The bottom of her skirt was wet. It seemed she had been in the water again. Her dark hair hung loose around her shoulders and was filled with an assortment of objects including forks, seashells, and bits of glass. The front of her dress was puckered. Had she stuffed something down it?
Gustave flushed and averted his eyes, realizing that he had accidentally been staring at her chest while trying to figure out what she had hidden in her gown. He turned his attention back to the statue.
“Find King Francois,” he whispered to the ring.
The red light once again pointed to the statue.
Lady Mer’s blue eyes widened.
“It’s impossible,” Gustave whispered.
But apparently it wasn’t. This would explain how the mermaids kept his father alive underwater. King Francois had been imprisoned in stone.
“It’s a statue of your father, isn’t it?” Lady Mer signed.
“We never commissioned this. I think this statue is my father.”
Lady Mer placed a trembling hand on the statue’s arm, as if she hoped to sense the magic. She pulled it away, looking disappointed.
“How?”
“And why? And how do we free him?”
Lady Mer shook her head to say she didn’t know. The forks in her hair bounced against her shoulders, reflecting light from the setting sun.
“Lady Mer, why are there forks in your hair?”
“What magic could have turned him into a statue?” she signed, avoiding the question.
“I’ve seen mermaid magic turn a man into a frog. Perhaps this is similar.”
Gustave moved closer and kissed his father’s cheek. He had seen one mermaid’s curse broken with a kiss. Perhaps this one could be as well.
The stone was warm against his lips, but his father remained a statue.
“Mermaids didn’t do this,” Lady Mer signed.
A seagull streaked with black landed on the statue’s head. Lady Mer waved her hands to shoo it away. Gustave turned to her.
“How do you know that mermaids aren’t responsible?”
A shriek pierced the air. A cross between song and scream that made Gustave’s scalp prickle. He knew that sound. He had heard it just before-
A giant tentacle shot out of the water, and Gustave groaned. He had heard it just before a kraken attacked Santelle. Apparently they were coming after Montaigne now.
“The mermaids were supposed to stop them.”
As if that changed anything now. Gustave knew he should run, but he stood his ground, refusing to leave his father alone on the beach.
The song rang through the water again, and the tentacle swept towards shore. Lady Mer jumped in front of the statue and opened her mouth as if she meant to sing.
But no sound came out. She scowled and pulled two forks out of her hair instead. She brandished them at the tentacle as if they were swords.
“Look out!”
Gustave dove and pushed Lady Mer out of the way. The tentacle crashed onto the beach and sent sand flying over them. Lady Mer untangled herself from Gustave’s arms and rushed back to the fight.
“Lady Mer, don’t!”
She ignored him and stabbed the tentacle with the forks. Unsurprisingly, this had no effect. The tentacle ignored her and wrapped itself around the statue. Gustave sprang to his feet. This attack wasn’t meant for them.
The mermaids wanted the statue back.
The song grew louder until it seemed to fill the entire ocean. Rather than helping Lady Mer attack the tentacle, Gustave waded into the water. He plunged his head under the surface and squinted into the murky depths.
Yellow eyes stared back at him. Gustave resurfaced for air then ducked under the water again and stared back. He knew those eyes.
Leander.
Before Gustave could dive after the merman, a wave washed him back to the shore. He collided with Lady Mer, who offered him a fork. Gustave took it and stabbed the tentacle as hard as he could.
The fork bent in his hand as the kraken tentacle dragged King Francois towards the water.
A new song filled the air, and something silver rained from the sky. Gustave looked up in confusion. What was happening? One of the silver objects slapped his face, leaving behind a damp spot and a familiar smell.
Fish. Hundreds of fish rained onto the beach. Gustave slipped on them as he tried to reach the statue and fight the kraken. Lady Mer was having trouble walking as well. A second tentacle crawled up the beach and wrapped itself around her waist.
No. His father could survive underwater, but Lady Mer would drown.
Gustave turned away from the statue, slipped his way across the beach, and grabbed Lady Mer’s hand. She clung to him, panic in her blue eyes as the kraken dragged her across the sand.
Another song filled the air, and the tentacle loosened. Gustave wrapped his arms around Lady Mer’s waist and pulled, trying to free her from the kraken’s grasp.
The song developed into a sort of battle. Gustave saw two mermaids floating in the shallow water singing together. He didn’t recognize them. One looked young, and the other had flowing white hair. As their song intensified, the kraken tentacle around Lady Mer loosened. She slumped into Gustave’s arms as it slid back into the water.
The tentacle wrapped around the statue retreated as well. Gustave held Lady Mer tight as the kraken disappeared into the water. The white haired mermaid caught his gaze and winked. The young one giggled.
“Wait-”
But they had already disappeared into the sea.
Gustave helped Lady Mer sit on the beach and collapsed next to her. She clung to her fork and seemed to be having difficulty breathing. Gustave hoped the kraken hadn’t cracked her ribs when it grabbed her.
He smoothed a strand of hair away from her face, then pulled his hand back. The action had been involuntary. Perhaps he shouldn’t-
But she smiled at him and didn’t seem to mind.
It felt right, somehow, being here with her on the beach. The only downside was the smell from all the fish, but Gustave forgot about the smell when Lady Mer leaned against him until their shoulders touched. He wondered if he should kiss her again. But maybe it was inappropriate to kiss her when she was still recovering from the attack. Should he ask? What if she said no?
Before he could decide what to do, the beach shook beneath them and rumbled with deep laughter. A tentacle wrapped around Gustave’s ankle and pulled him into the ocean.
43
Fiora watched, too stunned to move, as a kraken tentacle pulled Gustave across the sand. He didn’t have time to speak, but his eyes pleaded for help as he gasped for air and disappeared beneath the waves.
No. She wouldn’t lose him.
Fiora jumped to her feet and ran across the beach. She wished that Madame Isla’s misunderstandings of human fashion had involved knives rather than forks. Maybe those would have been more effective against a sea monster.
She waded until she was neck-deep, then took a deep breath and dove into the ocean. The salt water stung her human eyes, but she ignored the pain and searched for Gustave.
There. He was a few feet away, struggling to free his foot from the tentacle’s grasp.
Fiora swam down and jabbed her fork into the kraken’s suction cups, which seemed likely to be a weak point if the monster had one.
The tentacle did not react. It simply held Gustave below the surface. He kicked, but it did no good. Their eyes met, and Fiora read the panic in Gustave’s expression. Her own lungs were burning, and he had been underwater longer than she had.
They didn’t have much time left.
If only she had her voice! Her mermaid song might be able to control the kraken and make it loosen its grip.
Fiora stopped stabbing the tentacle and swam back a little to study the situation instead. Her hair floated around her, glittering with glass and shells. Her dress caught in a current and pulled her away from Gustave.
“Go back! Save yourself!”
Fiora ignor
ed his signs and swam towards his leg. The tentacle was too large to wrap around something as small as a human leg effectively, and the suction cups were attached to Gustave’s clothes, not his skin. She studied the seams of his trousers for a moment, then stabbed her fork through the fabric and pulled at the threads.
The fabric ripped at the seams and tore away. Fiora ignored the fire in her lungs and pulled off Gustave’s shoe. Then she pushed down on the tentacle. As she had hoped, the suction cups stayed attached to the fabric. The kraken tentacle and torn cloth slid over Gustave’s foot and sank into the water.
Fiora grabbed Gustave’s shoulders and swam up. Her feet tangled in her voluminous skirt, slowing her ascent. Gustave kicked his legs and surged past her. He clutched her arm as he passed and dragged her through the water.
She gasped for air as her head broke through the waves. Gustave did the same, sputtering and coughing up water. Fiora continued to struggle with her dress as they limped through the ocean. Gustave kept a hand on her waist to help. They collapsed onto the sand and lay on their backs when they reached the shore. The statue of King Francois still sat on the beach. Madame Isla and Zoe had managed to drive the kraken away in time to save it.
Hopefully the mermaids could stop whatever was causing the rumbling as well. Was it the same thing that had caused the earthquake in the library?
There had been too many attacks to be a coincidence.
Gustave reached over and squeezed her hand, distracting Fiora from her musings. She smiled and squeezed back. He laced his fingers through hers and held tight. They lay together without speaking while they caught their breath. Seagulls and clouds floated in the blue sky over them.
“Thank you.”
Gustave’s voice was little more than a whisper. Fiora squeezed his hand again, grateful that he was still alive. If he had died-
She closed her eyes to hide the tears. There was no point thinking like that. He was alive. That was what mattered.
When she opened her eyes again, Gustave was sitting up and leaning over her with concern. The beach glittered silver around him. Beautiful until a breeze stirred up the scent of dead fish.
“Are you injured, Lady Mer?”
His hair and beard dripped water, and his eyes were filled with concern.
Concern for her.
“I’m fine.”
“We should get you to a doctor.”
“You’re the one who needs a doctor.”
Gustave sighed.
“Actually, my father is the one who needs a doctor. Or an enchanter. I’m not sure who would know how to break such a spell.”
Fiora shook her head to show she didn’t know either, and bits of glass rattled against her shoulders. She would ask her mermaid relatives about the king, of course. Althea seemed the most likely to know, and she could ask Zoe to search the library just in case. But the mermaids had never mentioned such an enchantment before.
Was Leander responsible? He was the only one Fiora could imagine doing it, but what would he gain from capturing a human king? Why would he possibly want to drown Gustave?
She needed to speak with the mermaids as soon as possible. Something was going on here. Something strange that now involved her somehow.
“How do you think he washed up on the shore?”
Gustave gestured to the statue. Fiora swallowed. Telling him that she had found it and meant to give it to him as a birthday gift seemed impossible now. It would raise too many other questions after the kraken attack.
Honestly, it probably would have raised too many questions even without the kraken. This plan to catch his attention had been rather ill-conceived now that Fiora considered it further.
Then again, maybe it had worked out better than planned. Gustave took her hand again and held it tight. Fiora sat up and leaned her head against his shoulder. Gustave looked down at her and smiled.
“Your Majesty! There you are!”
Marquis Corbeau ran towards them. He slipped on a fish and stopped to stare at Gustave and Fiora. She couldn’t blame him. Gustave’s beard had dried into a frizzy mess. Her hair was full of forks and glass.
Not to mention there was a statue behind them that was really the King of Montaigne.
“We need to bring this statue back to the castle as quickly as possible,” Gustave said. “It’s my father.”
“Obviously it’s your father,” Marquis Corbeau said. “But how? We never commissioned such a piece.”
“I mean it’s actually my father.”
“Your Majesty!”
Captain Whist, Dale, and a group of soldiers ran down the beach. They also slipped on the fish, but fared better than Marquis Corbeau had.
“I heard the mermaid song,” Captain Whist said. “Is there a kraken? What happened here?”
Gustave shook his head.
“It’s gone now. Lady Mer fought it off with a fork.”
Everyone stared at Fiora. She shrugged and waved the fork that she still held. Dale’s eyes bulged.
“Lady Mer, where did you get that? I recognize the pattern. A custom design. It was on my ship that was lost.”
Fiora didn’t know what to say. She offered the fork to Dale, who clutched it like a lifeline. Now that she actually looked at it, the fork was rather unique. The handle was carved in the shape of a rose, and decorative vines crawled up it and curved around the tines.
“If this washed up, there may be more!”
Dale ran to the shoreline and searched the sand, kicking piles of fish aside in his quest for cutlery. Fiora and Gustave shared a look.
“Where exactly did you get that fork? And the rest of your, um, decorations?”
He let go of her hand to sign and gestured towards her hair. Fiora slumped into the sand. This had to be the least successful seduction in the history of romance. No matter how hard she tried, she just wasn’t able to fit into the roles she was supposed to play.
“They’re nice,” Gustave quickly added. “You look nice.”
Fiora gave him a look, and he laughed.
“I hope you’ll tell me your story sometime, Lady Mer.”
Then he stood, helped her to her feet, and walked over to direct the soldiers who were moving King Francois.
Fiora pulled bits of glass out of her hair and watched him place a hand on the stone to steady his father as the soldiers lifted him.
What would happen if she told Gustave her story?
Her heart pounded. If she told Gustave the truth, there was no going back. No pretending that she was not herself. No escape.
She pulled a fork from her hair. It was the same rose design as the one Dale held. She waved at the merchant and handed him the fork.
“Thank you, Lady Mer!”
Gustave looked back and smiled at her when he saw Fiora pull a third fork from her hair and hand it to Dale. Looking into Gustave’s eyes, Fiora wasn’t sure she wanted to escape. There was something there beyond his usual kindness and consideration. Something as steady as the waves.
She looked away, not sure she should trust the expression. Hearts were fickle. Men were fickle.
But this wasn’t just any man. This was Gustave.
The soldiers hoisted King Francois onto their shoulders and carried him towards the castle, but Gustave stayed on the beach waiting for her. He smiled and offered his arm. He looked a little ridiculous with one trouser leg missing and his hair wild from the sea. But his gray eyes were steady and kind as always.
Fiora lifted her hands to tell him everything, then buried them in her skirt instead. She couldn’t risk telling him the truth. Not when she needed his affection to save her life. Not when she had somehow managed to secure a bit of that affection through her disguise.
Gustave looked disappointed but didn’t press her. He simply took her hand and helped her limp across the fish-covered beach. Seagulls scattered as they walked. The birds seemed unsure to do with their bounty. They hopped from fish to fish, fighting each other even though there was plenty to go around.
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Fiora smiled as Spot stole a fish from another bird, and Gustave laughed with her. They walked hand in hand as they followed the soldiers and King Francois back to the castle.
44
“You’re saying this statue is my son?”
Dowager Queen Bernadine leaned back in her wheelchair, looking up at the statue with an expression that managed to be both calm and exasperated.
“But how?” Collette said. “How is this possible?”
She stared at King Francois and blinked back tears. Collette had already tried kissing the statue’s cheek at Gustave’s suggestion, as had Bernadine. Just in case.
It hadn’t worked.
The conversation fragmented as everyone offered their theories and potential solutions. Gustave stepped back to examine the chaos from a different angle. Surely there was a way to fix this.
They had placed King Francois in the library. Dowager Queen Bernadine stared at him as if she could break the enchantment through intimidation alone. Collette walked slowly around the statue, studying it as if the answers were hidden somewhere in the stone. Marquis Corbeau and Marchioness Rouge argued about the implications this would have for the government and if the king’s discovery should be announced publicly. Elaine searched the shelves for useful books.
Lady Mer and Dale stood near the window, seeming unsure if they belonged in this meeting or not. Dale was not so subtly eyeing the last fork in Lady Mer’s hair. She noticed and untangled it with help from Princess Elspeth’s mirror. The merchant took it gratefully and clutched the rose-inspired silverware to his chest in a strange bouquet.
Where had those forks come from? The whole incident on the beach had been bizarre, and Gustave had more questions for Lady Mer than he could keep track of.
As if she could hear his thoughts, Lady Mer turned and caught his gaze. Gustave swallowed. Whatever else had happened, she had saved his life. Not to mention she had found his father. Gustave couldn’t shake the feeling that she was somehow responsible for bringing him back to Montaigne. Did she have some sort of connection to the mermaids who had kidnapped King Francois? How had she arranged for his release?
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