Chapter 4
Standing at the edge of the crowd was a figure shrouded in long, black robes that covered her entire body and a hood that concealed her face.
Cries rang out from the crowd.
“You!” my grandmother cried, eyes wide and outraged.
“It’s been a long time, Callianassa. I said I’d return,” taunted the figure in her shrill voice.
My grandmother looked murderous. “You are not welcome here. Seize her!”
The guards charged, but their hands went straight through the figure’s body, as though she was no more than a shadow. Stumbling and exchanging looks of confusion, they turned to their queen for direction. “Your Majesty?”
Ignoring them, my grandmother addressed the female. “How did you get past the enchantment?” she demanded, loathing etched into her features. Loathing and something else I had never seen from her before.
Fear.
“I am here, but I am not here,” the figure crooned. “Projection of the spirit allows me to travel past even fortified magic.”
“Take your wretched spirit and leave,” my grandmother spat.
The crowd murmured their support of the queen.
The figure clicked her tongue. “Don’t be so hostile. I’ve come to offer you a bargain.”
“I do not wish to hear anything you have to offer.”
“Come now,” said the figure, gliding unhurriedly towards us. Terrified nobles dodged out of the way as if she was truly here. Some ran towards the pavilion. But I stood rooted to the spot, unable to tear my eyes away. “It’s been twenty-two years. Surely you tire of the curse.”
The air escaped my lungs, and, for a moment, so did every thought and feeling in my body.
This was the one who was known for making bargains. The one they called the Crow. The witch who had cursed us.
“I will never make a bargain with you,” my grandmother hissed.
“My offer isn’t for you.” She angled her head in my direction. Even though I couldn’t see them, I could feel the Crow’s eyes penetrating me. “It is for your granddaughter. She is a beauty. And such a fetching eye color. Are they green or are they gray?”
My gut plummeted to my feet. What kind of bargain could she possibly want to make with me? Crossing my arms, I eyed the witch.
“Do not speak to her.” My grandmother positioned herself to stand between us.
Still, the Crow addressed me. “Do you know why I cursed your kingdom?”
I nodded slowly, momentarily tongue tied. My mother, Sarina, met a male from the outside world. They fell in love and she wanted to live with him in his kingdom, but there were two obstacles in her way.
The first was that Mer could not live without the ocean. All Mer could exchange our tails for legs when on land for precisely one day before we had to return to the ocean. Only after we had done so could we summon our legs again.
The second was that my grandmother expressly forbade it.
Foolishly, my mother turned to a witch for help. The Crow gave her a way to live with my father without ever needing to return to the ocean, but it came at a cost, which she refused to name. Instead, she insisted my mother was to give her something in return when the time came.
My mother left the ocean and my parents were married. When the Crow eventually returned to claim her payment, my mother refused. The cost, whatever it had been, was too high.
She fled from the Crow and returned to Vantillios. The Crow followed, only to find that she had died giving birth to me. In her fury, the Crow cursed the entire kingdom so no Mer could ever leave again.
As for my father’s fate? I didn’t even know his identity, let alone whether he was still alive.
“I offered your mother that which your grandmother refused,” said the Crow, resting a hand on her chest. On the back of her right hand was what looked like a wine stain in the shape of a crescent moon—the mark of the witch.
My grandmother bristled.
“But nothing comes for free, so when your mother refused to pay the price for my assistance, I was unhappy. Tonight, I’ve come to offer you a way to break the curse forever.”
A chorus of murmurs rippled through the crowd. My breathing hitched. She didn’t just have my full attention—now she had my intrigue too.
“She doesn’t want anything you have to offer,” my grandmother snapped.
“How?” I asked, stepping forward. “How can I break it?”
The Crow’s fingers ran through the drooping petals of a bioluminescent flower at her side. “All you have to do is go to the outside world and convince a mortal prince to fall in love with you.”
A sound of disbelief spilled out of my mouth. Could it really be that simple?
As quickly as hope rose, it deflated. “How would I even meet a mortal prince?”
Mortals and magical beings had avoided each other for centuries.
We shared a complicated history, but, ultimately, mortals didn’t trust magical beings.
Most mortals kept to themselves on the southern continent of Anerdor and the kingdom of Edmere, while magical beings kept to the northern continent of Amaros, or the islands of Vantillios, off the coast of Amaros.
There were exceptions like Doran, who had traveled all over the world.
The witch purred. “Don’t worry about that part.”
My skin prickled—it sounded too easy. I narrowed my eyes at her. “And what is it you want in return?”
I could hear the smile in her voice as she said, “Make him fall in love with you, then break his heart.”
I blinked in surprise. To intentionally break someone’s heart? That was cold. “Why?”
“It is a test. A test to see if you can do that which your own mother could not. Break the heart of the one who loves you.”
The idea of being freed from the curse was more than a little enticing. It wasn’t as though I didn’t have experience in breaking hearts; I’d had my fair share of romantic entanglements and had always been the one to end things. But did I have the stomach to intentionally hurt someone?
Yes, you do. The heartbreak of one mortal man seemed a small price to pay for freedom.
“If I do as you ask, you will break the curse on my kingdom forever?” I asked in a falsely confident voice.
“I swear it,” she said, clasping her hands together.
It felt too good to be true. Suspiciously so.
“Alara Eldoris, you will not listen to her. It is a trick,” snarled my grandmother, voicing my thoughts.
“There is no trick,” said the Crow. “Have him confess his love for you before the next full moon and the curse will be lifted.”
My brow wrinkled. “The next full moon? That’s only weeks away.”
“These are my terms,” she said in a sing-song voice.
“Fine,” I said, crossing my arms. “I have some terms of my own.”
“Oh?” Her pitch rose as if she was intrigued. “And what would those be?”
“You must agree that you will not harm me in any way, and the moment my task is complete, you’ll return me to Vantillios immediately.”
She clasped her hands in front of her body. “Is that all?”
No. There had to be something I hadn’t thought of. “And no harm can come to anyone in Vantillios either,” I added quickly.
Her high-pitched laughter rang through the air. “Surely you do not believe I hold sway over every danger in your kingdom?”
“Fine. No harm can come to anyone in Vantillios by your hand.”
She held her palms up. “Very well. I will not touch—”
“Harm,” I said firmly.
“I will not harm your salt-loving subjects. Anything else?”
“Enough of this. Go back inside,” my grandmother snapped. She flicked her hand, waving me off like a child. “This conversation is over.”
My eyes flicked to her: the woman who, as far as I knew, hadn’t tried to break the curse. “No.” I crossed my arms and held my ground.
She straightened her back and raised her chin. “I am still your queen.”
“And what will you do if I disobey you? Throw me in the dungeons?”
Her mouth set into a hard line. “I am protecting you.”
My words were all venom as I said, “Like you protected my mother?”
She flinched as if I had struck her.
Temper flaring, I turned my attention back to the Crow. “Any other terms of yours I should be aware of?”
“During your time in the mortal lands, you cannot reveal yourself to be Velcarin, and you cannot return to the ocean. Do either of those things, and our bargain will be void.”
I gaped at her. To conceal the fact that I was Velcarin was understandable.
The mortals wouldn’t take too kindly to me being Mer.
But to not return to the ocean was complete insanity.
“And how do you propose I hide what I am if I can’t return to the ocean?
My legs will transform into my tail after twenty-four hours on land.
It would be utter suicide.” Mer became ill if they didn’t return to the ocean to replenish.
Our bodies would begin to shut down and we’d eventually die.
“You need not worry about that,” she said, waving off my disbelief. “A solution has already been seen to.”
My grandmother and Doran continued to protest loudly while the assembled crowd hung on to every word, drinking in the spectacle. Continuing as if she could not hear them, the Crow said, “What is your answer, child?”
My grandmother put her hands on my shoulders and forced me to meet her gaze. “You cannot consider this. She wants—”
The Crow held up her hand, and pale blue light hurtled towards my grandmother.
Immediately, she stopped speaking. She opened her mouth—most likely to scream obscenities—but not a sound escaped her lips.
Good. It gave me time to think without her in my ear.
“This is growing tedious,” said the Crow. “Come with me now, and end the curse. Or stay and remain cursed for eternity. I shall not extend such a generous offer again.”
My heart beat wildly in my chest, and the blood in my ears began to pound. Stay or go? Trust the witch to keep her word or continue with life as it was?
But life as it was—caged and isolated—was no kind of existence. This bargain offered me a chance to finally explore the world. Why shouldn’t I take it?
If I did, I would invoke the wrath of my grandmother. But that wasn’t anything new—displeasing her was my specialty.
Then there were my subjects, who also suffered under the curse.
The wheels in my mind began to turn. If I was successful in this task, my subjects would be endlessly grateful.
It would strengthen my position as heir to the throne and earn their adoration and devotion.
I would succeed where my grandmother had failed and redeem my family’s name in the eyes of those who blamed us for the curse.
On the other hand, did I want to shoulder such a great responsibility? I could only imagine what my people would think of me if, goddess forbid, I was unsuccessful.
But, if I ended the curse, Mae would be reunited with her son. Doran could travel again.
“Your answer,” demanded the Crow. “All you have to say is, ‘Bound by name, I accept this bargain, to its terms I shall be beholden,’ and we have ourselves a magically sealed agreement.”
I smelled it in the air before I felt it on my skin. The rain had come. A good omen.
I’d made my decision.
I didn’t look at my grandmother as I turned to the Crow.
Her shadows seemed to lean in closer, as if waiting for me to speak.
Stomach in my throat, I said, “Bound by name, I accept this bargain, to its terms I shall be beholden.” The words tumbled out in a single breath, desperate to escape before I could swallow them back down.
But the arrow had been released, there would be no pulling it back now. My fate was sealed.
“NO!” shouted Doran over the roars of approval that filled the air.
“Excellent,” the Crow purred. She pointed to something in my periphery. “Now, run.”
Further along the shore was an outcropping that formed a tidal pool during low tide. It was as familiar to me as the scales on my tail. Only now, the water inside the rocky basin circulated like a whirlpool.
I lifted the folds of my gown, and I ran.
Into the shallows of the rain-dimpled water, I ran.
Pushing against the resistance of the waves, I ran.
Ignoring the shouts and pleas and splashes of the guards behind me, I ran.
I ran until the soft sand beneath my feet became biting, jagged rock. The pool was a stone’s throw away. If I jumped, I could make it. Taking a deep breath, I leaped into the tidal pool, and, before my feet had even planted, I was gone.