“The choice will be Quince’s,” she says, turning away from me and focusing on him. “There is a way for Lily to maintain her freedom, to be able to divide her time between land and sea.”

My stomach drops.

“Okay,” Quince says. “What’s that?”

Calliope takes a deep breath before saying, “You have to give her up.”

“What?” I cry. “No!”

“What does that mean?” Quince asks, his voice far more level than it should be. His arm tightens around my shoulder.

“You can’t seriously consider this,” I say, but everyone in the room is ignoring me.

“If you agree to never see her again,” Calliope says, “right now, tonight, then she will be able to live in both worlds.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then she returns to the water,” Calliope says. “Forever.”

“Done,” Quince says.

“No,” I shout. “This is ridiculous. You can’t just say ‘done’ and end what’s between us.”

I pull out of his grasp and smack him on the shoulder. My tears overflow and spill down my cheeks when I see the pained look on Quince’s face. This can’t be happening, not after everything we’ve been through. Not after everything we’ve already overcome.

“Tell me there’s another option, Lily,” he says to me. “If I don’t, you’re back in the sea and I’m on land and we’re over anyway.”

“I . . .” Shaking my head, I can’t believe this is happening. “No. I don’t accept this.” I look at Daddy. “There has to be another way.”

He looks at Calliope, who is studying the kelpaper scroll again. “Well, there is one other option. . . .”

“What is it?” I blurt. “We’ll take it.”

“You don’t even know what it is,” Quince says, trying to sound all reasonable.

I glare at him. “If it means we’ll get to be together, then I don’t care what it is.”

“You’ll have to give up land, Lily,” Daddy says. “If you agree to never step foot above the surface again, then Quince will be free to come and go in the sea. You can still be together.”

“Yes, okay,” I say without hesitation. “I choose that.”

Quince grabs me by the elbow. “Can we talk about this for a second? Outside?”

Without waiting for my response, he leads me out the kitchen door. And I let him. As far as I’m concerned, though, there’s nothing to discuss.

He steps down to ground level and turns around, forcing me to stay on the step above him.

“What is there to talk about?” I ask. “This is a no-brainer.”

“I—”

“No,” I say when he starts to argue. “You listen to me. I’m the reason we’re in this situation in the first place. I’m the one who severed our bond, even though my feelings for you were growing. I’m the one who bonded to Tellin when I knew I loved you.”

“Lily—”

“I know you like to be all tough and manly and you think you’re the only one who should make sacrifices for us.” I swipe at the tears on my cheeks. “But I’m a big mergirl. I know what I want, and I want to be with you.”

Quince presses his hand over my mouth. “If you would let me get a word in, princess,” he says, grinning like a little boy, “I love you. And I know this is a sacrifice for you because you love living on land almost as much as you love being in the water. But if this is your choice, I respect it and I’m honored by it.”

“I . . . ,” I say, breaking into a grin of my own. “Oh.”

Leaning down, I press my lips against Quince’s and feel the connection, the heat of his mouth on mine. I sigh. There isn’t much I wouldn’t sacrifice to be able to do this whenever I want.

“See,” he says, tilting his chin away so our foreheads are still touching, “if you stop to listen every once in a while, you might hear good things.”

I am just about to throw back some witty reply when I hear clapping. Twisting around, I see Daddy and Calliope standing in the still-open door.

“Hey,” I say. “We’re trying to have a private moment here.”

“So we heard,” Calliope says. The smile on her face is bigger than I’ve ever seen, bigger even than when she first realized that Quince loved me.

“We could not delay our congratulations,” Daddy says. “We have already put you through enough.”

“Congratulations?” I repeat. “What are you talking about?”

“We’re talking about the third test,” Calliope says.

“I thought there was no third test.”

Calliope shrugs innocently. “This was the third test.”

“This?” I shake my head, trying to get the silt to settle in my mind. When it does, my jaw drops. Oh no, I cannot believe they pulled this on us. And I cannot believe I fell for it. “Are you kidding me?”

“I told you the third test would be emotional,” she says with a sappy grin. “What I didn’t tell you was that it would test both of you.”

“You both had to make a difficult emotional decision,” Daddy says. “You both had to be willing to sacrifice.” He beams. “And you were.”

My mind roars at the thought of what they just put us through. The emotional turmoil of thinking that I would lose Quince forever, that he would give me up so I could keep my freedom, and then that I would give up my freedom so I could keep him, was pure torture. Without stopping to think, I punch Daddy in the arm.