The Merman's Heart: The Mermen of MerLand Kingdom, #3

By Meghan Alexis Moore

AN EARTH WOMAN / MERMAN ROMANCE.

For twenty-two-year-old Eithne McCarthy life feels like a series of endless days and nights.

She is married to the man who fathered her son, but their marriage is in name only.

Merman Joseph Spellman feels as though his life is spinning out of control. He's feeling a dangerous and totally inappropriate attraction for his cousin Adam's wife. But not only is Adam ruler of MerLand Kingdom, he loves his Queen Niamh and would never share her, even with Joseph who is closer to him than any of his own brothers.

Joseph contemplates living on Earth. Even with all its dangers, life on the planet would be safer than staying on MerLand and fighting the attraction that seems to be getting stronger every day.

Then he's informed that it's Eithne, Niamh's younger sister, who is his Intended mate and not the Queen. It's their shared DNA that had confused his heart and emotions.

The only problem is that she lives on Earth and is married with a young son.

Will she be willing to leave everything behind and move to MerLand?

• Language: English
• Publisher: SpreadEagle Publications
• Release date: Mar 14, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224181254

Book preview

THE MERMAN’S HEART

(The Mermen of MerLand Kingdom, Book 3)

Meghan Alexis Moore

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher or author, except for brief quotes used in reviews.

Copyright © 2023 by Meghan Alexis Moore

Published by SpreadEagle Publications.

All Rights Reserved.

Table of Contents

THE MERMAN’S HEART

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

EPILOGUE

THANK YOU

Also By Meghan Alexis Moore

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Heartfelt thanks to:

All my wonderful readers.

DESCRIPTION

AN EARTH WOMAN/MERMAN ROMANCE.

For twenty-two-year-old Eithne McCarthy life feels like a series of endless days and nights.

She is married to the man who fathered her son, but their marriage is in name only.

Merman Joseph Spellman feels as though his life is spinning out of control.  He’s feeling a dangerous and totally inappropriate attraction for his cousin Adam’s wife.  But not only is Adam ruler of MerLand Kingdom, he loves his Queen Niamh and would never share her, even with Joseph who is closer to him than any of his own brothers.

Joseph contemplates living on Earth.  Even with all its dangers, life on the planet would be safer than staying on MerLand and fighting the attraction that seems to be getting stronger every day.

Then he’s informed that it’s Eithne, Niamh’s younger sister, who is his Intended mate and not the Queen.  It’s their shared DNA that had confused his heart and emotions.

The only problem is that she lives on Earth and is married with a young son.

Will she be willing to leave everything behind and move to MerLand?

PROLOGUE

Hands linked under his head, merman Joseph Spellman floated in The Pool of Contemplation and pondered his next move.

He’d never before thought of leaving MerLand.  Adam, the King, was his first cousin.  They were born two days apart and had grown up closer to each other than any of their brothers and sisters.

Adam’s father Gabriel was Joseph’s father Elijah’s eleven-minute older twin brother.  If they had been born in reverse, Joseph and his six brothers would have been the immediate heirs to the throne, not Adam and his two remaining brothers.  However, Joseph and his brothers were next in the line of succession after their first cousins.

Adam’s father had had four sons and nine daughters.  His eldest son Seth had died on Earth.  The throne was passed down only through the male line of kings, so the sons of Adam’s sisters couldn’t inherit the throne.

Between them Adam and his brother David had three sons, but the number would increase soon since Adam’s wife Niamh and David’s wife Abigail were both currently pregnant.  His youngest brother Jacob had just found his Intended mate Erin Murphy, but they hadn’t yet started a family.

But even if Joseph’s father had been the first of the twins to be born, it would have been Joseph’s older brother Rufus who would have been King when their father’s rule ended.

It was that possibility that had created a murderous envy in Rufus’s heart and made him betray his cousin and heir apparent Seth six years ago.  Two days ago Joseph’s older brother’s crime had been discovered and he had been executed by his father, Elijah.

Joseph had never resented the fact that he would never be King, unlike his older brother who had bitterly complained about the fact often when they were growing up.  His discontentment had perhaps been the reason he had continued to live on Earth instead of MerLand after Seth’s death.  He had some semblance of power on Earth—being 6th in line to the throne meant that all mermen there had been subservient to him and would have had to do his bidding.

It would take a freak of nature for Joseph who had assumed his older brother’s position in the line of succession to ever become King.

For him it was a distinct advantage not to be duty bound to stay on MerLand.

But he’d had no burning desire to live on Earth...until twenty-three months ago when Adam had first brought his Intended Niamh back to MerLand.

Joseph had been jolted by his immediate response to her when they were introduced.  He’d known that she couldn’t be his Intended.  Although two, or on the rare occasion more mermen could have the same Intended, a Queen or future Queen could not be shared since it was imperative that all her children are fathered by the King, unless he was an identical twin and she was both of their Intended mate.

Mermen didn’t lust after other mermen’s partners and yet it seemed to Joseph that his feelings for Niamh were growing stronger with time.  They were wrong on every level.  She was his Queen and he owed her his allegiance.  Lusting after her was pure insanity.

Adam was closer to Joseph than anyone in his life and he knew that Adam held him just as close.  He was Adam’s trusted confidant and the King used him as a sounding board before he implemented any changes.

Adam couldn’t stop Joseph if he decided to move to Earth—it was one of the decisions a mermaid or merman could make without needing the King’s permission—but it would be like a fist to his cousin’s gut.

The worst part was that Joseph wouldn’t be able to give his cousin the real reason.

Leaving the kingdom would be the hardest thing that Joseph had ever done and it would go against his every instinct.

Establishing a base on Earth wouldn’t be difficult.  Fortunately the large house in Chelsea that had been purchased for Seth and then occupied by Rufus was available.

As second-eldest sons, both Joseph and Adam had always been more dependable than their older brothers.  It hadn’t surprised either of them when Seth had decided to go to Earth to have some fun before starting his reign as King.  What had surprised them was the fact that Rufus, who was two months older than Seth and insanely envious of him, had decided to tag along as one of his guards.

They and everyone else in the Kingdom should have