Is that sympathy I hear in her voice? My hands start shaking.

“What?” I ask, my voice softer. “Just tell me, Calliope.”

“It seems the ancient law requires your human to . . .” She shakes her head. “He must pass the Trial of Truth.”

Doe gasps.

“What?” Brody asks.

I suck in a tight breath. The Trial of Truth? I’ve heard rumors of this all my life, but I never believed it was really real. I never believed anyone would actually have to face that.

Especially not anyone I love.

The Trial of Truth is supposed to be the ultimate test of a human’s love for a merperson. In order to prove his worth, the human must pass three ridiculously hard tests, tasks that are nearly impossible if the human does not have the strength of true love driving him.

The thought of Quince going through that makes me nauseous.

The thought of him failing is even worse.

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “There must be a way around it. Can’t Daddy do something? Make some royal decree or pass a new law?”

“You know that isn’t possible.” Calliope inches forward on the couch, closer to me, and rests her hand on my knee. “The ancient law is immutable.”

“What’s the Trial of Truth?” Brody asks.

Doe sets her coffee on the table and whispers, “I’ll explain later.”

My mind races. I try to remember everything I know about ancient law and mer bonding. But the truth is I’m not an expert in these things. Maybe if I’d stayed in Thalassinia instead of living on land for nearly four years, if I’d gone through all the royal training I should have gone through before my eighteenth birthday, then I would have been able to avoid this.

Of course, then I never would have met Quince, and he wouldn’t be facing this anyway.

I force my shoulders to relax, and I take a calming breath. There’s nothing I can do about the past now. I don’t have any regrets—although a small part of me really wishes I’d never severed the bond with Quince. Things would be so much easier for both of us right now if we were legally bonded.

But no, I know why I made my choice. I refuse to tie Quince to me, to my location and my body form, for the rest of his life. He has his mom to look out for and a future on land. He needs to be free to come and go from the sea, while I will be spending more and more time in Thalassinia, fulfilling my royal duties.

I hope Quince will come with me as much as he can, but it needs to be his choice.

“Okay, Calliope,” I say, steeling myself. “We can do this.”

“Of course you can,” she insists.

“Quincy is strong,” Doe offers. “If anyone can pass the Trial of Truth, he can.”

I smile gratefully. My baby cousin might be a brat and a pain in the tailfin most of the time, but she knows how to step up when I need her.

“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” Brody demands. “Why are you three acting like someone died?”

Doe leans close and whispers in his ear. As she explains the situation to him, his eyes widen and he gives me a pitying look.

“It’ll be fine,” I say, trying to stay positive.

Doe is right. Quince is strong, and so is his love. He will pass these tests, I know he will. That doesn’t mean they won’t be hard and I won’t worry about them, but it will be fine.

“Hey, Lily?”

I turn at the sound of Shannen’s voice. The terror is gone from her eyes, and she looks like her normal, down-to-business self again.

“Do you want to work on this tomorrow?” She glances at Calliope and back at me. “If you have stuff to do . . .”

“No,” I say, eager to get to work on the other big problem in my life. I can’t do anything about the trial right now, but I can make progress on the survey. I look back at Calliope. “We’re done here, right?”

“Yes.” Calliope gathers her scrolls into her bag. “Now it is just a matter of waiting for the call to the first test.”

I join Shannen at the kitchen table, where she has pens and notepaper laid out and her laptop open, ready to work. When I told Shannen about Miss Molina’s advice, she volunteered to help me create the survey to make documenting the environmental problems easier. She’s a whiz at anything that involves research and organization, so I really appreciate her help. If only she were a whiz at the mer kingdoms of the Western Atlantic, too.

Calliope walks through on her way to the door. “I really am sorry I had to be the bearer of this news, Princess,” she says. “You and Quince deserve some peace and happiness.”

“I know.”

“And I really do love your hair.” She smiles. “The blue is a lovely shade.”

I smile back. “Thanks.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No, I—” I shake my head, my gaze drifting to the work before me on the table. Speaking of experts in all things mer world . . . “Actually,” I say, looking up at her expectantly, “I could use your advice on something else. Can you stay for a while?”

She immediately drops her bag to the floor and slips into the chair next to me. “Of course. What can I do?”

Chapter 8

“You’re nuts,” Dosinia snaps. “You need to get the support of Glacialis first. Queen Dumontia is the most respected ruler in the Western Atlantic.”

I roll my eyes. “Glacialis is too far away,” I say, for what feels like the tenth time. “It will take most of a day to even get there. If I start with her this weekend, then that will be the only thing I accomplish.”