When she finished speaking, Mahdi took her hand and placed the little octopus in her palm. “For you,” he said.
A few nights later, she felt him take her hand again—this time in the dark, during a waterlights display in his honor. He’d looked at her, asking her with his dark eyes if it was all right. She’d answered him with hers that it was. And then, one evening while they were playing hide-and-seek with Desiderio, Neela, Yazeed, and the younger members of the court in the reggia, he’d suddenly pulled her deep into the tumbled ruins.
“I found you,” he said, as they floated close together in the water.
“No, Mahdi, that’s not how the game works. Don’t you have hide-and-seek in Matali? It’s not your turn. Desiderio’s it,” she’d said, keeping an eye out for her brother.
“I’m not talking about the game,” he said. “I found you, Serafina. You’re the one thing. The one thing for myself alone.” He’d pulled her to him then and kissed her.
It was so lovely, that kiss. Slow and sweet. Serafina sighed as she relived it—then turned bright red when she remembered Thalassa was watching the bloodsong too.
There were more kisses in the days that followed. Stolen behind pillars. Or in the stables. There were long talks when they could break away, smiles and glances when they couldn’t. And then, as Mahdi was leaving Miromara to return home, he’d given Serafina a ring. It wasn’t gold or some priceless crown jewel taken from the Matalin vaults. It was a simple band with a heart in the middle, carved from a white shell. He’d made it for her, alone in his room at night. As he was saying his official good-byes in front of the court, he’d bent to kiss her hand. While he was holding it, he’d slipped the ring on her finger.
“My choice,” he’d whispered to her. “Mine. Not theirs. I only hope that I’m yours, Serafina.”
At that, the bloodsong spiraled into the water and faded away, and with it went the past.
Thalassa looked at Serafina. “And you wonder if he loves you, you silly merl?” she asked.
“I never used to, Magistra,” Serafina said. She told Thalassa about the private conchs Mahdi had sent and how they’d suddenly stopped. “I’ve had only a few official communications over the last year. Nothing else. And now…” Her voice trailed off.
Thalassa cocked her head. “And now?” she prompted.
“And now he sounds like a very different merboy from the one I fell in love with. A riptide merboy with long hair and an earring, according to Tavia. And a merlfriend, according to Lucia,” Serafina said unhappily.
“Lucia would say anything to upset you. You know that. She would love nothing more than to see you fail today, so you must triumph instead. Come, let’s work on that trill again, and on the—”
They were interrupted by the sound of a door banging open.
“Serafeeeeeeeeeena!” a voice squealed.
Serafina spun around, startled. A mermaid floated in the doorway to the antechamber. She was wearing a yellow sari. Her glossy jet-black hair hung down to her tail fin. Her skin was glowing a pretty pale blue. She was flanked by servants, who were buckling under the weight of the gilded boxes, beribboned clamshells, and gossamer sacks they were carrying.
“Great Neria, who on earth—” Thalassa started to say.
But Serafina recognized the mermaid instantly. “Neeeeela!” she shouted, forgetting all her worries in the joy of seeing her best friend.
“Spongecake! There. You. Are!” Neela said. “I brought you soooooo many presents!”
The two mermaids swam to each other and embraced, whirling around and around in the water, laughing. Neela was bright blue now. She was a bioluminescent, like a lantern fish or a bobtail squid. A bewitching light emanated from her skin when her emotions ran high, or when other bioluminescents were near.
“Princess Neela, you’re not supposed to be here,” Thalassa scolded. “We’re right in the middle of songspell practice! How did you get in?”
“Tavia!” Neela said, grinning.
Thalassa frowned. “How many bags of bing-bangs did it take to bribe her this time?”
“Two,” Neela replied. “Plus a box of zee-zees.” She released Serafina, plucked a pretty pink box from a teetering pile, and swam to Thalassa. “I’m so sorry to interrupt, Magistra, really. May I offer you a zee-zee?” she asked, opening the box.
“You may not,” Thalassa said sternly. “I know what you’re up to. You can’t bribe me with sweets.”
“A chillawonda, then? How about a kanjaywoohoo? You can’t say no to a kanjaywoohoo. And these are the very best. They take the palace chefs three full days to make. They have eight layers and five different enchantments,” Neela said, popping one of the sweets into her mouth. “Mmm! Krill with a caramalgae filling…sooo good! See?”
“What I see is that our minds are elsewhere at the moment.” Thalassa sniffed, taking a sweet from the box. “You cannot stay long, you know, Princess Neela. Only a minute or two. We really do have to practice.”