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“Tell me what caused you to flee into my domain,” said the kraken softly. “What could cause the honored and beloved prince of the northern Mer to lose his head so completely?”

“I haven’t lost my head,” said Kaerius, but his voice felt distant and flat. “Your magic is very strong.” He swallowed, forcing his mind back to something like clarity. “I was… I was troubled,” he managed.

“By what?” Perhaps the monstrous creature smiled, or perhaps he merely opened his beak in a silent, ominous display of power.

Kaerius felt his heart thudding raggedly. “My father and I disagree on matters of the heart,” he said at last.

“Yours or his?”

“Mine.” Kaerius frowned, feeling cautiously reassured by the fact that the kraken had not killed him yet.

The Lord of the Deep laughed softly, and the Mer prince shuddered. The creature was nearly a thousand times his size, and older than time as far as the Mer knew, and he had never heard of it laughing. He wanted to be offended, but even he, in all his arrogance, was not foolish enough to voice his displeasure.

“I was not joking,” he said stiffly. “I have heard you have great magic. Perhaps, if you think me so amusing, you might aid me in my suit.”

The Lord of the Deep turned one great, violet eye toward Kaerius. “Do you not think it rather impertinent to ask the aid of one whom you have so recently offended by your very presence?” His voice was soft and dangerous. “What would you ask, in your foolish, youthful insolence?”

“I have fallen in love with a human princess,” Kaerius said in a rush. “I wish to court her on land and make an alliance between our peoples. Would it not serve your ends as well as those of the Mer for there to be an alliance between humans and Mer?”

“I have no contact with humans, and I wish for little contact with Mer.” The kraken’s beak opened in what might have been a horrifying smile.

The water suddenly seemed colder around the Mer prince, and although the cold did not trouble him, it did seem more openly threatening than the kraken’s soft voice.

But the creature said nothing else, and his grip on Kaerius loosened.

“You are free to go,” said the kraken. “Take your life and freedom as a gift, little prince, and tell your father I was generous. I may not be so generous next time.”

Kaerius hesitated, and then said, “Thank you, Lord of the Deep.”

Then he fled, heart pounding.

Chapter 5

The terror of the encounter with the kraken was not enough to humble Kaerius for long. Only two days later, he swam back to the bay just after dusk, delighted to find that the princess was already on the rock she preferred.

He breathed the softest hint of a song of joy and trust, his voice far too quiet to be heard by human ears. The magic thrummed in the air with power and purpose, indistinguishable from the salty sea breeze to human senses.

The princess sighed and leaned back on her hands, looking up at the fading glow upon the horizon and then tilted her head farther back to see the stars splashed across the sky like glittering bits of mica against the infinite depths.

Kaerius was so close he might have touched her boots, if he had lunged upward from the water. He could have dragged her into the sea, if he’d leapt from the water entirely. He bared his teeth, imagining the sirens of old feasting on human flesh.

His teeth were sharp, but he had no desire to bury them in her neck as if she were an enemy. He wanted to croon soft, sweet things to her and for her to smile at him in adoration.

The princess shifted and lay back with her arms crossed behind her head, her profile almost hidden behind the ruff of her fur cloak.

“I wish you were here,” she whispered. “Really here, not just… not like this.”

Kaerius nearly leaped from the water in his surprise, but she was not looking in his direction. She still looked up at the sky, as if the one she spoke to were up in the heavens rather than a mere arm’s length away.

The prince breathed just a little more magic into the air, his song inaudible but laced with power.

Her breath hitched a little, and she whispered, “I don’t want to do this alone.”

Kaerius opened his mouth, and then closed it again. She could not possibly be speaking to him. Heknewthis, but her plea demolished the few remaining defenses he had kept around his heart, and he gave it to her unreservedly, holding nothing back.

Or he thought he did.

Not many minutes afterwards, the princess rose and pulled her cloak close around her before retreating up the sand to the rocky path where her escorts waited. Kaerius bared his teeth and hissed to himself in annoyance at the sound of their masculine voices. He should have spoken to her when he’d had the chance.