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“A true name is a gift to the lover and a token to death.”

“How do I find a true name?”

“The prince must tell you,” he said.

“The prince will not tell me,” I said.

That would mean he willingly set me free, and I doubted his generosity unless it involved frustrating me and an abundance of thorns.

“He will tell you if he loves you.”

“You have lived too long in this swamp of a pond if you think the prince will ever love me.”

The selkie grinned, chuckling under his breath.

“I do not believe you, terrible thing.”

“I lost my ability to love a long time ago,” I said. “I do not want it back.”

“Perhaps you don’t,” he said. “And yet you still wish to be loved.”

The blood drained from my face.

“I have nodesireto discuss this,” I hissed. “I need Casamir’s true name.”

The selkie studied me for a moment and then offered, “The mountains may know.”

“The mountains?”

“The elven lords are old. It is likely no one knows their true name, save that which came before them—the earth and the Glass Mountains.”

I frowned.

“The Glass Mountains are outside Prince Casamir’s realm.”

“So they are,” said the selkie.

“I cannot go beyond the wall,” I said.

Though I had said otherwise, I believed there were far worse creatures outside the his realm.

“Even if I managed it, I could not return in a day. He would notice I was gone.”

And then what?I wondered.

Would the Enchanted Forest reprimand me? Or perhaps Casamir’s five brothers?

“Perhaps you should fly,” the selkie suggested unhelpfully.

“I cannot fly.”

“Come back tomorrow,” said the selkie. “And I will give you wings.”

I hesitated.

“What would you ask for in return?”

“For now? Your smile,” he said. “But one day when you rule this castle, you will return me to the sea.”