THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
The mermaid's pale white face and unusually fast and harsh breathing make Shen grasp her arms and draw her out of the water.
"Ru Shi! Are you alright?"
Strong hand press into her jaw, tilting her face up and towards him. He presses his fingers against the pulse at her neck, while her head rolled listlessly atop Shen's chest.
"Ru Shi?!
A white light began to shimmer around Deidre. Starting from her belly button and growing down her waist, her hips, down the delicate scales of her fish tail, the light grew while Shen watched in wonder. Until it completely covers her from the waist down, all the way to the tips of her long, trailing gossamer fins.
"Urmmmm"
She groans, leaning her head back on Shen's shoulder and breathing heavily. A slight tinge of iron fills her mouth. She'd bit her lips too hard with her sharp teeth.
Why was she so hot! And it hurt!?
It wasn't just her heart beating madly, but her legs! It felt like someone had taken a hammer and started to pulverize her flesh and bone, working their way down bit by bit.
Gritting her teeth in the pain, Deidre focuses on breathing. The doctors always told her not to focus on the pain, but to focus on other things. Like her breathing. Slowly, in and out, in and out.
Behind her tightly clenched eyes, Deidre could see that the white glow was gone now, but still, the pain remained. She buried her head into Shen's chest, her talons curling into his robes as she gritted her teeth at the waves of pain assailing her.
Pale white legs drip water onto the marble ground as the man carefully lifts her up, carrying her in a princess carry over the stone bridge inside the viewing platform on the island in the middle of the pond.
There was a bed there, with white gauzy silk curtains that flutter in the wind.
Shen lays her down gently, the bed sheets giving way under her with a soft puffing noise. A soft huff escapes her lips as finally the pain dissapates. Feeling the embroidered blankets pricking against her legs-
Her legs!?
The mermaid looks down her body in shock.
"Ru Shi, you have legs." Shen doesn't seem all to surprised at the sight. It was more of a statement than an exclamation, the small pearl rolling around his palm.
"This must be the source of your power. I'll keep it safe for now." With a wave of his hand, the pearl disappears in the same way he'd made other objects appear and reappear in his hand.
"The lore tells of mermaids transforming into humans but it never detailed how. Do you think you can walk?" He peers over her, the bobbing balls of light shading the soft details of her face.
With reddened eyes, the pale face of the mermaid stares back up at him, her black hair fanned out against the embroidered emerald green sheet that covered the bed.
Shaking her head, the mermaid wraps her arms around herself, rolling over on the bed.
The pain had dissipated, but each wave of heat that washed over her body was now different. More warm? Deidre puts a hand over her stomach. She felt empty, in the lower depths of her stomach. Why?
"Let's check your legs, shall we?" He says, stroking down her wet legs with two large hands that make Deidre shiver.
Ba-thump.
YOU ARE READING
QT: Gilded Waters
RomanceA terminally ill girl transmigrates into a mermaid. Except instead of enjoying the freedom of her new body, she's captured. By a human no less, the very race that her mother had repeatedly warned her about. This is the story of a research-obsessed g...
