After another long spell, we come to our turn with the king.
“Evelyn, my, you look more beautiful than ever tonight.”
“Thank you, your grace,” I say, shaking his hand.
“Yes, quite beautiful,” adds Queen Charlotte, her eyes narrowing. “Your gown is lovely.”
I’m sure she’s wondering where I got such an extravagant thing, whether Nik purchased it for me, or worse, I stole it from one of her precious visiting girls. She’s too careful to say anything here, though I’m sure whatever rumor she spreads will reach me later.
I take her hand and curtsy.
“Evie, you look fantastic,” Nik says when I move down the line to him, and I’m surprised his attention is on me when Annemette stands behind me, looking even more striking. As I turn to him, he takes my hand and kisses it. My breath catches.
“Yes, she does. Hurry up, Cousin,” Iker says, irked.
I draw in Nik and give him a peck on one blushing cheek before squeezing his hand. He is simply dashing inhis sleek black suit, hair combed and lying perfectly under his crown.
Next to us, Iker clears his throat. Nik gives my hand one last warm squeeze before we part, and he bows to Annemette.
Nik and I joke about Iker’s status as Prince Charming, but Iker certainly lives up to it tonight in every way. My heart was already pounding, but seeing him now causes the blood in my veins to grow hot.
Sweeping navy trousers top high-shine black boots. A crisp white shirt peeks from underneath a pressed coat that glows with golden thread and the crest of Rigeby Bay. The sun-kissed highlights in his hair shine in a way that only serves to make the ice blue of his eyes more stunning. The ruby crown is a symbol of his status, yes, but even in rags—even in nothing at all—he would look like a prince.
Iker takes my hand and kisses it, as he’s done with all the girls in line. His lips are gentle; the rasp of stubble at his chin makes my skin tingle and the flush deepen.
He straightens to his full height, broad shoulders back, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth—a subtle movement that makes my knees weak. “I am very much looking forward to dancing the night away with you, my lady.”
There’s a mischievous look in his eye as he leans into my ear. “Tonight you are the spitting image of a komtesse, but you have the grace of a queen. And in your blood is thesea woman I have fallen for.”
It’s all I can do not to kiss him right there, in front of everyone. But there will be time for that after all of this. After tonight is the rest of our lives. Together.
SIX DAYS BEFORE
The difficulty wasn’t in surviving thehumans—it was inreturning to the sea castle, slipping into her old life like nothing had happened, when everything had changed.
The little mermaid knew who she was. And as she swam through the sea castle’s ornate coral doors, past schools of fish new to this water, she could only think of one thing.
How to get herself back.
She hadn’t had magic on land. That much she remembered. But Evie had. She hadn’t seen it when she was a girl, but now that magic coursed through her own veins, it was easy to spot in her friend’s home, especially with that peculiar aunt of hers.
Oh, what a delicious secret that would been for Anna to have known. Ever the loyal friend, she wouldn’t have told anyone.
Magic existed, but it was illegal. A danger to the balance and order of things—at least in the eyes of the Øldenburgs.
Which made the little mermaid’s revenge easy. Obvious.
She’d use Evie’s magic against her. Force her to perform magic in public. And even better, force the people she cared about most to lay down the punishment.
Nik was trickier. Evie’s punishment would torment him, she knew, but it wasn’t enough. Evie’s punishment would be the start of his, but it wouldn’t be all.
And Iker, well, his confidence might kill him before anything she did would touch him, the oaf.
But before any of her plans could fully form, she needed to learn how to go above. She knew the stories of “their” mother. She’d been human once too—a witch they tried to drown off the coast of Hirtshals. But Father—the sea king, not her real father—had gotten to her first. Made her his queen. He said it’d been something he’d never been able to do before and hadn’t done since.
He’d lied.
They’d all lied.
