Beneath the surface: Forbidden love

Marisela

I am in a bedroom of what seems to be a cabin.

I can hear the sound of waves smashing against the shore. I walk towards the window, and there below, is the sea. Strangely, I couldn't smell or feel anything, almost as though I was in a dream.

''Sit down Lucrecia, I don't want you walking around, the baby is almost due any moment now.'' I hear a man speak in the next room. I follow the sound of his voice.

''I told you to rest, love, let me help you.''

I walk into a room where a man and woman are, their backs to me. The man is standing behind the woman who is stirring something on the stove.

''You are always so demanding, Syris,'' the woman laughs. Syris places his arms around the woman lovingly. I couldn't help but smile watching the two of them.

''When I am married to a woman who is just as demanding, makes me wander what our daughter will turn out to be.'' he says placing his hand on her belly.

''As long as she is healthy and isn't born with gills then I'll be happy.'' Lucrecia says jokingly, the man takes a step back looking slightly offended.

'' Sirens aren't born with gills.'' He says and the woman laughs.

''Yes, but you are born with tails.'' she says still laughing. Syris turns around and takes a seat by the table. I gasp when I notice who it is.

It is the Siren, the one who claimed to be my father, only he looked much younger here then he did before.

''And yet you see me walking on my two feet.'' he grumbles. Lucrecia turns around and places a kiss on his forehead, making him instantly smile. As she stands up to turn around, Syris pulls her onto her lap and kisses her again. When they break apart they both have big smiles on their faces, looking lovingly at each other.

She is beautiful. She had long dark curly hair, that reached below her breasts. Her skin was a dark caramel, almost gold. Her eyes, were a dark brown colour.

''I love you.'' He says to her.

''And I love you.'' She says back to him.

Syris bends down to the same level as her protruding belly.

''And we love you princess Alana.'' he whispers. Lucrecia playfully slaps his hand away and rolls her eyes.

''I told you, we are not naming her Alana," Lucrecia playfully slaps at his arm. "We agreed on naming her after my Mother, Marisela.'' It was as if the wind was knocked out of my lungs as I stumble back.

This can't be true.

''Well whatever we decide to name her, she will always be our little princess.'' Syris smiles at her belly, "our princess Marisela." Lucrecia smiles and turns back to the stove.

Syris lifts his head and turns to the direction I am standing in. He seems to be thinking about something. I knew they couldn't see me, almost as if I was invisible.

This must be some kind of memory.

The truth, once elusive, now stands before me in stark clarity. It's a revelation I never saw coming, and it feels like a surreal punch to the gut. I stand there, stunned and breathless, trying to process the weight of what's been unveiled.

He gets up and starts to walk towards me. I panic, thinking maybe I was wrong and he could actually see me. Fortunately, he walks to the wall beside me. Confirming my previous thoughts. I look over and notice that there were pictures hung on the wall.

Syris walks over to one picture in particular. He picks up the frame and looks at it.

''When did you say your sister will be arriving?'' Syris asks.

''She said on the night of the full moon.'' Lucrecia says sounding busy. Syris nods and places the frame back on the wall.

''That's three days from now.'' he says to himself. ''is she coming with that werewolf boyfriend of hers?'' he asks looking a little annoyed. Lucrecia laughs.

''Don't be like that, werewolfs aren't all that bad.'' she says to him, and Syris rolls he's eyes turning around. When he walks back to the table, I move towards the frame to get a better view of it.

My body freezes, when I see a picture, of Syris, Lucrecia and Avalon. Lucrecia and Avalon look similar to one another, almost like sisters. Only this picture, Avalon looks much younger, beautiful.

I turn to the couple before me. Syris sits back down on the table, listening to his wife as she hums to a song in her head. A smile graces me his face as he watches her.

I look back at the picture and back to the couple. My brain failing to process what is happening right now.

I look at Syris, really look at him, and my heart stops. His hair was as white as snow, the same as mine. His eyes were grey. Similar to that of my own.

I look at Lucrecia, her long dark locks far different from my white hair. But her face, it was as if looking into an older mirror of myself. Her smile carries the same unique curve of my own. Eyes that crinkle with the same warmth and laughter lines. Her voice possess the same gentle timbre, a comforting melody of familiarity.

Suddenly, everything around me starts to swirl, and just like before, I was being sucked into a bright tunnel. When I open my eyes, Avalon is standing in front of me with tears in her eyes.

''What was that?'' I ask, my voice breaking, ''Who were those people.'' A strong part of me knew who they were. Avalon looks down at the ground and sighs. When she looks back at me, a tear escapes her eyes.

''You know who they are Marisela.'' she whispers. ''Those were your parents.''

It's a profound moment, when the fog of confusion lifts, and suddenly, your existence crystallizes with clarity. In that moment, it feels as if a hidden tapestry of understanding has been unveiled, revealing the intricate threads that connect every aspect of your life.

It's like a jigsaw puzzle finally clicking into place, and you find yourself at the intersection of epiphany and revelation. The world transforms from a chaotic labyrinth into a comprehensible map of purpose, where what once seemed like a lie is now a stepping stone to profound truth.

My eyes begin to fill with tears. I couldn't believe this. I could feel my heart slowly break as the realization of what is true falls in to place.

"How-" I begin to sob. "Why?" So many questions were failing to come out of my mouth, as I couldn't process everything that Avalon just showed me.

Avalon. My eyes instantly fall to her. Her eyes are filled with tears of her own as she looks at me with a broken heart.

"If she's my mom," I sniff, "that means you're- you're my..." The words fail to leave my lips. Avalon rushes to my side almost immediately pulling me into her arms.

I didn't pull away. Her embrace felt like home, I couldn't bring myself to fight her off, because if what she showed me to be true, she is the one person I could hold on to.

"Yes Marisela," she quietly cries into my hair, "lucrecia was my sister." She confirms, but that's not all she admits to.

I slowly pull away from her, enough to look her in her eyes. "Was?" I repeat. I watch as a fresh set of tears begin to fill her eyes again, confirming the one thing I was hoping to not be true.

"I am so sorry Marisela."

For the second time that day, my heart broke. It broke for the woman who was my mother. My real mother.

Avalon held onto me tight, as I did her. It was as if in this moment, we were each others lifelines. We both cried into the embrace of one another. I couldn't begin to imagine how this moment was for her, I couldn't believe it for myself. We stayed like this for a long, long time, until we both had calmed down.

I slowly start to pull away from her, and get control over myself, she did the same. We stare into each others eyes, only this time, she wasn't a stranger, she was apart of me. My family.

Gosh, just thinking that out loud sounded insane.

"Sweetheart." Avalon begins to speak, once we have both completely sobered up. "Nadia can not know if this." She tells me carefully.

"Why not?" I ask frowning. Avalon sighs, but there is a faraway look to her eyes before she speaks.

"Nadia is a lot more powerful than you may think, she's very dangerous. You have to be careful. I don't know what she would do to you if she knows you know the truth of who you are." She sits up straighter. "There's more to the story, which I will show you perhaps another time. Using that kind of magic really does take a lot out on me."

"Ofcourse, another time," I say, "thank you for showing me." I hold back my tears.

"I must leave, I sense your mate is close by." I was about to ask how she would know that.

"I'm a witch." She winks ,"remember?"

With a whispered incantation, she begins to dissolve into the air, like mist vanishing under the first light of dawn. Her form wavers, as if it were composed of smoke and shadows, and then, with an ethereal grace, she evaporates into a shimmering cloud of glimmering particles. All that remains are the wisps of her presence, a mere memory of her enigmatic and magical existence.

Not soon after the library doors swing open, and Kael walks in looking rather stressed.

"Kael." He quickly walks up to me and immediately pulls me into his embrace, catching me off guard.

"Are you okay?" He ask me placing me at arms length, he's eyes assessing my body.

"What happened, why are you so worried? I'm okay." I reassure him. Kael frowns for a second.

"You were sad." He states. It was my turn to frown.

"How- how did you know I was sad?" I ask him confused. Kael's eyes widen for a fraction of a second before they are back to normal. Relaxed even.

"I felt your pain, that's why I rushed over, I thought-" he breathes in "I thought something bad happened to you."

Oh, Kael. My heart pulls at his words. My hands instantly caresses his face, pulling him close to me."I promise I am okay, in more ways than you can think of." Kael's sighs a breath of relief but he still doesn't answer my question.

"How did you know?" I ask again pulling back a little. Kael's eyes drift to my neck.

"The mark." He says, "it allows us to feel what the other is feeling." I am left speechless, by this. He can feel what I feel? And I him?

Woah.

How?

After a minute or two, Kael asks again if I'm okay, I tell him for the hundredth time I was fine. He asked about Avalon, and that's when I started to get emotional again. I told him everything in one breath. Not leaving out a single detail. And before I knew it I was a crying mess all over again, only this time I was crying in the arms of my mate.

Kael sat and listened to every word. He was surprised then angry, then sad. A whole bunch of emotions were going through him as I told him every detail.

He took me back to his room that night, and I stayed there the whole night. He would check up on me now and again when I would go quiet, but he understood. We were both lost in our own thoughts. But one thing was settled. He trusted me when I told him that we could trust Avalon, and I was grateful for that. He knew she wasn't a threat, and that she was on our side.

We also came to the conclusion that my mother- I mean Nadia was to not be trusted. It hurt, knowing that the people I grew up with my entire life, who I believed to be my parents were not my real parents after all. My whole life was a lie. That only fueled the anger and resentment I had deep within me. And it was all towards Nadia.

The whole night, I cried and cried and cried. I cried so much till I had no tears left to cry, and Kael stayed by my side comforting me in any way he could. My heart only grew stronger for him. He never judged, never pitied, nothing. He was understanding. He listened. To every word. I knew then and there, that Kael had my heart from the moment I laid eyes on him. And that scared me. But not enough to push me away, instead it only pushed closer to him.