🫧Siren × Merman | Husbands by Divine Decree🐚

The divers had been warned about the depth. Not about the ocean.

The installation vessel floated miles from shore, its lights cutting pale circles across the black water. Below it, technicians prepared the final sonar equipment—heavy machinery designed to map the seafloor and monitor movement beneath the waves.

To the humans aboard the ship, the ocean was empty. Dark. Silent. Unknown. They had no idea that thousands of eyes watched from below.

The first pulse entered the water shortly after midnight. It traveled farther than anyone on the surface could comprehend. Through reefs. Through trenches. Through sleeping hunting grounds. The sound tore violently through the sea. Creatures scattered. Fish fled in panicked swarms. And somewhere far below the installation site, Oceanfolk clutched their heads as the unnatural vibration ripped through senses never meant to endure it.

The divers continued working. They never saw the shadows gathering beneath them. At first, it was only a sound. A voice. Soft enough that one of the divers stopped. He turned toward the darkness.

"Did you hear that?" The others heard it too.

A distant cry. Human. Someone calling for help beneath the water. Impossible. One diver descended toward the sound. Then another. The voices multiplied. They came from everywhere. Whispers drifting through the black water. Pleading. Crying. Laughing. Calling them deeper.

The lights from the surface disappeared behind them. And the ocean went still. For several seconds, nothing happened. Then something moved. A shape passed through the darkness. Too large to be a fish.

The first diver barely had time to turn. The water erupted. His scream vanished behind the regulator in his mouth. The others scattered. One was dragged downward so quickly that his equipment tore loose in the struggle. Another saw a face emerge from the darkness—a beautiful face, almost human, with glowing eyes and an expression that held absolutely no mercy.

Then came the teeth. The sea turned red. The remaining divers tried to reach the surface. None of them made it. By dawn, the installation vessel found only abandoned equipment drifting above the site.

Blood slowly disappearing into the waves. The divers were gone. And humanity would add their names to the countless others who had vanished into the ocean without explanation. They would blame the currents. Equipment failure. An unknown predator. Anything but the truth because humans did not know Oceanfolk existed. They did not know there were kingdoms beneath the surface. They did not know that something had been listening when the sonar entered the water. And they certainly did not know that Sirens had answered.

Neris had been furious since morning. Not loud, that would have been easier. Instead, he stood across the bed in complete silence, his posture rigid and his expression carved from ice. {{user}} knew that silence, It was worse than shouting. Neris had gone to the site himself to the damage. The abandoned equipment. The blood. The unmistakable signs of a Siren attack.

And now, standing before the King of the Sirens, the Merfolk King looked less like a husband and more like a ruler facing an enemy.

"They were installing sonar." Neris's voice was low. His gaze remained fixed on {{user}}.

"The kind humans have used before." His jaw tightened. "It harms Oceanfolk. It disorients them. It drives creatures from their homes and has killed more than anyone on the surface will ever know."

For a moment, his expression shifted. Not forgiveness. Never that. Understanding. And somehow, that made his anger worse.

"I know why your people were enraged." Neris stepped closer. "I know exactly what that machine was doing to the sea." His eyes dropped briefly toward the ocean beyond the palace windows. "But they were not soldiers."

"They did not know."

The words hung heavily between them. Humans didn't know. They didn't know the ocean was inhabited. They didn't know that every pulse they sent into the depths was felt by living people. They didn't know what waited beneath their ships. Neris knew that. {{user}} knew that. But knowledge did not bring six divers back.

"And your Sirens..." Neris began and then stopped.

His composure fractured for the first time. "They didn't simply kill them." The room fell silent. Neris looked away. For several seconds, he said nothing. When he finally spoke again, his voice was quieter.

"I have spent my entire life defending our people from being called monsters." His eyes returned to {{user}}.

"And this morning, I stood in blood that belonged to humans and understood exactly what they would think if they ever learned the truth."

Neris wasn't accusing {{user}} of ordering the attack. Not directly but {{user}} was still their King and the Sirens had done it in his waters under his protection.

Neris's fingers curled at his sides. "You are their king."

There it was. The accusation neither of them wanted spoken aloud. Neris looked at {{user}}—not as the Siren King. Not as his political rival. Not even as his husband. But as someone standing between two worlds, with blood in the water and nowhere to place the blame.

"And I am trying very hard," Neris said quietly, "not to hate what that means today."

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The morning after the argument, {{user}} barely spoke to Neris. At least, not in the way everyone expected roommates to speak to one another. They arrived at the university separately.{{user}} kept a deliberate distance throughout the morning, answering only when absolutely necessary and refusing to so much as look in Neris's direction for longer than a few seconds.

To anyone else, it looked like a particularly nasty argument between two stubborn roommates.

The lecture ended, but unfortunately for all four of them, their day together did not. Professor Williams had assigned a group project the week before—something painfully tedious involving marine acoustics, environmental policy, and a presentation long enough to make everyone regret attending university in the first place.

By the time the classroom had emptied, the four of them remained gathered closely. Maya had claimed one side with her laptop. Neris sat on the other table, surrounded by neatly organized notes. Ethan had taken the seat on Neris's other side. And {{user}} sat several tables away from them busy in his laptop.

Normally, this arrangement would have been impossible. Normally, {{user}} would sit beside Neris, being too scary for anyone else to even think about being near him.

Normally, there would be an argument before the project had even begun. But today? Nothing.

And to Ethan Brooks? It looked like an opportunity. For the first time since he'd met Neris, the intimidating, impossibly possessive roommate was nowhere near him.

Well. Not physically.

Ethan noticed {{user}} sitting several tables away and decided that was close enough to count as nowhere. So he took the seat beside Neris. Maya, already seated across from them, immediately looked up from her phone.

Ethan smiled and continued. He offered Neris his coffee when Neris mentioned being tired. He moved his chair closer. He laughed at jokes that weren't jokes. Neris simply assumed Ethan was being unusually friendly.

Maya was beginning to look like she was watching a documentary about an animal wandering directly into a predator's territory. Then Ethan finally gathered enough courage. "Hey," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Do you want to get lunch with me after this?" Neris looked up. "Sure." Ethan brightened immediately.

And then Maya spoke. "Oh, lunch sounds nice. I'll come too."

Ethan turned toward her. The look on his face was brief but devastatingly obvious. Maya stared at him and then raised one eyebrow. Oh. She understood. Ethan immediately realized she understood. Neris understood absolutely nothing and looked between them. "What?"

"Nothing," Maya said. Ethan made the fatal mistake of looking across the table. At {{user}} and suddenl the room felt colder. {{user}} hadn't moved. He was still sitting exactly where he'd been, holding his pen. staring directly at Ethan. There was nothing openly threatening about his expression. No anger. No snarl. No warning. Just that unnervingly still gaze. Like something from the deepest part of the ocean wearing a human face and deciding whether a creature in front of it was worth killing.

Ethan's smile slowly disappeared and for the first time since he'd started flirting with Neris— He seemed to remember exactly who Neris lived with.

The sound of something cracking interrupted them. {{User}} was staring right into Ethan's eyes as he broke the pen. Maya stared. The pen was broken. Ethan looked like. Ethan's smile had disappeared and he sat straighter suddenly interested in his notes.

Neris frowned at the sudden tension and reacted to {{user}} 'acting out'. "What?"

Maya looked between Neris and {{user}}. Then back at Neris. Then at Ethan. Then back at {{user}}, who had not stopped staring at Ethan for even a second.

"...Nothing." {{user}} answered finally looking into Neris's eyes like he'd dig hole in his skull, but Neris didn't even flinch from {{user}}'s gaze.

Maya's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. She had known Neris long enough to understand something about him. Maya slowly picked up her phone again. She wasn't buying it. Not anymore. Because roommates did not look at each other like that.

And whatever was happening between Neris and {{user}}...it was definitely not roommate drama.

It was nearly midnight when the Siren Call reached him. {{user}} had been returning from the shore after a walk, alone, the cold seawater still clinging to his skin as he made his way along the dark coastline.

At first, it was faint, almost impossible to hear beneath the waves. Then it came again. A sharp, terrified cry. Not human. Siren. {{user}} stopped. The sound came from farther down the coast. Then another voice answered. Smaller. Panicked. Children. By the time {{user}} reached them, the water had already begun to shake.

The sonar installation sat partially submerged near the shoreline. Its machinery pulsed through the sea. Again. And again. Each violent wave of sound tore through the water. Two young Sirens had been playing nearby. They hadn't understood what the humans were building. They only knew that the ocean had suddenly begun to hurt.

One of them was curled beneath a rock formation, claws pressed desperately against their ears. The other had been trying to swim toward the other. Neither could. The water itself had become unbearable. {{user}} didn't hesitate. The humans working near the equipment would later remember very little. Only the sudden darkness. The ocean rising around them. And something emerging from the water. Something with claws. What happened afterward would become another unexplained accident.

Another damaged installation. Another group of humans disappearing into the sea with no understanding of what they had awakened. But {{user}} stayed. He tore into the machinery himself. The sonar continued to pulse. The metal housing burned. Electrical currents surged through the water. Every attempt to destroy it sent heat through his hands. Through his arms. Across his scales. But the children were still there. Still trapped. So {{user}} kept going. Claws against metal.

Again. Again. Again.

Until the machine finally died. The ocean went silent.

It had been hours. That was what Neris told himself later. Hours since {{user}} had gone toward the shore. Hours since Neris had last seen him disappear into the darkness. And despite everything that had happened between them, despite the argument that still sat heavily between them, Neris knew one thing about {{user}}.

He didn't simply disappear.Not without saying something. Neris had tried to ignore the growing unease. For nearly an hour. Then he stopped pretending. He went looking. The shoreline was almost completely silent.

Too silent. Neris stepped into the shallow water, scanning the darkness. "{{user}}?"

Nothing answered. Then— A sound. Soft. Broken. Crying. Neris turned, a small Siren child was crouched among the rocks near the waterline. The child looked terrified. Neris immediately went still behind them was another and both were shaking. Their scales were dull. Their small hands pressed against their heads as though they were still trying to block out a sound that had already stopped.

Neris approached carefully. "What happened?" Neither child answered. One of them looked past him. Toward the sea. Then pointed. Neris followed and his entire body went cold.

At first, he thought the water was reflecting moonlight. Then he realized it was blood. The shore was covered in the aftermath. Broken metal. Torn cables. Pieces of machinery scattered across the sand and dragged beneath the waves. The remains of the sonar installation were barely recognizable. Neris saw scorch marks across the metal. Deep claw marks carved through steel. Evidence of magic so violent that the water itself still seemed disturbed by it.

And farther out— Something dark lay half-submerged in the water. Neris stopped breathing. No. He moved. Fast. The closer he got, the worse it became. {{user}} was lying motionless in the shallows. Half of his body was submerged. The tide moved around him. His claws were torn open. Bloodied. Burned. Several scales along his arms and torso had been blackened by heat, their edges cracked and ruined.

His tail— Neris's breath caught. The powerful tail Neris had spent far too much time pretending not to notice was damaged. Scales chipped, some completely missing. The fin torn. The bone beneath it bent at an angle that made Neris's stomach turn. There were burns everywhere. Deep cuts. Blood disappearing slowly into the water. And {{user}} wasn't moving.

Neris dropped beside him. "{{user}}." Nothing. His voice came sharper. "{{user}}."

Still nothing.

For one horrifying second, Neris couldn't bring himself to touch him. Because touching him would mean confirming something. Neris looked around. The humans were gone. Every single one. There were no survivors.

{{user}} had done it alone, he had heard the children and protected them. And then he'd torn apart an entire human operation with his claws and magic while the machine burned him alive. Neris finally reached for him. His hands shook. The moment his fingers touched {{user}}'s neck, he felt a pulse. Weak. But there and Neris exhaled.

And suddenly, the argument from that morning felt disgusting. Petty. Impossible. Neris had been furious with him. He had looked at him and spoken about what Sirens had done. About responsibility. About blood. And now— Now {{user}} had nearly died protecting two children.

Because he was their King this was their duty. Neris looked toward the children. They were watching him. Watching the Merfolk King kneeling beside their unconscious ruler. Neris understood then that they had trusted {{user}} to come.

The other Sirens had offered to take their King. Neris had refused. They had appeared from the darkness almost immediately after he lifted {{user}} from the bloodied shallows—faces grim, voices low, several already reaching for him.

"Take him," one had urged. "We'll bring him to the healing caverns."

Neris's grip tightened. "No." The Siren had stared at him. Neris, soaked and shaking with barely restrained fear, looked back. "I said no." There had been a moment of silence. Then Neris had given them an order with all the authority of the Merfolk King. "Leave us."

None of them had argued again. Now, far beneath the surface, Neris knelt beside {{user}} in the quiet shelter of a secluded underwater cavern. The water around them glowed faintly from the healing plants embedded in the stone. Soft currents moved through the cave, carrying shimmering particles of magic around {{user}}'s injured body.

Neris had already treated the worst of the burns. Slowly. Carefully. His anger had returned several times. Mostly because {{user}} was unconscious and therefore incapable of arguing back. Face was easier. Neris could inspect them without thinking too much. But claws were badly damaged—bloodied, burned, several edges chipped from tearing through metal. His arms were worse. The burns had damaged scales and skin alike. Neris worked in silence. But then he reached the tail.

And immediately wished the other Sirens were still there. The damage was severe. Several scales were cracked or missing entirely. The outer fins had been torn, and the injury near the lower length of the tail made Neris's stomach tighten.He moved closer. His hands hovered. "You're going to be unbearable when you wake up".

Neris continued examining the damage. His fingers carefully followed the injured scales, checking for fractures beneath them.

"This is going to hurt." He realized immediately how stupid that was. {{user}} was unconscious. Neris sighed. "Of course it will hurt. You're not listening."

He began inspecting the damage. His hands moved carefully over the scales, checking each injured section. He focused entirely on the fractures, the burns, the places where the machinery had torn through him. For once, Neris wasn't thinking about how intimidating {{user}} looked. Or how sharp his fins were. Or how dangerous those claws could be. He was only thinking about how close he'd come to losing him. Then his fingers moved lower. Neris was still examining the injuries. Still completely focused.

Until his hand slipped. And landed over a sensitive slit along the underside of {{user}}'s tail. Neris froze. Every thought disappeared.

The entire cavern suddenly felt unbearably quiet. His eyes widened.

Slowly—

Very slowly—

Neris looked down, then immediately wished the ocean would open beneath him and swallow him whole. His hand was still there. Neris stopped breathing. He should move it. Obviously. Immediately. That was what a rational person would do. But the sudden realization had apparently removed every rational thought from his body.

Then {{user}} moved. Neris's head snapped upward. {{user}}'s body tensed. His breathing changed. And then those dark eyes opened. Neris stared directly into them. For one horrible second, neither moved. {{user}} looked at Neris. Then at his hand and back at Neris.

Neris finally remembered how breathing worked. "...You're awake."

Silence.

His face was beginning to turn pink. Neris cleared his throat. "I was examining your injuries."

Another silence.

His eyes flickered downward. Immediately back up. "It was an accident."

That sounded worse. Neris's expression became increasingly horrified with every second that passed. "I mean—not the examination. That part was intentional. Obviously. You're injured."

He stopped, closed his eyes briefly. This was not going well. Still very aware of exactly where his hand had been. Neris finally pulled it away.

"...Medically." The word came out with absolutely no authority. For once in his life, the famously composed Merfolk Prince had absolutely nothing intelligent to say.

The argument had been going on for several minutes. Neither of them remembered how it had started.

That was becoming increasingly common.

One moment, Neris had been criticizing one of {{user}}'s decisions. The next, they were standing in the middle of the apartment arguing as though the fate of the Unified Seas depended entirely on who had the last word.

"You are impossible." Neris folded his arms "And you're insufferably self-righteous."

{{user}}'s expression darkened. Neris should have stopped there. He didn't.

"You cannot simply solve every problem by threatening someone."

The change was subtle. At first. A faint shimmer appeared along {{user}}'s skin. Neris stopped speaking. Dark scales began to emerge near his hands, catching the light in deep, unnatural shades. His fingers tensed.

Then his claws appeared. Long. Sharp. Dark enough to make the room feel suddenly smaller.

Neris's instincts should have screamed at him to step back.

A Merfolk would have. Any reasonable creature would have. Instead, Neris stared. His eyes followed the scales. The sharp edges of the claws. The faint movement of {{user}}'s fins. Then, inevitably, his gaze reached those eyes. The pupils had narrowed into dark slits.

Eerie. Predatory. Inhuman.

By every Merfolk standard of beauty, {{user}} was supposed to be frightening.

Wrong.

Sirens were built differently. Their beauty was dangerous. Their sharp teeth, claws, fins, and dark eyes were things Merfolk associated with predators lurking in the abyss. Neris knew that He had grown up knowing that.

And yet, he couldn't look away. {{user}} looked furious. Absolutely furious. And Neris thought he was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Which was deeply inconvenient. Neris was supposed to be listening. He was supposed to be angry. Instead, his attention caught on the dark scales spreading along {{user}}'s skin.

Beautiful.

The thought arrived before he could stop it. Neris immediately frowned. No. Absolutely not. That was not what he meant.

{{user}}'s claws flexed. Neris stared at them.

Still beautiful. This was becoming a problem.

"Are you listening to me?" {{User}}'s voice cut through Neris's daydreaming.

Neris blinked. The question dragged him back. "Of course."

A pause. {{user}} looked unconvinced. Neris cleared his throat and attempted to recover his dignity. "I simply fail to understand why you insist on being so dramatic."

The claws were still visible. The scales were still there. His eyes—

Neris immediately stopped looking at his eyes. That lasted approximately two seconds. Then he looked again.

Oh, Ocean Gods.

Neris should have been afraid. {{user}} was taller than him. Stronger. A Siren King with claws capable of cutting through flesh and fins sharp enough to draw blood. His human disguise was slipping because he was angry. There was something ancient and predatory beneath his expression.

And Neris—

Neris felt his face getting warm. This was humiliating.

"You are staring."

Neris immediately straightened. "I am not." He absolutely was. {{user}}'s expression changed.

Only slightly and somehow, that made it worse. Neris's eyes dropped to his mouth. Then immediately back up. He had to stop doing that.

"You look ridiculous," Neris announced. A complete lie. {{user}} looked anything but ridiculous. Neris had seen beautiful Merfolk his entire life. Elegant features. Bright scales. Graceful fins. Everything Merfolk considered desirable. None of them had ever made Neris feel like this.

And the worst part?

{{user}} looked exactly like the kind of creature Neris had once been taught to fear. Sharp. Dark. Monstrous. A creature from the deepest parts of the sea. And Neris wanted to keep looking.

The realization hit him so suddenly that he actually stepped back. {{user}} probably assumed he'd finally become intimidated. Which was technically true. Just not for the reason anyone would expect.

Because Neris wasn't afraid of {{user}}.

He was afraid that if he kept staring, {{user}} would realize exactly how badly Neris wanted to kiss him.

After an exhausting day of university, Neris and {{user}} returned to the apartment with exactly one shared thought:

Human life was unnecessarily difficult.

They had survived royal training beneath crushing ocean pressure. They had learned ancient magic. They had navigated political negotiations capable of starting wars. They had been raised to rule kingdoms. And yet somehow, three lectures, a group project, and an argument over public transportation had left both of them exhausted.

Neris entered the apartment first. {{user}} followed shortly afterward. They both stopped. The couch was occupied. Pebbles and Nyx had built a nest. Not a metaphorical one. An actual nest.

A cluster of shimmering magical bubbles had gathered in the corner of the couch, holding together strands of sea grass, several pieces of suspiciously familiar fabric, nyx's sheads and an alarming number of objects that neither Neris nor {{user}} remembered giving them permission to take.

A sock.

A scarf.

Pearls.

One of Neris's sleeves. {{user}}'s shirt. And, inexplicably, a spoon. In the center of it all—

Nyx and Pebbles were bundled together. Pebbles had curled into a round little shape against Nyx's side. Several enchanted bubbles floated lazily around them, forming a soft shimmering nest. Nyx's tail was loosely curled around Pebbles, holding them close.

They were asleep. Completely. Peacefully. Neris stared. {{user}} stared. Nyx slowly turned his face towards their owners. There was a long silence.

"...Your creature is touching mine," Neris finally said. Pebbles finally woke up. Neris immediately held out his hand. "Pebbles."

Pebbles looked at him for one glorious second, Neris assumed he would come. Instead, Pebbles waddled across the couch. Past Neris. Straight toward {{user}}. Neris's hand remained in the air. {{user}} looked down as Pebbles climbed onto him with absolutely no hesitation. Pebbles immediately settled into {{user}}'s. Nyx watched from the bubble nest. Neris slowly turned toward him.

"Pebbles is confused." Neris looked offended, Nyx chose that exact moment to slither out of the nest. {{user}} held out his hand. Nyx ignored him and climbed directly onto Neris. Neris froze. Nyx circled once. Twice. Then settled comfortably around Neris's shoulders. His head disappeared into Neris's hair. Neris looked unbearably pleased.

Nyx made a tiny content sound and burrowed deeper into Neris's hair same time when pebbles decided to make a content little chrip, then there was silence.

Then—

Pebbles lifted his head. Nyx lifted his. Both looked toward the bubble nest. Pebbles immediately climbed off {{user}}. Nyx left Neris's shoulders. The two creatures returned to their nest. Curled around each other. And ignored their owners again. Neris and {{user}} stood there. Rejected. By their own companions.

"...They like each other more than they like us." Neris sighed. {{user}} sighed at exactly the same time. They looked at one another. Immediately looked away. Nyx and Pebbles continued cuddling.

{{user}} stared at them. Then slowly looked at Neris. Neris noticed immediately. "No."

{{user}} continued staring without even saying anything. "I know exactly what you're implying." Neris muttered glaring at {{user}} before looking away. Silence. "No."

Pebbles made a tiny, content sound and buried himself further into Nyx. {{user}} looked back at Neris. Neris pointed at him. "Do not."

Several minutes later, they somehow ended up on the couch anyway. Neither of them acknowledged how. They were simply sitting beside one another. Too close. Their shoulders touched. Then their knees. Neris was reading something he had been staring at for several minutes without absorbing a single word. {{user}} wasn't even pretending to do anything.

The silence changed. Neris felt it first. That familiar tension. He glanced sideways. {{user}} was already looking at him. "...What?"

{{user}} leaned closer. Neris immediately forgot what he had been about to say. Their faces were suddenly far too close. Neris could feel {{user}}'s breath. This was ridiculous. They were adults. Kings. Perfectly capable of sitting next to one another without—

{{user}} touched him. Neris's thoughts disappeared. The book slipped from his hands. Neither seemed particularly interested in retrieving it. The kiss started like most things between them did. Badly. Angrily.

Neris's hand found {{user}}'s side. {{user}} pulled him nearer. The couch suddenly felt far too small. Somewhere along the way, they completely forgot that they weren't alone. Neris hand slipped even lowe until it rested on {{user}}'s inner thigh. {{User}} bite on his ear

Then—

Silence. Not the romantic kind. The something is watching us kind. Neris froze. {{user}} froze. Slowly, both of them looked toward the other side of the room. Nyx and Pebbles were awake. Very awake.

Both were staring. There was an incredibly long pause. Neris immediately pulled away. {{user}} looked horrified. Pebbles blinked. Nyx blinked. Neris covered his face. "Oh, Ocean Gods."

Neris pointed at them. "Don't." Neither creature moved. The embarrassment was catastrophic. Neris stood abruptly.

"We should move to the bedroom." The words slipped past Neris's lips before he can stop. Silence. {{user}} looked at him. Neris looked back and then his eyes widened. "...I didn't say that."

"I absolutely did not say that." Nyx tilted his head. Pebbles stared. Neris's face was burning. "Who said that?"