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Kaerius narrowed his eyes at his father. “Shall I not bring dignity to the seas by making a treaty with the humans? Have I not sacrificed my own happiness often enough for you? Iwanther, Father, and I will have her!”

He darted away so quickly that his father, fierce as he was, eventually lost him in the depths.

But Kali stuck close on his tail for another half hour, until they were two miles below the surface, far deeper than the younger Mer had ever swam.

Finally Kaerius whirled. “This does not concern you! Go away, Kali.”

The younger Mer was too breathless with the lightning-fast flight through the deeps to say anything at first, and only when Kaerius looked away did he gasp, “It’s dangerous here, Your Highness!”

“Then go to the shallow waters!” Kaerius snarled. “I never asked you to come!”

“But I didn’t want you to be alone here.” Kali’s voice was sharp with offended pride. “Two Mer are better than one when facing danger, and there are many dangers in the deeps.”

Kaerius rolled his eyes, even though he knew Kali couldn’t see him do it. “Go home! I don’t need your protection. I’m more dangerous than anything down here.”

A faint ominous shift in the water was the only warning they had, and even Kaerius’s sharp senses were not quick enough to perceive it in time to flee.

Chapter 4

Something wrapped around his chest, waist, and tail and pulled him downward with sickening speed for a moment before he was brought to a swaying stop.

“Have you forgotten me, little prince?”

The voice reverberated in Kaerius’s bones. “I…”

A sound as soft as snowflakes whispered through the water, and it took Kaerius a moment to realize that the monster was chuckling.

“Who are you?” Kaerius whispered. His voice did not shake, but he could feel Kali’s trembling fear to his left, just a bit too far away for him to put a reassuring hand upon the younger Mer’s shoulder.

If he could have, he would have signed for Kali to flee, but he could not move his hands, and it was much too dark for Kali to see him anyway. Besides, Kali was no doubt equally trapped in the kraken’s powerful tentacles.

“The only thing in the water your father fears.”

Kali gave an undignified little whimper.

“I confess I had forgotten for a moment you were in these waters, Lord of the Deep,” Kaerius managed at last. “I would bemuch obliged if you would let my young cousin go. If one of us offended you, it would surely have been me.”

A faint purple glow made Kaerius blink and turn away for a moment. It was not exactly bright, but it was piercing and strange, and it illuminated the kraken’s enormous beak with an unearthly light.

“Yes, I am offended,” the beast said quietly. “But the young one can go.”

He must have released his grip on Kali, for the young Mer darted away without a word. Kaerius did not expect him to stay and fight for his prince; Kali was untested in battle, and the Lord of the Deep was far too fierce an opponent for one Mer to best, even Kaerius himself. Kali would likely return with reinforcements.

The enormous tentacle that wrapped around Kaerius tightened around his tail and chest until he gasped, “Do you mean to crush me?”

As the water rushed from his mouth, he tried to inhale again and found that the pressure was far too great. His ribs were almost cracking, and he would have thrashed in panic if his arms and tail had not been immobilized too.

Then the pressure eased, and he sucked in a bare breath of water, just enough to keep him conscious.

“Not yet,” said the kraken, with a hint of dangerous mirth in his voice. “Why does the golden prince of the Mer grace these dark depths with his presence?”

Kaerius strained against the pressure and managed another desperate breath. “I did not mean to intrude,” he whispered.

“Is that so?” The kraken’s voice grew a little darker. “Your father and I have a history, little prince, and little love between us. How am I to interpret this intrusion except as a deliberate insult and declaration of war?”

“The northern Mer have no desire for war with you,” Kaerius’s mind danced between the panic of suffocation and the horrifying thought of starting a war with the Lord of the Deep. “What shall I do to prove my honest intentions?”

The pressure upon his chest eased a little, and his chest heaved as he sucked in a steadying breath of water. His head felt strange and light, and the purple light and deep shadows that fell across the kraken’s monstrous beak had a hypnotic fascination.