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I ’d explored the entire shop, tried on multiple beautiful gowns, and waved down Adriana through the giant bubble-shaped windows by the time the assistant returned with Raena.

“Here she is!” The mermaid grinned, presenting Raena as if she were a prized jewel – and Ancients, did she glow like one. A jellyfish-pink gown hugged her waist and flared out around her legs, its long sashes and overskirts swirling through the water. Tiny shells decorated the top of her head, while her dark curls had been twisted into braids and woven around an impressive pearl crown. It was all so breathtaking. Ethereal.

“You look like a Sea Goddess,” Adriana sighed.

“We’ll be hanging her portrait right by the door, if that’s alright?” The assistant struggled to take her eyes off Raena as she spoke.

“Of course.” I grinned. “I’m sure my pet wouldn’t mind.”

Raena slid me a wink before mouthing, “Not at all.”

Once the mermaid had hurried off to hang her portrait and Raena had been showered in enough compliments to turn her cheeks a deep, rosy scarlet, Adriana glanced around the shop, as if searching for someone.

“Where is Prince Arenn?” she asked at last.

“He’s umm…” Both women blinked at me expectantly as I dragged a nervous hand through my hair. “He…” Maybe I shouldn’t have done it. Was I too cruel?

I didn’t have time to think any longer as Raena smacked a hand over her mouth. Beside her, Adriana almost choked. Confused, I tilted my head – until heavy footsteps sounded behind me. When I turned, my jaw dropped too.

Prince Arenn stood before us, his usual regal demeanour buried beneath layers of sea-inspired chaos. A dark teal tunic clung to his frame, the hem adorned with pearlescent seashells that jingled with every furious breath he took. Over it, he wore a seaweed vest, far too short, and decorated with fish scales in a way that somehow seemed both intricate and ridiculous. At least they’d let him keep his breeches, but his boots had been accessorised with seaweed strips that trailed behind him like jellyfish tendrils.

“Don’t… say anything,” he muttered. But his words only drew my focus up to his face where, resting on his head, was a tangled crown of netting and seashells.

Adriana snorted. “I think you look lovely.”

The assistant who’d guided him down trembled as he held Arenn’s arm. But I couldn’t blame him for his nerves. The water around the prince was practically boiling. “I believe this is your pet, miss?” His voice cracked.

“Yes, thank you.” I nodded, quickly drawing Arenn to my side. The moment he was free, the assistant hurried away as if he feared Arenn might actually explode.

“What a delightful vest,” Raena cooed. “And such a vibrant headpiece!”

“Dare I say his outfit is even prettier than yours,” Adriana giggled.

When the prince’s gaze turned deadly, I took a steadying breath and pushed the cackling women towards the shop door. “Why don’t you both find another shop for us to look in? Maybe somewhere with food?” It was difficult to swallow my own laughter, but with Arenn’s rage reaching dangerous levels, I knew I needed to do something. And quickly. “I think I just need a moment alone with him. Would you both mind?”

Adriana smirked, taking Raena’s hand. “I know the perfect place. Come and find us when you’re ready.”

Turning back to the seething prince, I had to mask the nerves in my belly. His breaths were short, and I’d never seen someone look so murderous, but when I swam closer and placed both my hands upon his shoulders, the tension in his jaw released a little.

“Thank you for not murdering my friends,” I spoke in the most soothing tone I could manage, “and the shop staff too… I trust you didn’t hurt any of them?” My voice became small. Hopeful.

Arenn huffed, not meeting my gaze. “I wanted to,” he growled. “But you’ll be pleased to hear I behaved myself, as frustrating as that was.”

“Thank you.” The smile that brushed my lips was genuine. As Arenn’s gaze landed upon it, a muscle popped in his jaw.

“You’re welcome,” he forced out.

Reaching forward, I helped to remove the hideous vest from his shoulders, then I plucked a few of the most offensive seashells from the tunic’s hemline. Once satisfied, I pushed the netting off his head and fixed his hair, ignoring the way he seemed to shudder with every brush off my fingers.

“Much better,” I told him, drawing back.

His hands grabbed my wrists with enough force to make me gasp.

“Naria…” he breathed my name as if he were tasting it. Slowly, his gaze fell to my lips.

But then something in him faltered, and he released his grip on my arms, gritting his teeth. “Forgive me.” His voice was strained. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

Swishing my tail, I put some distance between us. “You’re forgiven.” The water over here felt much nicer for some reason. Safer, too. “Though we should probably catch up with the others.” I tipped my chin towards the shop’s arched door. “Who knows what trouble Adriana could be getting Raena into.”

My smile returned at the possibilities, but when I glanced back at the prince, he’d dropped into a crouch to tear the seaweed from his boots. A deep frown poured over his face, his gaze growing more wounded by the second.

Wincing, I crossed my arms over my chest. I didn’t want to feel anything other than hatred for this man. He’d invaded my dreams. Kissed me even when I’d told him not too, and tricked me far too many times to count. Still, with his jaw clenched and eyes fixed to the floor, he just looked so hurt, broken. He needed help.

Before I could stop myself, I’d swam back over and scooped up his hands.

“You will find happiness, Arenn,” I whispered. “I promise you will.” It certainly wouldn’t be with me, but he’d find it. One day.

Lifting his head, he tensed. His lips parted as if to reply, but then he stopped himself and swallowed. “Thank you,” he finally replied. “I pray that I do soon.” When his amber eyes met mine they were full of longing, and something much darker too, but that faded with a blink as he forced out a smile. “Shall we find your friends now?”

Nodding, I released his hands before helping to remove the last of the seaweed from his boots. “Let’s hope they haven’t gone too far.”

They hadn’t. We found the two women halfway through demolishing a large plate of some kind of fried crustaceans by a divine-smelling market stall. And after helping to polish off the leftovers, Adriana led us on a tour of the rest of the town.

A dozen more vibrant merfolk shops, a few dolphin rides, and far too many plates of fried crab later, the four of us returned to the coral forest with a well-rested shark. Though a jolt of panic surged through me when I noticed the sky above the waves turning an ominous shade of blue.

“Just how long did we spend there?” I blurted, almost dropping the pink cloud of spun sugar that Adriana had gifted us all with before we left.

The mermaid took a bite out of her own sweet cloud stick. “A few hours maybe.” She shrugged, chewing.

“But it’s almost dawn!” I panicked.

“Relax, human.” Arenn stepped closer to my side, his human glamour long gone as he brought tufts of sweet cloud to his lips. “I can always whisk you back to the beach with my magic once we’ve found the cure.”

“You can do that?” Raena’s eyes turned starry.

“I can do many things,” Arenn gloated, flourishing his arms. “Faery magic is far superior to that of other kinds, especially the magic of my family. My sisters can wield fire. My father can manipulate minds. And my mother’s potions can slow ageing, cure sickness—” His bragging was cut short when Sweetie dove forward, chomped down on Arenn’s cloud stick, and devoured the entire thing in one ferocious bite. Only the clean stick remained.

“Why you little…” Arenn fumed while the rest of us exploded with laughter.

“Here.” Adriana swooped in to give Arenn the remainder of her cloud stick before turning to the rather pleased-looking shark. “I need to get him ready for riding, anyway. Just don’t wave that one around so much.”

Arenn grumbled something that sounded like a ‘thank you’ before drawing back to sulk by a coral tree. Both Raena and I swallowed down our giggles as we helped Adriana with her shark’s ropes.

It wasn’t long before we were once again charging through the vibrant ocean forest. The coral trees and anemone shrubs seemed different with the sunlight pouring down from above the waves. Brighter, somehow. As if each plant and sea creature had swam through a rainbow just moments ago.

But the colours began to shift as the sand below us sloped deeper towards the cave. Peachy orange fish became dull and harder to spot behind the indigo eels that now weaved through the much taller trees. Coral branches became gnarled and twisted, painting sinister shadows along the sand when the occasional fish would flash by.

“How far are we now?” I hugged Sweetie’s side as he swam past a shark only slightly smaller than he was.

“Very close,” Adriana said from behind me.

“Is this what you meant by dangerous?” Raena’s voice cracked.

A nervous laugh sounded over my shoulder. “I suppose this part is dangerous, but…”

“What is it?” Arenn huffed. “You’re hiding something. You told us we’d just find the cure in the cave and leave. Is there something else in there we should be concerned about?”

“Well…” Adriana’s mumbles trailed off as Sweetie pulled to a halt outside a large cave opening. Dark coral trees stretched up impossibly high around the cave. We were so deep now that above us was nothing but a murky gloom.

A terrible, ominous murky gloom that extended far out into the cave ahead.

“We’re here,” Adriana chimed, sounding far too confident.

“That looks…” Raena’s voice hitched.

“Terrifying,” I answered for her.

Arenn charged around Sweetie, marching straight towards Adriana. “You need to tell us right now what’s so dangerous about this cave,” he hissed. “Otherwise I’m taking Naria and her friend, and whisking us all back to the beach.”

“Wait a moment.” The mermaid held up her palms. “I never meant to lie to you all. And to be honest, I did say this would be dangerous back on the beach – before I thought better of it…”

“What are you talking about?” I drew closer.

Her bright eyes darted around. “It’s…” Then she shook her head, shuddering. “I’ll just show you.” Plunging her hands into Sweetie’s saddlebags, she fished out a few large pearls fastened to strings.

“These are basically lanterns,” she explained, rubbing her fingers over one until it glowed like the moon. “You wear them like a necklace.” She passed the pearls around until we each had one glowing against our chests. Then, she took a spare and ventured towards the cave opening.

“Wait,” I whispered, suddenly feeling like leaving might be a better idea. But before I could say another word, Adriana took a spare glowing pearl and tossed it inside the cave.

I could almost hear my heartbeat as it rolled along the stone floor. To my relief, the cave must not have been as deep as it looked. The rolling pearl soon came to a stop when it hit something that appeared to be a simple branch of coral, or perhaps a colourful rock.

“Oh.” I chuckled, but then the pearl grew brighter, illuminating more of the murky cave.

My laughter stopped. It was not a branch of coral. Nor did the cave end anywhere near where the pearl had stopped rolling.

Huge blood orange tentacles. Thousands of giant suckers, each pulsing on their own like a trove of beating hearts. One bulbous head hiding a razor sharp beak and two slit-like eyes. They were closed eyes, thankfully, but whatever the beast was, it was clearly still alive.

“That’s the real dangerous part.” Adriana gulped before the pearl she’d thrown flickered out and plunged the cave back into darkness.