“Sing to it,” Amadeo said softly. “Let it hear your call.”
Arianna glanced at Michael with large eyes. When he nodded, she turned back to her father. “I don’t know if my song will work anymore.” She looked down at her legs dangling from Michael’s arms into the water. “I’m not changing back.”
“Just try, Arianna.” His gaze flicked over to Michael, and he gave a small smile. “I would guess Prince Michael is getting a bit tired of the sun.”
Arianna gasped, and immediately took the triton. Then she began to sing. At first, the triton did nothing. Her voice was small and timid. But as she continued, her voice grew in strength and began to encircle them as a rose’s scent might fill a garden. Up and out it moved to touch the sea and sky alike.
As it did, the triton began to glow gold. A blinding sunbeam shot down from the sky and wrapped itself around the triton’s right prong. A column of seawater likewise flew up into the air and wrapped itself around the triton’s left prong.
The merpeople bowed, and Arianna turned to Michael, her eyes shimmering once again. Michael felt his voice catch in his throat as he watched her face glow.
“What is the Sea Crown’s first mandate?” Amadeo asked as he rose from his bow, a grin stretching across his face.
Arianna glanced back at her family and blushed. Then she turned to Michael, a funny smile on her face. “You make a very handsome merman, but . . . I really do find your legs quite attractive.” Then she aimed the triton at him, and Michael felt his body begin to pulse.
“Wait,” he said.
She looked up at him with questioning eyes.
“I’ll only let you change me back on one condition.”
A few of the merpeople began to murmur, but Michael kept his eyes trained on Arianna. She looked utterly surprised, and possibly a bit hurt, so he willed himself not to smile.
“I’ll only let you change me back if you promise to marry me.”
57
Let Me Be the One
Arianna’s strength was slow in returning. For the first week, it was all she could do to sit up in bed. Because her fins hadn’t returned either, Michael insisted that she take his room, as his chamber was considerably larger and far more luxurious, and he slept in her little room by himself. Arianna would have argued, but she found she didn’t have the strength. And, if she was honest, his bed was a good deal more comfortable.
Each day, Michael would carry her down from the palace and stand in the water with her. Each day that she didn’t turn, Arianna would try and hide her disappointment, leaning into his chest and squeezing her eyes shut. Still, even though it hurt to consider that her days as a mermaid might be over, she found a new kind of peace in his arms, a peace that told her healing might one day still come. If not to her body, then to her heart.
Their visits to the water weren’t all sad. Often, he would take her down in the evenings, where her family could come to the surface with their charms and discuss the upcoming coronations and the weddings. That was somewhat fun, planning the most important days of her life with her parents and sister. Or rather, it was fun until the evening Drina decided to accompany them down, two and a half weeks after the battle. After listening to her future mother-in-law discuss her own plans for their wedding, Arianna developed a new, fiercer longing for her fins, which miraculously appeared the next day.
Still, even after her strength returned, Arianna wondered if her wedding day would ever arrive. There were missing merpersons to find, repairs to be made to Lucas’s ships, and Michael’s mother to deal with. Drina was particularly unhappy when she was told that the wedding would not be held in the Sun Palace’s little chapel with their own holy man, and she had certainly made her opinion known on every detail of the ceremony. So much so that Michael gave most of the planning over to Giana, to preserve his own sanity.
But eventually, the day did arrive.
Lucy flopped down on the divan dramatically. “This wedding has taken forever to get here. I should be old by now.”
Claire shook her head as she pulled her sister upright once more and dusted her dress off. “Two months is a perfectly acceptable amount of time to wait for a wedding. Weddings don’t make themselves, after all.” She looked up. “Isn’t that right, Aunt Arianna?”
Arianna winked at her, careful not to move her head as Bithiah put the finishing touches on her hair.
“I still wish you would wear your hair up,” Drina grumbled. “It would look more regal with your gown’s neckline. I still don’t understand why you want to wear it down.”
“Michael likes my hair down. If it were up to me, I would have it up, too, but this is to honor his request.”
Drina just harrumphed, as she had done to the majority of their wedding plans, but Bithiah wiped her eyes. “I think you look like a vision,” she said as she tucked a few pieces of hair behind the two smaller braids that she’d pulled back to encircle the top of Arianna’s head like a crown. “Now, come look.”
Arianna stood in front of the mirror. It didn’t matter how many times she saw the dress. It still took her breath away. Lace covered her shoulders and edged the top of her bodice. Below the lace was simple white silk with little sapphires sewn into embroidered swirls. The skirt fell gracefully over her hips and down to her toes like ocean froth in gauzy strips of white and blue.
“It looks just like the ocean!” Lucy scrambled to stand on the bed and look out the window.
Arianna laughed. “That was the idea.”
“Girls, Bithiah,” Drina said in a strained voice. “Could I have a moment alone with my daughter-in-law?” The girls protested, but Bithiah ushered them out. As soon as they were alone, the air suddenly seemed stuffier, despite the open windows that looked out over the beach.
“I . . . I have a gift for you.” Drina motioned to a servant girl standing by the door. The girl held out a square, flat wooden box and opened it. Drina pulled something out, then she returned to Arianna and placed it on her head.
Arianna gasped and reached up to touch the circlet of delicate purple and white glass flowers.
“They’re called begonias,” Drina said. “I’m sorry it’s not one of my more expensive pieces, but my mother wore this on her wedding day.” Her jaw tightened. “So did Maura. I was saving it for Claire, but . . . I . . . I’m glad I have another daughter to wear it first.”
Arianna took Drina’s hands in hers and squeezed. “I am so honored.”
“I must ask your forgiveness, I’m afraid. In earnest this time.” Drina shook her head. “There’s a reason the Maker had Michael take after his father and not me. He will be a good king.”
“Yes, he will.” Arianna pulled Drina into a hug.
Just then, a knock sounded at the door, and Drina left so Arianna’s parents could be ushered in. Their charms rang quietly as they wordlessly drew her close. Arianna held them tightly.
“I’ll only be a song away,” she said as she pulled out of the embrace. For some reason, she found it suddenly difficult to talk, so she laughed. “Really, I’ll see you more than I did when I lived with Renata!”
Tears flowed freely down Giana’s face, but Amadeo smiled, despite the glistening in the corners of his eyes. “Are you sure you want me to be your liaison? After all that happened here?” He looked around at Michael’s chambers suspiciously, as though they had been the place of war.
“Father, I trust you to be my voice when I’m not there. But really, queens do need to see their people. And I intend to be there often. I—”
Giana pulled her close again and rocked Arianna back and forth while she kissed her face. “We’re proud of you, love,” she whispered. “But no matter how much you accomplish, you’ll always be our little girl.”
“There is still one thing I don’t understand,” Amadeo said as Giana set to gushing over Arianna’s dress. “How were you able to break Renata’s hold on him in the water? She was still using her siren song, I assume?”
Arianna nodded. “I asked a
holy man the same thing. He said he couldn’t be sure, since the siren song is hardly ever used, but he guessed that since my song used the sea and the sun, it must have had the strength to severe the dark ties.” She paused as Giana helped her step into her slippers. “He said that the darkness must not have been able to withstand the light.”
All too soon, it was time to move to the ship. Lucas appeared at her door and escorted Arianna and her parents down to the dock.
“Lucas, it’s beautiful!” Arianna exclaimed when she saw the flagship gleaming with a bright new coat of white and shiny red stripe.
Lucas beamed. “All for you. Wouldn’t want you turning me into a guppy or something while I was out at sea.” Arianna elbowed him before he handed her down into the ship’s cabin, and Lucas laughed.
She waited in the cabin with her mother, sister, and the little girls as they moved out to sea. Through the small round windows, she watched the sun drop lower in the sky until it sat upon the horizon. She tried hard to slow her heart as it bounced around in her chest.
Just as twilight settled over the gigantic ocean sky, the hatch opened above them, and one by one they filed out. Arianna was last, and decided it was a miracle that she didn’t trip and fall on her face as she climbed the steps to the deck. She hadn’t even been this nervous at the triton competition.
As soon as she stepped up onto the deck, however, her fears faded at the sight of Michael standing at the prow of the ship. Wearing his uniform proudly, he stood taller than he ever had before, his shoulders straight and his chin held high. His brown curls had been trimmed into submission, and he wore a knife at his side, something he swore he would never be without again.
The ocean was filled with her own people. Thousands had returned for the ceremony, the joining of the Sun and Sea. Lucas’s fleet also floated nearby, each deck holding hundreds of Maricantans where they could watch. But for once, Arianna didn’t care what the humans or the merpeople saw. Because for her, there was only him. Taking his hand as she came to stand beside him, Arianna gazed at him in awe.
Lucas took his place before the assembly, giving each a big grin before opening the Holy Writ. Lucas went on to say many, many words, something about his privilege to marry them as the ship’s captain, and then more words from the holy writ itself. Arianna must have said enough in return, though she couldn’t recall doing so, for it wasn’t long before their rings were presented and exchanged.
“Never before have the Sun and Sea Crowns been so joined,” Lucas said with a smile. “But then again, never before has the prophecy come true.” He turned and nodded to the two pages standing at the ready. Each page held a cushion. And each cushion held a crown.
“Do you, Michelangelo Rinieri Battista Solefige, vow to protect the humans of Maricanta, to protect the merpeople of the seas, and covenant your complete reliance upon the Maker who gives you this mantle until your dying breath?”
“I will run with this task until death ushers my soul up to the Maker himself.” Michael bent and kissed Lucas’s ring.
“And do you,” Lucas turned to her, “Arianna Fiore del Mare Atlantician, vow to protect the merpeople of the sea, the humans of Maricanta, and covenant your complete reliance upon the Maker who gives you this mantle until your dying breath?”
Her voice was surprisingly clear. “I will swim with this task until death ushers my soul to the Maker himself.”
Lucas beamed as he lifted each crown. “I declare from this day forth the Sun and Sea as one.” With that, he placed the crowns on their heads. Arianna’s breath caught when Michael stood up straight. The way the golden crown rested on his brow made her want to burst with pride. The boy prince she had fallen in love with was gone. Now he was every bit a man.
Her man.
Her awe left her unready for the part of the ceremony that she had both longed for and dreaded the most.
“Queen Arianna will now sing her soulsong,” Lucas announced as he looked around at the human guests attending them. “In merperson tradition, the merman and mermaid each sing their soulsong, and the Maker combines them spontaneously to tell the story of their lives together as they will be. It is a unique miracle, a taste of what is to come, a story of where they’ve been and where they’re going.” He paused. “As my brother is not a merman, however, Queen Arianna will sing for him alone.”
Arianna nearly regretted asking to keep this part of the ceremony. And yet, she wanted to give Michael this part of herself, even if her song went unmatched. He was going to have all of her, no matter what. The Maker would take care of the rest.
Closing her eyes, Arianna thought back to the first night she had seen him out on the terrace. She let her voice soar.
But it didn’t soar alone for long. A deep baritone began to harmonize, nearly shocking her into silence.
Michael’s voice had always been rather soft, and he had never been keen for singing. But now, as he held her gaze, his eyes reflecting the torches’ light, Michael’s voice was every part merman. Arianna thought she might cry.
As they sang, she forgot to see the people or the ocean or the ships around her. Instead, she saw him. She saw his face when they were children and he stared at the bush while she hid behind it. She saw the way he looked at her on the day she saved him. There was the Sun Palace, just as she remembered looking at it from below. As their story progressed, she saw the Sun Palace’s terrace, the ocean’s surface, the docks, the market, and the Deeps. Pain, surprise, and joy, each memory filled her with emotion as it flew by.
Then she began to see new visions. She saw the Sun and Sea Palaces, not as they were but as they could be. Two peoples and one future. When children moved into their vision, Arianna could feel herself blush, and a few people in the audience snickered. Michael caught her eye and gave her a wicked smile. The vision continued some pain and confusion, but even stronger came unity and strength. And there was love. So much love.
Before the vision had completely dissolved, Michael pulled her tightly against him and kissed her with a passion that sent heat all the way down to her toes. It was glorious.
“Friends and loved ones,” Lucas said, spreading his arms, “I present to you the Sun and Sea Crowns, unified before the Maker and man.” The crowds around them erupted, and Michael drew Arianna in for another kiss.
Soon after, the eating and dancing commenced. Arianna laughed as Michael spun her in circles. They had practiced several times for the dance, but having Michael ask her to dance still gave her shivers of delight.
They danced and sang and ate and danced some more until Arianna was nearly too tired to stand. Michael whispered to one of his servants, and it wasn’t long before people were being ushered off, either onto other ships who came near to take passengers, or back into the ocean where they belonged. Soon, there were only Michael and Arianna, and he took her hand to gently lead her down into the ship’s cabin.
As tired as she was, however, Arianna felt jumpy. The room that had seemed comfortable earlier suddenly felt so cozy that it was nearly hot. Arianna went and stood by one of the porthole windows to try and get some cool air.
“What’s wrong?” Michael came up behind her and nuzzled her neck with his chin.
“Just nerves, I suppose.” Arianna turned and gave him a weak smile.
“That only makes sense. Here, turn around. Let me help you with that necklace.”
Arianna did as he said until she realized which necklace she still wore. “Oh no!” She covered her mouth. “I didn’t mean to wear that one to the wedding! Throw it overboard. Or better yet,” she picked up a heavy polished stone from the dresser, “crush it.” What had she been thinking, letting Renata sing her to sleep the night before? “I . . . I meant to get rid of it this morning,” she stuttered, but he only shook his head.
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“As misguided as your aunt was,” he said, placing the necklace gently on the dresser, “she truly did love you. Don’t let her last few months overshadow
all the love she gave you as a child.”
She stared at him, speechless. Whatever fear had played in her belly dissolved, and she pulled him down for a long kiss. His hands rubbed her shoulders until her arms felt loose and relaxed, and a deeper hunger rushed through her, stronger than she had ever felt it before. Much to her disappointment, however, he pulled away.
“I just have one request.”
“What’s that?” Why did she sound so ridiculously out of breath?
“Let me be the one to sing you to sleep from now on.”
Arianna stared at him as it slowly dawned on her that this wonderful man was hers forever. “The Maker made a way,” she whispered in wonder as his lips began exploring her temple. “Just like you said.”
Michael ran his fingers through her hair, down her face, and up to her lips, which he softly kissed again. “A way,” he whispered, leaning his face against hers, “that I intend to enjoy for the rest of my days.”
58
Epilogue
Arianna shifted again in her seat, but try as she might, she couldn’t find a comfortable position for her big belly. What was Lord Hatchet pontificating on about now? She felt slightly guilty for so easily ignoring the merlord’s soliloquy. But only just. Several other lords and ladies were dozing off as well or fiddling with their sleeves or fingers or rings or charms. The merlord had been droning on for nearly a half hour, and for the life of her, she couldn’t understand what he was upset about. Every time he seemed to wander about to the point, she would get a hard kick to the ribs, and he would continue droning.
“I’m confused,” Michael finally interrupted, much to Arianna’s relief.
At least she wasn’t the only one.
“Maricanta and your people have been prosperous for four years now. Trade is better than ever, and we haven’t had a pirate incident in ages. What are you dissatisfied with?”
Silent Mermaid: A Retelling of The Little Mermaid (The Classical Kingdoms Collection Book 5) Page 35