Maisie

His fingers threaded through the spaces between mine. The movement was so natural, I could have almost forgiven and forgotten what he’d done to me earlier. The ease with which he had pressed the blade of the ax to my throat, or had cut off my waterway, or had beat Captain Saber with two-legger kitchenware.

Almost.

The doorway to the cove closed behind us, and we pushed our way inside the darkness. We swam in blind strokes. I was familiar enough with the inside that I knew when to curve at the drop. The phytoplankton stuck to the walls at the top of the cove weren’t enough to illuminate the way, but just enough to catch the smallest outline of silhouettes.

When the drop came, I tugged at his hand, indicating that he should swim down with me. We were closer to the ground now; to the explosion of two-legger things strewn about. I’d discovered this hideout weeks ago through a secret passageway behind a tapestry of Eramaea in Princess Odele’s chambers. It was a wide expanse of space, the cavern’s walls covered in furry green algae, barnacles, and tiny specks of phytoplankton. The floors were another matter, however, looking like a shipwreck had exploded throughout the place, leaving behind a bunch of two-legger paraphernalia. Not to mention the hundreds of conches carpeting the ground.

I led Elias over to where I knew the two-legger couch was and sat him down. He went without a fight, grunting as he lowered himself onto the cushions. Then, I turned in the darkness, remembering the layout of the room. Perhaps Princess Odele had hidden a lava globe for illumination here somewhere that I hadn’t yet come across.

Blindly waving my hands in front of me, I began moving across the space in search of something that could be used for light. I bumped the left side of my fin onto the sharp edges of what felt like a table. A gasp of pain tore out of my throat. Pangs were sent spiraling down the entirety of my tail.

Ever since Captain Saber had escorted me from my pond home of Lagoona and brought me to the capital, my tail had hurt so much more than I was accustomed to. It had been shredded by a gator back home, and I’d swam with a limp for years. Since coming here, I’d been forced to speak and swim just so, having to move straight-backed and with an elegance I’d never before possessed. Not to mention, the strain of having to swim fast through the market earlier was trying my fins and limbs.

I took a breath, willing the pain to relax. When it did for a brief moment, I started forward again, grateful when I finally made it to the massive treasure chest on the floor. I kneeled down at the tail, feeling for the latch in the front of the chest keeping it closed. Opening it, I dug my hands through the contents, pushing aside two-legger golden coins, rubies, and diamonds to feel for something rounder, smoother.

I moved aside a pile of coins, and a blue light greeted me. Giving a silent cheer of triumph, I dug the round glass lava globe from the inside of the chest and pulled it out, holding it to my body. I swam up and turned. The light on the inside of it illuminated at a distance of three strokes in front of me. The lava was still strong. A soft blue light fell across the space, showing Elias’s face contorted in pain.

I swam towards him and sat next to him on the couch, placing the lava globe between our bodies, giving the illusion of distance. Despite what had happened between us, despite him threatening my life, I couldn’t bear to see him suffering.

“Let’s see the wound, then.”

He drew in a ragged breath as he first tugged off the black cloak he’d stolen and then unbuttoned the gray prison rags he wore. His fingers trembled as he went down the line of old, rusty buttons. I didn’t dare offer him help, scared that I’d find my fingers trembling as much as his were. When he finished, the scraps of cloth parted to reveal the panes of his chest. I found myself watching in fascination as he slipped one arm out of the shirtsleeve, then the other. The material bunched down at his waist, just where his black tail began.

My face flushed and I hoped he didn’t notice in the dimness of the cavern.

“That sea slug got me good.”

I broke out of my musings to look down at the wound on his abdomen. It was an ugly, bleeding scrap of flesh. I hissed through my teeth.

“It needs to be cleaned and sewed shut.”

Elias gave a tight nod. “So do it.”

The haughty, arrogant way with which he commanded me grated on my nerves. I glared at him, crossing my arms over my chest. His eyes flickered to the movement before looking up at my face again, wearing a frown that was contagious.

“Why should I?” I demanded. “You were so willing to threaten my death in order to escape. Now you want me to help you? No. Absolutely not.”

Dark brows pulled tightly together, pupils narrowing into thin, angry slits. He seemed to push away any pain he felt in that instant, mustering up a new, darker emotion. Something dangerous that made me shiver involuntarily. And I wasn’t entirely sure if it was from fear or... something else.

“You will, little fish,” he purred, leaning forward. The pretend space I’d placed between us really had been just an illusion, because he closed it within seconds until his lips were a breath from mine. “Or I will tell everyone that you are not the real Princess of Thalassar.”

If the room hadn’t been shrouded so dark, he would have seen the sudden paleness of my face, the tightening of my features, and the way my lips thinned into a near invisible line. My brain raced laps inside my mind, each thought more anxious than the last.

He knows.

He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows.

One of the most carefully kept secrets of this kingdom lay in the hands of the Black Blade, enemy to the crown. He knew I was an imposter princess. That I was just pretending to be Odele until the missing mermaid could be found. My next words were crucial, this situation fragile, dangling on the balance of my ability to lie and swindle the most notorious criminal in the whole kingdom.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My voice quivered, and because it did, he smirked.

“You’re not a very convincing liar, little fish.”

He leaned forward, despite the pain it so obviously caused him, and rested an elbow on his lap. The other hand went low until his palm came into contact with the dress I wore. I startled but remained surprisingly still as he slid the dress up the length of my scales. My face heated as his fingers suddenly stopped at the side of my tail where my shredded fins were. No one had ever come this close to me, and I was too nervous to do much but stare.

“You think I didn’t notice this?” His fingers were gentle, passing over the jaggedly thin edges of what used to be perfect, aquamarine fins at my sides. “You swim with a limp, Maisie.”

At the use of my name, my real name, I flinched.

He smirked. “The moment we met, you introduced yourself as ‘Maisie’ easily enough. And you speak with a Lagoona accent with so much ease, it’s like you’re from there, as opposed to when you try to keep that Eramaean accent in place...”

I was breathing heavily now, so unsure what to do, how to rebuff his every claim. There seemed to be no way to do so, no denying what I’d so desperately tried to hide. Elias had seen through me since the very beginning.

“Not to mention on our little outing yesterday.” He leaned back on the couch again, the gesture appearing slightly nonchalant. “You ordered almost every food native to Lagoona. Your sympathy for peasants, and your sympathy for me facing a beheading... You risked a lot for a criminal and I know the real princess would rather starve than sully herself like that.”

He knew, and there was no going back from this now. I could deny it until I was as purple as my hair and tail, but he would see right through any lie I’d try to whip up. There was nothing to do now but proceed cautiously.

“You’re very observant,” I commented, dropping my practiced Eramaean accent completely, replacing it with my native one. The one of Lagoona.

“In my line of work, I have to be.”

“Right. Thieving.”

“And deserting, and spying, and blade-making.”

The arrogant piece of kelp. I huffed indignantly and got up from the couch. “Fine,” I conceded. “I’ll heal your wound. But I don’t have anything to sew it up with.” I’d have to go through the little tunnel on the opposite side of the cove, the one that led to the princess’ chambers. “Wait right here.” I turned and swam up, feeling my way up for the little tunnel. I didn’t take the lava globe with me because I’d bring another one on the trip back. To sew up his wounds, I was going to need all the illumination I could get.

Squeezing myself into the little tunnel, I crawl-swam through the silt and debris until I made it out into the dark stone hallway that led to the rooms. I was lucky there were no twists and turns here, or I’d be completely lost in darkness. Swimming forward and trying not to imagine what creatures slithered along the walls, I finally made it to the end of the hall and pressed my hands against the stone. The doorway opened, and I pushed aside the tapestry to swim into the room.

It was brighter in here, swathed in hues of gold, magenta, lilac, and blue. The ivory shell bed looked so inviting after the trying day I’d had. I longed to throw myself into it, letting the soft kiss of the anemones against my scales lull me to sleep. But Elias was waiting.

I swam around the room looking for sewing notions. The princess didn’t seem to have anything useful in her rooms. There was nothing but figurines, toys, and pampered princess things, like jewelry and makeup strewn about.

Making my way to the bathing room, I searched through the stuff there until I finally found a little shell container. The inside held sharp needles and sea thread. I also grabbed a hidden bottle of fermented sea wine that the princess kept hidden there as well. I knew she kept it because I’d watched dozens of conches on her miserable, royal life.

I shoved the contents into a simple messenger bag I found lying in the princess’ closet and grabbed a lava globe on my way out. The stone doorway closed behind me. I went down the hall, then wriggled my way through the tunnel, coming out on the other side with silt buried in my hair.

I shook myself off and coughed before I realized that the silence in the cove was eerie. Cautiously, I looked around. The lava globe I’d left with Elias was no longer where it had been. In fact, it wasn’t anywhere in sight. And there wasn’t any sound of Elias gasping in pain, either.

Unfortunately. Okay, maybe I didn’t want to see him die, but I was petty enough right then to want him to suffer, at least a little.

Holding the lava globe in my palm, I started to turn and gasped when I felt the sudden cold, sharp edge of something press to my throat. I froze.

“Are you alone?” Elias’ voice whispered in the dark.

I started to nod but stopped when my skin dug into what felt like a blade. “Yes,” I answered.

There was a pause as he waited for a minute, and then another. When it was obvious I’d come alone, the blade pulled away from my throat, and Elias swam out into the illumination of the globe I held in my hand. He gripped at his wound with one hand, and in the other he held a silver-studded blade.

I eyed it suspiciously.

“Found it in that treasure chest of yours.” He started for the couch and I followed.

“That’s the second time you’ve held a weapon to my throat today.”

Once we made it back to the couch, he tossed the blade across the cavern and shrugged, looking at me unapologetically. “One can never be too careful when it comes to survival.”

“One can never be too careful when choosing their friends, either.”

Elias just pierced me with a look that I chose to ignore as I made my way to the couch and sat down on it. He followed much more slowly, this time sitting as close to me as he possibly could. I tried to ignore the proximity, but I couldn’t help how my heart sped up.

“I never claimed to be your friend, little fish.” He moved his hands aside so I could examine the wound. “We just owed each other favors.”

My face heated with the beginning of humiliation. I always saw goodness where there was none. Imagined friendship where it didn’t exist. I should have known by now that mer were liars. The proof of that lay in the scars on my side.

There was so much I wanted to say to him, so many replies that came to mind. None of them would have been productive to the situation at hand. Instead, I bit my tongue and bent over to look at his skin. I’d been a fool to think we were friends. To think that the Black Blade, a merman I once admired, turned out to be sea scum instead. The idea of him was better than the bundle of flesh and blood I had in front of me.

I pulled out the bottle of fermented sea wine and uncapped it, dipping it over to pour the contents onto his wound. The dark color of wine floated gently down onto his flesh, looking like swirls of squid ink vanishing through the water. He winced when it touched him, and let out a hiss and a curse.

I took out a needle, threading it, and bent over to pinch his separated pieces of flesh. He jumped, as if my hands tickled rather than hurt him. I didn’t look up, though. I paid attention to my task, sticking the needle through his skin and I began to sew.

We sat like that in the silence for a moment. I worked methodically to make sure I did it right. When I pressed my fingers to the flesh above the wound and pulled the string back, Elias took in a sharp breath.

Finally, he asked in a quiet voice that I felt deep in my bones, “Where did you learn to do this?”

I didn’t look up from my task. “I’ve had my fair share of scrapes and bruises.” Working at Tides’ Tavern near gator breeding grounds resulted in quite a few accidents all around. Plus, through a delirium of pain, I watched the seamstress sew up my own side after my attack. But he didn’t need to know that. We weren’t friends. “And I’ve had to mend and tailor a lot of my own clothing when money was tight.” I almost regretted the words as soon as they came out of my mouth but shook it off. He already knew the truth about me. Saying this was nothing. Besides, sometimes it felt nice to pull that mask off, even if it was with this criminal who was blackmailing me.

I felt the light touch of his fingers against the floating tresses of my hair. I tensed, and then he pushed them back, dropping his hand.

“You’re amazing, little fish. You know that, right?”

My face heated despite myself. “I’m nothing special,” I dismissed.

“It takes a special person to disguise themselves as a stuck-up princess for weeks. Though, I still don’t quite understand why you’re doing it.”

I bit my lip. Released it. “Don’t worry about it.”

It was like he didn’t even hear me. “The real princess is either truly sick or gone, that much is quite clear. But what’s in it for you?”

I bit my tongue and kept sewing. He was baiting me. I knew it. And I wouldn’t fall prey to him. I wouldn’t spill my secrets, giving him more information to blackmail me with. Did he think I was completely daft?

“Did they offer you jewels? Money? Or do you like pretending to be royalty? Maybe you just want an excuse to kiss a pretty prince—ssssttt.” He winced when I stuck the needle hard into his skin. I didn’t like what he was implying. That I was just as shallow as the princess. That’d I’d jump at the chance to be someone else, to live in finery, to be the center of attention.

The truth was, I hated it.

“Sorry,” I whispered, my throat tight with an emotion akin to anger. “I slipped.”

I was sure he glared at me, but I didn’t reply. I resumed my task with faster fingers. The quicker I got through this, the sooner he could leave. I would go back to pretending to be Princess Odele and suffer the consequences of my actions today.

When I finished sewing his wound, I sat back and placed the needle and thread into the little shell. I set it aside and stuffed the now-corked bottle of sea wine into the silt.

“Well,” I began. “I suppose you’ll be on your way now...”

Elias chuckled unkindly, and I knew that there was no chance he’d be leaving now. “I think not,” he said. “The whole kingdom is looking for me. And if you haven’t noticed, I’m vulnerable.” He gestured at his wound. “No, I think I’ll stay here for a while.”

Just like that, the one sacred space I had, the one place where I could irrevocably be myself and hide away from the watchful eye of courtiers was snatched from me. “Y-you can’t!” I protested.

He raised a dark, slender eyebrow. “I think I can. You forget I have vital information that could determine your future. What do you think the kingdom will do to an imposter princess? Do you think they’ll be lenient with you? Perhaps they’ll do to you what is done to selects.”

His words had me seeing blood. The swing of an ax. A head rolling. Not Christof’s this time, not one of my friend’s from Lagoona, but mine.

“I thought so.”

I glared at him and his luxuriating way of lying there on the couch. “You’re such a tadpole!” I cursed him.

He smirked. “I never claimed otherwise.”

I scoffed and got up from my seat. It was time I left here. Being in his presence just made my fins stand on edge. I started to turn away but felt his hand suddenly tighten on my upper arm.

I tensed.

“Wait...” he said quietly.

Turning, I narrowed my eyes at him only to find him wearing a startling expression. He was looking at me with softer eyes, and I wondered if that was a tinge of regret there or maybe it was something deeper. As quickly as it appeared, it was gone, replaced with a reticent curve of his lips. Perhaps I’d just mistaken the look for something it wasn’t. For what I wished I could have seen.

“You have to know, little fish, I never would have hurt you.”

I wanted to close my eyes against those words because they were exactly what I needed to hear to forgive him. But words, I’d learned, meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. Actions always spoke louder, and so far, his had given me insight as to who he really was. Even if a part of me wanted to grab that version of an apology and keep it close. Even if I wanted to smile like I had just the day before.

“You certainly fooled me.”

His eyes went to my throat, to where he’d cut off my waterway. I was sure, even in the dimly lit cove, he could make out the shadowing of a bruise there. He tugged lightly at my hand, but with enough command that I found myself falling into his lap. His arm went around my waist to hold me there, to keep me from protesting.

I didn’t.

Maybe I was weak. Maybe I always had been. Or maybe it was just him. Elias’ energy was something else entirely. He was hypnotizing and I wanted to be closer to him, despite what he’d done or would do.

I sat there, breath hitching up in my throat as I watched every single thing about him soften. His whole demeanor changed. Fingers came up to brush along my throat. I swallowed, a lump rising up my throat that I was sure he could feel with his fingertips.

“I am sorry,” he whispered.

I tried not to shiver and failed. “I don’t believe you.” My voice was hoarse with some unknown emotion that clenched tightly in my gut.

He leaned forward, so close that our noses almost touched. Then he bent to my neck and pressed his lips against my bruised skin. The feel of his warmth at the base of my throat had my pulse quickening to an impossible speed. I was sure he felt it. Felt the way my heart was racing against his mouth. He kissed me there, and I remained entirely too still under his care. He kissed his way lower, lips touching my collarbone, and then lower still, to the top swells of my breasts.

He stopped, pulled away when I was sure I would melt like molten lava.

Elias looked me in the eyes with lowered lids. A soft smile touched his mouth, and my face and body heated in response. I wasn’t sure why my gut was tightening, why my belly coiled in his presence.

“I would never truly hurt you, Maisie.” He said the words like they were a promise he meant to keep forever between the two of us.

My breath hitched. “If that were true,” I began, “then you wouldn’t really tell anyone my secret.”

His fingers grazed down the length of my arm. “I had to ensure you would help me and that was the only way I knew how.”

“By abducting me. By tricking me. By hurting me.”

His own breath hitched at that. “You were safe with me, little fish. I had to pretend. That’s all. You have to know...”

“Know what?” I was breathless and the words came out in a panting whisper.

His touch glided against my collarbones, up my neck. His eyes seemed bright in the darkness as he drank me in. “You have to know that you are my second blade. My match. My other half.”

I closed my eyes against the words, feeling them carve a pathway down to my soul. I should have replied with something similar. But I didn’t. I opened my eyes and said, “Then there’s nothing stopping me from telling the guards where you are and turning you in.”

He smiled, but it wasn’t the arrogant smile I was so accustomed to seeing on him. It was derisive but beautiful just the same. “You won’t,” he said. It was a dare. A challenge.

I bit my bottom lip, and his eyes followed the movement. Slowly, I released it and sighed, shaking my head. “You’re right, I won’t.”

And he’d seen right through me. Because it didn’t matter what had happened. Deep down, the Black Blade was still my hero. And Elias Blackfin was still my friend, no matter the lie he whispered when he said we weren’t. I knew the truth.

He’d been ready to face certain death, and I’d made myself an easy target. He had done what he always did: survived, using whatever means he could. It stung my pride, made a strange vulnerability bury itself in my chest, but I understood. We were one and the same, after all.

I was suddenly aware of our position. Of me on his lap, tail curling beside his. His arm around my waist, fingers hovering over my bare skin. We were pressed together intimately, and for some reason, in this moment, my mind flashed to Prince Kai and to Captain Saber.

Prince Kai was not mine. I had to remind myself of that. He belonged to Princess Odele. Once she was found, they would marry, have children, and rule a kingdom. And Captain Saber? I wasn’t sure why I thought of him. All I knew was that he belonged to the princess as much as the prince did. He was in love with her and would be happy to be rid of me.

I was just Maisie. And maybe Elias and I could actually be together, but for some reason even he suddenly seemed far away. He was the Black Blade. He was doing something for Thalassar, for its merpeople, while I was failing from the inside.

“I have to go,” I whispered abruptly.

Elias did not look surprised. He just gave me a single nod and pushed lightly at my waist. I flushed and slid off of him, taking a few strokes back. Maybe distance would clear my head. Maybe distance would make the burning feel of his lips against my skin vanish entirely.

Or maybe it wouldn’t.

“Goodbye, Elias,” I said before whirling around and swimming away from him. At the top of the cove, my hands pressed against stone. The doorway opened and I swam out, practically gasping once it closed behind me. When it did, I pressed my back against the wall and tried to calm my erratic breathing. My heart was incessantly pounding in my chest.

I swallowed and started forward. If I stopped now, it’d only give me time to think about Elias and the confusing feelings coursing through my body. That was something I didn’t need. Not now.

So I swam to the mouth of the alley and down the street. There were guards all around and merpeople screaming. My blood went cold at the sight of it. Were they looking for me?

I stopped a passing guard, and when he saw me, his eyes widened.

“Excuse me,” I began, accent falling into place. “I am Princess Odele, and I’d be grateful if you escorted me to the palace.”

I knew true fear as I was led to the palace. Guards swarmed behind me, holding their spears and swords, alert for any threat. As if the Black Blade would somehow materialize from within the walls to try and take me again.

I swam through the halls just like a princess should, hands clasped at my stomach demurely, back straight, looking ahead as if everything and everyone were beneath me. Elias had been able to see through me, and I could not let anyone else do so. Even though my fins were screaming in protest, begging for rest, for a moment of reprieve, I would not let them see me falter.

We finally made it to the throne room, where I had no doubt the queen and king were already atop their lavish thrones, waiting to rip through me for what I’d done. The guards opened the doors, and I swam through.

My heart was still pounding in my chest. It was painful. I looked up as the door behind me closed. The queen and king were on their thrones. The queen’s hands perched on the golden armrest of her throne, nails digging into them. It was perhaps the only way she’d let her anger show, for her face was the image of regal beauty and indifference. Her long neck was held delicately high, as if the crown on her head weighed nothing at all.

The king was another matter. His head was lowered, forehead resting in his hand. There were creased lines of worry around the corners of his eyes, and I tried not to let that startle me or wonder on it at all.

At the fin of the thrones were Captain Saber and Prince Kai.

The sight of them almost made me falter.

I looked to Captain Saber first. The side of his face, where Elias had smashed kitchenware onto him, was red and swollen, still bleeding. His expression was tight, angry. He remained stiff and scowling even as he took me in. I turned to Prince Kai. There was a contrast between the two. Where the captain’s hair was fair and short, Prince Kai’s was black and flowed down to his waist, dark against his royal blue kimono that looked like it was made of the softest sea silk the kingdom had to offer.

At the sight of me, Prince Kai’s expression of visceral anger faded to relief. He darted forward through the water, and before I could even blink, I found myself enveloped in his strong embrace. His arms wrapped around my body, and he held me close, pressing my face into his chest.

I inhaled the scent of him briefly, of water lilies and something darker, before he pulled away, hands cupping my cheeks. I was too surprised to do anything but stare at him, at the soft curves of his features. High cheekbones, warm brown eyes and lips.

“I was so worried,” he practically gasped. And then he leaned down and kissed me.