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“You will break my son’s curse, and you’ll do it now!” Alistair’s father bellowed. The water shuddered around them. “No more riddles, witch!”

The sea fae hissed, baring needle-like teeth. “I speak with the cursed, not with his family.” Smoothing out her scowl, she returned her blind attention to Alistair. “What do you wish for?”

The crossroads. The irony of curses.

To save Niera, he had no choice but to break his curse. As the prophecy evolved, according to her, this very moment had to come to pass. He would sacrifice his fins to be with her, but he’d condemn her to a life of loneliness if he didn’t break his own curse, forcing him to remain in the sea.

Instead, he would have to sacrifice his future with Niera in order to save her.

The sea fae giggled, the terrible, scratchy sound making his skin crawl.

“Decisions, decisions,” she taunted. “Am I right?”

Alistair gritted his teeth, contemplating his options. He swam closer to the cell, gripping the bars to keep his body steady.

“The curse needs to be lifted, but I have one request.”

The sea fae tipped her head to the side, and he got the feeling she was assessing him beyond his skin. She pulled her hands together and tapped her fingertips in a methodical wave.

“I may be willing to entertain your request.”

“Let me see her. Tomorrow. Lift the curse, but I will see her one last time.”

She contemplated his request, the silence ominous in the shadowy waters.

At last, she clapped, startling Alistair. “Very well!”

Alistair wondered about her excitement as she sliced open her palm with one sharp claw. Using the tip of her finger, she coiled a silver-blue ribbon of blood from the open wound. She moved quickly, like a trapped minnow, working with the trail of blood as she stirred the waters of the cell, muttering incoherently.

One second she was fluttering about, the next, she had Alistair by the neck, the ribbon of blood pushing into his nostrils, guiding down his throat, and latching onto something dark and tarry within his body.

“This may be a little uncomfortable,” she whispered.

Pain, like parts of his insides were being ripped from his body, squeezed a bark from his chest. Somewhere in the rush of agony and blood in his head, he heard his father yell, felt the guards pull at his arms.

All the while, the sea fae chanted, releasing him to the guards as she fled to the back of the cell.

His legs burned and throbbed, his body jerked and twitched. He couldn’t see a thing, blinded by whatever was happening to him at the hands of that deceitful creature. He kicked, writhed, and, when the pain became excruciatingly unbearable, bowed his back as a roar tore up from the bowels of his soul.

Blackness consumed him, suffocated him, dragged him to a place he feared and welcomed.

But one last thought wrenched his heart.

Niera. I’m so sorry. I failed you. I failed us.