I always know that he is there right beside me - watching me sleep. His hands caressing mine. I turn over onto my side, revealing my neck. My nightgown slips off revealing my shoulder. He tries to lay behind me but I stir awake. I feel his hand on my waist. His damp body mixes in with my sweat. As we lay in bed together, I woke up in a startle. As I turn around to face him his round, dark blue eyes stare at me. He leans in and kisses me. My hand is propped behind his neck and his long wet hair drips onto my face as he slowly removes my nightgown.
"I know what you are and I like it," I say, in between kisses. "I know where you go when I'm awake and I don't care if you turn into a seal. I just want you in your human form."
He replies, "I just want you to come away into the sea with me, fair princess of the land."
"But you don't know how well I can swim. I'd probably drown."
"I think my magic can turn you into a seal. Or our baby which grows in your stomach," he mumbles between kisses.
"What did you say?" I pull away from him.
"Oh nothing, come here!" he says as I touch his chest.
I don't know why I'm attracted to your kind, I think in my head when I wake in my lonely bed.
The bedsheets where he lay are a mess. I get out of my bed and walk to the kitchenette. As I stare out the window onto the beach, I can just see the head of the seal bobbing out of the water. He turns around and dives deep into the ocean as I sigh longingly.
I can't ignore him when I'm around him. He always plays on my mind. The days are cold and the nights are warm when he's there. I can't believe that I'm falling in love with a selkie. It feels nice to be in love with a seal. If only I was a selkie and we could be together under the waves. Alas, I am only mortal. Lying in a cold lonely bed waiting for him to return to my bedside to make passionate love, only to leave me all alone in the morning. How tragic. I guess this is the price to pay when you love someone from the ancient world.
The end.
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Selkies, Gaelic Songs, and Highlander Mythology: Short Stories
FantasyHighlanders myths, and the songs by the people of Scotland and Ireland that they sing in Gaelic have inspired these short stories. I always use selkies as a way of speaking my truth. Selkies are humanoid creatures who can shapeshift between human a...
