Nerissa was a siren born from a loving family of three, and as she grew not only her beauty kept growing but her magic as well. Her magic was so powerful and never seen before that everyone treated her like a freak, and the jealousy of the other sirens didn’t help either. But her magic was not the only thing that made her stand out from all the other sirens, it was her appearance  that unlike other sirens who had light green, dark blue or coral hair she had an unusual sky blue with purple strands and her eyes instead of being the typical purple eyes they were a bright pink.  

Nerissa had recently turned sixteen, and her mother had gotten sick alongside her father who had his legs cut as punishment, so it was up to her to bring food to the table and medicine. But as time passed, getting money became more complicated. 

Nerissa stared at herself from the reflection that the puddle provided, she had to cut her hair short, sell it and with the help of the woman from the pharmacy rub dark blue dye which was difficult to keep because siren hair tended to revert back to its original color after a couple of hours due to its magical properties or there was water involved which was hard to avoid in a city where the economy relied on the goods that the port and ocean surrounded it provided. 

“Hey! Stop being such a lazy boy, here” A tall muscly man gave her a sack of rice to carry “Take it to the barn, hurry up and come back” 

Nerissa nodded, and slowly made her way to the barn. No matter how many times she carried those sacks, they were always heavy. On her way, a carriage not only almost ran her over but also drenched her of mud water, the carriage stopped and the person inside stepped out. Nerissa closed her eyes, not only her disguise was ruined but now she had to deal with an angry noble. But when she lifted her gaze she found a surprised face instead of an angry one. 

“You…You” The young man was clearly at loss for words

Nerissa lowered her gaze again, of course he was horrified. Only a weird and ugly siren would have sky blue hair and pink eyes. But instead of throwing insults the man took out a wig from the inside pockets of his vest, and to Nerissa’s horror it was a wig made of her hair. 

“I finally found you my unique siren” The man slowly approached her, Nerissa was so stunned that she couldn’t move “Look at the state you are in…a siren as unique as you doesn’t deserve this, come with me I’ll treat you well” He reached and caressed her cheek

Nerissa slapped his hand away “I…I’m sorry…I…have to go” She mumbled taking a couple of steps back, the man’s gaze terrified her 

He grabbed her wrist and smiled “Wait…I supposed you are in need of money by the way you were disguising yourself as boy…how about I take care of your family in exchange of you coming with me?” 

Nerissa slowly shake her head “No…Thank you” She managed to loosen his grip on her wrist

He push her making her fall into the puddle “I tried to be nice” He turned around and got inside the carriage 

Nerissa had no idea that in the same day in the middle of the night, an army of knights would enter her house and kidnap her, leaving her parents in shock. 

***

Nerissa was sitting in front a vanity table, the maids waited for her approval after dressing her up. Even though three months had passed her hair kept being shoulder length as Nerissa refused to satisfy the duke, she sighed and nodded

“Great job…as always” She stood up “Where’s the duke?” 

Jade one of the maids stopped fixing the bed and turned to her “He’s in his office my lady”

 

“Thank you” She walked outside of her room, today was the day she would gain a little bit of freedom. 

She slowly made her way to the duke’s office, he smiled brightly when she entered

“Your beauty is truly amazing, I fall in love more and more” He stood up “Is something wrong? I’m actually surprise you came to see me, since I’m always the one to go find you”

“You said that you will give me give whatever I asked for” She held her fingers “Well I wanted to go to the plaza…by myself” 

The duke stared at her and sighed “I’ll give you two hours…and six knights with two maids” 

Nerissa rolled her eyes, but it was better than nothing “Thank you… Can I go today?” 

“Yes…but you have to accept the surprise I have for you tonight” 

Nerissa nodded and left. 

***

The reason why Nerissa wanted to come to the plaza was to see the person that she was in love with. The first time she saw him, was after she first cut and sold her hair, she was about to open the door to leave but he opened it first. He stepped aside and smiled at her, since then Nerissa had made a habit of looking at him from a distance whenever she had the chance. 

“Lady Nerissa are you looking for something?” Hazel one of the two maids said after noticing that she was looking around

Nerissa shook her head and smiled once she spotted the long messy light brown hair. She approached a stand that was near and pretended to be interested in the items that were on display while glancing at him. Suddenly his hazel eyes met hers, which not only made her flinch but blush, she quickly looked down at the table flustered but once she lifted her gaze again he was still looking at her, he even winked at her. She mustered the courage to smile, but before she could wave at him someone grabbed her wrist. 

“I give you my trust and what do you do with it?! You go and be a whore, well if you really want to be a whore” The duke ripped the front of her clothes and the man with hazel eyes approached them “Be one then, show everyone how much of a slut you are!” 

“Hey! Stop harassing this lady, just because you are a noble doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want” He pulled Nerissa towards him and put a hand on the hilt of his sword

“Stop meddling you dirty bastard!” The duke pulled Nerissa by the hair and started walking away while Nerissa tripped and fell multiple times “Tie him and bring him!” 

***

The duke got up from the bed, put his clothes on and before leaving the room he spit on the man with hazel eyes that was chained to the bed post. Nerissa clutching the blood stained bedsheets looked down and sobbed.

He cleared his sore throat “Hey…Hey…I’m…sorry” He started sobbing, he could still hear the screams and cries of Nerissa. He yelled and tried to release himself to help her but it was in vain. 

A knight entered the room, he unchained the man but before he could put the chains again the man hit him in the face with his elbow and then knocked him out using the hilt of the sword of the knight. He wiped his tears, covered Nerissa and carried her in his arms

“I’ll get you out of here, I promise” 

Nerissa slowly nodded and leaned her head against his chest she was exhausted. The man was about to go out of the room when Jade entered she motioned him to follow her, he was suspicious but he couldn’t reject the help. Both of them ran across the mansion, until she led them to the kitchen where she opened the door that led outside. 

“Go! hurry!” 

The man ran outside but was hit by an arrow in the leg, he collapse on one knee, he pressed Nerissa to his chest protectively. 

“I’ll catch you bitch! You just wait!” The duke yelled

“Don’t worry we’ll make it” He got up and started walking again under the bright moon that watched over them. 

***

The sun was rising, the man had decide to rest, he kept pressing the wound but he had lost too much blood. Nerissa stared at him worried. 

“I’m sorry” Iridescent tears started rolling down her cheeks which the man wiped

“You…shouldn’t be…apologizing…ugh” He wince and moved his leg, he took a deep breath “There’s a temple near, go there and tell them that Darcy sent you...they will protect you” He smiled 

Nerissa shook her head “No…I won’t’ leave you…You saved me so I have to save you” She stared at the wound and at the growing puddle of blood “There has to be something I can do” 

He shook his head “You know…since I learned that I was an orphan I always thought that I was going to die alone in one of those dirty alleyways but…” He smiled “Here I am, in a forest with the sun rising in front of me and a beautiful lady to keep me company” He wince again

“No…wait don’t say that…We can make it” Nerissa manage to get him up, and leaning against her they started to walk again slowly

“Hey…ugh…leave me…just go” He grunted in pain “I won’t…make it”

“We will make it! Have faith!” She yelled desperately 

Suddenly the man slumped dragging her to the ground too. Nerissa crawled to him, he show her a last smile before closing his eyes. She noticed that he wasn’t breathing and that his body was growing colder by the minute. Nerissa started crying, she hugged her legs and buried her face in her knees. while the rising sun gave them a warm orange light contrast to the cold breeze.  

She lifted her face and glanced at him. She got close to him and cradled him in her arms, caressing his face softly. She started humming softly, activating her magic which made a glowing circle around them that turned into music notes that created an echo of her humming. 

She took a deep shaky breath “I love you…I wanted to be with you forever” She hugged him “Oh darling…I’m...I'm  so sorry...I hope that in your next life you have a family that loves you, that you live a life where you don’t have to worry about money or people disrespecting you” She sobbed “I want you to have a life where you are happy and if the heavens are merciful I wish I could be part of your happiness too” 

The music notes slowly turned into a golden tread that wrapped around her beating heart and the man’s still one before slowly disappearing. 

She kissed his forehead and lay him down on the ground. 

“May we meet again my love” She smiled sadly while wiping her tears.