An ancient legend says that the merfolk must marry the first person they see after coming ashore, or else dissolve into sea foam.
I was the most revered mermaid princess of the Tideveil Sea. I saved the shipping-magnate brothers from drowning, and pledged my life to the eldest, Bradley Sanchez.
But on the day I came ashore, Bradley never appeared as he had promised. He married a wealthy heiress instead.
In the moments before I could dissolve into foam, it was his younger brother, Asher Sanchez, who came running to me and confessed that he loved me.
The night before our wedding, the merfolk clan was butchered by ruthless men. Over a hundred of my people lay dead on the water.
And Asher, trying to save me, struck the rocks beneath the sea and lost his memory. He could never sail again.
Devastated, I gave up my revenge and stayed at his side. Yet I could never find my way into his heart.
Until I fell pregnant by accident, and overheard a conversation between him and Bradley.
"Asher, you were the one who said you loved Marisol so deeply. That's the only reason I gave her up to you. So why did you fake amnesia to push the wedding back? Why?"
"I'm sorry, Bradley. I lied to you. But a shipping magnate can only have one woman. If you'd married Marisol, what would have become of Emily? She loves you so much."
"...I don't blame you. But why did you slaughter the entire merfolk clan? Don't you know it will bring down the curse of the Tideveil Sea and drown you in the storms!"
"There was no other way. Emily needed too much merfolk blood to stay alive. For her, I don't care how much blood is on my hands! And as for Marisol... I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to her."
There would be no rest of my life.
They didn't know.
My three years of mourning were over, and the wedding I waited for never came.
What came instead was the funeral where I would turn to foam.
——
"Marisol told me a secret yesterday. She wants to put on a wedding dress and propose to you. Asher, she's already waited three years..."
Asher's expression went cold, and he pressed out the spark between his fingers.
"I won't agree to marry her."
"But according to the legend, her mourning period is over and she hasn't married anyone on land. And the child needs a father."
"Ha! Don't tell me you actually believe that, Bradley. You used to have a few lovers who pulled the family-rules-and-the-baby card to force you into marriage too, didn't you? And in the end, nothing happened to any of them, right?"
Then he called for the captain. "Tomorrow when we sail, keep an eye on her. Arrange an accident. Make her lose the baby, and she'll have nothing left to pressure me with."
His tone was flat, as if he were ordering two extra crates of cargo to be loaded on the way back to port tonight.
Bradley gave the captain a nod of silent consent. Only after the man had gone did he let out a long sigh.
"I used to think the Sanchez family had finally produced a man who could truly love. Now I see... I just owe Marisol an apology."
Asher flicked his lighter open and shut, restless.
"Love, no love. What does it matter? I'm bound to her for the rest of my life anyway. Call it making amends."
Tears blurred the two men in front of me.
I stood on the deck, blood trickling down from the corner of my lips.
So the salvation I thought I'd been given was nothing but lies and calculation. So what I had fought so desperately for was never love.
It was guilt. An apology.
I stared down beneath the surface of the sea, tears striking the deck.
In that daze, I could still see it. The water turned red. My people dying in agony.
Asher had stood in front of me, facing down the men with their greed-filled eyes, and even unconscious he had still murmured to me:
"Don't be afraid. I'm here."
That one sentence had soothed away the pain of walking on knife-edges with every step.
It made me forget the hatred carved into my bones, and I chased after him, stumbling, for three years.
In the end, my life and my love would scatter like foam all the same.
A message from him popped up on my phone.
Following the method he had taught me, I clumsily tapped it open. "Marisol, remember to come out to sea with the ship tomorrow. With you there, the Tideveil Sea stays calm, and everyone makes it home safe."
"No."
I jabbed at the screen for a long time before I managed to type out that single word.
It wasn't that I didn't want to.
It was that I could never go out to sea again.
