Strange images rush toward me, and I wake with a start. Even as my eyes blink open, I still see him—the man who saved me. His eyes are as blue as the northern sea, his hair is the color of the obsidian stone cliffs along the shoreline, and he observes me with a strange mixture of sadness and concern.
Closing my eyes, I can still feel the whisper of his touch across my face as he spoke to me in the ancient tongue. You must live, Princess Halla. You must live.
“Halla?” A familiar voice calls from the hallway.
“Enter!” I respond.
My brother, Gerold, enters a moment later with Healer Althea. His warm, blue eyes, so like mine, travel over me as he sits on the edge of the bed and takes my hand. “Good morning, my dear sister. How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” I lie, and his expression falls. It’s been a little over a month since the dragon’s attack on our city. Gerold and I have always been close, and he can tell when I do not speak the truth. I want so badly to tell him exactly how I’m feeling, but the golden crown atop his head, nestled in his red hair, reminds me of all the burdens now resting on his shoulders. I do not want to add to them.
“You know you can tell me anything,” he offers. “I may be king now, but I am still your brother, and I will always have time for you.”
A faint smile ghosts my lips. “Sometimes I think it’s as if you can read my mind.”
Althea tenderly brushes the hair back from my brow. “Your late mother always commented that you not only looked like twins but thought the same way, too.”
Gerold’s smile doesn’t erase the sadness in his eyes. He misses her just as much as I do. Now that Father is gone as well, the pain cuts even deeper.
“Can you move your feet for me?” Althea asks.
Clenching my jaw, I turn my focus to my legs, willing them to move. I still have not regained full use of my lower body. At least some of the feeling has returned, but that doesn’t help me to walk.
Slowly, I flex and extend my foot. She places her palm against the sole and asks me to push against her resistance.
My brother observes intently as I grit my teeth and struggle to push against her hand, but my lower body is still so weak, it’s disheartening.
Althea does her best to remain cheery as she lifts her gray head. “You are improving.”
What she doesn’t say is that I have not improved much.
I squeeze Gerold’s hand. “Have the Fae agreed to send their Healer?”
I’m anxious to know if he’s heard anything. Healers from many kingdoms have come at his request to see if they can do any more than Althea, but so far, no one has been able to help me.
Gerold sent an ambassador to the kingdom of Anara, hoping they might send one of their Healers to assess me. We never would have asked them for anything before, since it was clear they had no love for humans. But Gerold took a chance to send someone anyway, asking for help. The Fae are my last hope.
Well, technically not my last. There is always the blood witch who lives just outside the city. I shudder inwardly at the thought. Witches are dangerous, and deals with them should never be made lightly, for there is always a steep cost.
“Did you sleep well?” Gerold asks, and I know he’s really asking if the nightmares of the day I was injured have finally stopped. They haven’t, but instead of telling him this, I focus on the part of the dream that intrigues me the most.
“I dreamed of him again. Have you found out anything?”
He lowers his gaze. Ever since I told him of the man who saved me, he has searched high and low, but no one has stepped forward. I want to thank him, but it’s more than that. I want to know the face that haunts my dreams every night and fills my thoughts as I go through my days.
“Do you remember anything else that might help us to identify him?”
A new part of the dream came to me last night—something I did not recall until now. I reach up to touch my mouth, remembering the brush of his lips upon mine. “I think he was one of the Mer, Gerold.”
Gerold cocks his head to the side. “Why do you say that?”
My face heats in embarrassment. As close as I am to my brother, I do not want to tell him about the kiss. I shrug. “Just a feeling.”
“Do you remember a tail? That might be a clue,” Gerold grins teasingly. “Unless…” He arches a brow. “It is as I’ve suspected, and he was a conjuring of your imagination.”
I purse my lips. “I did not imagine him.”
“It’s not unusual to hallucinate when you’ve been heavily injured. The mind can play tricks and create false images.” At my disapproving look, he shrugs. “Maybe you were saved by one of the Mer, but he was long gone by the time we found you on the shore.” He turns to Althea. “Althea found you, and she saw no one nearby, is that not right?”
Althea nods. “You were alone on the beach, Halla.”
I’ve heard this all before, but in my heart, I know I was not alone. I feel it. “I need to find him, Gerold. I want to thank him.”
He sighs. “If he was one of the Mer, you know how they are—an elusive lot. They do not like to interact with our kind.” A grin tilts his lips. “He did not steal your heart away, now did he?”
Heat blooms across my cheeks as the memory of the kiss overtakes my thoughts once again. “No,” I reply. “I merely wish to thank the man who saved my life. That is all.”
Gerold arches a teasing brow. “Well, if he was a Merman and he returns for you… If at any time you hear a siren’s call and feel compelled to go to the sea, please inform one of the guards before you do so, all right?”
I playfully hit his arm, and he starts laughing.
“Don’t worry,” I tell him. “It’s not as if I could make my way down to the water alone anyway.”
Laughter dies in my throat as I look at the wheeled chair by the bed. It was a wonderful idea, but not much use here in Solwyck. The city is built upon a hill that slopes toward the sea across many stairs and steep inclines. I cannot simply wheel down without help.
Gerold’s expression turns grim. “I am sorry, my dear sister. Our men are working as fast as they can to accommodate your chair.”
His crew of workers is constructing inclines for my chair so that I may move about the castle more easily, but until then, the only place I can be semi-independent is on this level of the castle. If I want to go from one level to the next, I must ask the aid of the guards or my brother to carry me where I wish to go. It is frustrating. Especially since I’ve always taken pride in my independence.
I clench my jaw, trying but failing to keep the bitter edge from my tone as I reply, “I only wish you did not have to make any changes to accommodate that infernal chair.”
“Do not sulk,” Althea gently chastises. “It is not becoming of a princess.”
Her words make me feel as if I’m seven years old again. Althea may be a Healer, but she has also been like a surrogate mother to Gerold and me ever since our mother died.
“I’m not sulking.” I’m devastated. There’s a difference.
Althea turns to Gerold, who stands and walks to the balcony to give us some privacy as she lifts my dress. I follow her gaze as she inspects my ruined flesh. I remind myself that it would have been worse if I hadn’t been wearing armor when I was hit by the dragon’s fire. The thick scar tissue covers much of my torso, and I tense when her fingers trace over the uneven areas on my skin.
She cups my cheek. “It could have been worse, Halla. At least your face was spared, my angel,” she says, using the beloved nickname she bestowed upon me as a child.
Tears sting my eyes, but I blink them back. “Who will want me like this?” I gesture to my burned flesh and my legs.
Only a few days ago King Gronlund of Skallog sent word that, due to my condition, he was dissolving the betrothal agreement between me and his son, Prince Edwyrd. I wasn’t in love with Edwyrd, but the rejection hurt just the same.
Gently, Althea combs the hair back from my face. “Any man who cannot see past the outside to the beautiful, brave person you are within would not be worthy of you.”
I nod. She is right; perhaps I am blessed in a way. I might have married a man only to find out later that he wanted me only for my title. This way, if I do find someone, I’ll know that he loves me for me.
I grab my legs and drag them over the edge of the bed. I pull my wheeled chair close and use my board to transfer.
“I’ll be ready in a moment,” I tell Althea and my brother as I make my way to the cleansing room.
It doesn’t take me as long to get dressed as in the first days after the accident. I’m both glad and disheartened at how quickly I’ve acclimated to living without the full use of my legs.
Gerold carries me downstairs to the dining hall for our first meal. One of the staff follows with my chair. The guards bow as we pass, and when they straighten, I see the burning devotion that has become all too commonplace since I awoke after I killed the dragon. I’m a hero to the kingdom and its citizens.
Sighing heavily, I glance down at my now useless legs, thinking of all I lost to achieve this title and the love of my people.
I struggle to remain cheerful as we gather around the table.
“We are making great strides in cleaning the city. We are even beginning to rebuild. I can arrange for you to take a tour, if you’d like,” Gerold offers.
The last thing I want is to be carted around in a carriage, looking down on hardworking people as if I’m some pampered princess. “Thank you, but I’d prefer to stay here for now.”
A man approaches the table, bowing low before me and my brother. “Your Grace,” he begins. “We’ve finished the ramp as you instructed. Would you like to inspect the work?”
Gerold smiles. “Excellent news. We would love to.” He stands. “Come, Halla. I believe this will brighten your day.”
I don’t tell him that it will take much more than a ramp to make me happy. Instead, I follow him in my wheeled chair, curious to see what he’s had done.
I’m surprised when he leads me outside the castle into the side courtyard and the passage that leads down to the sea. I roll to a stop, waiting for Gerold to turn around and lift me into his arms since we’re approaching more stairs.
He turns back to me, a sly grin quirking his lips. “Are you coming or not?”
My brow furrows as I wheel past him. My face splits in a bright smile when I spot the newly constructed ramp that leads down to the shoreline. I’ve always loved the sea, and Gerold knows I would often jog back and forth along the beach and then go for a swim after my run. Carefully, I guide my chair down the ramp as Gerold follows me.
When I reach the shoreline, I notice flat stones laid in the sand, creating a path I can roll my chair down.
Gerold grins. “What do you think?”
“I love it!” I beam.
I do. This is the best present he could have possibly given me.
I turn my gaze out to the sea and my jaw drops when I notice a blue fin sink beneath the surface. A flash of memory flits through my mind. I remember a blue tail when I was floating, limp and broken, in the water.
I scan the area, watching for any movement or sign of a Mer.
“What are you doing?” Gerold asks.
“I… thought I saw something.”
“Your Merman rescuer?” A teasing smile crests his lips. “Perhaps he’s come to steal you away.”
I would roll my eyes, but I’m too busy staring at the water. I wish to find him—this mysterious Merman who rescued me. He haunts my dreams, and I need to know why.
