The sound of clapping, however, quickly reminded her. Carlo and Rafael were applauding with gusto. Sera blushed furiously. Elena dabbed at her eyes. Coco made a face.
With the ceremony over, Rafael led Serafina and Mahdi back inside the house. They both had to sign a parchment attesting to the fact that they had indeed spoken their betrothal vows. Carlo and Elena signed afterward, as legal witnesses.
“Now for dinner!” Elena said, when they’d finished. “I’ve kept it warm all this time. Come everyone, let’s eat!”
She led the way to her kitchen, with Coco close on her tail. Mahdi didn’t follow them. Instead, he bent over the parchment-work.
“Aren’t you coming?” Serafina asked him.
“I am,” he said, smiling at her. “I’m just checking that everything’s filled out properly. You go ahead. I’ll be right there.”
Serafina swam to the doorway, then looked back. Mahdi’s smile had disappeared. He was holding up the parchment, scrutinizing it.
“If one of us was to actually marry anyone else now, that marriage would be…” he said to Rafael.
“Null and void,” Rafael said. “Why?”
Serafina thought it was the strangest question. Why would Mahdi ask about marrying anyone else? But then, as quickly as it had gone, his smile was back again.
“Just want to make sure you won’t try to steal her from me, sir,” he said.
Sera realized he was only joking. She swam to the kitchen. The sound of Rafael’s laughter followed her. “Ah, son,” he said, “once upon a time, maybe. Back in the day…”
A pretty table awaited Sera in the kitchen, set with Elena’s best shipwreck china and old, burnished silver. There was a vase arranged with colorful sea fans. Bright ribbon worms were wound around them.
“Everything’s so beautiful,” Serafina said, hugging Elena. “Thank you so much.”
Elena flapped a hand at her. “I’m sure it’s much grander at the palace, Principessa,” she said.
“It is, but I like this so much better. No table could ever be as lovely as this one. And no meal could be as special.”
Everyone sat down to eat. Elena’s cooking was delicious and Sera found that she was starving. There were sea lettuces with spicy pink shoal peppers, saltmarsh melons stuffed with beach plums, and the farm’s own oysters glazed with snail slime. Dessert was silt-cherry seafoam.
Serafina’s heart was so full as she looked around the table. The marriage ceremony, which would happen when she came of age at twenty—if she came of age—would be a huge ceremony of state, and would legalize her union with Mahdi. But this night wasn’t about realms and alliances; it was about true love. If only her mother and father could be here, and Mahdi’s parents, too. As if sensing her sadness, Mahdi took her hand. She smiled at him. He was hers now, and she was his.
“I have to go,” he said quietly.
Serafina nodded. She knew he had to get back to his mermen, and to the camp they’d made. He was supposed to be searching for Neria’s Stone. He said his good-byes, thanking Carlo, Elena, and Rafael profusely, and then Sera swam outside with him.
The moonlight shone down through the depths, glinting off the scales of bluefish and bonito, silhouetting sharks and rays.
“If I swim all night, I can make camp by morning. I’ll find the Demeter tomorrow and, with any amount of luck, the necklace, too. I’ll be a hero in Traho’s eyes,” Mahdi said bitterly.
“You are a hero,” Serafina said. “To me. To our people. One day, everyone will know it.”
He looked down at her. “Mērē dila, mērī ātmā,” he whispered. It was Matalin mer for My heart, my soul. He took her in his arms and held her close. “I love you, Serafina. No matter what happens, remember that,” he said fiercely. “You are mine. Always. Believe that. Tell me that you do.”
“Stop, Mahdi. You’re scaring me,” she said. “It sounds like you’re going to die.”
“There are things in this world worse than death,” he said. “Tell me, Serafina. Right now. Say you believe me.”
“I believe you.”
“We’ll meet again one day. In a better place,” Mahdi said, his voice husky. He turned away from her then, and swam into the dark waters.
“I love you, Mahdi,” Sera said.
But he was gone.
“NOT MUCH FARTHER NOW,” said Serafina encouragingly.
Coco was exhausted. They’d been on the currents for four days. Sera had tried to get her to stay at the farm. It was safe there. Carlo and Elena doted on her. But Coco refused. She would not be separated from Serafina.
They were about five leagues from Cerulea now and entering the small village of Bassofondo. Serafina headed toward an inn she’d seen signs for, but it was full. She tried two more, but they, too, had sold out every room. She wondered what was going on. Finally, they found a small hotel on the eastern edge of the village.
“We have one room left. It’s small. You’ll have to share a bed. Are you headed to Cerulea too?” the mermaid at the desk asked her.