PART THREE—THE OCTOPUS QUEEN

My bedroom, like most of this island castle, was sculpted out of anger. I quickly learned, however, that while anger will burn brightly and fiercely, it will also drain you in spectacular fashion. I dropped into a dead sleep not a week after my exile and was unconscious for four days, tended by selkies. From then on, I was more cautious—especially after I found that an entire lock of my hair had turned snowy white. In a rare show of vanity, I ended up dying it.

"My queen ..."

I turn away from the golden, gilded mirror, brush in hand. One of my selkie maids, Minn, enters my bathing room, her large, liquid brown eyes downcast, studying the floor. Not long after my exile, the selkies that inhabit this coastline agreed to serve me in exchange for protection, something I was happy to provide. "Yes?"

Minn looks up, but only briefly. She is new to the post and quite terrified of me. I am used to it now.

"The Sea King requests an audience, my queen."

"What is the nature of this audience?" The mer-king and I have had limited interaction over these last sixteen years. As with the selkies, I have done my best to keep humans away from the deepwater mer-kingdom. However, unlike the selkies, who have been harassed due to their beautiful human forms, the harassment the merpeople face is completely my fault. Once I pulled my support, the fishermen of Farbarrow struggle to find fish, lobsters, and crabs. So, their vessels now search long and wide, trawling the depths to make ends meet. The once-powerful smokestacks of the processing plants barely smolder now.

"He would not say, my queen." Minn's lower lip trembles slightly, realizing now that she should have pressed the merman for details.

I sigh and run the brush once more through my waist-length hair.

"Very well," I tell her. My heart is cold, but I am not cruel. She'll learn. "Please send for Del and Omeri." I meant to spend the morning in my garden, but now I must get dressed up, painted, and have my hair plaited and crowned. The selkies call me their queen, so queen I must be.

Minn bows and begins to slide backward through the bathing room door.

"Is that boy still in my bed?"

The selkie maid pauses and looks over her shoulder, to the northeast section of my vast tower bedroom. "Yes, my queen."

I roll my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. Of course he is. They almost never leave when told.

"Have the guards remove him."

"Yes, my queen." Minn completely backs out and I hear her bare feet slapping against the wooden floor.

I study my reflection in the mirror and turn slightly towards the door as two selkie guards enter. The boy in my bed—all of twenty years, for that I call him "boy"—gives a shout as he's seized by the arms and dragged from the luxurious mattress and soft comforters. I ignore his pleas to stay and wait for Del and Omeri to arrive.

For a while, I resolved to remain celibate the rest of my days; but in truth, exile is a lonely state to find oneself in. After a dally or two with some fine selkie men (after which I resolved to stay away from them, considering the nature of our relationship) I began to take young, foolish sailors into my bed. Following my banishment from Farbarrow, the duke has been hellbent on seizing the castle I pulled from the sea. For no other reason, I'm told, than because I reside in his territory and do not pay taxes.

For a man who considered me beneath his notice, he is quite obsessed with me.

The ships Duke Lucien sends often crash upon the barriers I erected around the island. Sometimes, the captains attempt to send smaller landing vessels, which is how that boy ended up in my bed. I can't name the fate of his fellows.

Not long after the selkie guards take the boy down to the lone dock and ship him out to sea in a dinghy, Del and Omeri arrive. They are, after the fashion of selkies, incredibly beautiful: long, blonde hair that shimmers like liquid gold in the rising sun; supple, graceful bodies that bend and sway like seaweed.

They are also naked.

Selkies don't wear clothes as humans do—unless they happen to be charmed by a land-dweller. And usually, that does not end well.

I've long grown accustomed to the selkies' nudity—the women, more so than the men. I still find myself averting my gaze on occasion.

Quickly, and quietly, the two selkies prepare me for my audience with the Sea King. They drape me in pink and purple silk dragged up from the bottom of the ocean, set a rope of diamonds and pearls around my neck, hang large pearls from my earlobes, and weave strands of polished coral-colored sea glass through my heavy tresses before setting a tiara set with pink diamonds on my head. I didn't like all this finery at first, but I have grown to become an ardent admirer and collector. The only thing they don't put on me are shoes: I've got no need for them here and the Sea King has no feet, so he is not insulted by my faux pas.

Thus fortified, I thank the two women and leave my chamber. They'll remain to tidy up and change the bed sheets.

It is a long walk from my tower suite to the cavern where the Sea King waits. I made it so as a reminder of my solitude and as a way to always view the ocean—and Farbarrow. Most of the castle is empty rooms and hallways. My subjects live below, in gleaming onyx caves, coming and going through winding tunnels only they can traverse. I asked them if they wanted to live here in the castle, to fill the empty rooms I created in my anger and anguish, but their matriarchs were quite firmly against it. Let selkies live how they have always lived; let the queen reside above, as humans do, they said.

I hold court—of sorts—in a large chamber directly across the main doors. It is a vast room, with arching ceilings and massive stained-glass windows. Should Duke Lucien ever deign to be civil, I shall meet him here. For now, whenever the matriarchs request a meeting, we do so in this room. Selkies are a traditional lot.

The stairs to my chambers open into the throne room. From there, I take another long hallway, past the kitchens where selkie cooks tend to my meals—and those of my sailor lovers who vacate my bed when asked. The door to the cellar is opposite the kitchen; gathering my skirts, I conjure a ball of light and descend below.

A great glowing blue pool lies in the direct center of the castle undergrounds. Here, the soft dripping of seawater can be heard, and the muffled crashes of waves against the jagged rocks protecting my domain.

On the edge of the pool sits a small, slight figure, the tip of her tail slowly dragging back and forth through the water.

This is not the Sea King.

"Amanthara," I say, shaking my head. "Where is your father? He requested an audience."

The Sea King's youngest daughter has copper-colored skin; long, thick pink hair that spills over one shoulder, heavy and wet with seawater; a muscular blue-green tail; and turquoise eyes. Fat pearls are strung through her locks, as well as around her neck. Shimmering scales, the same color as her tail, highlight her cheekbones, neck, and arms.

"Father isn't here, Sina," the princess says, watching me as I move around the chamber, lighting torches with my magic.

"I see," I begin slowly. There is a chair left here for my audience with the Sea King. I drag it from its corner and position it near the pool, sitting down in a billow of silken skirts. "Does he know you are here?"

The iridescent scales across Amanthara's cheeks flush and the little mermaid turns her head slightly. Enough so that her hair moves and I can see she is wearing a colorful scarf of sky blue silk embroidered with gold and silver thread around her breasts. I frown slightly. Since when are merfolk concerned about modesty?

"He doesn't know," I answer for Amanthara when she does not. This may pose a problem, for the Sea King doesn't like it when his daughters come to the surface without a chaperone. "Well," I breathe, raising and lowering my hands from my lap. "What brings you here?"

"I have something to tell you!" the mermaid exclaims, straightening. Her face is wreathed in the delight of the news she came to share.

Interesting. "Go on ..."

"Well, do you remember telling me about the viscount and how he spurned your love?"

My lips begin to twist in a bitter smile, but I force myself to maintain a neutral expression. "I don't recall telling it with such enthusiasm, but yes. Go on." Where could she possibly be going with this?

"I was swimming near the castle and spied him on the docks."

Although the years have hardened my heart, that cold, dead thing leaps at the memory of Klaus's face. I grimace and smooth my skirts. "Your father wouldn't be pleased to hear that you were being so reckless."

Amanthara frowns. "Don't you want to know what he's doing?"

"I stopped caring when he did," I reply a little more sharply than I intend.

"Oh." The little mermaid swishes her tail in the pool. "He has a son."

My chin lifts and my treacherous heart thumps. A son. A child we could have had together ...

Stop it, Sina.

"I was thinking," Amanthara continues, heedless of my inner turmoil, "what if I were to—possibly—charm the boy?"

"What?" I exclaim, staring at the mermaid. "Why?" All I can think of is how her father will react. I rely on our agreement, and sending the Sea King's daughter off to play with human boys is not part of that.

Amanthara dips her chin and looks at me coyly from beneath long dark lashes. "For revenge? Why else not?"

I sigh and shake my head. "I don't know where you came up with this ridiculous notion, but I suggest you abandon it swiftly. No good comes from such foolishness."

The little mermaid's hands clench briefly and I catch her frowning at her tail before she meets my eye. "I understand," she murmurs, pushing off the rock and disappearing into the glowing blue waters.

I rise from my chair and stare at the ripples until they fade and the water is still. Perhaps I shouldn't have told the princess and her sisters that story, I muse as I put the chair back. I forgot that most girls, no matter the species, are fanciful creatures. Well, her heart was in the right place. It's just not what I need.

Turning, I dismiss the flames in their coral sconces and ascend the steps back to my room. I have gardening to do.