Princess of Mermaids

by A. G. Marshall

  Without waiting to see the result of his attack, Leander swam into the other half of the broken mirror. The surface rippled as he slipped through it.

  Once he disappeared, the deep rumbling continued. The kraken shuddered and opened its eye again.

  Fiora pressed her hand against her tail to slow the bleeding and glared at the remaining piece of the mirror. Whatever was in there, she needed to keep it from getting out.

  She picked up the glass and slammed it against the ground. It sank into the sand, and the deep voice continued to reverberate through the ocean.

  Fiora looked around. She needed something solid. A piece of coral. A rock.

  Or a statue.

  Gustave stood nearby, his head still turned to look out the window for her.

  The mirror shook as the deep voice laughed. The hulking silhouette appeared, reflected in the distance but getting closer.

  Fiora swung the mirror at Gustave, singing to add force to her blow.

  It smashed against his head and shattered in slow motion. Shards of glass floated around him, glowing like stars in the Kraken Heart’s blue light.

  Gustave looked uninjured, thank goodness. The deep, rumbling laughter disappeared. Peace descended on the ocean as the mermaid’s lullaby filled the waves. The Kraken Heart settled into a gentle heartbeat pulse as the kraken slept.

  Fiora shuddered. That had been close.

  “Fiora, are you well?”

  Kathelin swam over, her eyes wide with concern. She looked from the shards of mirror to the statue to Fiora’s bleeding tail.

  “Please, will you help me carry that statue to the surface?”

  Fiora signed to keep from interrupting the mermaid choir’s song. Kathelin shook her head.

  “Can you swim? I’ll heal you, but we need to put some distance between us and the choir first.”

  “Fine, but bring the statue.”

  Fiora nodded to King Francois. Kathelin’s eyebrows knit together, but she didn’t protest. She wrapped her arms around the statue and kicked her tail.

  Fiora did the same with Gustave. He was heavy. Solid stone, and bigger than her. Pain shot through her tail as she swam, and she left a trail of blood in the ocean.

  Fiora pulled of water through her gills and forced herself to keep swimming through the pain. Whatever else happened, she had to save Gustave.

  And since Leander and Elspeth had worked together to curse him, her magic was the only way to set him free.

  That or a kiss.

  They reached the surface, and Kathelin listened for a moment to make sure they were too far away to hear the choir. Then she sang the song of healing, knitting the gash in Fiora’s tail back together.

  Fiora kissed Gustave’s stone cheek, just in case that was the way to break the curse.

  Nothing happened.

  So she sang.

  She tried to remember Elspeth’s song. The words had been foreign, but the tune was easy enough. Fiora started with that. When she came to a place in the melody she couldn’t remember, she made something up. She let her voice resonate softly, both human and mermaid. Both parts of her working together.

  That combination of magic had turned Gustave to stone. It should be able to break the enchantment as well.

  When nothing happened, Fiora kept singing. This had to work. She didn’t know what else to do. If she was mistaken-

  Then Gustave shuddered, and his stone chest heaved with a silent gasp. He grew soft in Fiora’s arms, turning from cold stone to warm flesh.

  Kathelin let out an alarmed shriek as King Francois did the same.

  “Fiora, these statues are turning into people!”

  Fiora smiled and kept singing. Gustave blinked and turned his head from side to side, staring into the distance in confusion.

  Finally his gaze settled on Fiora. She kept singing. The curse was broken, but she didn’t know what to say. She was a mermaid. And herself, not Lady Mer.

  There was so much to explain, and she didn’t know where to start. So she sang instead.

  Gustave wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

  73

  His hearing came back first. That voice. It was always that voice.

  Then air rushed into his lungs, and Gustave realized he was cold.

  And wet.

  What on earth had happened?

  The voice kept singing. Gustave opened his eyes and stared at the horizon. Why was the ground moving around him?

  Someone shrieked.

  “Fiora, these statues are turning into people!”

  Gustave looked from side to side, searching for whoever had screamed.

  As he looked, he realized the moving ground was water. It stretched as far as he could see in every direction.

  He was in the middle of the ocean.

  His leg brushed against something solid, and he realized someone was holding him.

  He probably should have noticed that first.

  Gustave stared at her. She was so close that her face was out of focus, but he would know her anywhere. This beautiful woman with brilliant blue eyes.

  And gills.

  Those were new, but Gustave didn’t have time to process that. More memories flooded back. The gala. Dancing barefoot together.

  Leaving her for Elspeth.

  Gustave’s heart sank. He didn’t deserve Fiora. Not after what he had done.

  She kept singing. There was something unique about her voice. Gustave couldn’t place what was different about it, but it sounded like it belonged here amidst the sounds of the sea.

  She stared into his eyes, relief and uncertainty filling her gaze.

  Gustave wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. She stopped singing, surprised by the sudden movement.

  The gentle rhythm of waves and wind filled the silence.

  “Fiora, I am so sorry.”

  His voice broke. There was more to say, but he couldn’t find the words.

  She shrugged out of his grasp and held him at arm’s length so she could glare at him.

  “Don’t you dare apologize for being cursed.”

  Then she pulled him close and pressed her forehead against his. Gustave relaxed a little, and Fiora tilted her head and softly kissed his cheek. Gustave hesitated only a moment before leaning in and meeting her lips. Fiora tightened her grip and kissed him fiercely.

  “You see, Zoe? That’s the proper way to seduce a human man.”

  Fiora tensed and broke the kiss. She was glaring at him again. No, at something behind him. Gustave wrapped his arm around her shoulder and turned so he could see.

  A group of mermaids floated nearby. An older one with long white hair pointed at Gustave as if he were a specimen on display. A younger one with short hair watched with an enthusiastic grin.

  Behind them, Althea rolled her eyes. She had cut off her long hair since he last saw her. It only made her look more intimidating. Gustave leaned a little closer to Fiora.

  Kathelin floated beside Althea. She held something in her arms. Someone.

  “Father?”

  Gustave turned further in Fiora’s arms, trying to get a better look. The man lifted his head.

  “Gustave?”

  “Stay still, Your Majesty,” Kathelin said. “You’re still very weak.”

  The mermaid cradled the king to her chest like a child. He looked from her to his son.

  “Gustave, where are we? Who are these people?”

  “Mermaids. We’re in the ocean.”

  His father’s eyes widened in alarm, and Gustave wished he had made up a comforting lie instead. King Francois did not look well.

  Kathelin began to sing. Gustave recognized the melody as the same one Fiora had sung for him that day at the beach.

  King Francois’s face relaxed, and he fell asleep. Gustave looked to Fiora.

  “It’s a song of healing,” she said. “He’ll awake refreshed.”

  “We should take them back to land,” Althea said.

  “No need,”
Zoe said. “There’s a ship!”

  Fiora turned to look, and Gustave turned with her. The approaching ship formed a squat silhouette against the sunrise. An ugly rescue, but a rescue nonetheless.

  “It’s the Sea Frog,” Gustave said. “But what is Princess Serafina doing out here?”

  “Is she a friend?” Althea asked.

  “Unless you’re smashing her city with a kraken.”

  Althea ignored sarcasm in his voice. She hummed a tune, and their group floated towards the ship. Or maybe the ship was floating towards them. Gustave found it difficult to say for sure.

  “Mermaids, ho!” Massimo screamed from the ship’s deck.

  The young prince of Santelle sounded like he was having a good time. At least someone was enjoying themselves tonight.

  Although, Gustave wasn’t going to complain too much about being held in Fiora’s arms. Had he told her he loved her yet? He had a vague sense that he had, but his memory hadn’t exactly been reliable for the past few days.

  “I love you,” he whispered into her hair, just in case he hadn’t.

  She stilled, and for a moment Gustave was afraid he had made a terrible mistake. That he had misremembered their relationship and-

  “I love you too.”

  She whispered it softly, her Kellish accent becoming thick with emotion.

  Why did she sound so sad?

  A strand of dark hair blew against Fiora’s face and stuck to her skin. Gustave reached up and gently brushed it away. He left his hand against her cheek, caressing her skin and catching her tears. Why was she crying?

  “Fiora, I never meant to hurt you. I was under an enchantment. I know that’s no excuse, but-”

  “Gustave, I told you not to apologize for that. I-”

  “Permission to send humans aboard, Captain?”

  The mermaid’s shout swallowed whatever Fiora had been about to say.

  “Um, granted?”

  Serafina’s usually commanding voice sounded confused.

  Before Gustave could quite process what was happening, a rush of water swept him out of Fiora’s arms and pushed him towards the ship. She reached for him. Their fingers brushed against each other for a moment, then a new song rang through the air. Fiora sank into the water with a small gasp.

  “Fiora!”

  Gustave tried to swim towards her, but he was helpless against the current. The song crescendoed, and he floated up to the ship’s deck on a wave of water and magic.

  Serafina pulled him over the railing before he could protest. King Francois floated up on a second wave, and Collette shrieked with joy as she helped her father onto the ship.

  Princess Serafina looked into the water for a moment, then shrugged.

  “Set a course for Montaigne,” she ordered the man at the wheel.

  The man was hidden in shadows, but he looked more like a pirate than a naval officer. He spun the wheel with one hand and gave a roguish salute with the other.

  Serafina rolled her eyes and turned back to Gustave.

  “What happened to your ship? To Elspeth?”

  “Gone, I think. Kraken.”

  That was all a bit blurry, obscured by poison and magic. Serafina’s expression grew serious.

  “And Fiora?”

  “She’s a mermaid.”

  Gustave crawled to the railing and looked down at the water.

  The mermaids had disappeared and taken Fiora with them. The ocean stretched empty for as far as he could see.

  “What do you mean Fiora is a mermaid?” Serafina said. “Are you saying that Princess Fiora of Kell is a mermaid?”

  “How is that possible?” Collette said.

  Gustave shrugged. He had no idea. He was more concerned with how to get her back.

  “Father won’t wake up,” Collette said.

  Gustave tore his gaze from the water, remembering that other people needed him. Collette’s eyes were tense with worry.

  “The mermaids put him into an enchanted sleep so he could heal. He was weak from being cursed for so long.”

  Collette’s tight shoulders relaxed. She gathered part of her enormous skirt into a pillow and gently placed it under her father’s head.

  Gustave watched him sleep for a few moments, then turned his attention back to the water as the Sea Frog sailed towards Montaigne.

  Towards home, although he wasn’t sure what that meant any more. He had found his father and lost his love. The ocean stretched around them, vast and empty.

  There had to be a way to find her. He had survived multiple kraken attacks and been turned to stone. He would face worse to be with the woman he loved.

  As if answering his thought, something splashed near the ship.

  “Fiora?”

  Gustave leaned over the railing and almost collided with a tentacle emerging from the ocean.

  Althea sat on the tentacle and watched Gustave through narrowed eyes. Another splash broke the stillness, and Kathelin bobbed up on a second tentacle. She smiled brightly at Gustave as if she were stopping in for tea.

  “Where’s Fiora?”

  Althea glared so fiercely at the question that Gustave’s heart sank. Had something gone wrong?

  “You ladies have control of those kraken?” the man at the wheel called.

  He even sounded like a pirate. Definitely too roguish to be in Santelle’s navy.

  “We have perfect control now that Leander is gone. He was sabotaging our enchantments with mixed magic,” Kathelin called back.

  The man seemed satisfied with that explanation, as did Serafina. She raised an eyebrow at the two mermaids, then shrugged and left Gustave to deal with them. She had a ship to sail.

  “Where is Fiora?” Gustave repeated.

  “Home, for now,” Althea said. “She was injured and needed to heal.”

  “She’s hurt?”

  Gustave fought back panic. Why hadn’t Fiora told him she was hurt? Was it serious?

  “Getting thrown out of a window and cut with an enchanted mirror takes a lot out of you. We put her to sleep with a healing enchantment. She’ll be fine by morning.”

  Gustave relaxed a little. Althea did not.

  “Fiora is the reason we’re here,” she said.

  It sounded more like an accusation than anything.

  “You love her,” Kathelin said.

  She held up a ring. Fiora’s ring. The pearl glistened in the morning light, flickering with bits of copper as if it were reflecting a fire. That gem was definitely enchanted, but what did it do?

  “Yes, I love her.”

  “See, Althea? He loves her.”

  Kathelin waved the ring at her sister as if it proved her point. Althea didn’t look convinced.

  “Truly-” Gustave began.

  Althea raised her hand to silence him.

  “It isn’t your love I question. It’s your lineage.”

  She gestured to where King Francois lay on the deck.

  “What’s wrong with my lineage?”

  “It’s royal. You’re a king.”

  The mermaid spit out the words as if saying them physically pained her. Gustave swallowed.

  “Yes. Well, I suppose I’m a prince again now that my father has returned. It’s all a bit confusing.”

  Kathelin nodded sympathetically, but Althea’s scowl didn’t waver.

  “Did you know that Fiora was a mermaid when you fell in love with her?”

  “I didn’t even know she was Fiora. I called her Lady Mer.”

  “See, Kathelin, it’s just like last time.”

  “Althea, that’s unfair.”

  But a small wrinkle of worry creased Kathelin’s brow.

  Gustave rubbed his forehead, trying to erase the headache he felt building.

  “Begging your pardon, but I don’t understand.”

  “Of course you don’t,” Althea said. “And I’m not sure you can. But Fiora loves you enough to sacrifice her life for yours, so I’m going to try to explain.”

  She gestured
to the ring as if it explained everything. Gustave studied it, desperate to understand whatever the mermaids were trying to tell him. The longer he stared, the more the copper swirling across the surface of the pearl looked like strands of Fiora’s hair.

  “We’re going to tell you a story,” Kathelin said. “The story of Fiora’s parents. And then you’re going to make a choice.”

  “Does this have anything to do with the shell you gave me?”

  Gustave pulled it out of his pocket, a little surprised that it was still there after everything that had happened. Kathelin’s eyes widened.

  “Why do you have that? It was for Carina. Well, I suppose it could work in this situation as well.”

  Althea smirked at Gustave’s confusion.

  “That shell contains the notes to a magical song that will turn a man into a frog. I believe Kathelin was giving Carina a way to turn Prince Stefan into a frog again if she so desired.”

  “But we could turn you into a frog instead if you like,” Kathelin said. “You could join Fiora under the water then. It would be a little strange, but I’m sure you could make it work.”

  “What?”

  “Focus, Kathelin. Remember why we’re here.”

  “Right. To tell Gustave the story of Nyssa and Fergal.”

  Gustave blinked. King Fergal of Kell was Fiora’s father.

  “Who’s Nyssa?”

  “Fiora’s mother. Our sister. She died because a king betrayed her. We’re here to make sure you don’t do the same.”

  Gustave swallowed.

  “I would never-”

  “You wouldn’t mean to,” Althea said, “But as I said, you don’t understand. That’s why we’re here to explain. To make sure that what happened to Nyssa doesn’t happen again.”

  74

  Fiora woke up feeling better than she had in days.

  And worse.

  As much as she had wished to return to the ocean, it felt strange to be back.

  She stared at the shifting blue light dancing against the coral reefs and sighed. A stream of bubbles danced towards the surface, sparkling like diamonds in the morning sun.

  Fiora pushed off the bed and floated through the water. Her hair swirled around her, a dark cloud since it was still dyed with squid ink.

  “Fiora! You’re awake!”