"Yes," she said with a sigh. "Yes, I do. Bib, you are brilliant." She stroked down his spine, eliciting a purring sound from him that made them both laugh. "I don't know what I would do without you, my dearest friend."
A FORTNIGHT LATER, Elli and Miles were married on Quincy's ship, a day's journey out to sea, so Elli's mer relatives could attend. The Sea King himself came up onto the ship. His wedding gift was to turn the cursed knife into two magical bracelets around Elli and Miles' wrists that would never come off. Now Miles could swim with Elli and breathe underwater. As their love grew stronger, so would the magic, until someday he would have a tail of his own and be able to stay with her, as long-lived as all the sea folk.
After the ceremony ended and the dancing began, the Sea King took Merrigan to the prow to speak privately.
"You're learning the oysters' lesson, Princess," he said, as his skin turned green. "The girl asked me if I could undo the spells wrapped around you like poisoned seaweed. They're so tightly bound to the essence of you, cutting them could kill you." He frowned, as his long, silver-green hair turned to strands of seaweed. "That might be the key. You have to die."
"No, thank you." She tried to delicately tug her hand free of his, as it was feeling decidedly cold and fishy.
"There's a bug you drylanders know. It dies and it's beautiful after it dies. Think about that." He winked at her, then flung himself backward over the railing. His legs merged into an enormous tail and waved as he went headfirst into the water without a splash.
WARDEN AND DULCIBELLA seemed deliriously happy together. King Devon and Queen Adele appeared delighted with their new son-in-law. Rosa and Quincy set off after Elli and Miles' wedding, to let the entire enormous clan at the Bookish Mermaid know of their marriage and his decision to follow his mother's footsteps as an innkeeper. That left Miles and Elli to begin the venture that had earned shouts and tears of delight from her many relatives when they proposed it. They would travel up and down the coast, finding sturdy, honorable young men who loved the sea more than their lives, and would be willing to pledge their hearts to the many lonely mermaids longing for a husband and children.
Merrigan wished them well. She had laughed when they pleaded with her to stay with them and guide them in the venture, because after all, hadn't she done amazingly well with three couples already? It was on the tip of her tongue to confess to them how badly her one attempt at love and happiness had turned out, but she couldn't destroy their good opinion of her. She suspected she would never unwrap her heart enough to let someone else touch it. A queen couldn't afford to love, after all. She couldn't afford to be so vulnerable.
She tried to buy a wagon that an old woman could handle by herself. Chancellor Morton wouldn't hear of it. He presented her with a cart just the right size, and a lovely little donkey, fitted out with a magical harness that hitched itself to the wagon every morning and unhitched itself every evening. He couldn't send any guards with her because the guardsmen of Windward were as much bound to the kingdom as the royal family. However, he gave her a magic cloak that was impervious to knives and arrows and swords, once she had closed the brooch that fastened it and turned it three times. It was a princely gift.
So much so, Merrigan wondered if Morton, with all his wisdom and insight, had seen through the curse enfolding her. She knew better than to reveal her true identity. Even if someone could be trusted with her secret, how could she guarantee the wrong people wouldn't overhear, and use that knowledge against her?
No, she decided, the day she drove out of Windward with her cart full of cloth and all the bits and pieces to be a successful seamstress. Better that she and Bib make their way through the world on their wits. The victory when she regained her life would be all the sweeter.
Three days later, she crossed the border of Seafoam. That evening, she was alone in the forest. For the first time, there was no inn, or a hospitable farmer and his family eager to help an old lady traveling alone. Morton had given her the old wooden box she saw him examining in his office, and told her it would serve her when she had need. Merrigan searched it and found a bundle of sticks that, according to the instructions on the paper wrapped around them, became a lovely little fire when she crossed them over each other. In the morning, all she had to do was kick them apart and they turned into sticks again, unscorched. She hung a pot over the flames to make tea, ate some bread and cheese and an apple for her dinner, and was quite content. With the impervious cloak Morton had given her, how could she not feel safe?
By the light of the flames, she dug through the box, and chuckled when she realized it was larger inside than it was outside. Morton had put a good dozen books in the box, and several maps. The books
