“You are on land,” he said. “When you are in the sea, the salt sea, my sister, you will transform.” His face turned severe. “Though you will not do that unless you have myself or Ha-Lah with you. I do not know a single Mer who has lived their life unknowing they are Mer. But I know babes must learn to use their fins. I will not have you drop to the bottom of the sea your first time as who you truly are.”

“Oh faith, that would be terrible,” I muttered.

“You can breathe under the sea, Silence. Gills will form on your neck if you are out in the depths when you duck underwater.”

“Oh,” I whispered.

He smiled at me. “You have aunts and you have cousins and they will be most delighted to meet you. We lost my father, and we grieve. Having you is like having a part of him back.”

“I…I…that is a lovely thing to say. Erm, how long has he been gone?”

“Naught but a year.”

Naught but a year.

My father, my true father, had been gone naught but a year.

“I missed him by a year,” I whispered.

“Yes.”

We held each other’s gazes.

Jorie broke our silence.

“You have his eyes. And you have his nose. And you have my grandmother’s stature.” He leaned toward me and winked. “She too, was wee.”

She was wee.

The knowledge I’d never meet my real father, and so many things about me I didn’t understand explained, Jorie’s seeking of me, his handsomeness, his wink, his existence, I could not cope.

“I am sorry, Jorie, but I…” I looked this way and that, then began to wave my hand in front of my face before I mumbled, “may need to freshen…”

“By the sea beasts,” he muttered and pulled me into his arms.

They felt strong about me and he smelled fresh and salty and lovely.

I pressed my cheek to his chest, carefully wrapped my arms around his trim waist, and took in deep breaths.

“You may weep,” he offered. “I have two female cousins. They get their hearts broken on a regular basis. My chest is their favorite cushion to absorb their tears. In other words, I have much practice.”

He was the kind of male who allowed his cousins to use his chest to absorb their tears.

I emitted a strange hiccup that made me squeeze him with my arms.

His arms squeezed back.

I closed my eyes tight.

“I want to swim in the sea with you,” I whispered.

“I cannot wait to take you there,” he whispered back.

“I want to see your home,” I told him.

“I hope you find it beautiful,” he told me.

“I want you to see my home, Catrame Palace, it is lovely.”

“I will journey there.”

“I was always a princess, wasn’t I?”

“Yes, but now you are queen.”