“Hold on. It’s time we dive again,” Kiaw says as I still gasp for breath in the small cave we have surfaced in. We have stopped in five caves as we travel deeper and deeper into the sea. It’s become more and more painful at every stop, the pressure from the water feels like it’s crushing me. Everly meets my eyes over the dragons we ride, but she doesn’t look like she is having as much trouble as I am. It takes me a second to realise that it’s because being under the sea is part of who she is.

“Ready,” I shout, and the dragon dives under the water, swimming straight out of the cave while I hold onto her spikes and keep my eyes closed. When I see a light instead of only darkness in front of my eyes, I force them open in the cold, salty water. The sight before me is worth the slight sting. There’s a town full of castle shaped buildings, some parts have a bubble surrounding them, and others are fully in the water. At the top of the tallest point, is a star. The half blue and half purple star is massive, and it lights up everything for miles. There are a lot of little white lights in the castles too, but I don’t think they need them. Thousands of mermaids and different fish swim around the structures submerged in the water, before going into the bubble areas where their legs appear. Thank the gods they have fabric covering the parts of them that I’d rather not see, but they still don’t seem to like to wear much. I look over at Everly, who appears as shocked as I feel. The dragons zoom towards the bubble, just as I start struggling for air, and they fly straight into it. The air hits my lungs, making me gasp and hold my chest, as my other hand holds onto the dragon. The dragons fly us straight through the city, where the mermaids with their multi-coloured hair all stop to watch us. I try not to stare at them, instead looking ahead at the biggest of the castles, which we are heading straight towards.

“Dmamma,” Kiaw shouts, and the dragons dive towards the castle, landing on a long strip of stone that leads to massive glass doors. The pathway has a circular landing spot, which we are on, and a line of guards standing at the sides, holding long spears with what looks to be giant, deadly-looking forks on the end of them. I glance over at Everly as I slide off the dragon and see her push her wet, blonde hair over her shoulder, looking at the doors in front of us. I shake my own hair when I get off the dragon, looking down at my soaked clothes and already feel like I’m freezing down here.

“This way,” Kiaw says succinctly, as I get to where she is standing in the middle of the path, and Everly walks to my side.

“A whole city underwater, it’s amazing,” Everly comments as we follow Kiaw down the path. I find myself examining the guards standing outside the doors. Still as statues, they remain motionless, not even blinking. I turn back and see Kiaw staring at me, but she looks away as she begins to speak.

“They are Merida guards, controlled by a mental connection to our king. We are all connected in Merida,” she explains, even though I never asked. All I can think about is how creepy that is. Why would you need a connection like that to a whole army? Maybe that’s how the king keeps his rule.

“I heard there was a queen, but yet we are seeing a king,” Everly inquires.

“Queen Idia died a month ago, and her youngest son, King Damien, has taken the throne,” she replies sadly. It’s clear she cared deeply for the queen.

“Youngest? Don’t the oldest usually take the throne?" I ask, and Kiaw stops right outside the doors, resting her hand on the handle to the right door.

“Yes, but here we believe in strength and blood. Blood wins the throne, and King Damien killed his two brothers to win,” she says, her eyes narrowing on me. “Remember that he killed his family to claim his throne. He is not a mermaid to play games with.” With that she pushes the door open, and we follow her through into the large room on the other side. The room has a large open window on the one side, stone floors, and burners that have a nice-smelling blue smoke coming out of them. There is a man standing silently in the middle of the room, his blue cloak and blue crystal crown on his head of blonde hair is all we can see from this distance.

“Leave us,” the man’s deep and frightening sounding voice says. Kiaw bows at his back, before running out of the room and leaving us alone. The man, the king, finally turns around and walks closer to us, but his eyes stay on Everly the whole time. When he steps closer, I can see the blue star on his forehead that matches his outfit. His purple eyes glow slightly as he stands still, watching and waiting.

“King Damien, I presume?” I say, and the king finally takes his eyes off Everly to look at me.

“Changed ones are not welcome in my sea. We do not respect your god here,” he says simply, and turns his eyes back to Everly. I stay still as the king starts walking around us, slowly, and his eyes roll over Everly who doesn’t move.

“I do not recognise your blood. Who is your father?” he asks.

“I don’t know, and that is not something we came to discuss.” Everly snaps.

“It may be the only thing I wish to discuss,” he counters, and Everly swings around, walking straight up to the king before I can stop her.

“War is coming to the land, and when we win, I will rule. How long do you think it will be before war comes to the sea if we lose?” she says, her voice calculating, and the king laughs.

“What is your name?” he asks.

“Everleigh of Onaya,” she replies, using her full name that I’m not used to hearing.

“You are not of Onaya,” he says sharply as he watches her. There’s something happening between them, and I almost don’t want to interrupt, but I know I have to.

“We came to make a deal, a deal for this,” I slide the crystal stick out of my trouser pocket and hold it up. The king looks at it, and then quickly back at Everly.

“You want the crown, the crown my mother swore to protect,” he muses.

“Yes,” I reply as Everly seems to have suddenly gone silent.

“I do not want the crystal,” the king says, and all my hope disappears in a single moment.

“Then what do you want in exchange for the crown?” Everly demands, her hands going to her hips. The king steps closer to her, lifting a stray piece of her hair in his fingers. “King or not, I will cut your fingers off if you don’t let go of my hair.” she threatens him so smoothly that it catches him off guard for a second. I watch how his eyes slightly glow as she threatens him, and he takes a step back, placing his hands behind his back. Everly walks to my side, keeping her eyes locked on the king the whole time, and her hand on the sword at her hip.

“I will give you the crown, for a promise,” the king finally says.

“What kind of promise?” I inquire, and the king laughs.

“Not a promise from you, changed one. No, a promise from the future queen,” he says, and Everly crosses her arms.

“What do you want?” she asks in a not so nice manner. There goes being respectful.

“Your hand in marriage. Three months after you are crowned, you will come here and marry me. You will go through the ceremony of Merida and receive your bond to your race. We will rule both land and sea as one,” he says, the somber look on his face lets me know he is deadly serious about marrying her. I glance at Everly, who meets my eyes and finally drops her eyes to my stomach, and I know her decision is made. She blurts out her answer before I can stop or reason with her.

“I accept your proposal, in exchange for the crown,” as she says the words, his eyes light up bright blue, glowing like the star on his forehead does.

“Then, my future wife, I shall return,” he says, smiling like the cat that finally got the bird he had always been hunting. I watch as he walks to the left, and a small door opens as he walks out. I wait for the door to close before attempting to say anything, but Everly immediately cuts me off.

“Don’t, don’t say it,” she warns.

“We could have figured something else out, Ev,” I whisper harshly, but she shakes her head.

“I knew what he wanted from the moment I walked into this room. I don’t know how to explain it, but I knew,” she says, confusing me.

“What are we going to do?” I ask, knowing I won’t let my friend marry a stranger. A king who killed his own family for a throne.

“We are going to win the war. I am going to take my throne, my birthright and anything else, I will deal with. This isn’t your promise, it is mine, and I will pay the price,” she says and turns away from me before I can reply. We wait in silence until the king returns, walking in the room with an old, rusty box.

“The land king kept this with my mother to safeguard. He stole something of hers to force her to keep it safe,” the king tells us, his eyes drifting back to the crystal stick. “The crystal is part of our power, and the mermaids believe it is sacred.”

“You do not?” I ask, because I’m not sure I understand why he didn’t wish to trade the crown for the crystal.

“I do, but there are better prizes to trade for,” his eyes drift to Everly as he speaks, and she all but growls at him.

“Time to trade.”

“Not yet. The box is enchanted. It needs royal blood from both land and sea in order to open it,” he explains. He hands the box to me, which is heavier than I thought it would be, and pulls a blue dagger out of his cloak. King Damien cuts his hand quickly and holds the dagger out to Everly. She snatches it from him, slicing her own palm and placing it on the box. The second King Damien places his hand over Everly’s, there is a clicking noise as the box unlocks. They both pull their hands away, and Everly opens the box, reaching in and pulling out the crown. I feel its power almost instantly, it rolls over me, and the urge to touch the crown is indescribable. Everly closes the box as she holds the crown, and I place the box on the floor.

“It belongs to a changed one,” Everly says, offering me the crown when I look at her. The crown has a big white crystal in the middle, so clear that I can see my reflection in it.

“No, it belongs to the sea god, but we will borrow it for now,” I say and place my hands on the crown, feeling its power rush through me. My bond with my pirates bursts to life, and it’s like I can feel them right next to me. Their worry, their love, all of their emotions, and it soothes me.

“You should only touch it when you truly need to. Believe me, I know the power of a god’s gifts,” King Damien suggests, and I open my eyes to see him offering me a small woven bag. Despite feeling that I don’t want to let go of the crown, I force myself to put the crown in the bag, and then I tie the bag on my back.

“We must leave now,” I say, and pull the crystal stick out of my pocket, handing it to the king. “Think of it as a goodwill gift from the land.” The king nods, accepting the crystal stick, and he turns to Everly, offering her it.

“It will protect you, you should take it,” he suggests, and she smiles in an overly sweet way, before picking the stick up and throwing it across the room where it bounces off the wall.

“You may have my promise to marry you, but no gifts or tricks will ever get you my heart or my affection,” she spits out, before storming around the king as he laughs.

“We shall see, my queen.”

“Your queen is all I will ever be,” she says and opens the door, waiting for me to follow her. We walk out, the sound of the king’s deep laugh follows us, even through the closed door.