Princess of Mermaids

by A. G. Marshall

  But there were extra guests at the table. Three young ladies sat in the seats usually reserved for the rest of the council. They blinked at him with wide, expectant eyes.

  Gustave blinked back. Maybe he should have taken breakfast in bed after all. He hadn’t expected Grandmother to start matchmaking so quickly.

  He blinked at the ladies again and fought the urge to retreat to his room. It was too late for that now.

  15

  Fiora ducked into her grotto and studied the shell. As Madame Isla had said, the transformation song wasn’t particularly complicated. It was rather long, but no more difficult than the kraken lullaby.

  The kraken.

  How could they accuse her of waking it on purpose? Did they honestly think she would do such a thing?

  Or that she was capable of doing it?

  Only Zoe had believed her, and Zoe believed the best of everyone.

  Fiora finished reading the shell and frowned. It contained the song to transform a mermaid to a human, but the song to reverse the enchantment was carved on another conch because this one had run out of space. The last line of text was a warning not to complete the enchantment without memorizing the counter charm and understanding the magic behind it.

  Perhaps this was a bad idea. If she didn’t know the other song, Fiora would be stuck as a human. And she had no idea what the potential consequences of the transformation would be.

  But being human had been her goal all along. She had been willing to marry any man that would have her to achieve it with her ring.

  Now she could achieve it on her own. Why would she want to return to the sea when her own family didn’t trust her?

  Because if she left for good, she would never know the truth about her mother.

  Fiora shook her head. As much as she wanted the truth, that knowledge wasn’t worth risking imprisonment. If Althea truly believed she was responsible for waking the kraken, there was no telling what the mermaid would do.

  She should go now. She should run while she still could.

  Before Fiora could act, the ground rumbled. It shook so badly that the statue of the boy toppled over. Fiora gasped as he crashed onto the rocks beneath the grotto. He fell slower in water that he would have on land, but the impact was still enough to chip his head and crack his arm.

  “Are you alright?” Fiora asked, not caring that it sounded ridiculous.

  She reached for the statue, but the rumbling turned into deep laughter that shook the ground. Fiora darted back into the grotto and curled around the shell and bottle of squid ink. The statue’s cracked face stared at the surface, shaking as the earth quaked.

  The laughter became a voice.

  “Well, fish boy, you’ve made a mess of things.”

  It rumbled and shook the grotto as if the ground itself were speaking. Fiora pushed deeper into the shadows and held her breath. Who was that?

  Whoever it was, she didn’t want to face him.

  “I can hardly be blamed for this.”

  Fiora’s eyes widened as she recognized Leander’s voice. Why was he talking to a stranger all the way out here?

  “No? Well, you can’t exactly be thanked for it either.”

  This was a new voice. Soft and cold and feminine. Fiora resisted the urge to peek around the edge of the grotto to see who Leander was speaking with.

  “It can be fixed,” Leander said.

  “I’ll deal with things on land,” the female voice said. “I trust you can take care of one little mermaid?”

  Were they threatening Zoe? If her cousin was in danger-

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of Fiora. The royal family agrees with me that something must be done.”

  Fiora shivered and pushed further back into the grotto. Rough stone pressed against her back as she flattened against it.

  “Are you sure you can handle her?” the deep voice rumbled.

  “She’s been nothing but trouble since she arrived. Everyone will be glad to be rid of her.”

  Fiora pulled water slowly through her gills, breathing as quietly as possible. That sounded more serious than imprisonment. Did Leander truly want to kill her? Did her family find her that much of a nuisance?

  “We’ll talk again when you have something worthwhile to say,” the female voice said.

  The rumbling laughter erupted again, then faded into silence. Fiora stayed hidden, listening to the muffled echoes of open water. Her heart pounded in her chest until she was sure that Leander would hear it and find her.

  But the ocean stayed quiet. When nothing interrupted the silence for some time, Fiora pushed her way past the broken statue that now seemed her only friend and peered into the garden.

  There was no sign of Leander or his mysterious companions. Just toppled statues and sunlight gleaming on mirrors. This was her chance to escape.

  It didn’t seem right to leave the statue toppled on the ground. Fiora tried to lift him back onto the grotto, but the stone crumbled as he moved. She lowered him to the ocean floor instead. He stared up at the sparkling surface with stone eyes that seemed to understand her pain.

  “Goodbye. I’m sorry.”

  Fiora curled her tail to her heart in a bow, then clutched the conch shell and squid ink to her chest as she raced towards the shore.

  16

  “Gustave, we didn’t expect you out of bed so soon,” Dowager Queen Bernadine said.

  “Doctor Batiste said you would need at least a day of rest,” Collette said.

  “Doctor Batiste just finished examining me. He said I’m fine.”

  That wasn’t exactly the truth, but it was close enough. No one questioned him further. Marchioness Rouge recovered her composure first. She waved at a servant and gestured to an empty place at the table. The waiters hurried to pull out a chair for Gustave.

  He sat, and they set a plate of food in front of him.

  “Was anyone else hurt in the attack?” Gustave asked.

  Collette shook her head.

  “A rogue current pushed the ship to shore. The Delphinette needs repairs, but the crew is fine.”

  Gustave smiled in relief. Unfortunately, he was facing one of the girls when he did it. She smiled back, looking pleased at the attention.

  Blast.

  Collette caught the exchange and grinned.

  “Gustave, you remember my friend Kara. She spent several summers with us when we were younger.”

  Gustave vaguely remembered a giggling crowd of girls gathering around Collette every summer. He had been too busy horseback riding and studying to spend much time with them. He looked at Kara again and tried to remember her face in the crowd. She had light brown hair and dark brown eyes. Not particularly memorable. Gustave’s head began to ache when he tried to picture Collette’s childhood friends. Maybe he wasn’t completely recovered after all.

  “Of course I remember,” he lied. “Welcome back to the castle, Kara.”

  Kara flushed bright red and became very interested in her plate of food. Gustave raised an eyebrow. It was a shame that Collette was going to the trouble to introduce him to her friend when his heart was already taken.

  The thought caught him by surprise. He wasn’t in love with anyone. Why had he thought he was for a moment?

  He stared at his plate until he realized his grandmother was trying to get his attention.

  “Elaine is the granddaughter of Jeanine, a very dear friend of mine,” Dowager Queen Bernadine said.

  Elaine wore her blond hair pulled into a tight bun that enhanced her unpleasant expression and piercing brown eyes. She scowled at Gustave, then seemed to remember she should look pleasant and tried to smile instead. Her face contorted into a sort of sneer before settling into indifference.

  “It was very kind of Dowager Queen Bernadine to invite me to the castle,” Elaine said. “I do hope you don’t find my presence intrusive.”

  Her tone said she found his presence intrusive, and Gustave bit back a sarcastic response. She was visiting his ho
me. If she didn’t want to see him, why had she come?

  Kara blushed even brighter, seeming horrified at the idea that Gustave would find their presence intrusive. Of course it was intrusive. Three strange women had appeared at his breakfast table, and he was in love with someone else.

  No, that wasn’t right. Gustave pushed the thought out of his head. He wasn’t in love. He wasn’t looking for love until he had found his father and had more time to consider the decision and properly woo his lady.

  “Not at all intrusive,” he lied again. “I am delighted to have visitors.”

  He would have said he was delighted to meet her, but he had no idea if they had met before or not. She didn’t look familiar, but that didn’t mean much. Again, his mind became hazy when he tried to think back to parties she might have attended.

  “And of course Your Majesty remembers Lady Annabelle,” Marquis Corbeau said.

  He emphasized Annabelle’s title with a self-satisfied grin. There weren’t many noble families in Montaigne, so having a title meant significant wealth, power, and social standing. Which meant Gustave had likely met Lady Annabelle before, although she didn’t look any more familiar than the other two. She had hazel eyes and curly black hair that cascaded around her shoulders like thick smoke.

  “Of course.”

  All this lying was exhausting. Gustave would have to ask Collette about the girls later to make sure he didn’t say anything stupid to them.

  Except Kara was clearly Collette’s choice for his future bride, and it would be extremely rude to admit that he did not remember her and was not interested in getting to know her better. Gustave looked out a window, watching the ocean waves crash against the shore. He was used to having Collette on his side, but this time it seemed they had different goals.

  Lady Annabelle giggled and fluttered a fan. It was too early in the day to be hot, so she seemed to have brought the fan just so she could flutter it flirtatiously.

  “It is such an honor to be invited to stay at the castle,” she said. “I have attended every ball here since I came of age, but I’ve never stayed for more than a day. Of course I danced with His Majesty often on each visit.”

  This last comment was directed at Kara and Elaine. Kara flushed even redder, which Gustave had not thought possible. Elaine met Annabelle’s gaze with a steady one of her own. Accepting the challenge? Or ignoring it completely?

  “You will all have plenty of opportunities to dance with His Majesty at his birthday gala,” Marquis Corbeau said.

  This was getting out of hand. He couldn’t let this continue when he was in love with someone else. Gustave cleared his throat.

  “Actually, I won’t be dancing with them at the gala.”

  “No?” Lady Annabelle asked, fluttering her eyelashes. “Why not, Your Majesty?”

  “Because I’ve already found the woman I want to marry.”

  Everyone in the room gasped. Gustave nearly gasped himself. What was he thinking, making such an announcement without discussing it with his council first?

  The council seemed to have similar thoughts. Marchioness Rouge pressed her lips together in a thin line and shared a questioning look with Collette, who shook her head slightly. Lady Annabelle looked murderous. Elaine looked relieved. Kara looked ready to cry.

  Dowager Queen Bernadine and Marquis Corbeau didn’t look as pleased by the news as Gustave thought they would be.

  “What do you mean you’ve already found someone?” Bernadine asked. “Yesterday you were completely opposed to the idea of marriage.”

  “Yesterday I hadn’t met the love of my life.”

  They all stared at him. Was it really so hard to understand? The doubt in their expressions gave Gustave second thoughts. Maybe it was crazy.

  A fog wrapped around his thoughts and whispered that he wasn’t crazy at all. Didn’t love always feel a little crazy at first?

  “A woman rescued me on the beach yesterday. She’s the one I want to marry.”

  A warm glow built in Gustave’s chest as he said the words. It seemed to agree with him.

  “Gustave, there wasn’t anyone else on the beach with you yesterday. You were alone.”

  Collette’s gentle voice was full of concern. Gustave scowled.

  “She was there until you scared her away. She has red hair and blue eyes and the most beautiful voice in the world. I’m going to marry her.”

  Kara sniffed into a napkin. Was she crying? Lady Annabelle snapped her fan shut.

  “You could have found her a day earlier and saved me the trip,” Elaine muttered.

  Queen Bernadine and Marquis Corbeau shared a look. The warmth in Gustave’s chest flared to anger.

  “You’re the ones who have been pushing me to get married. You should be happy that I’ve found someone!”

  “Of course we’re happy,” Collette said. “But we’re also surprised. Gustave, you’ve been through a lot. Perhaps you should go back to bed and rest.”

  “You don’t believe me! Why don’t you believe me?”

  Why was he yelling? He never yelled. Especially not at Collette.

  But she didn’t understand. She had never been in love, and she didn’t understand.

  “But what about us?” Lady Annabelle asked.

  Gustave shrugged.

  “What about you?”

  “Gustave, mind your manners,” Dowager Queen Bernadine said.

  “Your Majesty, be reasonable,” Marquis Corbeau said. “You cannot ignore your guests so callously. These ladies have traveled a long way to meet you.”

  “I’m not the one who invited them.”

  A small, sensible corner of Gustave’s mind said he was being rude. The rest filled with fog and said everyone at the breakfast table was trying to separate him from the love of his life.

  Frustration built until Gustave knew only two things. He was in love, and he would say something he regretted if he stayed in this room a moment longer.

  “Please, excuse me.”

  Gustave hurried through the castle and ran through the gardens towards the beach. He was desperate to get away.

  Desperate to find the woman he loved.

  He tried to remember exactly what she had looked like, but the memory was hazy. Red hair. Was there gold in it or not?

  Blue eyes.

  Or maybe they were green?

  The only thing that he clearly remembered was her voice. He would know her at once if he heard her sing again.

  Gustave reached the beach and looked out at the ocean. The tide and wind had erased any footprints from last night, so there was no way to track where his love had gone. He half expected to see her standing there waiting for him, but the beach was empty.

  No matter. He would find her again if he had to turn the whole kingdom upside down.

  17

  Fiora stayed close to the ocean floor, ducking behind rocks and reefs as often as possible to avoid detection. When a ship sailed over her, Fiora swam to the surface so she could hide in its shadow. Wherever it was going, she would go as well. It was the long way around, but it was safer than swimming in open water. She couldn’t risk being found when the merfolk wanted her dead.

  Taking the long way around took a long time. The ship sailed at a leisurely pace until it reached a harbor far too busy to accommodate her transformation. Fiora swam along the coast, dodging piers until she found a secluded stretch of shoreline. She studied the underwater terrain one last time to make sure she hadn’t been followed by merfolk. Then she slipped her head above the surface and checked the land for humans.

  The ocean waves crashed against an empty beach. A forest stretched along the rugged coast, and large rocks jutted out from the shallow water, creating the perfect hiding place for her to work her magic. The royal castle of Montaigne sat on a hill in the distance. It was close enough that people would think twice about swimming on the beach, but far enough away that Fiora wasn’t likely to be bothered by royals.

  In fact, this might be the same beach
she had brought Gustave to after rescuing him last night. Fiora hesitated. There had been people on the beach then. Gustave’s family and the woman in the cloak.

  She swam a little further away from the castle just to be safe. Fiora found an outcropping of rocks to hide behind and set the squid ink on a small ledge. Best to wait on that in case the magic from the transformation affected the dye. It would be just her luck to turn her hair green by accident.

  “Squawk?”

  A seagull landed on the rock and studied the bottle with interest. Fiora waved her hands at it.

  “Shoo! Go away!”

  The seagull tilted his head and hopped closer. He pecked at the bottle and tipped it over. More gulls landed on the rock, studying Fiora and the ink with greedy eyes.

  “Bad birds! Bad!”

  Fiora grabbed the bottle before it spilled and set it on a lower ledge where she could guard it more easily. The seagull squawked at her again and flew to a higher perch to watch. The rest of the gulls left to search for an easier target.

  Blasted birds. She’d better do this quickly before they caused more trouble.

  Fiora slipped her pearl ring off her finger and set it beside the bottle of ink. She doubted the ring would affect the enchantment, but there was no point taking that chance.

  She studied the shell and signed the notes to the song in a silent rehearsal. She really should have grabbed the second shell and read the rest of the details about the spell.

  But there was no time for that now.

  Fiora took a deep breath and sang. She kept her vowels round and only let the mermaid part of her voice into the song. Please, let her magic be enough!

  Her throat tickled when she reached the final phrase. Then the tickle turned into a burning that swept through her lungs. Fiora gasped for air, and her song became an otherworldly scream that scattered the seagulls perched nearby. Then the scream faded into silence so sudden that it seemed deafening.