Chapter 11: Damien’s Obsession

Damien Rivers did not take loss well

He never had

He was taught from a young age that it was something that happened to other people

His father ensured that in the Rivers household.

His father ensured that in the Rivers household, failure was not tolerated.

They corrected mistakes, not forgave them.

They took action until something was right.

Wanting it was not good enough - one had to have it.

Damien never had wanted for anything.

Growing up in a house perched on the cliffs of the northern end of Port Haven, with its sprawling grounds of manicured gardens and iron gates, meant that the family had more money than most in the city could imagine.

His father owned half the businesses that lined the harbor.

His mother sat on every charity committee that mattered.

Their name opened doors.

Their money kept them open.

Port Haven's golden boy had the world at his feet.

Good-looking, well dressed, educated, confident... the kind of man older women swooned over and younger women whispered about.

It was assumed he'd settle down, finish his degree, take over one of his father's businesses, get married, have children... eventually his father's empire would pass to him and he'd move on to the next stage of his life.

There was only one problem.

None of it mattered to him.

Not anymore.

Because Damien Rivers wanted Marrine Child

and Marrine Child had never wanted him.

The first time he had taken notice of her had been when they had been children.

Eight, maybe nine.

The schoolyard had been muddy after the morning rain and Damien had stood beneath the covered walkway with a group of the other boys who had just arrived from their morning classes.

They had been boasting loudly about their new shoes, their fathers and who they thought had a chance of being picked captain of the football team when Marrine had walked past.

She had worn a faded blue dress under her school sweater, old shoes, her hair tied loosely at the back of her head.

Nothing special.

Nothing at all that marked her out as different amongst the other girls at school.

She had stopped briefly by the old stone fountain, her eyes locked onto the water, ignoring the giggling children who had gathered behind her.

For a moment, it seemed as if she had not heard them at all.

Her expression had been one of peace, almost sadness.

Then she had looked up and smiled at the sky, watching briefly before turning to the children behind her.

Damien had never forgotten the moment.

At first he had thought it had been simple fascination.

Then curiosity.

Then interest.

Damien had learned all about Marrine Child and the things she liked without ever speaking to her.

He knew the road she took home from school each day.

He knew the days she stayed late at the church.

He knew the western shoreline was her favorite place, that she sang in the choir on Sundays and the hymns she preferred.

He knew she hated thunderclouds but loved the smell of rain.

He knew she sometimes disappeared for hours without telling anyone and returned with damp hair even on the cloudiest of days.

He watched from afar.

Always from afar.

He told himself it was devotion, that she would come to realize he watched over her and one day she would choose him, but she had to.

She had to.

Because Damien Rivers had chosen Marrine Child

and there had never been another possibility.

"Damien."

He did not answer.

"Damien!"

Finally, his mother snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"Damien, is this any way to behave?"

He blinked slowly and the dining room swam back into focus around him.

Crystal glasses, silver cutlery, a chandelier throwing light over the polished table... his father at the head, his mother opposite, dinner almost twenty minutes ago that he had not touched.

"What?" His mother sighed.

“We were discussing your future.”My future."

"Yes."

She shot a glance at his father before continuing.

"Your father has arranged for an internship at the governor's office."

Damien leaned back in his chair.

"I don't want it."

"Excuse me?" His father's eyes narrowed.

"You haven't even heard what it involves.“I don't care.”I said I don't care."

His mother placed her fork down on the plate.

"This behavior is becoming tiresome."

Damien looked towards the tall windows where Port Haven stretched out before them, the harbor lights beginning to twinkle into life one by one, dotting the edges of the water like gold stars.

His gaze moved beyond the harbor and the distant church, the cliffs to the ocean.

Where was Marrine?

His mother continued.

"It is an excellent opportunity. Your father has been arranging it for months."

"Then give it to someone else."

His father finally spoke.

"You will take the position."

"No." His mother looked stunned.

"Damien..."

"I don't care about politics."

"You don't care about anything lately."

"That isn't true."

His mother gave him a frustrated look.

"Then what exactly do you care about?"

Damien smiled gently.

"Marrine."

The room went deathly quiet.

His mother's fork slipped from her fingers and clattered against the plate. "Who?"

"You heard me." "Damien..."

"I want to marry her."

His mother stared at him like he was mad.

"That orphan?"

His expression darkened.

"Don't call her that."

"That's what she is."

"She has a name."

"She has no family."

"She has the church."

"That isn't a family."

Damien's jaw tightened.

Honestly, his mother. I thought you were just infatuated, I don't realize you were serious."

"I am."

"You cannot possibly be considering marriage to that girl."

"Because she has no background. No money. No family name. Nothing."

"She has me."

His mother laughed.

That's precisely the problem."

Damien's eyes hardened.

His father had been silent throughout the conversation.

Until now.

"Your mother is right about one thing."

Damien looked at him.

"This isn't practical."

"I don't care about practical."

"You should."

"I want Marrine."

His father studied him for a moment before leaning back in his chair.

"You're obsessed."

Damien smiled faintly.

"Maybe." Finally, his father said:

"Even if you could somehow convince the town that marrying her made sense, you'd still have one obstacle."

Damien knew before his father said the name.

"Zeke Thompson."

His fingers curled beneath the table.

His father continued.

"Zeke has been with Marrine constantly."

"He's nothing."

"He's the son of a priest."

"Exactly." His father raised one eyebrow.

"You are underestimating him."

"No." His voice was quiet.

"I understand him."

His father leaned forward.

"Then understand this - Marrine isn't going to walk away from him because you tell her to."

Damien's eyes flickered.

"Then I'll make her."

His father smiled.

"More like that."

---

The first attempt had been simple.

Rumors of theft from the church, drinking, planning to leave Port Haven, being accepted into a university but too lazy to go... none had worked.

Zeke was well-liked and well-respected throughout the town.

Everyone knew him - he had grown up in Port Haven, helping old Mrs. Bell with her shopping, fixing fences, playing with children at the church doors, working at the harbor.

Any rumors that had been planted had withered before the truth.

Marrine had actually grown closer to Zeke.

It drove Damien mad as he watched from the street the pair walking hand-in-hand in the evening through the church gardens when Marrine had laughed at something Zeke had said and pushed him lightly on the chest.

She had leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled up at him.

Damien had stood across the street, hands in his coat pockets, his fingernails digging into his palms.

They looked happy, too happy.

His breath had been slow and controlled.

"I'll find a way."

He watched Zeke kiss Marrine's forehead.

"I'll find a way."

The sun had dipped behind the horizon and the ocean turned black as Damien turned away.

"I'll destroy you both if I have to."

---

But eventually, Damien had accepted the fact that rumors would not be enough.

They had tried, and failed, and it had made no difference.

That was why he needed something else.

Something bigger.

Something to break Marrine's perfect little world.

He started digging.

Not into Zeke's world, but Marrine's.

He asked questions.

Where had she come from?

Who had found her?

Why had she been abandoned?

Why would Father Thompson refuse to talk about the night she had arrived?

Why had the records for her birth been sealed at the church?

Why did the old nuns get so nervous whenever someone mentioned the storm?

He visited the church archives, volunteering to help and making donations, asking seemingly innocent questions before finding what he wanted.

An old ledger.

Dusty, leather-bound, almost forgotten.

He opened it and the handwriting was familiar - one of the sisters who had died years ago.

He skimmed the page before his gaze narrowed.

A child had been found on the church steps one night twenty-one years ago during the storm.

He continued reading.

The storm had begun at midnight.

The child had been found with her clothes dry and no footprints around her.

The sea had been unnaturally still when it had been discovered.

Damien stopped and repeated the sentence in his mind.

The sea had been unnaturally still?

He turned the page and his eyes widened as he saw a sentence scrawled in a different hand, in ink that seemed almost blacker than the rest of the page.

Do not let the child near the water.

His heart pounded in his chest.

Why? He flipped the page again.

There was nothing else written except names, births, deaths, donations to the church and events that had taken place.

Then suddenly something slipped from between the pages.

A photograph.

Damien caught it before it could fall to the floor.

It showed the steps to the church.

The photo was old and yellowed with age, streaks of rain running down the edges, a number of nuns standing at the front with Father Thompson, who had been much younger.

In his arms stood a baby.

Marrine.

Something about the picture unsettled him but he could not say why.

Then he saw the other side.

The ocean.

It was visible between the buildings, far below the church.

And rising from the water...

He leaned closer.

A figure.

Tall, dark, almost human.

Standing in the waves, watching the church and the baby.

Damien's breath caught in his throat.

He turned the photo so that the light shone on it.

The figure was gone, but not because it had been removed.

It was just too blurred to see.

Damien swallowed, surprised to find fear curling in his stomach.

He pushed it away, telling himself it was weakness, but curiosity had never been such a powerful force before.

He took the photograph and the ledger with him as he left the church.

---

That night, Damien walked the shoreline.

The moon hung low over the horizon as Port Haven slept behind him.

He stood at the edge of the cliffs, watching the ocean.

"Hello, Marrine."

The sea replied in the form of a hiss as he laughed nervously.

"This is ridiculous."

He looked down at the tide which was unusually high.

Waves crashed against the rocks below.

Then he heard something.

A whisper.

Damien turned his head sharply.

There was nothing.

Only wind.

He stepped forward and peered over the edge of the cliffs.

There!

Again, he heard the whisper.

It was not loud but it was definitely there.

It was not clear what it was saying either.

Then he saw the water begin to move.

It was not a wave, but something else.

Something that caused a circle to form right in the middle of the ocean.

Damien took a step back. "What the hell?"

Something rose from beneath the water.

For a moment, Damien thought it was a person.

A head, then shoulders, then two pale eyes beneath the surface.

He stumbled back but stopped as the thing disappeared and the ocean returned to normal.

Damien stood there, heart pounding.

He waited.

Nothing happened.

Eventually, he laughed.

"I'm losing my mind."

But he knew what he had seen.

It explained everything.

Marrine's strange behavior.

The storms.

The shoreline.

The wet hair.

The things people had whispered about.

She was not normal.

Damien's fear slowly turned to excitement.

He had something now.

Something no one else had.

A secret.

And secrets were always powerful.

---

Three days later, Damien followed Marrine when she left the church after sunset.

She walked alone towards the western shoreline and, to his surprise, she did not stop at the cliffs.

She continued down towards the beach and, unseen, he followed.

She removed her shoes and stepped into the water.

One wave.

Then another.

Damien's eyes were wide as he watched.

The water reached her knees, then her waist, then her chest.

She should have stopped, but she did not.

She walked deeper and then...

She disappeared beneath the waves.

Damien covered his mouth.

Seconds passed.

Then ten.

Then twenty.

Then thirty.

Then a minute.

She did not return.

He stepped forward.

"Looking for me?"

Damien turned sharply to see Marrine behind him, completely dry.

Her eyes were different.

They reflected the moonlight with an eerie blue glow.

Damien's mouth was dry.

Marrine looked at him.

She was not afraid, but disappointed. "You followed me."

Damien's heart pounded. "What are you?"

Marrine said nothing as he took a step backwards.

"What did you see?" "You..."

His voice cracked.

"You were underwater."

"I know." "For almost a minute." Marrine's expression hardened. "Damien." "How long can you stay down there?" "Leave." "Are you human?" Her eyes flashed. "Leave." Damien smiled.

Slowly, because now he understood.

He did not need to make Marrine love him.

He did not need to beat Zeke.

He did not need to convince the town.

All he needed was to tell the truth.

Or at least, his version of the truth.

He stepped closer.

"You're afraid." Marrine stared at him. "No." "You should be." "Of you?" His smile vanished. "Of them." Marrine's face went pale.

Damien saw it.

And suddenly he knew he had found the one thing she feared.

"The things beneath the water," he whispered. Marrine said nothing. "They know you."

Her silence confirmed everything.

Damien's smile returned.

" Don't they?"

Marrine's voice dropped.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with."

"Then tell me." "No." "Why?“Because you won't understand.”Try me." She turned away.

Damien called after her.

"You're not an orphan."

Marrine stopped.

The wind moved through her hair.

"You know that, don't you?" She did not turn. "Your father didn't abandon you." Marrine slowly looked back. Damien's smile vanished now because he had seen something in her face.

Pain.

Real pain.

And for one fleeting second, he almost felt sorry for her.

Almost.

Then jealousy swallowed it up. "Who is he?" he asked. Marrine whispered.

"Stop." "Who is your father?" She closed her eyes. "Damien..." "Is he human?" She opened them. "No." The word hung between them. Damien felt a thrill run through him. "Then what is he?" Marrine stared toward the sea. Her voice was barely audible. "The King." Damien's blood ran cold.

"The King of what?" Marrine looked at him. And for the first time, Damien saw something behind her eyes that frightened him more than the creature in the ocean.

Not weakness.

Not fear.

Power.

"The Deep." A wave crashed behind them.

Thunder rolled across the horizon.

Damien stared at her.

Then he laughed.

Not because it was funny.

Because he could not believe his luck.

The daughter of the King of the Deep.

Raised in a church.

Loved by the preacher's son.

Living among ordinary people.

And nobody knew.

Nobody except him.

Damien took a slow breath.

"You know what happens when people find out?"

Marrine's face tightened.

" Don't."

"They'll be terrified."

"Damien, please." "They'll hate you."

"Please." "And Zeke..." Marrine stepped towards him. " Leave him out of this." Damien smiled.

There it was.

The weakness.

Zeke.

Always Zeke.

"You really love him." "Yes." The answer was immediate. No hesitation. Damien's smile vanished. Something inside him broke.

He had spent years imagining that someday Marrine would look at him the way she looked at Zeke.

But now he knew she never would.

And that knowledge hurt more than he'd expected.

He looked towards the ocean.

Then back at her.

"I could keep your secret."

Marrine's eyes filled with suspicion.

"What do you want?" Damien stepped closer.

"You."

She shook her head.

"You can't have me."

His expression darkened.

" Then I suppose the town will have to learn the truth." "Damien." He turned away. "Tell Zeke I said hello." "Don't do this." He stopped. For one moment he looked back.

There was almost something human in his eyes.

Then it disappeared.

"You should have chosen me." He walked away.

Marrine remained on the beach.

Alone.

The tide moved around her feet.

Far out beyond the horizon, something enormous shifted beneath the surface.

Marrine looked towards the dark water.

She felt it.

The ancient pull.

The voice.

The presence.

Her father's call.

And somewhere deep beneath the ocean, the King of the Deep opened his eyes.

He had felt her fear.

He had felt the stranger who had discovered her secret.

And now he knew where his daughter was.

The tide began to rise.

Higher.

Higher.

Until the water reached Marrine's knees.

She closed her eyes.

" Not yet," she whispered.

But the sea did not listen.

For the first time in twenty-one years, the Deep had found its princess.

And Port Haven was about to learn what happens when the ocean comes looking for its own.