“Nothing serious. What happened?”
“An earthquake, I think.”
Her expression darkened.
“Are those common here?”
Gustave shook his head. They were common enough that sailors knew to watch for large waves afterward, but earthquakes seldom happened in Montaigne.
This would affect sailing routes for a few days. He wouldn’t be able to take a ship and look for his father until the sailors decided the risk of tidal waves had passed.
Blast it all.
The thought made him scowl. Lady Mer noticed his dark expression and hung her head. Gustave flushed. What was wrong with him this evening? Thinking about earthquakes when he needed to apologize for his atrocious behavior.
“I- I’m sorry I kissed you.”
Her head shot up, and she stared at him with fire in her eyes.
“Say no more about it. It doesn’t matter.”
“But it does! That was an extremely inappropriate thing for me to do. I don’t know what came over me.”
“You were simply glad to find me alive. And now you regret it. There’s no harm done.”
Only Gustave didn’t regret it, and her expression said there was certainly harm done. He tried to think of something he could say to make it better. Some way to apologize.
Some way to politely bring up the fact that she had kissed him back. To ask… To ask what exactly?
Before he could find the right words, Marchioness Rouge burst into the library.
“There you are, Your Highness! Thank goodness you’re alright.”
She turned back to the hallway and called out, “He’s in the library! I found him!”
Then she returned to the library and surveyed Gustave, Lady Mer, and the debris strewn about the room.
“I was working late,” Gustave said. “Lady Mer couldn’t sleep and was looking for a book to read.”
If Marchioness Rouge suspected anything else had happened, she didn’t show it.
“We were checking on everyone after the earthquake and panicked when you weren’t in your room. Your Majesty-”
A crowd of servants, soldiers, and courtiers burst into the room, interrupting whatever she had planned to say. They surrounded Gustave, cutting off his view of Lady Mer. Doctor Batiste pushed his way through them to examine the king.
“I’m fine,” Gustave said. “Please, take care of Lady Mer. The pile of gifts fell on her and may have injured her.”
But when the crowd parted to make way for the doctor, Lady Mer’s chair was empty.
31
The incoming crowd provided the perfect opportunity for Fiora to escape the library. She ran from the room and down the hallway while everyone focused on King Gustave.
Well, she limped as quickly as she could. The bruises from falling boxes combined with the pain in her feet slowed her pace.
She was lucky. Her injuries could have been far worse. It was a good thing King Gustave had been there to dig her out.
And then to kiss her. Fiora frowned. It didn’t matter what she felt, because Gustave clearly regretted his actions. He hadn’t meant to kiss her, and she had kissed him back like the idiot she was.
What kind of man kissed someone accidentally? It was nonsense.
This was what she got for letting her guard down. For daring to think, for even just one moment, that someone could possibly want her.
Fiora leaned against the wall and took a deep breath as a wave of pain that had nothing to do with bruises and magic washed through her. When would she learn to stop hoping for such things?
Dwelling on it would do no good. She pushed Gustave out of her mind and instead thought about the rumbling and the earthquake. The noise that had preceded the shaking was far too similar to the one that accompanied the kraken attack to be a coincidence. Was something causing the earthquakes? Or someone?
Perhaps that deep rumbling voice that had communicated with Leander. The one that wanted her dead.
Had this been a deliberate attack on her?
Fiora reached the shore long before she developed any theories that made sense. She tried to call out to Zoe and scowled when she remembered she couldn’t. Instead, she picked up rocks from the garden and threw them into the water. Hopefully that was enough to catch her cousin’s attention if Zoe was still waiting. The edge of the ocean was already tinged pink from the impending sunrise.
“Ouch!”
One of Fiora’s rocks hit Zoe’s head as the mermaid emerged. Fiora dropped the rest.
“Sorry.”
Zoe’s expression turned from annoyance to concern as she looked at Fiora.
“Fiora, what happened? Did you get in a fight?”
Fiora shook her head.
“The earthquake knocked a few things on top of me. I’m fine.”
“Earthquake?”
Before Fiora could further explain what had happened, Zoe swallowed nervously.
“Fiora, I can explain.”
“Explain what?”
The water around Zoe rippled, and Kathelin and Althea burst through the waves. Fiora backed away from the shore.
“Don’t be silly, Fiora,” Kathelin said. “We’re not going to hurt you. What happened to your hair?”
Althea said nothing. She simply held up a large conch shell. It was more effective than any words, and Fiora froze.
“I got worried when you took so long to meet me,” Zoe said. “And they were looking for me and found me here. They’re your sisters, Fiora. They can help.”
“Help me into a jail cell, perhaps.”
Althea frowned.
“So what Zoe said is true. You used the transformation song.”
“Obviously. Was it supposed to take my voice?”
Althea nodded.
“And cause pain in my feet?”
“No, that isn’t supposed to happen. I suspect it’s because you’re half human and your magic isn’t as strong as a full-blooded mermaid. This is why you shouldn’t experiment with enchantments that you don’t fully understand.”
“As if I had a choice. You want me in prison, and Leander wants me dead.”
“What’s this about Leander?” Kathelin said.
Fiora rolled her eyes and explained what she had overheard in the garden. Her aunts stared at her.
“That’s a serious accusation,” Althea said.
“It’s the truth. And I heard the rumbling again just before a stack of boxes fell on me in the human castle. It might have been a deliberate attack.”
Although Fiora hoped not. That would mean Leander had allies on the shore. Allies that knew who and where she was.
“If it helps, we no longer suspect you of waking the kraken,” Althea said. “There have been more rumblings since you left. It seems the earthquakes weaken the effectiveness of the Kraken Heart. We have adjusted our songs, and the kraken are once again sleeping soundly. It was simply a matter of unfortunate timing.”
Or was it? Fiora was beginning to suspect there was more going on here than met the eye. Before she could comment on the situation, Althea tossed the conch shell at her. Fiora caught it and hugged it to her chest.
“That transformation charm is only meant to last a short time,” Althea said. “Three days at the most. You need to change back to a mermaid.”
Fiora looked to Kathelin, who nodded in agreement.
“It is worrying that the enchantment is causing you pain. Perhaps we should have considered sooner that being half human would affect your magic and tried to discover exactly how it did.”
Perhaps, but they were a decade too late for that. Fiora had spent most of the time she was underwater trying to pretend her human side didn’t exist.
Just like she tried to pretend her mermaid side didn’t exist when she was human.
Maybe that hadn’t been the best strategy.
Fiora lifted the conch shell and read it. The counter charm was a complicated cacophony of extremely high notes. More of a scream than a song. She would have to
focus her voice and push her magic to the limits to break through the enchantment that made her mute and human.
Out of a sense of morbid curiosity, Fiora read through the cautions for the charm. The details of the enchantment were just as Althea had said. The song was not meant to last more than three days, and it was not supposed to be painful.
“You’re sure I’ll be safe if I come with you? This isn’t some sort of trap?”
“Of course not,” Althea said.
“Would we tell you if it was?” Kathelin said.
That probably shouldn’t have been reassuring, but somehow it was. The royal sisters were as straightforward as ever.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you, Fiora,” Zoe said fiercely. “Not even them.”
Fiora wasn’t confident that Zoe would be much good in a fight against Kathelin and Althea, but she nodded her thanks. The pain in her feet was growing worse, and perhaps it would be best not to return to the castle. Then she wouldn’t have to face Gustave again after the kiss he so clearly regretted.
It seemed she wouldn’t be able to run from the sea forever.
She stepped into the water. Waves washed over her feet and eased her pain. She pulled the pearl ring off her finger and set it on a rock. No point in taking a risk that the magic would interfere.
She looked at the conch shell as she sang to make sure she knew her notes. The song would be easy to get wrong, and who knew what would happen then? Fiora opened her mouth and screamed.
Nothing happened. No sound. No sudden burst of magic. No relief for her aching feet.
Fiora screamed louder. Tried harder. Reached into that place in her soul where the magic resided.
But the magic was gone.
She collapsed, landing in the shallow water with a splash. The salt water stung her cuts and made her eyes burn. The mermaids swam as close as they could.
“I can’t do it,” Fiora signed.
Zoe and Kathelin shared a concerned look. Althea’s brows knit together.
“I was afraid of that. It takes a powerful burst of song to reverse the enchantment. Your voice isn’t strong enough.”
“What are you saying, Althea?” Kathelin said.
Althea didn’t answer. They all knew what she was saying.
“The enchantment is meant to last three days,” Zoe said. “What happens at the end of those three days?”
“It won’t come to that,” Althea said. “I couldn’t save your mother, Fiora, but I will save you.”
There was something reassuring about the fiercely protective look in her eyes. Terrifying, but also reassuring.
“What happened to her?” Fiora signed. “Before I left, you said something about my father being responsible for her death. What exactly did you mean by that?”
Kathelin and Althea shared a look that made Fiora’s heart sink. Whatever they had to say, it wasn’t good.
“I suppose she should know,” Kathelin said.
Althea nodded.
“Perhaps we should have told you before. Fiora, you know that your mother broke our laws and formed a friendship with a human. With your father.”
“Obviously.”
“Nyssa was always fascinated by humans,” Kathelin said. “She was always getting into trouble underwater and thought she would do better on land. She loved listening to Madame Isla’s stories about her research trips.”
Fiora could only imagine how those stories had warped her mother’s view of humanity.
“When she befriended your father, we helped her keep it a secret,” Althea said. “But then she fell in love with him and swore she would never be happy without him. That’s why we made the pearl ring. It was forbidden magic, but Kathelin and I were accomplished enough to create it.”
Fiora wondered why her aunts had known forbidden magic in the first place, but didn’t want to interrupt the story to ask.
“We thought it would make her happy,” Kathelin said. “And for a time it did. She lived in a tiny cottage on the shore with your father. We thought he was a fisherman.”
“But he wasn’t,” Althea said. “He was a prince. And when his older brother died, he became heir to the throne. His parents were not pleased to discover he had already chosen a bride. They ordered him to leave her so he could marry the girl of their choice and strengthen political alliances.”
Fiora clenched her fists in the sand. She knew this part of the story. Well, her father’s version of it.
“He told me she died before he remarried. Are you saying he abandoned her?”
Althea’s face was grim.
“Not entirely, but he was conflicted. And that was enough to weaken the charm and turn Nyssa back into a mermaid.”
“It takes strong magic to create a permanent transformation,” Kathelin said. “When we made the ring, we designed it so his love would let him share his life with her and make her human. But he had to love her enough to forsake his mother and father and all else in the world. And in the end, he didn’t. The charm failed, and Nyssa came back to the sea. She rallied a little when she had you, but she couldn’t pull through.”
“I confronted him,” Althea said. “I told him about his daughter, hoping it would convince him to abdicate his throne and return to Nyssa. But it still wasn’t enough. All that accomplished was to cause him to look for you years later and take you away from us.”
“So my mother died from a broken heart?”
Althea snorted.
“Nyssa was stronger than that. She died from side effects of the magic. There’s a reason such charms are forbidden. The day King Fergal married someone else, she dissolved into sea foam.”
“That won’t happen to Fiora, will it?” Zoe asked. “She used the ring to become human, and then her father stopped loving her.”
Althea shook her head.
“If it was going to happen, it would have by now. We believe the magic worked differently because Fiora is half human and was transformed by the love of her father rather than a husband. His love wasn’t as strong, but she also didn’t need quite as much help to change her form.”
Fiora glared at the ring. Were it not for that enchantment, her mother would still be alive.
And she wouldn’t exist.
She didn’t know what to feel.
“Surely he didn’t know it would kill her,” Fiora signed.
“Of course not,” Kathelin said a little too quickly.
“Probably not,” Althea said. “We don’t know how much Nyssa told him about the magic. It is possible that he had no idea his love was keeping her human.”
Her tone said it was possible, but not likely.
“But he did love her then,” Zoe said. “He loved her enough to power the ring.”
Althea nodded.
“Love is a powerful magic, useful in breaking curses and sometimes in causing them. But the hearts of men are unpredictable. More fickle than I realized when I created the enchantment. He was torn between his love for Nyssa and his duty to his country.”
Althea picked the ring up and turned it over in her hand. Then she blinked and looked from the pearl to Fiora. Her expression was so alarmed that Fiora slid deeper into the water to look at the pearl herself. She gasped.
When her father had disowned her, the pearl had lost its sheen and turned a dull gray. It had stayed that way in the days that followed.
But some of the luster had returned. A tiny stripe of pink and blue danced across the gem.
“Someone loves you,” Althea said “At least they’re beginning to.”
“Really?” Zoe squealed.
She slid forward on the sand to look at the ring.
“That’s impossible,” Fiora signed.
She squirmed under the mermaids’ questioning gazes.
“This could solve the problem of Fiora not being able to break the enchantment with the song,” Kathelin said.
“Absolutely not,” Althea said. “This ring is too dangerous to use again. I only let her keep it because I thought the ma
gic was gone.”
“Does Fiora need to love the human man in return?” Zoe asked.
Althea and Kathelin turned back to Fiora.
“Are you falling in love with someone?” Kathelin asked.
Fiora blushed, remembering her kiss with Gustave.
“Of course not. I’ve only been on land for a day.”
Althea and Kathelin shared a look that said they didn’t believe her, and Zoe squealed again.
“But the ring is dangerous. It killed my mother.”
Althea considered this.
“It didn’t turn you to sea foam when your father abandoned you. Perhaps it affects you differently because you are half human. It might be worth a try.”
“She means it’s our only option,” Kathelin said. “If you can win a man’s love and turn human with the ring, you’ll regain your voice. Then you could sing the counter charm and become a mermaid again.”
“See, Fiora. I knew it would all work out,” Zoe said.
Except for the part where she had to win a human man’s love in two days, possibly come to love him in return, and then abandon him so that she wouldn’t die if he abandoned her. There were so many impossibilities in that scenario that it was difficult to choose which to criticize first.
“There must be another way,” Fiora signed.
“I will look for one,” Althea said. “But I can’t guarantee that I will find anything. And you only have two days until the enchantment runs out.”
“What happens then?”
“You’ll die.”
Althea’s face was grim. Far grimmer than usual. Fiora swallowed.
“At least try to win his heart,” Kathelin said. “It would be such a nice solution, and you already have made progress.”
She handed the ring back to Fiora. Fiora took it and glared at the treacherous streak of color.
“Lady Mer? Are you there?”
Gustave’s voice rang through the garden. The mermaids pushed backwards into deeper water to hide.
“He sounds cute,” Kathelin said.
She winked and disappeared into the water.
“Be careful,” Althea said. “I’ll do what I can, but two days is not much time to create a new enchantment. Using the ring is your best chance.”
Princess of Mermaids Page 19
