Page 9

“You can’t kill me on land. What if I stay upon land and never swim in the sea again?” Kaerius snapped.

One huge eye suddenly opened in front of Kaerius’s face, and he twitched in surprise and quickly hidden fear. The unearthly light that emanated from the eye was a shade of purple-greenthat Kaerius had not even imagined, much less expected to see here in the darkest part of the ocean.

“I can indeed, little prince,” the kraken said, his voice even softer and more ominous. “Your lungs will expire at dawn on the thirty first day, and you will die a wretched death if you have not earned her love by then.”

“If I have?” said Kaerius. “How will I prove it to you?”

“The magic will know.” The kraken clicked his beak gently. “Do you accept, little prince? Will you wager your life and title for the love of a human?”

“You swear not to use my voice to harm my people?” Kaerius whispered. “And when she loves me, your magic will let us live and rule on land and in the sea, as you said.”

“Indeed. Think before you speak, little prince. This is not a bargain to be made lightly.”

Kaerius swallowed. “I accept your offer, Lord of the Deep.”

The beast grinned, his beak glinting in the strange purple light. At a wave of the kraken’s tentacles, Kaerius’s tail split into two bare legs.

Kaerius choked, the water in his lungs suddenly hostile to his new human life. He gagged, swimming desperately for the surface. Beneath him, the kraken’s laugh reverberated through the depths.

How strange for a merman to be drowning! The thought cut through his desperate struggle for breath, lungs burning, water and air intermingled in exquisite torture. So this was what the humans had suffered as they died! Such agony.

Panic gave him strength, and he gagged again, inhaling desperately, salt water burning in his eyes.

Kaerius’s head broke the surface in a rush, and he coughed and gasped with his eyes closed against the salt spray and glittering light.

The cold sapped his strength, though he wasn’t yet aware of it. When he could gather his scattered wits, he set off toward shore, swimming with the familiar rippling motion that had been most efficient when he’d had his tail. Now it felt awkward, his legs bending only at the hips, knees, and ankles, no longer a smooth surge of muscle. He wondered distantly what his legs looked like, though he spared no more thought for them yet.

The swim to shore seemed interminable. He’d never felt so awkward and slow in the water; it had always been a world of effortless strength and exuberance. He crawled onto the sand nearly three hours later, exhausted beyond imagining, his lungs still burning and half-filled with salt water.

Naked, he sprawled at the water’s edge, eyes closed against the brilliant sunshine. The light was a yellow more suited to late spring than the end of winter, but the icy wind stole any hint of warmth.

Kaerius felt darkness gathering behind his eyelids, an unfamiliar sensation of weakness invading his limbs. Stubbornly, he pushed himself up to his hands and knees, swaying slightly. He let his head hang down, sand-filled hair falling over his eyes. Then he staggered to his feet, nearly falling from weakness and the strange awkwardness of his new legs. He looked down at himself, dazed, dizziness nearly overtaking him.

A sound came from behind him, and he spun, losing his balance and falling in an undignified jumble of limbs.

“What happened to you?” It washer, of course. He had meant to find her when he was a little more familiar with this world. He would woo her from a position of strength.

Instead, she found him now, when he had not yet figured out these legs. Sand was everywhere, in all the cracks of his new limbs, between his buttocks, in his teeth, and crusted into his hair.

Was she laughing at him? Scorning him? He would die of mortification if she mocked him!

She stared down at him, a dark silhouette against the brilliant sky.

“What happened to your clothes?” Her eyes did a quick, involuntary once-over of his naked body and then fixed on his face with obvious determination.

He opened his mouth, then closed it again. He made a helpless gesture, then coughed again, bending over to vomit salty water and sand. Muscles hurt in strange ways, an ache suffusing his entire torso as he gagged.

Kaerius looked up, breathless and only half-conscious.

She knelt beside him, still silhouetted to his dazzled vision. “Were you washed overboard from a ship? What happened to you?”

He closed his eyes, every breath burning in his chest. A shiver coursed through him. Was this what cold felt like? It was a strange sensation, a shuddering that started at his bones. Tiny bumps had covered his skin, and he glanced down at his arm, marveling at the fine hairs standing defiantly against the wind. Sand and salt glinted in the light.

“Are you mind-sick?” she asked. “Why don’t you answer me? Do you understand me?”

He looked up again. Darkness flickered at the edges of his vision, and he wondered distantly what that meant. It seemed like a bad thing, somehow, although the feeling was not entirely unpleasant. It seemed… portentous.

“Can you breathe yet? Do you think you can walk to the inn? I can give you some money, and you can get a room and a hot meal.”