The Last Mermaid
The Last Mermaid by Shana Abé is in fact three stories in one book.
Each story has a common theme, that of the Last Mermaid and the island of Kell. Before each story a short prologue tells a little more about the story of Kell and the last mermaid and the curse invoked. It is through the curse that the stories link.
531 A.D.
Prince Aedan of the Isles does not believe in the legends that surround the island of Kell. At least he doesn't until the day he finds himself on the island itself and face to face with the mysterious and beautiful Ione.
The victim of an ambush by the Picts Aedan is helpless to save his sister as he is taken out to sea and his fate left to the waves. But fate is kind when Ione, the mermaid siren of Kell pulls him from the waters and takes him to her island, a place of magic and mystery where he can recover and live out his life with her.
But Aedan's life is full of duty and commitments he knows he cannot remain on the island and is determined to find a way off of it and back to his people.
Eventually he returns to his life but finds that things are not as they should be and it is up to Ione to follow her lover to the mainland and save his life. But away from Kell her powers are weaker and may not be enough to save his life this time around.
1721
Ronan MacMhuirich, Earl of Kell, finds himself the target of a female assassin named Leila, a woman who has the power to read feelings whenever she touches anyone. But that power comes at a high price of headaches and anguish.
A hired assassin, the man who mentors her, and who she is determined to one day escape from, has instructed her to target Ronan next, after telling her all about his cruelty to others.
Ronan knows that someone is trying to kill him. He even knows the person paying the assassin. Lamont has, like many others in the area, heard the stories of Kell and of the riches the island holds. Now, through his greed, he is determined to possess the island and Ronan is the man who stands in the way of his goal.
Travelling away from his home Ronan is determined to put an end to the threats to his life. Finding a dead end he returns to his lands and Kell but with Leila in pursuit.
But what Leila finds when she touches Ronan is not what she expected and the mysterious man with ties to the sea could be the one person who can free her completely from her past.
2004
In modern Pasadena Ruri Kell is a psychic who reads the tarot cards over the phone to customers. She is also the missing heir of Kell who is plagued by nightmares of drowning in the ocean.
Iain MacInnes is the man who is trying to track down the heir to Kell in order to purchase the island for himself.
Ruri receives a mysterious locket shortly before the arrival of Iain on her doorstep. He brings with him the news that she is about to receive news of her inheritance of the island of Kell. When this comes true Ruri is quick to agree to sell the island immediately, the death of her parents leaving her with debts she is struggling to pay.
But Iain makes the decision more difficult by refusing to purchase the island without her having seen it. Taking Ruri to Kelmere and Kell he does not feel that she will sell the island once he has shown her the same.
Ruri finds love with Iain but will the mistakes of the past repeat in the modern world or has the siren's curse been broken at last?
This final story also weaves into it the story of the original siren herself and tells how her curse came to be as it reaches its final conclusion.
Three stories, each uniquely different are brought together to tell the legend of the Siren of Kell. A good read for anyone who likes historical, contemporary and mythological tales all woven together.
If only there were more watery wonders books of this calibre.
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