The sea never kept secrets for long.
Far beneath the shimmer of the moonlit waves, in the heart of the ocean's oldest stronghold, Queen Thalassa stood in her chamber of mirrors, each wall carved with enchanted pearls that reflected not only the body but the soul. Her eyes, sharp as coral spikes, scanned the rippling reflections. One shimmered with a vision: her daughter's silhouette, lips brushing a human's.
A human pirate.
The queen's breath stilled. The mirror cracked.
She turned slowly, her voice low and icy. "Summon the Oracle."
Nerida had returned to her grotto with her heart aflame. The moment with Caspian lingered on her skin like salt, impossible to wash away. She couldn't sleep. Not with the taste of his name on her lips, and the weight of the choice heavy in her chest.
She had touched danger. And now it touched her back.
Her sea-glass pendant pulsed again, but this time with a thrum that vibrated in her bones. An old rhythm. An ancient call. The ocean wanted something, no, warned of something.
She ignored it.
Instead, she reached for her secret journal tucked in a crevice behind her bed of kelp. On the pages of pressed coral parchment, she etched every moment: Caspian's laugh, the scar beneath his eye, the way his fingers trembled slightly when they touched hers.
A knock startled her.
"Nerida," came the voice of Marek, laced with tension. "The Queen summons you."
Her heart sank.
She left the journal behind and followed him into the palace.
Queen Thalassa's throne rose from the seafloor like a monolith of obsidian and pearl. Fins etched with sapphire fanned out behind her. Nerida bowed low.
"You called for me, Mother?"
The queen's voice was calm, but it bore the chill of the deep trenches. "There is unrest in the sea. Shadows move beyond the reef. And I have seen your reflection."
Nerida's stomach clenched. "You were watching?"
"I am always watching."
Silence fell like a shroud.
"It was one moment," Nerida whispered. "A mistake, perhaps. But I—"
"You saved a pirate. You returned to him. You touched him."
"I followed my heart."
"Your heart is not the law."
"I never asked for this crown," Nerida snapped, voice rising. "I never wanted a throne built on fear."
Thalassa stood. Her presence filled the chamber like a tidal wave. "You carry the blood of queens, Nerida. That is not a choice it is a commandment. You do not love humans. You rule merfolk."
"I don't want to rule," she whispered. "Not like this."
"You have until the next full moon," the queen declared coldly. "To renounce him. Or I will bind your fate to the Deep."
Nerida turned and swam from the chamber, the current swirling with the sting of tears.
Back on the island, Caspian had finished the last touches on the schooner, which they had named The Echo. It was swift and sleek, made from scavenged wood and painted with sigils that, according to old sailor tales, warded off sea curses.
He didn't believe in curses. Only consequences.
Every day, he returned to the reef, but Nerida didn't come.
Until one night, she did.
She breached the waves silently, her eyes rimmed with unshed sorrow.
"I don't have long," she said. "She knows."
Caspian stepped forward. "Your queen?"
"My mother."
He stilled. "Then you're…"
"Princess of the Coral Throne."
Caspian exhaled. "Well, hell."
She smiled, sad and radiant. "She's given me until the next full moon."
"And then?"
"My soul will be bound to the Deep."
He stepped into the water, closing the space between them. "Then we'll find a way to break the law."
"No one breaks ocean law, Caspian."
"We will."
She looked at him, eyes wide with wonder. "Why?"
"Because I'd rather drown beside you than live a life wondering what if."
She kissed him.
And in that kiss was a vow.
In the palace's sacred archives, Queen Thalassa met the Oracle—an ancient seer blind in both eyes, but able to read the waves of fate.
"She walks a dangerous path," Thalassa said. "Can it be altered?"
The Oracle's voice rasped like sand over stone. "Love bends the tides. But when royalty loves a mortal, the sea splits in two. One path ends in fire. The other… in sacrifice."
"What sacrifice?"
"The heir. Or the ocean itself."
Thalassa's eyes hardened. "Then I must choose for her."
Nerida and Caspian made plans in secret. They would find the River of Tides an ancient place where magic from both land and sea converged. Legends claimed that a mermaid could touch the land without losing her tail if her heart was truly tethered to a human's.
It was a myth.
But myths were truths wrapped in mystery.
They packed supplies, memorized star maps, and chose the next waning moon to leave. Caspian's crew remained loyal. Jareth gave them a compass said to always point toward love.
When the night came, Nerida rose to the surface and climbed onto the deck of The Echo. Her tail shimmered briefly, then began to glow splitting into legs with pain that seared her bones. She collapsed in Caspian's arms.
"Are you—"
"I'm here," she gasped. "Let's go."
They set sail.
And beneath them, the sea began to churn.
Queen Thalassa had dispatched her siren guard warriors of the Deep, bound by blood and oath. Their mission: retrieve the princess. Alive, if possible. Dead, if not.
The hunt had begun.
As The Echo sped across the waves, Nerida struggled to adjust to the weight of her human form. Her legs trembled. Her breath came shallow. But Caspian never let her go.
They sailed north, where the rivers met the sea. Days blurred. Nights burned. Every touch between them was a rebellion, every glance a prayer.
And then came the storm.
Black clouds rolled like beasts. Waves rose high as hills. Lightning split the sky. The sea screamed.
Sirens.
Nerida heard them first. Voices made of ice and hunger. They sang of obedience. Of betrayal. Of home.
They found them.
"Get below!" Caspian shouted, drawing his cutlass.
But Nerida stood firm. "They want me. Not you."
"I'm not losing you."
The sirens rose from the sea, eyes glowing, weapons drawn. One stepped forward, Seris, the queen's blood-guard.
"You have broken sacred law," she hissed.
"I follow my heart," Nerida said.
Seris pointed her trident. "Then prepare to die for it."
A clash erupted. Steel met coral. Magic collided with fury. Caspian fought beside Nerida, his blade singing.
And then Nerida's pendant shattered.
A shockwave exploded outward, flinging sirens into the sea, cracking the mast of The Echo.
Nerida collapsed.
Caspian caught her. "Nerida!"
Her skin glowed faintly. The transformation had weakened her.
"Hold on," he whispered.
Through the fog of pain, she whispered, "Find the river. Before it's too late."