At the palace, the king was livid. The party for Princess Aren's birthday was already underway and the guest of honour was nowhere to be seen. When she finally came into view, he stormed over to her, trident waving wildly.

"Where have you been? You were meant to be here hours ago! The party has already started! We have guests!"

"Sorry, father," said Aren, quietly. She always addressed him as 'father' when he was angry - which was fairly often. He was an imposing, intimidating figure, even to his own daughter, and anything else, more informal, seemed out of place. "I lost track of time. I was making you something."

King Trinity's face softened. He had a soft spot where the princess was concerned and found it difficult to stay mad at her. Often, when she frustrated him so, as she did now, he would direct his anger at someone else. She was too gentle, too naive. He wanted her to keep her innocence for as long as she could. When it came time for her to rule in his stead, she would be a fairer, kinder queen than he had been as a king.

"Making me something? What is it, my dear?"

"Oh, you'll find out soon, when I've finished it."

She hadn't been making him anything, but would have to now. It was the easiest way to divert his attention, though. If he thought she'd been doing something for him, he'd be quicker to forgive her lateness. Aren knew what her father thought of her. He saw her as weak and easy to push around. In his eyes she needed protecting. She resisted a smile.

"OK, Aren, but you really should try to be on time for your own party, you know."

"I know, father," she said. "But I'm here now."

"Go and mingle, Aren. It's your birthday. You need to show these people you appreciate their coming."

"Of course, father."

She kissed his cheek. Appreciate their coming? She knew a handful of the hundreds of merfolk in the Grand Hall. The rest were lords and barons and the like from towns far distant from the palace. The party was an excuse to fawn about the king or to wear the attendance of the function like a medal, promoting your ego and social standing in the process. They didn't care about her - or at least not personally. There were the odd younger mermen who were intent on vying for her attentions. They would try to chat nonchalantly or sweet talk her or, even, come on strong and demanding, as if she were their property. She anticipated this and did her best to avoid them all, nodding and smiling when she had to and making excuses when such ploys didn't work.

After far too long, a hand caught hers, causing her to spin around.

Edris!

Edris was the son of a dignitary from a town only a short distance away. He seemed to, genuinely, be doing his best to be liked by the princess. While the others were smooth and oily and Aren felt, sometimes, she needed to wash away contact with them using sand and starfish crusts, Edris came across completely differently. He was nice, in a non-suffocating and only slightly too-sweet way. Under other circumstances, the princess might even have fallen for his winning smile and confident with a hint of humility manner.

She couldn't quite imagine what those circumstances might be, however. She had neither the time nor the yearning for a relationship of any kind. Though she knew her father would be delighted if she and Edris were to get together, Aren preferred her solitude and besides, a partner would impede her plans. How would she be able to kill the sailors unlucky enough to fall into the sea or to be pulled overboard when no-one was looking? How would she be able to go unnoticed as she gutted or decapitated them? They'd feel the need to stop her. She'd have to play at being affectionate, something she could manage in small doses to fool everyone into thinking she was much more pleasant than she actually felt, but couldn't keep up for any real length of time.

"Princess," he said, smiling.

"Edris," she responded, trying to casually pull her hand away from his.

"Would you care to dance, Aren? It's been so long since I last saw you. Have you missed me?"

Aren resisted the urge to tell him the truth - she'd barely even thought about him since they last met. And if she missed someone, she'd be sure to aim better the second time.

"I miss everyone when I'm not with them," she said ambiguously. She knew, if she directed the comment at him, he'd take it the wrong way and hope would lighten his face.

He smiled and began to pull her towards the large, crowded area in the centre of the room. Music was playing, an orchestra of sea horses creating tunes which she found jarring to her ears. Nobody else seemed to be affected the same way, though. They were smiling and dancing happily, swimming in complex arrangements about each other. It made her head spin and was something she avoided as much as she could. Aren wasn't entirely anti-social - she would feign interest in any company (having a façade to keep up), but this type of party reeked of falsehood. She wasn't deceived by the phony smiles and niceties. Of course, there would be the odd one who wanted to be there. They were looking forward to seeing the princess and would enjoy the celebrations.

Picking them out of the dirty mix of hangers on and ego trippers would be far too difficult, so Aren had found it much easier to treat everyone with equal disdain and insincere sincerity. Edris was another matter. He was firmly fixed on trying to worm his way under her scales. She pulled back, preventing Edris from dragging her to the dance floor.

"No, Edris," she said quietly. "Let's stay here and talk."

She saw the hope she wanted to keep at bay curve his mouth into a huge smile.

"Of course, princess. It will be my pleasure."

Aren groaned inside. She felt caught in a net, one of the many she'd slashed open to release the imprisoned fish before the humans dragged it up to their ship. She was ensnared and no amount of cutting could free her.

Mentally slapping herself, she smiled back at him.

"Good. Just wait here a moment while I... excuse myself."

Edris nodded.

"Of course," he said. "I won't move."

"Perfect."

Aren turned swiftly before he could take her hand to kiss it and swam into the throng. Let Edris think she was attending to... personal matters. Let him wait there for as long as it takes to realise she wasn't coming back. She really couldn't do it. She had to be on her own, and him hanging off her like a limpet would only serve to hinder her plans.

Once surrounded by other merfolk, Aren moved from one to another, joining in the dance, letting it take her to the edge where she could slip unnoticed out of the room. Once she'd made her escape, she hurried through the corridors of the palace to  the rear and then swam off into the dark ocean.

She reached the place where she'd lured her uncle. The ragged remnants of his hand were still lying on the floor, partially covered by sand, the flesh loose and trying to float away, with nothing but a thin strip of skin holding it in place to the skeleton beneath. She would come here to concentrate or meditate or simply be alone. The fact she'd killed her father's brother here seemed to make it somewhere she felt a connection to which didn't mean she'd have to smile and nod and pretend. The severed hand and the sharks and the blood and the feel of her blade sliding into his body, it had a macabre attraction for her she couldn't explain.

The princess picked up the rotting hand, pulling at the length of skin, separating the glob of flesh and watched it float away. She'd had enough of slaughtering humans, trying to find the one she was searching for. She needed to take a new direction, one which would bring her face to face with her mother's killer. Her eyes didn't move from the hand. She was transfixed by the exposed bones and the gelatinous layers covering it.

And a thought occurred to her. At first, she wasn't sure she could follow it through, but she couldn't see another path to take. It was the only way. Somehow, she would have to walk it.

Aren swam upwards, past the Korel, and stopped just below the surface. She let her head break water just enough for her to see. The ship was nowhere in sight. She could have been totally alone in the world, a feeling she was all too familiar with. She turned towards the land, her hearts beating hard in her chest and, using her tail to beat through the water, set off.

Her face was impassive, a hardened mask of purpose. She was going to suffer, she knew, but she also had something she was unfamiliar with. She had the glimmer of hope she'd seen in Edris.