My Ariel | Sea Tales

bite

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' la vie est une fleur dont l'amour est le miel ' — Victor Hugo

~

eric hears it all the time; that heavenly hum and whistle to a tune unsung. he hears it in the morning when he wakes, in the afternoon when he's working, and at night when he's preparing himself for bed. it's a sweet melody that takes him to a place far away from earth—away from the galaxies—and exceeds space and time. quite frankly, it was driving him mad how he couldn't play the song on repeat until his ears grew tired. he had to rely on waiting until those soft vocals filled the halls of the castle again.

and there it went; the siren song echoed off the walls and eric's ears perked. he's in his library, dusting off artifacts and tidying up. he stops in the middle of cleaning his telescope and turns his head towards the entrance.

his ears catch ariel's humming as she walks by the door; it fades as though she's walking past then it swells in sound as it comes back. her palm pushing against the door makes the wood croak and groan. it doesn't need to catch eric's attention because he's already looking her way.

she creeps in, her hands folded behind her, with both sides of her ginger locs tucked back and decorated with a white flower pin. (it's to match her white dress hugged tightly to her waist.)

eric gazes in awe as she tiptoes further inside, the humming spilling from her lips seeming as natural as words. he honestly doesn't think she's aware of the captivating sounds she's making or what it's doing to him.

ariel waltz over to eric, taking a hand from behind her back to tap his bicep, "i finished cleaning our room upstairs." she announces, softly running her hands up and down his arm.

eric sits the cleaning towel in his hand down, adjusting his body so he's facing her. she's got his full attention, "i told you I'd help; you didn't have to do all of that yourself." voice tender and sincere.

ariel shrugs, "s'okay. i didn't mind." her eyes wander around the library to admire how clean it looks as eric sneaks his arm around her waist.

his travelling fingers dance across her hip to the small of her back. then eric pulls her closer with a swift movement. there's a faint gasp that leaves the former mermaid's lips and her head twists to look at her husband, "thank you, my love." eric smiles, then leans down to capture her lips in a quick kiss.

ariel smiles warmly against his mouth, pulling away to gaze into his eyes, "you're very welcome, mr. prince." eric chuckles at the nickname.

ariel runs her fingers along the side of his jaw, playing with the stubble lining his chin. she's lost in her mind, running the tips of her digits along eric's face.

eric reaches up to place his hand on top of hers, the contrasting size of their palms apparent in ariel's eyes. eric moves his hand away from hers to cup her chin between his thumb and index. he turns her head to face him again, caressing her cheek with the pad of his thumb. "what are you thinking about?" he picks her brain, blue eyes trying to search for an answer in the brown ones he's staring in. ariel's a mystery in itself.

the princess doesn't speak. instead, her own thumb finds itself poking at the corner of eric's mouth. eric watched carefully, the feeling of her soft thumb making every cell in his body alert. (compared to his rough hands on her skin that were probably callous and less soothing.)