The Merman's Curse

THE MERMAN’S CURSEA SCI-FI MER ROMANCEMERMEN OF LEVI’ABOOK 1 SACHA WOLFE CONTENTS Chapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20Chapter 21Chapter 22Chapter 23Chapter 24Chapter 25Chapter 26Chapter 27EpilogueNeed more mermen?An excerpt from The Merman’s Mate!Writing The Merman’s CurseAbout Sacha WolfeAlso by Sacha Wolfe BLURB A mermadic race on the brink of extinction. A bull-headed prince determined to protect his people. And the feisty woman who might just save them all. When a surveying mission ends in disaster, environmental scientist Liesel Voss and her crew find themselves stranded on Levi’a, a small oceanic planet inhabited by mer-people, the Lev’i. Once an abundant paradise, illness has ravaged the planet and its inhabitants. Now, the Lev’i wait on a cure from the Intergalactic Federation while fighting off space pirates and enemy races interested in Levi’a’s mineral reserves. As the second son of the late King Avadus, Maxsym’s life has been more parties than politics. When his older brother falls gravely ill, he faces an unexpected ascension to the throne. The last thing he needs is a shipwrecked group of humans, especially when their leader seems so intent on sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. Maxsym knows the sooner he fixes Liesel’s ship, the sooner he’ll be able to cure his people and be free of the back-chatting, infuriating woman. But the moment Liesel left the surveying mission; something felt off. Now stranded on an alien planet, things aren’t lining up. As Liesel wrangles a belligerent alien prince, she uncovers secrets that could bring about the destruction of his entire race. The Merman’s Curse is a steamy sci-fi romance about a troubled Mer prince and a headstrong human heroine set in an oceanic paradise! The Merman’s Curse by Sacha Wolfe. First edition published in 2023. Copyright Deep Sea Press, 2023. All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-6488043-3-8 No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, unless it’s for review purposes. Content shared for reviewing purposes should count for no less than 10% of book content. The Merman’s Curse is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. A copy of this book is available at the National Library of Australia as a part of the legal deposit scheme. Content warnings: graphic sex scenes, graphic violence, not suitable for readers under 18. Cover design: Sylvia Frost, https://romancepremades.com/ Editing: Julia (Entirely Bonkerz), Kit (Epona Author Solutions) This book is written in standard UK/AU English. There may be some spelling variances. "Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty." - Derek Zoolander CHAPTERONE Liesel As our ship plunged through the stratosphere and my stomach flew into my throat, all I thought was this was definitely not the tropical getaway Viron promised me. Yara, my first pilot, expertly navigated the crashing ship through the smattering of clouds as we plummeted towards the planet P-83Y1. In front of us, the never ever-ending ocean glimmered under two nearby suns. “Fuel levels at twenty-one percent,” my engineer, Rigg, barked. “Thruster one is malfunctioning.” Yara’s three-fingered hands furiously pressed buttons on the console. “Brace for a water landing!” she yelled as we hurtled towards the water. My heart jumped into my throat as we suddenly lunged. Behind me, I could hear Blake, our communication officer, frantically clip his seatbelts. Gripping the armrests of the captain’s chair, I braced myself for impact. The ship slammed into the sea and skid across the water’s surface like a rock skipping along a lake. I forced my eyes open, and I saw Yara desperately pulling against the steering panel, trying to slow our speed. The ship laboured and the engine whined as we slowed. White sea foam splashed against the windshield. Finally, we came to a stop. “Floatation activated, but the left engine is fried,” Yara breathed as she slumped into her chair. Yara was one of the few female pilots employed by Viron—a job still dominated by men—and she’d just proved why she was one of the best. “At least we’re floating.” I unclipped my seat belt and turned back to Blake. “How are comms? Can we call for help?” Blake turned back to his display. “Comms are down.” He flicked switches on his comms board on and off. “I can’t contact base.” “Everything’s down,” Rigg replied as his thick finger prodded at the display pad. “Thrusters, engine, battery, comms. We sustained some serious damage. I’m surprised we’re still floating.” “Is it fixable?” Yara asked as I approached the central unit. Warnings flashed across all the displays. Not good. “We need to send a message to Viron. There’s no way we’re getting off this planet without their help.” “I’ll need some time,” Rigg replied, looking thoughtfully over the display. “We should see if we’re close to an island. If I could get it onto dry land, I’d be able to do a full assessment.” “It would give me time to build an antenna,” Blake agreed. “With any luck, I might be able to make contact with the Delta Outpost.” The Delta Outpost was at least half-a-day’s flight away, even with our advanced ship. When Viron said Levi’a was beyond the reaches of the current known universe, they weren’t joking. When it came to space, here there be monsters. Yara grabbed the comms pad and loaded the digital map of Levi’a. “We should have landed pretty close to this archipelago.” She pointed towards a string of small islands bordered by a reef. “The water is quite shallow across the planet and the current will eventually wash us up onto shore.” I leant over Yara’s shoulder. “What’s this?” My finger pointed to a long-running depression on the map. “An underwater trench that cuts the planet in half,” she replied. “Initial reports couldn’t detect