance came up again. She was currently raking her fingers through your hair. Your scalp prickled in the wake of her talons.

"No, I haven't. They tend to avoid sirens. They cannot be seduced by our songs because they are also of the sea, but they can still be hunted, either for eating or mating purposes."

"What?!" You squawked while attempting to get away. You tried sitting up or rolling off the side of the bed, but her arms -deceptively strong given how slender they were- cinched around you, tight as a claw cracker.

"What part do you object to?" Seren asked, sounding more annoyed than anything else. "The eating or the mating?"

"Both!"

She let out a little sigh before explaining, "I wasn't completely honest with you before, when you asked about my diet. In truth, sirens eat almost anything. Fish, crustaceans, seabirds, humans... Even other sirens aren't safe."

You didn't know what was worse: that she ate your kind or her own.

"Besides, pursuit is one of our courtship rituals. You have to chase what you want to catch." She gave you a toothy grin at that, worming her way impossibly closer to you in bed. Deceptively sweet in stark contrast to the horrifying words leaving her mouth. "Why did you bring up selkies?"

"My great-grandmother was one," you said before diving into your grandma's story. You'd never told anyone before. You were already the odd one out. You didn't want to come off even weirder.

You really should have listened to Grandma. You should have believed her, not just about her heritage but about what happened to her husband. Maybe if you had learned from her history, you wouldn't have been doomed to repeat it.

You couldn't help but sympathize with your great-grandmother. On land was your true home. This houseboat felt just like a cage to you.

"Seren, please," you begged and cried once you finally finished telling your tale. "My mom must be so worried! Don't you have a school or a shoal or something...? Someone who would miss you if you were gone?"

She shrugged one black, aquamarine-freckled shoulder and shook her head. "No, not really. Most adult female sirens are nomadic, traveling the open ocean in sorority pods. But I'm still a young adult. I haven't bonded with anyone, not enough to join their pod or start one of my own. All I have is you."

It was hard to sympathize with such a solitary creature, but you tried. "Seren, I must go home! I can never be truly happy at sea!"

For the longest time, she just continued to stroke your hair and looked at you with her big ol' eyes. "If I bring you back to shore, you'll leave me. You'll go where I cannot follow, and I'll never see you again," she said slowly, as if this wasn't something the both of you already knew.

Still, your freedom depended on you denying it. You frantically shook your head, deliberately nestled into her chest, tucking your head under her chin and burying your face in her neck. "I won't, I promise!"

You couldn't see her face, but you knew you did something right when her grip slackened in surprise. "You promise?" Promises meant something to her, after all.

"I swear." It was all lies, but getting away wouldn't be possible until you were back on land, and you couldn't get there without Seren's help.

"When humans swear, they usually swear on something..." She thought aloud as one clawed hand trailing down the length of your back. "Swear on your legs."

That certainly caught you off guard. "My legs?"

"Yes. Your legs."

"Why?"

"Because, without them, you cannot get away from me."

"How do you plan to collect, if I do break my promise?" You felt the blood leave your face as the memory of Jenny's detached torso came flooding back. Surely Seren wouldn't hurt you, escape attempt or not. She was too intent on keeping you as her little mate. You wouldn't be long for this world if she ripped your legs off.

"You don't plan on breaking your promise, do you?"

"No, no, of course not..."

"Then you don't need to worry about that," she said simply. "Do we have a deal?"

"Yes."

"Good. Then say it."

You took a deep breath before obediently reiterating, "I swear on my legs that I will not try to leave you if you bring me back to land."