The ring had tired and fallen asleep. It could easily be removed from her finger now, but Desdemona did not dare. The sleeping pearl glowed in the darkness like a white lantern. She was mumbling something sleepily. Probably tomorrow it would wake up before Desdemona and start singing, but now its voice was barely audible.

“Take me to Lilophea’s room! To my friends!” She whispered.

“Which way is it?”

“It is to the right, then down the corridor to the left, then up the spiral staircase to the top,” the ring began to mutter instructions.

Desdemona reluctantly began to indulge it.

“Well, all right, let’s go!”

Curious as to what kind of friends the ring might have. Desdemona herself was followed by Bersaba. In the darkness of the palace, her eyes sparkled like two predatory gems. Her gait was inaudible.

“It is to the left! Then to the right! Turn into the east gallery!” The ring was giving directions. Either it was an experienced guide who had studied the palace layout well, or it felt the attraction of some magical object and easily guessed the direction. “Go past the fountain with stone dolphins, then there will be lunettes with sculptures of nymphs, and after them a strolling gallery. Follow it to a dead end.”

Bersaba kept up. She seemed to float above the floor rather than tread on it. She had a predatory look about her. Though she kept a respectful distance, Desdemona felt uneasy. She had gone looking for trouble at the call of the magic ring! In the morning it will wake up and declare that all his night instructions were just a dream.

“We’ve reached a dead end!” Desdemona ran into a wall decorated with intricate moldings. “There’s nowhere to go unless you teach me how to walk through walls.”

“Push the spiral-shaped jewelry!” The ring advised.

Desdemona did so. Immediately something creaked in the wall. Either there’s a sliding panel hidden there, or the spiral is actually a door handle. More like the latter. The dead end slid open to reveal a narrow doorway. Desdemona slid into it and slammed the door under the nose of Bersaba.

“It’s a strange passage. More like a hiding place,” she said to the ring.

“That’s because the doors have long since been bricked up.”

“Why is it?”

“People often used to disappear here.”

“What does it mean?” Desdemona was frightened.

“This was Princess Lilophea’s apartment.”

“Oh, that’s it,” said Desdemona. Well, then the first missing person could be the princess herself, who was kidnapped by the waterman. But her jewelry was left behind. Inside the secret room was a real treasure trove. Boxes and caskets were lined up in rows. Gold jewelry, diamond tiaras, rings with semi-precious stones, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, tiaras sparkled in them.

“There are all the gifts of the Water King!” commented the napping ring. Once in Lilophea’s room, it came to life.

“It couldn’t be!” Desdemona began to go through rubies, sapphires, emeralds and along with them suddenly noticed unusual gems with iridescence. There are really no such gems on earth.

Desdemona was afraid to touch the pearl beads. She already knew what the pearls given by the waterman could do. Though the pearls around her own neck had loosened their grip, they were still clinging to her skin.

By the way, jewelry made of large pearls and coral was the most abundant here. Huge chests, shaped like the silhouettes of fairy-tale palaces, were bursting with them.

Desdemona ran her finger along the lid of one such chest. It must have been the shape of some underwater palace.

“Are there castles and palaces in the Underwater Kingdom?” She wondered.

“Look for yourself!” The ring advised her.

What do you mean, see for yourself? Pearl is probably asleep and does not realize that it is a palace on land and not on the seabed.

Nevertheless, the pearl asked cheerfully:

“Take me off your finger and put me in that chest over there, which is full of pearl rings. I want to talk to them.”

“Well, as you wish,” Desdemona complied, and her ears immediately heard the chiming of many-voiced pearl trills. Her wedding ring was communicating with those inside the box. What wonders!

What should she do? Bersaba was at the door. We could stay here for the night. The dusty bed under the blue satin canopy was fit for sleeping. For some reason the beautiful mirror opposite it reflected, instead of an ordinary bed, some fantastic bed inside a giant shell.

The frame of the mirror resembled a wreath of gilded jellyfish, mermaids, and newts. Desdemona touched it and marveled. The reflection inside the mirror immediately changed. It now reflected the sea floor, where the clumsy kraken crawled. Shipwrecks were rotting among the algae plantations. A mermaid was stirring a skeleton tied to an anchor. Chests of gold and barrels full of ancient coins gleamed among the rotten planks of the ship.

“So this was the Undersea Kingdom?”

As if guessing her thoughts, the mirror winked at her, for a moment taking on the appearance of a fantastic face, something like a young swamp diva with snakes for hair and seashells for cheeks. Could it be a mirror fairy? In the next instant the picture inside the amalgam changed to a magnificent underwater palace with upper galleries that resembled the curves of aqueducts, walls of shells and columns of gold. Tritons with tridents guarded all the entrances, which were at different levels of height. From within, light poured in and music was heard, but the mirror did not linger on one underwater view, but was carried onward through a labyrinth of sandy embankments and blue gardens. There were pyramids of pearls and some unimaginable creatures. And then the mirror suddenly showed a mermaid lagoon. Close up, all the mermaids turned out to be so beautiful that it was impossible not to feel envy.

Desdemona immediately remembered her fears.

“Show my rival!” She asked the mirror.

And it showed the flaming arches of the palace in Tiora, the capital of Tioria. Through them walked a lady in a dress that seemed orange because it was also blazing. But it was originally azure blue. The bodice and the sleeves still retained their former color. The fabric was adorned with pearls – clearly a gift from Moran. The lady herself was as beautiful as a porcelain doll. A wizard must have arranged her golden curls into a hairstyle that no barber could have done. Her train wiggled like a dragon’s tail, and suddenly she turned into a dragon herself.

Desdemona recoiled from the mirror. It seemed to her that the lady within could see her. The gaze of the dragon’s eyes stared straight at her. Those eyes are like two jewels on a girl’s face.

We need to cover the mirror with something! It felt like her rival was about to burst into the room from the looking glass.

There was no blanket, no scarf, not even a rag. There was nothing to cover the mirror with. Then we must order him to look somewhere else.

Look? Is a mirror a looking eye?

“Did you find the spy’s eye?“The king’s pleasant tenor asked.

Desdemona turned around hastily. Moran seemed to have just climbed the wall and entered through the window. The door was definitely not open.

“Do you ever get any sleep?” Desdemona was upset. She was sure Moran was in his royal bedroom.

“I have plenty to do besides sleep,” he said.

“But your ring is sleepy!”

“When I gave it to you, I didn’t think you could so easily conspire with it to take you on excursions while I was distracted by business.”

“You’ll be more careful with your gifts,” Desdemona reached up to brush her neck. The pearls were digging too hard into her skin. Moran noticed it, too, and was not pleased.

“You’re trying to tie me to the throne with pearl chains,” she rebuked. “That’s clever! I am a queen under compulsion. The moment I leave the royal chambers, they dig into my skin.”

“I can’t get them off,” he admitted.

“You can pry them out with a knife.”

“It would be difficult and painful, and they would go under the skin, leaving pitted scars.”

“Then don’t! Let’s just hope they come off on their own.”

“Don’t risk running away from me. It’s not like I’m hurting you. I’m a monster, but I haven’t touched you.”

“Maybe you should have.” Desdemona wrapped her arm around his waist and shuddered, feeling the strangeness of his body. She wished he hadn’t put his tentacles around her throat and started strangling her.

The mirror again showed a quiet pool full of mermaids, her rivals.

Moran’s lips were as cold as frosted glass. His body was even colder. It was like she was hugging an iceberg.

“Drink first!” Moran pulled a blue vial out of thin air. “You’ll be too cold next to a sea creature if this elixir doesn’t warm you from the inside out.”

“And every time I want to hold you?”

“It is until you get used to it.”

“Can you get used to something as magical as you?”

“You get used to anything over the centuries.”

“In centuries, I’ll be dead. It is unless you have the elixir of immortality.”

“I may not have it, but I know someone who does.”

One sip from the vial sent such a pleasant heat through her body as if she were basking in the hot summer sun. Moran’s embrace didn’t seem icy now. No wonder why he favored his dragon friend. If she had a fire raging inside of her, she wouldn’t be cold next to a waterman. But watermen can’t tolerate fire. So how did Moran hook up with the fire lady?

“You found all of my mother’s jewelry boxes,” Moran pulled out a set made of unusual stones that seemed to reflect the waves from a pile of jewelry. “Only sirens have them.”

“Where did Princess of Aquilania get them from? Is it from the water king? Then why didn’t she take them to the bottom with her? Does Lilophea come back here sometimes?

“She used to, but not to this room. I think she’s forgotten about all this jewelry by now. They’re rightfully yours, since you found them here.”

Desdemona took the jewelry from his hands, wanted to try them on, and heard voices. The beads, each of which seemed to contain the sea, were whispering among themselves. Once they were around her neck, they moved like snakes trying to strangle her.

“She is not our mistress!” They hissed unhappily.

“It’s only in the beginning,” Moran said comfortingly. They’ll get used to you in time and even give you new abilities. You’ll be able to understand the whispers of the waves or walk on water, for example.”

The promise was tempting, but she’d had enough of the living pearls.

“No more presents!” Desdemona put the jewelry back. “All gifts from the watermen would not end well.”

She brushed the inflamed skin around the pearls she had recently tried to forge out. The maids of honor were jealous of her new jewelry, enthusiastic about its enormous cost and the beauty of the pearls, not even realizing how burdensome they were.

“They are not gifts, but parasites,” complained Desdemona.

“They wouldn’t have gotten into your skin if you hadn’t traveled too far from the palace.”

“But now I’m here, and they keep coming.”

“They probably suspect you strongly of rebellion and flight.”

“It is too bad you can’t get along with them like you can with a ring.”

“You can scald them and take them off, but it’ll hurt. I’d better get you one of Ariana’s ointments.”

“Who’s Ariana?”

“She is the White Fairy of the Waves. She’s known for her magical tinctures. She’s also known as the sea fairy. She flies above the waves and dives deep to gather herbs for her potions. She has a cure for everything in her arsenal.”

A wave fairy! It sounds mysterious and romantic. Desdemona imagined a delightful creature with wings, floating above the waves and flirting with the sea prince.

“What do sea fairies look like?”

“The same as all fairies,” Moran shrugged. “But they’re not as colorful as the fairies of groves, forests, and gardens.”

“If I’d ever seen garden fairies in my life!” She said indignantly. “In our garden pond lived only hideous divas, as you have seen for yourself. Not one good fairy.”

“Fairies are not kind,” Moran objected. “Ariana, for instance, loves to trap ship captains. But I can always negotiate with her. She has an arsenal of magic potions for her friends.”

“She’s a friend of yours?”

“She is mother’s friend.”

That sounds more reassuring. Desdemona sighed in relief.

“You can introduce me to fairies,” she agreed, “I’m a little afraid of mermaids.”

“And you can take this mirror away from here,” Moran nodded at the wall. “It’s a spy. If you want to see something, it will show you.”

“Where did it come from? Is it from the water king, too? Or is it from the fairies?”

“These mirrors are only made on the seabed. They’re called spy eyes because they can see everywhere you ask.”

“It’s a useful thing if you want to spy on someone.”

She didn’t mention that she’d already spied on her rival. The mirror showed the beautiful mermaids in the lagoon, and Moran kissed her as if he didn’t need all the beauties of the sea anymore. And neither did the lady of fire.

The idyll was dispelled by Livia, who hung outside the window like a black ghost. Apparently she had climbed up the wall, too. Her duty, after all, was to keep an eye on the queen. It was the duty of Bersaba too. She was still waiting under the door. Moran treated the slave girls as silent bodyguards who could be next to simply be ignored. But Desdemona, for the umpteenth time, felt uncomfortable under the gaze of Livia’s anthracite eyes.

“The spy’s eye must be brought to the Queen’s chambers,” Moran ordered, and Livia nodded understandingly. She flew easily through the window. Her dark webbed hands reached for the mirror. Turns out she knew what that magical thing was called. Curious how many other secrets of the sea kingdom Livia and Bersabe knew.

Surprises

Moran brought her a bouquet. It looks like lily of the valley, only it smells different.

“What are they?”

“Snowdrops are flowers from the land of winter. They bloom right under the melting snow.”

“Where do they come from? All the countries around the sea are hot.”

“I have relatives in the ocean.”

“Even there?”

Moran nodded.

“I was there once. There’s ice and icebergs all around, and even colder kin that freeze everything around them. There are mermaids the size of ships, oceanidas with the beauty of winter queens, warriors and ocean maidens who, when they feel cornered, turn into white-wood statues. You might mistake them for sculptures on the bottom, but they’re really just sleeping. I’ve awakened a couple of them and I’ve come across their gratitude as sharp thorns. We fought, and then we got along. Now we’re friends and allies.”

“Just don’t bring them here,” she sniffed the snowdrops with pleasure. The white flowers in a cocoon of large green leaves were tiny, but they had a marvelous fragrance.

“Put them in water and they’ll never wilt.”

“Are you sure?”

“I guarantee it!”

It was in his power, because the water obeyed him. As it turned out, in addition to water creatures heavenly creatures obeyed him too.

A dragon flew up to the archway. Moran carefully took the scroll from him, trying not to touch the scales. The dragon was wary of touching his hand as well. His hands, though wet, were partially covered with scales, as if he were the son of a dragon rather than a water dragon. Although fish have scales too, don’t they? Desdemona rose from her comfortable bed and walked to the window. The dragon was still hovering behind it. His mouth was hot. It almost burned her face. Now her skin would definitely turn red. How could Moran bear his proximity, he was a water dragon. Fire should be destructive to him, but the dragon listened to him.

“Get rid of him!”

“He’s going to fly away himself.”

Moran was right. The dragon turned and flew toward the horizon.

“You read his mind?”

“Why is it? He’s completed his mission and now he’s flying back.”

“Is it his task?”

“He is a messenger,” Moran unfolded a scroll mottled in orange letters. Are the letters glowing, or is she seeing double? Moran tried not to burn his fingers, holding only the ends of the scroll, untouched by the signatures.

“What is it?”

“It is a threat warning.”

“Who sent it?”

“It is the queen of Tioria.”

“You know the Queen of Tioria?”

“I knew her before she was queen. I even befriended her. It made my brothers laugh.”

“Don’t tell me about these murderers, or I’ll remember you didn’t stop them when they… drowned my brothers.”

“I can’t vouch for them. No one can vouch for them. Even my father can’t control them.”

“You mean the water king?”

Moran looked at her like a naive child. His almond-shaped eyes shimmered with mystery beneath golden lashes. How handsome he was! If only there weren’t tentacles under his robe. But not everyone could be perfect.

“Can the queen of Tioria control everything?”

“That’s not what she writes to me. And she’s no ordinary queen.”

“Then who is she?”

“She is a dragon goddess and a dragon herself.”

“She is a dragon woman.”

“I know her well.”

“What do you have in common with her?”

“What does fire have in common with water?”

“Then what do you want from her? Or does she want from you?”

Well, she’s already jealous. It’s wild jealousy.

She doesn’t think there’s anything to be jealous of, though. She had plenty of gifts and favors. Moran had recently sent her a bouquet of lilies and roses, laced with ribbons and pearls. If it wasn’t held together by charms, she didn’t know how. The gifts were many, but the most important was tenderness. No one had ever been gentle with her, and Moran had been. How can you call him a sea devil after that?

He’s sensitive. He sees all her anxieties without words. He loves only her. Though where else would a monster get a lady? Is it a miracle one agreed to him? It wasn’t. Everyone was after the king with wizard’s flaws. Desdemona made a lot of friends she didn’t even remember. It’s so easy to approach the king through her friendship.

“Do you like only me?”

Moran didn’t play the game.

“I once had a crush on the fire lady, but she didn’t like me. ‘We’re just friends,’ she kept saying. And I was expecting that one day I would see the deity everyone dreams of, and it would heal me. There is a goddess who is mightier than all and more beautiful than all. Once you see her, nothing else makes sense. Alais! I wanted to be her warrior and her chosen one. I thought that if I saw her, I would never think of Sephora again. I waited for her, watched the sun from the water, but she never came. And now you showed up, and I felt better.”

Is that what it is? One ethereal creature is reaching for another. No need for earthly ladies. But he found her.

They’re both wearing crowns. She is in a graceful feminine one, he is in a heavy masculine one. Both crowns are symbols of power, but somehow it feels like only he is the king here, and she is an impostor, wanting to wrest it from a highborn or even a magical lady.

Moran stood at the arched window, unafraid of falling out of it and crashing through the rocks. She knew by now that the octopus-like limbs braiding the window frame were not the tentacles of the monster beside him, but parts of his own body. But she didn’t care.

“I love you!” Desdemona hugged him from behind, running her bare feet over the slimy tails snaking beneath the royal robe.

Should she tell him how beautiful he is, or does he know it himself? He’s a monster, but she thinks he’s beautiful! Everything in the world turned upside down when a king from the sea came to rule the earthlings.

“Do you think I see you as a victim?” Moran felt her heart fluttering like a caged bird.

“I don’t know! Everyone has seen me as a sacrifice since I was chosen to serve the sea god. I heard that if the sacrifice with the chosen girl doesn’t take place, the sea will flood the whole country.”

“Let it drown!”

“You say that about your country?”

“I will flood it myself if you are chosen as the sacrifice.”

“But I thought you chose me to take me personally to the temple for sacrifice.”

She imagined the terrible celebration when a king personally gives his young wife to the sea god for a ritual to ensure the coastal kingdom’s peace and prosperity for many more years. Will she be beheaded with a sickle or cut open alive? Or drowned? Sometimes water is scarier than poison. Dodger had said it right. At the thought of drowning, the shimmering edge of the sea below sent a shiver of fear through her. Eerie images of the ritual came to mind. Desdemona clutched her eyes in horror.

“Tell me, the sea god’s victims become mermaids after he kills them.”

“Where did you get that idea?”

“I dreamed it,” she admitted honestly. No need to be hypocritical. It was as if Moran could see through her mind and was nervous, too.

“Dreams are as fine a line as water. A whole kingdom can hide beneath it.”

“How do you know?”

“So claims a lady who is no stranger to the realm of dreams and its rulers. She says that dreams are a witch’s labyrinth in which one can get lost and never return.”

“I imagine the temple of the sea god to be such a labyrinth.”

“Do not fear him. A queen shouldn’t be afraid of anything.”

But she didn’t feel like a queen.

Flowers and jewels alone were not enough to inspire her with regal majesty.

The chirping of the birds sounded almost musical. It was definitely not the cries of seagulls. In addition, the croaking instantly changed to an almost nightingale-like trill. Desdemona looked around.

Morillas were sitting on the parapets of the towers again. It was a whole flock of them now.

“I’d give you one,” Moran intercepted her gaze, “but they’re too free-spirited. They’d wither in a cage. And if you capture them, there’ll be a great flood. That’s why they’re feared. If sailors see a morilla near a ship, it means the ship will sink within 24 hours.”

“It is cruel!”

“The sea is cruel.”

“But it is beautiful too!” Desdemona cast a glance at Moran from under half-lowered lashes. He can only be compared to the harsh beauty of the sea. He is beautiful and dangerous.

“Let’s play a game!” She found an old ivory chess set.

“It is all right! Strip chess is a popular game in the mortal world. If I win something you take it off, if you win something I take it off.”

She flared up, but agreed. Winning from him wasn’t hard. The undressing game took her by surprise when she realized he had nothing on under his robe. He undressed first, showing off his tentacles and some shiny growths on his forearms that looked like scarlet bracelets.

“Next time we’ll play sea chess. I’m better at it!” Moran pushed the board into one of the newly dug pools. The chessboard sank. But Desdemona wasn’t upset. What caught her eye was the sun pendant with unusual milling around the edges on it around Moran’s neck.

“I feel like I’ve seen this symbol somewhere before.”

“It’s the mark of my goddess!” Moran put his robe back on and carefully hid the pendant. “We are all slaves to Alais. But I want to be your slave.”

It seemed to her that it was the other way around – She is his captive. But he reached for her and all sense of inequality vanished.

“Moran! If I start drowning again…” she remembered the night he had rescued her.

“You think you can drown yourself in my kingdom without my permission? Water is my element! I rule it, not you. No one is allowed to drown themselves in my domain without my permission. Besides, you won’t get rid of me that easily!”

Is he joking or is he serious? Probably it is both.

“You are mine. That’s all!” The corners of his lips parted in a happy smile, and his face was no longer cold.

For fun, he made the mirror show her the lily nymphs.

“They live on the lakes,” he explained. “Their clothes are lily petals that grow from their skin and give off a marvelous fragrance. They are called lilies. The boys dream of them, and I dream of you.”

“And what is about your brothers?”

“For them, to love a girl is to drag her down. In the beginning they were still choosing, but then they split up. Now they drown anyone they think is pretty.”

Some sounds suddenly alerted her. The clinking of metal and quick footsteps! Desdemona didn’t even realize they were suddenly aware, because Moran instantly blew the heads off two people. The corpses fell into the pool, staining it with blood. And some fish-like creatures devoured the dead flesh.

“They are conspirators! They’re like bedbugs! No matter how many of them you take out, they keep coming back,” Moran grumbled. Their axes had wounded him.

“Shall I call for the king’s physician?” Desdemona was worried.

Moran shook his head negatively. It appeared that all he had to do was sink into the water and all his wounds would heal themselves.

“Water heals all our injuries,” Moran braided his tentacles around the edge of the pool

“You were better off in the water. You’re vulnerable on land,” she concluded. That’s probably why there are so many new pools. While he was targeting his injuries in the water, she stroked his hair. They’re softer than silk!

“I held you captive as my queen, and you pity me.”

“I have had time to love you.”

Moran sighed as if it was too late. Somewhere in the distance, a long trumpet sounded over the sea, making my blood run cold.

“It’s Father’s horn,” Moran explained. “When he wants to summon someone or attack the shores, he blows that wonderful horn. He needs me for something.”

“Swim to him!”

“I can’t!” Moran kissed her quickly. “I can’t leave you alone. I don’t want any sea monsters to come to you in my absence.”

Desdemona remembered Alais’s dagger, which she still kept with her.

“I am ready for them,” she said bravely.

“You cannot stand alone. Or do you want me to go somewhere else?”

The only answer he would have had before was, “You are the ruler. We are vassals. You want me, and I have to be here,” but now she wouldn’t have sneered anymore.

One scar didn’t go away even in the water. Moran intercepted her gaze.

“There’s a legend that Lilophea’s youngest son was cut in half with a sword: one human, one watery. The halves fused together.”

“It is monstrous!”

He grinned. How beautiful his face was! What a contrast to the ugliness of his body!

“Am I a monster? Or is the act monstrous? I’m a fairy tale monster. You’re the girl I forced to be my bride by force. Of course you’re unhappy. Or are you finally happy?”

“Are you in pain?”

He didn’t answer.

“Who did it?”

“My own father did it.”

“You mean the water king? But why is it?”

“He didn’t want us children. That’s why my brothers are so angry and sink ships, including your brothers’ ships. My father was obsessed with one object, the Earth princess. For her, he would move mountains and seas for her. It’s hard to live with someone who would do anything for a woman. She’s worth more than a kingdom, more than a lifetime, even if it’s an eternity. And we’re just unwanted fruit.”

“It is not for me,” Desdemona ran her hand over his cheek.

He clawed his webbed hands around her face. She would probably die because of him one day, because he couldn’t live on land, she couldn’t breathe in water. All that remained was to perish together. If he wished to drown her now, she wouldn’t even try to resist. Moran mesmerized her, so much so that she said:

“I love you.”

“Is it now?” He grinned. “When you know we could be harmed by both my kin and attacked by another conspirator?”

“It is now and always!”

Desdemona nestled her lips against his in a long kiss. Even if they cannot be two, they will die together happy. But the one conspirator attacked no more today, and the calling horn was silent over the sea.

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