THE SEA AND STARS
Gadoury
19, 2018
Parliament House
eBook
Lena, a Merrow girl, lives in the Skagerrak sea with her father, Carrick and her brother, Javelin who tells her of the legend of the Merrow Queen murdered by her human lover when greed takes over. But what’s worth spilling the queen’s blood? Gifted from Poseidon, himself, a magic shell gives any human the ability to control both land and sea.
When Javelin is called to join a clan of Merrow soldiers bent on protecting their waters from human invasion, Lena resists Merrow law and ventures to the shore with no choice but to swim to land.
With newfound legs, Lena is whisked away on a new adventure with new friends and new trouble. Everyone seems to want something from her as intrigue lurks around every corner.
Trying her best to hide who she is and remain safe from the dangers of the human world, will Lena finally find where she belongs, or will she be swept into a strong and stormy current by lust, greed, and jealousy?
barely been a decade.” His voice was easy, unbothered by the possibility of
being overheard. They were alone in this place. There was no need to whisper or
scold or shush. Still, he groaned. “I’ve told that one a thousand times. You
should know it by heart. Aren’t you tired of it yet?”
a clam shell out of the sand and began sliding the sharp side of a rock against
its grain. “The queen fell in love with a human man,” he began, his strong
fingers holding the clam firmly in place. “Every full moon, she used her magic
to travel ashore to see him.”
voice as he recited the tale.
letting her lashes flutter shut.
“Shipwrecked during one of Poseidon’s storms. She should have drowned him
immediately.”
handsome, even soaking wet. The most handsome man she’d ever seen.”
I’ll let your imagination decide.”
beautiful human man in existence, and desperately enraptured by the queen. Each
full moon, he waited for her, pacing the beach like a madman. And when she
would emerge from the sea, he’d run hip-deep to meet her, unable to spend one
more moment apart. He’d wrap his muscular arms around her—”
can do. They’d dance and dance the hours away, bathed in starlight, humming
songs into one another’s ears.”
Greed.”
time.”
best and the worst part of the tale, and Javelin—damn him, was good at telling
it. And he knew.
was. Ready to be rid of her tail. Ready to be human again. Her magic was a gift
from Poseidon himself, contained in a delicate shell which she wore around her
neck on a gold chain. It gave her the ability to explore the shore, and to
control the storms and seas.”
blue-scaled lips—cries of pain, lost to the rushing lull of the waves and the
urgent beating of her fins. Swiftly, her tail separated into two perfectly
shaped legs, and she rose out of the sea.”
would skim over the romance just to annoy her.
night,” he said, lowering his voice to a hush for effect. “The land was
illuminated by an eerie, silver glow. Beneath its light, the queen’s new flesh
was creamy and soft. Her hair became one with the wind, and her body shivered
against a violent, uproarious breeze. Perhaps it was a warning from the gods,
but the queen didn’t see it as such. The human lands were cold, suffering a
new, frigid season, but her heart remained warm. She smiled, though her
transition had been agony, when she heard the sound of water splashing and saw
her beloved moving toward her through the shallows.
relaxed fully against him, trusting him completely. She was blind to the wicked
yearning which had wrapped around his heart. Which made his body tense, which
crushed his lungs till he could hardly breathe. He wanted her shell, for he’d
discovered what powers were locked inside that delicate charm. Powers gifted to
whomsoever possessed it. His fingers dipped to her throat, caressing the shell
which had allowed her to return to him, again and again. The queen eyed him
strangely, and he dropped his hands to her waist, tugging her against him,
kissing her deeply.”
Deceived her. Seduced her. Clouded her eyes, so love was all she could see. But
that fateful eve, her beloved’s affection was not what it seemed. He’d seduced
himself too, with all the prospects of what might be. His own love had been
replaced by a lust for riches unknown. For control of the land and sea.”
distracting her. She was smiling as he sent a knife into her back. Smiling,
even as her eyes went wide with shock.”
horrified eyes going dim.
the sand. He reached for the shell, yanking on its golden chain. But in the
last throes of breath, the queen resisted him and threw the shell into the
crashing waves, bidding Poseidon to wash it away.
night, determined to one day possess the world between the sea and stars, and
all who dwell beneath the earth, in the ocean’s depths. Our people.” He glanced
sidelong at Lena, his meaning clear. “The merrows.”
would end.
the waves.”
what it would be like to watch herself slowly disappear; what heartache and
betrayal the queen must have felt in her last moments. She knew this was a
gruesome tale, but a part of her thought the better parts, the magic and
romance, were worth the gruesome bits.
it be like having two tails?”
wooden railing he’d found in a ship a few days before and carefully tied his
sharpened clamshell to its jagged end.
human, could steal it. It could be anywhere.”
reprimand. He knew how Lena longed to break through the waves, to see the human
world with her own eyes, to know the uses of all the odd objects they’d
collected over the years. But the laws of the sea were strict, and the king’s
leniency had all but vanished in recent years.
struck down by Poseidon and reduced to sea foam, just like the queen.
grotto, brushing her fingertips over cups and spoons and heaps of sodden
fabric. Over small chests and tarnished, palm-sized figurines and other
mysterious, unnamed things. “Haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like,
to live on the land? To live among them? To be one of them?”
shoulder. “It can’t be as bad as everyone believes. Humans can’t all be the
same. We’re not all the same,” she reasoned quietly.
published “The Songs in Our Hearts” with 48Fourteen Publishing, and “Allerleirauh” with Parliament House Press, with future titles to follow.
Chantal first started writing stories at the age of seven and continues with that love of writing today. Writing novels for Chantal has become a life-long dream come true! When she’s not writing, she enjoys painting, drinking lots of DD Iced Coffee, and watching Disney classics. Chantal lives in Muncy, Pennsylvania with her Mom, Sister and furry-‘brother’ (aka, puppy) Taran.
Bag, Popsocket and an autographed Paperback of “Between the Sea and Stars.”