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“I liked all of them,” Sam admitted. He sat on the storage crate against his cabin wall next to Goldilocks, watching as Jasper stowed a second sword into the below-deck storage. Sam was going to have to reiterate that Jasper wasn’t allowed to stab anyone on Sam’s property. Laurence was at the end of the stone pier talking to Bee and Dew, a book Vi had lent him tucked under one arm.

The nurses only had bits of broken English, so Goldilocks had translated both questions and answers. All seemed to be around Sam’s age, and none of them looked entirely human. The first nurse had feathered wings jutting from his back, larger than his own body, and specked like a thrush. The second had scaled skin, her ears pointed and webbed. Not like Goldilocks’s ears were pointed, but more like a fish’s fin, with three distinct spines flaring out and thin, webbed skin connecting them. The third looked human bar her eyes, every part jet black. It unnerved Sam until she cast a nervous smile at him, and Sam realised he was facing someone younger than himself.

Goldilocks relayed information to him about their experience, their methodology, their interests, and their specialities. All of them had at least some interest in birds and plants, with two of them showing Sam a personal journal containing sketches of plants and birds, with words written around them and small arrows connecting text to image. Sam couldn’t read any of it, but they were very detailed anatomical drawings. Sam almost wanted to keep the journals and study what they contained, seeing both fauna and flora were unfamiliar.

“Who did you like best?” Sam asked.

“They all are qualified. Vi recommended them as promising students from her workshops. The nymph might be the wisest choice if your sire’s temperament is volatile; all nymphs can calm the emotions of others somewhat. If he prefers birds, then he may like to study the avian’s wings as he is tended. The last has pixie blood. Rare to find, since fairies are extinct, and even though she is a mixed breed, there is enough of the old magic in her that her presence will have a natural healing effect on those in her proximity.” Goldilocks explained it all to Sam carefully, letting him soak it all in. “If you like them all equally, we can trial them and see who your sire prefers.”

“Alright. And how do I pay them?”

Goldilocks’s eyes flicked from Jasper to him. His top lip twitched.

Sam eyed the merman right back because he saw the start of a snarl on Goldilocks’s lip. It flattened without raising.

“I provide, not you,” Goldilocks said, his tone distinctly irritated. He reached up and tilted Sam’s face towards him with curled knuckles nudging his chin. And this time, his top lip did curl back. “Your energies have been spent fulfilling a role that is not yours. Perhaps that is why you are confused about your dominance?”

“I don’t think those are in any way connected,” Sam said.

He tried to tilt his warming face away from Goldilocks but a tap at his chin, a very clear correction not to, had him keep still and remain facing Goldilocks as he blushed red. All these remarks about dominance and such – or anything at all referencing bedroom activities – left him squirming. Though Sam should pay attention to the fact that this dynamic Goldilocks seemed to be expecting them to follow clearly extended beyond the bedroom.

“Your energies need only be spent on your nest and your personal pursuits,” Goldilocks stated. “I possess more riches than even The Brothers who govern the city, and you are my mate. You will not toil nor want for anything.”

Sam blinked in surprise. He’d figured that Goldilocks was well-off, but the whole providing-for-him thing was stalling out his mind. Sam did enjoy getting spoiled with the bathing and the meals, but sensibility – be that simple human sensibility or perhaps his need for independence and self-sufficiency – rebuked the notion outright. Having such an offer come from a creature whose relationship Sam hadn’t quite wrapped his head around yet wasn’t going to find a listening ear. Not that Sam would have indulged the idea had it been a human saying it either.

“I can take care of myself.”

Goldilocks’s twitching lip turned up as displeasure rumbled from his chest. “We are mates,” he said, his voice holding somewhat of a growl in it.

“We’re dating,” Sam said, phrasing it in a way he could make sense of. “And that clearly means something different in our species.”

“The dominant partner provides in every species,” Goldilocks rebuked.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Just making things up now, are we?”

That growl was in Goldilocks’s throat, and unlike a person might, he didn’t avert his eyes from Sam’s. Sam studied that beautiful gold and loosed a long sigh. In his own way, Goldilocks was being very earnest. Sam shouldn’t poke fun. “I’ve been taking care of myself since I was a kid. And all I’ve wanted for the longest time isn’t to be rich or famous, or even recognised, but to get by. To be independent and to do my own thing without having to answer to anybody else or to depend on anybody else.” It was the reason Sam had never given up fishing, never swallowed his pride and accepted the fact that literally any other job in the village would pay more than what he earned holding on to this boat and the minuscule euros he could squeeze from it. The boat was his. The skills and knowledge he needed to go out and fish were his. He didn’t answer to anybody out on the water; he simply kept up to date with fishing rules and worked within them. “Sorry to disappoint, but I have no interest in letting someone else provide for me,” Sam finished. Because what would happen if he did what Goldilocks wanted, let him provide, and then two weeks later, he decided he didn’t want to date a human and Sam was left high and dry? That wasn’t the impression Sam got from Goldilocks, but how was he to know? People had been hurting Sam for as long as he could remember, and he didn’t think Goldilocks really understood that he was asking Sam to let him stand at his vulnerable back, poised to thrust a dagger in deeper than anyone else had managed to before.

The growl ceased as Sam spoke, and as he finished, Goldilocks studied him at length.

“You do not trust me,” Goldilocks finally said. He spoke without anger or irritation, but instead with a note of understanding.

“That isn’t it.”

“I will show you,” Goldilocks promised. “That you can depend on me, and that I will treat you well.”

“That isn’t it,” Sam insisted. “It’s not a ‘you’ thing at all.”

“I can see that,” Goldilocks said.

Sam scowled. “You—”

“Are you sure I can’t stay?” Laurence’s voice chimed in a second before he hopped on board from the pier. “Bee said there are tons of cool things to check out.”

Sam turned from Goldilocks, making an internal note to revisit and finish this conversation later. “I don’t want Trevor upset with me.”

“He won’t be upset with you,” Laurence argued, though without any real vehemence in his tone. From the way he spoke, Sam could tell he had already given up on being left behind and was chancing his arm. “Dad doesn’t do upset, more…silent disapproval.”

“I’d rather not be on the receiving end of that,” Sam said. Without fail, Trevor was always nice to Sam. Besides, given that Laurence was seventeen and had Bee and Dew as guides – who were total troublemakers – Sam wouldn’t leave him alone even if he wasn’t worried about Trevor’s reaction.

Goldilocks stood as Jasper untied them from the pier, shrugged off his shirt, and then revealed even more skin as he shucked off his trousers. Sam averted his eyes and saw that Laurence had turned around and had his face buried in his hands. “You’re as bad as Adonis!” Laurence said, a squeak in his voice. “Mermen have no concept of privacy.”

Sam chuckled, the splash of Goldilocks diving into the water sounding at the same time. “They swim around naked in their other form. I don’t think they care about that kind of thing.”

“I guess…” Laurence twisted his head to see that there was no longer a naked man standing on the boat. “Still though.”

***

The evening glow lit a pacing figure at the end of the pier. Sam recognised Fionn’s buff shoulders clothed in his jarringly red polo from a distance and saw the exact moment he was spotted as Fionn turned about and started striding toward him.

Laurence was tucked away in the cabin, practising driving and bringing them in.

“Ease up the throttle another bit,” Sam instructed. He stepped into the cabin to find Jasper examining his sword, his tail wrapped around his legs several times over since he kept bumping into everything otherwise. “Fionn is on the pier. He looks like he wants to talk to me, and I have a feeling it might take a while. Do you think you could, uh, bring Jasper along to yours for a bit?” Sam eyed the tail again. “Jasper, you’re going to have to put this on.” He grabbed a sweater from his trunk. “And try to wrap your tail around your stomach. If you can.”

Jasper looked far from impressed, but he obeyed, put on the sweater and wrapped his tail around his stomach so that it looked as if he had, well, a snake wrapped around his stomach roughly six times.

Laurence snickered, then coughed to hide the laugh.

“Goldilocks will be around if you need him,” Sam said. “Jasper, I’ll come by and grab you later.”

Jasper’s lips pressed hard together, but without complaint, he nodded his agreement. Sam promised to make it up to him later.

“And stay tucked in the back there,” Sam added, starting to feel like a nag. “Sorry I don’t want to play twenty questions with Fionn, which I’ll have to if he sees you.”

Jasper did just that, tucking himself onto the trunk furthest at the back.

Dozens of gulls circled above the pier, and a huge hopeful herring gull broke away from the flock and circled low above Sam’s boat, peering at his deck for any sign of bait or fish to scavenge.

The pair of herons that made their home at the pier year-round joined the circling gull above Sam’s boat, and, despite Sam being on deck, the pair flew down to land on a closed fish box. They peered at the closed box, seeking any crustaceans or exposed crab or lobster they could steal, and on finding none, they took off into the sky and moved on.

Laurence slowed the boat as he approached his spot, and Fionn stood waiting. Laurence killed the engine, their pace just right to slide them into Sam’s usual spot. Sam waved away Fionn, who was waiting for him to toss him a rope to tie off. “The boat isn’t staying.”

Laurence peeked out from the cabin.

“Thanks,” Sam said. “I’ll swing by as soon as I’m done here.”

“Take your time,” Laurence said back. He glanced at Fionn, scowled, and before Fionn could say anything, Laurence shut the door to the cabin. Sam climbed onto the dock, accepting the hand Fionn offered.

“What’s up?” Sam asked.

He started walking down the dock, and Fionn fell into step with him.

“Are you the reason I’m banned from the cafe?” Fionn accused.

“Probably.”

Fionn grumbled something under his breath that Sam didn’t quite catch over the sound of Laurence turning on the engine. He pulled away, and Sam paused long enough to check he didn’t scrape the hull. When it was safely clear, Sam resumed walking.

“The guards called me in earlier to talk to them,” Fionn said.

“About the break-in?” Sam asked.

“About my boat,” Fionn said. “They got a tip that you were on it. Messing with it.”

Sam missed a step, found his footing, and whipped around to face Fionn. “ What ?”

Fionn had a little frown marring his mouth and a peeved look.

Sam met his eyes, growing more tense by the second. “I didn’t go near your boat. I’ve never been on it in my life.”

“I know,” Fionn said, and his brow scrunched as if he was confused as to why Sam said that in the first place. “I know you wouldn’t do that,” he said, sounding genuine. “Said as much to the guards. Point is, at this rate I’m probably never going to know who sunk my boat. If they’re listening to any old idiot calling in and reporting untrue things like that…” Fionn sighed.

Sam’s tension relaxed somewhat. “Do you know who reported that? Maybe someone did see someone on your boat and mistook them for me?”

“They wouldn’t tell me. I just wanted to give you a heads-up, seeing as they’ll probably talk to you about it next. I already said it wasn’t you and not to be stupid, but they weren’t really listening,” Fionn explained. “I wanted to text, but even if I had your number, you can’t –anyway.” He cut off abruptly.

“Thanks for the warning,” Sam said.

“Anyway, I have to go.” Fionn dug out his phone from his pocket and whatever he saw on his screen had him scowling. “Dad’s been on me about this and that, and I’m late for our family call. Ugh.”

The prospect of the family call seemed more distressing to Fionn than not ever finding out why his ship sank. He took two steps away, stopped, swung back around.

“And will you please clear things up with that kid?”

“I’ll think about it.”

Fionn stared blankly at Sam. Then he threw up his hands and turned about, releasing a hoot of laughter. “‘Sam’s nice’ my ass . Dickhead! I’ll catch you later.”

Sam grinned to himself as he made his way to the parking lot.