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But she would not let go of Kaerius, and her tears fell on his face like little diamonds before they were lost in the ocean.

The ocean swished, and in a flash of green and gold and indigo, Kaerius was jerked from Marin’s hands back beneath the water.

“No!” she cried.

The three humans watched in horror as the great creature beneath the water held Kaerius in one monstrous tentacle and sank back into the depths. They could not hear the conversation that ensued.

“Little Prince of the Mer,it seems you have earned her love after all.”

The words filtered to Kaerius’s mind like sunlight upon his face after a long sleep, a bright point of clarity in the fog of confusion and ennui.

“Am I alive?” he asked. How strange it was to hear his own voice again! “Why am I alive?”

“Do you remember the bargain we made?”

“I think so,” Kaerius said cautiously. “I was to court the human princess I love, and if she reciprocated my love, I was to regain my voice, keep my life, and earn the right for both of us to walk the land or swim the sea as we choose. And if I failed to earn her love, I would lose voice and life and sovereignty.”

“It appears she loves you. She is weeping for you even now.”

“How can she love me now, when she did not before?” The Mer prince said it slowly, for his mind was fogged with the magic of the Lord of the Deep and the terrible injuries the magic was even now repairing in his body. “And why would you save my life when you had all but won the wager?”

The kraken laughed, the sound like a crack of lightning through the water. “Why should I want to kill the prince of the Mer? I have no shortage of tasty meals, but there is a dearth of good kings beneath the waves. If you have won the love of the human princess, perhaps you have learned a little humility. You can be a better king to your people.”

Kaerius pondered this with a growing sense of guilt. “My father is a good king,” he said at last. “Despite our differences, he has always been honorable.”

“Your father ruled in war, but the war is over.”

“My father is still king, and I have no desire to take his place early.”

“I did not say you were to be king yet.” There was a hint of laughter in the creature’s voice. “I can tolerate your father’s posturing a little longer.”

“Do not hasten his death,” Kaerius said.

A strange tremor in the water tickled Kaerius’s skin, and he realized the kraken really was laughing.

“What would you do about it?” The deep, ominous voice shivered inside the Mer prince’s bones, as cold and subtle as fear itself. “Your father postures in his own territory, not mine. I will not start a war with your people for the sake of eliminating such a small annoyance.”

For a moment Kaerius could only breathe. A strange, foggy sort of relief filled him, and he imagined his father’s face. How he longed to see his father again!

“I thought…” Kaerius frowned, feeling the familiar water in his lungs and the smooth muscle of his tail. “I thought youwere a monster to be feared. I made a bargain thinking I risked everything for love, and now I find you remarkably generous, Lord of the Deep. Have you been misunderstood so badly?”

The kraken said sharply, “I am a monster, little prince. I would eat you if it served my ends. I find myself more pleased by the thought of a generous, humble king of Mer than by the temporary pleasure of picking my teeth with your bones. There are others I can eat, but few others who could rule as you will.”

“Thank you,” said Kaerius. “The pain is gone. I will be able to walk on land too?”

“Just as your princess will be able to swim like Mer,” said the kraken, and perhaps there was a smile in his voice. Certainly there was no dismay at losing this bargain.

“Thank you,” said Kaerius again. “Shall we be friends, then? I think it would serve us both well.”

“I have no need of friends,” said the kraken, and he sank out of sight.

“What about allies?” Kaerius called after him.

“That would be acceptable.” The kraken’s voice came out of the unseen depths.

Then Kaerius swam upwards with powerful strokes of his tail, his eyes fixed on the silhouette of the boat against the bright sky at the surface of the water.

With the strength of life in his veins and joy in his heart, he could not resist leaping high in the air, arcing over the little skiff and diving down again on the other side.