Disclaimer: I don't own the Grisha Trilogy and its characters – it belongs to Leigh Bardugo. I do not own the Shadow & Bone TV series, which was developed by Eric Heisserer for Netflix and based on Leigh Bardugo's books. The Little Mermaid doesn't belong to me, nor do the lyrics from Under The Sea.
Based on Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid story.
Alina has six sisters but they all have different mothers – it isn't specified if their father has multiple wives or if merfolk are just more casual about relationships and long-term commitment so you can decide for yourself.
"Tell me what the surface is like?" Alina asks eagerly.
Genya sighs and Zoya rolls her eyes.
"You're obsessed, Linka," Nina says with a laugh.
Alina – still four years away from her sixteenth birthday and the chance to see the human world for herself – pouts, jealous of the sister who swam to the surface for the first time only two weeks ago.
"You'll get the chance to see it in a few years, Linka," Genya comforts her, "you just have to be patient."
Patience, unfortunately, has never been one of Alina's strong suits.
It's not that she doesn't love the ocean that is her home. It is a wonderous, magical, beautiful place.
However, tales of the surface filter down, and although few of the merfolk care much about the human world, their stories spark an interest in Alina.
What must it be like to have two legs rather than a tail, to walk rather than glide through the water, to dance and ride a horse and see human cities and feel the sun on her face?
She just wants to know.
None of her sisters get it. They all go to the surface on their sixteenth birthday and then once a year afterwards, as is tradition, but they seem to do it almost as if it is a chore, something they have little real interest in.
Sometimes Alina doesn't understand them at all.
She thinks her mama would have shared her enthusiasm, although all she has are stories of Keyen's inquisitive nature and love of observing humans. She wishes she had more than a few faint memories, but her mama had died when she was very young and her papa does not like to talk about her.
Really, no one likes to talk about Keyen. They are so long-lived, practically immortal, and while accidents do happen, they are rare and always cause a fearful panic so most of the occupants of their underwater kingdom prefer to pretend such things never occur.
"King Anton," announces the herald, and they all scramble to line up to greet their papa, who has been gone for a week visiting a far corner of the kingdom.
Genya, Zoya, Nadia, Marie, Inej, Nina and Alina herself, a group as diverse in looks as their various mothers. They squabble and fight and disagree and tease at times, but Alina loves her sisters fiercely.
"Did you go the surface at all, papa?" she asks eagerly as he hugs her.
He frowns, "one does not go to the surface unless there is a true need or for a traditional visitation, Alina."
She deflates somewhat, but tries to mask her disappointment – her papa has been overprotective ever since her mama's death, strongly considering removing the traditional surface visit, and the last thing she wants is to irritate him and accidentally provoke him into removing the privilege before she's ever had the chance to enjoy it.
Alina will see the surface for herself one day. Only four more years to go.
"The human world is a mess."
Alina rolls her eyes at her tutor's words. Botkin is very wise, but he rarely has anything good to say about the surface world and tries as hard as possible to discourage Alina's interest in it.
"Oooh, oooh!" Nina waves her hand in the air, "I wrote a song about that. The seaweed is always greener, in somebody else's lake. You dream about going up there, but that is a big mistake –"
"Yes, thank you, Nina," Botkin says, "I look forward to hearing the full version at the next concert."
"None of us have ever been on the land," Alina argues, "so how do we know it's so terrible?"
"They eat fish up there, Linka," Inej reminds her.
"We eat fish, Inej," she reminds her sister, "it's the circle of life. And they eat lots of other things too – animals and plants and something they call dessert."
"Desserts are exciting," Nina agrees solemnly, "I once saw humans on a boat eating a very strange thing – waffles, I think they said – and I must say they looked intriguing, if very sticky and messy to eat."
Botkin sighs. He does this a lot when Alina and Nina get distracted.
"Focus, girls. Now, let's discuss the most recent of the great storms."
Alina quietens down as she listens to Botkin talk. Still, her mind is far away, day-dreaming about the human world she is so intrigued by.
Alina's sixteenth birthday is a colourful, rowdy celebration as wonderful as any mermaid could dream of.
She loves all her gifts, the entertainment, her party, the delicacies on offer from oceans and seas all across the globe.
What Alina is most excited about, however, is her trip to the surface and she fairly vibrates with anticipation throughout the day until the guests have departed and her papa leads her out towards the designated spot for merfolk making their ascent to the surface.
"You may observe only, Alina," he reminds her sternly, "keep a safe distance away from any ships and do not let yourself be seen."
"Yes, papa," she nods, the picture of obedience, unwilling to jeopardise this most sacred of treats.
"Be back in three hours or I will send someone to get you."
Another nod. That someone would undoubtedly be Botkin, who the king trusts above all other courtiers, and then she would be in for a terrible lecture.
Satisfied that she isn't going to do anything foolish, her papa leaves and Alina starts to swim upwards, heart beating quickly and stomach full of nerves at the fulfilling of her life-long dream.
Her first thought, as she breaks through the surface of the water, is of awe.
The night glitters with stars, the moon high and bright in the sky. The sea breeze is such a novelty that it does not even chill her damp skin.
She can see the shoreline in the distance, a castle barely a dot and other buildings just specks. She yearns to swim closer, but her papa will be furious if she strays too far from this spot.
There is something else, though.
Close enough for her to easily observe. She's sure her papa would have delayed this trip of hers if he'd realised some of the humans would be out sailing so near, but she'll just keep it a secret.
The ship is a handsome one indeed. Of course, her only examples have been the wrecks to be found on the seabed, but she can still tell that this is a fine vessel.
She can see fireworks lighting up the sky, hear music playing and people laughing.
"Happy Birthday to our prince," cries out one man and a chorus of cheers follow.
Alina catches a glimpse of the prince in question, a handsome young man with a ready smile and a jovial demeanour.
She blushes a little as she watches. She's never been particularly interested by the young merfolk that she and her sisters spend time with. They all have someone to call their own, and Genya even has a husband now, but while Alina finds them all good fun, she's never managed to find the one who'll make her heart flutter.
This prince, though, seems like everything she's daydreamed of. Charming and chivalrous and good-natured.
She watches him for almost an hour, transfixed by how vibrant and alive he seems.
The storm, when it comes, is sudden and violent.
Alina, with all her experience of wrecks, knows instinctively that the ship will sink. It's well-made, but there are a few key weaknesses in the design that she spots now as the ship is battered by the waves.
It's quick, almost mercifully so, but still somewhat traumatising. Alina has seen the aftermath of hundreds of shipwrecks, but she's never witnessed one in progress, never heard the screams and felt the terrible helplessness of being able to do nothing.
They're too far from the land for her to do more than get one person to safety – other merfolk might have the strength for more, but Alina is slender and her tail isn't finished growing – and it will be hard enough to swim among the wreckage and find someone still alive. She knows her papa will be furious if he finds out she intervened in human affairs like this, but she can't just leave without trying to help someone.
She thinks it must be fate when she swims among the broken planks, floating barrels and soaked sails to find the prince, unconscious but definitely still breathing.
He's dead weight for her thin arms, but Alina is nothing if not stubborn (as papa is always remarking with a deep sigh) and she manages to get him to the shore without him swallowing too much sea water.
She lays him out on the sand near a temple, hoping that someone will come soon and spot him.
Just before she turns away, his eyes flutter open and he stares at her, reaching out to touch her face.
"You saved me," he whispers.
Impulsively, she leans down to press a quick kiss to his lips, but then she knows she has to go.
The tide is on its way out, thankfully, and so she can leave him and not need to worry about the waves coming up and drowning him.
Alina waits, hidden in the water behind a rock, until a young woman comes out of the temple, spots the prince and calls into the temple for help.
She doesn't want to leave the prince, but help is coming and she can't risk being seen.
At least he saw her face. At least he knows who rescued him. That will have to be enough.
In the weeks that follow, Alina cannot forget about the prince.
She yearns for him, desperately wishes to get to know him.
Her sisters remark on her depression, Botkin sighs over her inattention and papa frowns when she declines to sing with her sisters at the recent concert.
Alina visits her grandmother, renowned for her great knowledge about their people and history.
"Do humans live forever?" she asks.
"No," grandmother tells her, "a human lifetime is but a brief moment compared to ours. They do not tend to live much longer than seventy years, if that. Mermaids, though, can live for centuries, perhaps even for eternity, if the stories are true."
"Do not pity the humans, though," her grandmother adds, "for they have something we do not – an eternal soul that lives on in heaven – while we simply turn to sea foam on our deaths and cease to exist."
"Do … do you think it's possible for a mermaid to become human?"
Grandmother's gaze is suspicious and probing, "I have never heard of such a thing. And if it were possible, it would surely be the darkest of magic. Do not seek such blasphemous things, little Alina, or you are sure to regret it."
"Of course, grandmother," Alina nods.
But she can't get the conversation out of her head.
It isn't impossible. She could be human, have a proper soul, meet the prince again.
True, it would apparently require dark magic, but Alina can't see what is so wrong with a curiosity about the humans and a desire to walk among them.
Still, she'll have to find someone to help her. And there is only one being powerful enough to give her what she wants.
The Darkling.
It takes three weeks and a lot of eavesdropping on papa's council meetings for Alina to get an idea of where the Darkling is currently residing.
Then, she must wait for a day when her family are all busy and unlikely to notice her disappearance for a while.
She wishes she could say goodbye to them all properly, knowing that if she succeeds, she'll probably never see them again. She can't risk them getting suspicious, though.
The water gets cooler the closer she gets to the last known location of the Darkling.
It's darker in these waters too, as if the Darkling's shadowy power has infected everything around him.
She lets out a shriek of surprise when two mermen suddenly appear, one either side of her.
The scales of their tails are deep, blood red and black, and while one of them eyes her curiously, the other is hostile enough to make her nervous.
"Are you lost, little mermaid?" the friendlier one asks.
"No … I … I just … I'm looking for the Darkling."
"You?" sneers the other, "what business could a little thing like you have with the Darkling?"
"I want to be human," she says, trying to sound confident and brave.
Their eyes widen at her admission, one pair concerned and the other derisively incredulous.
For a few moments, they forget her presence, whispering back and forth like she isn't even there.
"We should send her back, Vanya. She doesn't know what she's getting herself into."
"She's stupid and foolish, but at least it'll be amusing to watch her squirm."
"He'll take too much. We should at least warn –"
"Idiocy isn't a crime, Fedya. He will explain the price and she can either accept it or not."
"You know he –"
"Follow us," says the one with a sour expression, giving Alina a rather nasty grin.
"Good luck," whispers the kinder one when they reach a large cave, "listen carefully and do not accept what the Darkling offers you lightly."
The pair vanish after giving her a little nudge into the cave, and Alina swims forward, trying not to let her fear show on her face.
Further and further she goes, until she senses the presence of something powerful and ancient.
"What are you?"
The voice comes out of the darkness, low and rich and curious.
"I …" she stammers, hating how nervous a mere voice can make her, "I am Princess Alina."
"I know who you are, little princess. I said that I want to know what you are."
Alina frowns, "a … a mermaid."
She does not know what else to say, cannot fathom what other answer she can give but the obvious one.
He sighs, his disappointment echoing around the chamber and making her feel like a foolish, chastised child.
She gasps when a figure emerges into the poorly-lit cavern, shadows trailing around him.
The Darkling is well known across the waters that span the earth. Even her papa, as powerful as he is, treads carefully in whatever waters the sea demon chooses to make his home.
Whatever Alina had thought she would see – disfigurement, monstrous features, some kind of beast – the Darkling defies any such expectations. She has never seen a more beautiful face, like it is carved from marble by one of the great master artisans she's heard roam the human world. He is ghostly pale with inky black hair and a thick but neat beard. His tail is more magnificent than any she's ever seen, even if it is entirely black, no hint of any other colour to be found. She does not try to guess at his age – merfolk live for a long time, but stories of the Darkling have been around for as long as the merfolk have and Alina is not sure she wants to know if it is a title passed down or just one ancient, powerful creature.
His mouth curves slightly into a smug, mocking smirk, "a little mermaid princess, yes," he says, "but something else too, hidden inside – you have sunlight in your veins, Alinochka."
"How do you –" she begins to ask, but silences herself quickly enough, for it is well-known that the Darkling has spies everywhere no matter how hard her people try to root them out.
It is her greatest secret, the light she can summon. Not even her papa or her sisters know about it. While it has helped her more times than she can count to get out of sticky situations, like lighting a darkened cave or scaring away a predator, she knows it can harm too, remembers what she accidentally did to sea life around her when she was first learning how to control it. Her people might see her as a weapon or a gift or a monster – she can't risk telling them when she could lose everything, including her freedom or her life.
"Ah," he smirks mockingly, "you thought you could keep it secret, hmm? Well, some of us are not as blind to what goes on in the oceans as King Anton."
He takes a seat on an obsidian throne in the centre of the room and crooks his finger, "closer, little Alinochka."
She doesn't want to. There's something so dangerous about him that she knows she would be safer simply fleeing.
But she is desperate and he is her only hope.
"I hear you wish to be human," he says as she swims closer, spitting out the last word like it is a curse.
"Yes," she confirms quietly.
"And why would you want something like that?"
"I … I'm curious about the human world."
He snorts in amusement, "curious about a certain prince, in fact."
Alina's eyes widen in shock, "how do you –"
"I know a great deal, Alinochka. I take an interest in strange and unusual occurrences … like, for example, a mermaid princess disobeying the king's orders to rescue a prince from drowning."
"You know about the shipwreck."
His smile is a cruel thing, sharp white teeth flashing in the slivers of light, "I do love a shipwreck," he lets out a satisfied sigh, "the humans are petty little things, but they have a few interesting inventions that can be salvaged. Besides, it can be so dull eating fish all the time, so it's nice to have a little variety once in a while."
Alina blanches. She knows that there are some merfolk, often of the older generations, who have a taste for human flesh. Her papa has strict rules about that, however, to ensure that the practice is confined to the bodies of drowned humans who are most definitely dead. Somehow, though, she's not sure the Darkling is as careful as that – he reminds her about the ancient stories, tales of a time before papa became stricter about mingling with humans, of merfolk who used to lure humans into the ocean simply so they could devour them.
"Poor, unfortunate princess," the Darkling's voice is almost mocking, "infatuated with a mere mortal. Well, if you are sure that this is what you want, then we can strike a deal. Be warned, though – humanity will only bring you pain."
"I want it," she insists.
She has spent every night since the shipwreck dreaming of her prince and she knows she can't live the rest of her life without knowing she at least tried to meet him properly.
"Silly little mermaid," the Darkling tuts, "you'll regret it. But if you're sure …"
He twists one of his wrists and a glass phial appears out of the shadows, the potion inside glowing faintly.
She reaches out for the phial but he pulls it back, "first, of course, there is the matter of my price."
"I have nothing to give you," she whispers, for everything she needs is provided by her papa and the only things that are truly hers are the gadgets and gizmos from the human world that she collects, items she's sure the Darkling has no use for.
"Oh, I think you have exactly what I desire," he murmurs, "my offer, little princess, is this. I will make you human. It will be painful to gain legs, there is no way to avoid that – on land you will be able to dance like no human ever has, but every step you take will feel as if you are walking on sharp knives."
Alina nods. She doesn't wish to experience such pain, but she will do what it takes to be with the prince.
"You will also have the chance to gain the soul you are so interested in," the Darkling adds, "because if you can win the love of your prince and marry him, then part of his soul will flow into you. If you fail, however, and the prince chooses another bride, then you will die of a broken heart at dawn on the first day after the wedding, dissolving into sea foam, gone forever."
Alina shudders slightly, but she's sure it will all be fine. She'd felt her heart leap when she first saw the prince and she is sure they are meant to be, if she can only have some time with him.
"What is the price?" she asks.
"It's quite simple, really, Alinochka. I want your light."
"My … my light?"
"Well, you won't have any use for it on the surface, will you? Humans frown on that kind of thing, you know – if they saw you summon your light then they'd likely have you burned as a witch."
"I … I suppose."
The moments she is able to sneak away to a private place and summon are some of Alina's favourite. It brings joy to her heart to summon her light and see it sparkle and shine all around her.
But what will that be compared to the prince? He'll be her true love, after all, and there will be no need for her light when she is with him.
"How do I give it to you?"
The Darkling produces a beautiful bracelet made of iridescent blue and green scales.
"From the sea whip Rusalye," he tells her, "it will draw out your power and store it."
He wraps the bracelet around her wrist. For a moment, nothing happens, and then Alina screams.
She glows brightly, illuminating the cave, highlighting the wild look in the Darkling's eyes.
Nothing in her life has hurt like this, as if the very essence of her being is being torn from her.
She slumps backwards when the light dies down, scarcely twitching as the Darkling unclasps the bracelet and tucks it away into the shadows.
"Your price is accepted, little princess," he tells her, although he seems almost disappointed rather than pleased.
He hands her the phial, "drink it when you reach the shore."
"Thank you," she whispers, voice hoarse from screaming.
He shakes his head, "do not thank me yet, Alinochka. Just remember, things might not turn out the way you think they will."
-x-x-x-
Alina swims until she reaches the shore where she had left the prince.
She uncorks the phial, takes a deep breath and the drinks the whole thing.
The pain is almost as bad as it was when the bracelet took her light. It feels like a sword or trident piercing her body over and over again.
She writhes and thrashes around in the water, screaming and crying, wondering if she has made the biggest mistake of her life.
And then darkness washes over her and she surrenders to blissful unconsciousness.
Three months later
Alina tells herself that she is incandescently happy.
The prince himself found her on the shore and brought her back to the castle.
Everyone assumes her to be the survivor of some dreadful shipwreck and she has gone along with that story, knowing they would think her mad if she explained the truth. When she and Prince Malyen – or, Mal, as he has asked her to call him – marry, then of course she will tell him the truth, and she is sure he will accept her, but for the moment she keeps quiet about her past, feigning amnesia.
Alina is Prince Mal's favourite companion and he takes her with him on many of his outings. She thought he would have more state duties as the heir to the throne, but he spends much of his time at dances and in gambling dens.
He asks for her to dance for him often, praising her beauty and grace. And although every step causes her excruciating pain, Alina dances whenever he asks, wanting to make him happy.
The gambling dens she is less fond of, for he is not the amiable man she knows and loves inside these places, showing a dark temper and a dangerously reckless streak that she worries about. She tries to suggest that they visit other places, but he always chastises her.
"Don't moralise, Lina," he tells her, "it's so dull. You just sit there and smile prettily and I'm sure you'll bring me luck."
On other occasions, they go out to the countryside. Alina likes those visits, fascinated by the landscapes so different from anything she's ever seen.
"I'd like to have been a farmer," Prince Mal tells her often, "but, of course, I have my duties in the city."
He does seem fond of the countryside, though. He will often climb down from the carriage, strip off his shirt and help the workers dig for five or ten minutes before demanding a feast in order to "revive me after all that hard work."
She misses the ocean, it's true. Every moment at court is scheduled and planned and she has none of the freedom she enjoyed in her old home.
And it hurts, not being able to call her light and brighten her day a little whenever she feels down.
She tried once, forgetting for a second that it was gone, and when she could not summon anything, she wept all afternoon, sitting on her balcony, feeling the warmth of the sun on her face and trying to pretend the light was still hers.
It's an adjustment, that's all. She'll get used to it eventually.
Deep down, however, Alina is beginning to get a little worried.
She is a favoured friend of Prince Mal's and, despite her eccentricities, she has been accepted as a member of the court.
Still, the prince has not tried to kiss her even once. He affords her all the same courtesies as a lady of the court, kissing her hand and offering his arm when they are out, but he has never spoken of his feelings for her, nor have his lips even brushed briefly over hers.
She loves him.
At least, she thinks she does.
She must, surely. He is her prince, after all, and they are destined to be together.
And then, like a thunderbolt from the sky, the news spreads all over the castle.
Prince Mal is to marry.
She seeks him out, trying not to weep, in order to determine the truth.
"Ever since I almost drowned," he tells her, "I have vowed that I shall marry no woman other than the one who rescued me after the shipwreck."
Alina breathes a sigh of relief. He has not asked for her hand yet, but he must just be waiting for the perfect romantic moment and then they'll –
"My parents wanted me to marry the Fjerdan princess, but I swore I would only wed the young woman from the temple who saved me. And then my parents explained that it had been the Fjerdan princess who raised the alarm and rescued me from the ocean. Apparently, she was at the temple for her education. We'll be married a week from now."
Alina gapes, only stuttering out her congratulations when Prince Mal begins to frown at her.
She remembers the young woman from the temple who had seen Mal, but all she had done was bring him back to the palace, not save him from the wreckage of his ship and drag his unconscious body all the way to shore – that had been Alina.
The prince saw Alina's face, she knows it. And yet he seems to have forgotten all about it.
"I'm so happy for you," she tells him, trying to smile.
But she feels like she's dying inside.
And soon enough, she thinks, she'll be nothing but sea foam and a memory.
The Fjerdan princess arrives the very next day in great state.
A blonde beauty, statuesque, refined and regal. The perfect future queen, everyone agrees.
Alina's heart is breaking.
Prince Mal does not love her. Despite all the time they have spent together, and the hours she has danced for his entertainment while suffering a great deal of pain, he still does not seem to notice her.
She cannot fathom it. Even though his face was seared into her memory, it appears he does not recall hers, and the Fjerdan princess appears in no hurry to explain the truth that she had just stumbled upon his unconscious body.
Oh, Prince Mal and his soon-to-be bride are kind, in their selfish sort of way. They treat her like a favoured pet, invite her to their wedding on the kingdom's newest ship and tell her she will have a place of honour at the feast and in their court. None of it matters, though, for death will soon enough come for her.
The Darkling had told her she would regret becoming human and she had been so sure he was wrong.
Now, she realises what a fool she has been. She will die and she will never even have a chance to see her papa or sisters before she is gone.
She stands on the deck, the sun close to rising the morning after the wedding, quiet and calm as everyone sleeps in after the previous night's great festivities. Tears drip down her cheeks as she looks at the ocean she has always loved, the place she turned her back on for a fleeting chance of happiness with a man who turned out to be nothing like she'd dreamed.
The Darkling, in his shadowy cave, with his knowing eyes, had been right when he warned her that humanity would only bring her pain.
She is about to turn back inside when she sees movement below, gasping as a wave rises up and brings with it the Darkling himself.
It is odd, seeing him out of the deep, dark, inky depths of the ocean where he usually dwells. She can't help but be glad, though, to have some part of home with her as she dies (even if he most of her people would call him a monster who cannot be trusted).
"Little Alinochka," he murmurs, reaching out to brush away her tears, "why so melancholy?"
"You must know," she whispers, for his power is great and his spies are everywhere. Mal doesn't love me … I'm not sure he even thinks of me at all, save as a convenient passing amusement."
"I did try and warn you," the Darkling sighs with condescending sympathy.
"If you're just going to gloat," she mutters, "then I would rather you leave me to die in peace."
"So harsh, Alinochka, and all this when I bring a gift for you."
Her eyes narrow, "you give no gifts, Darkling, there is always a price."
"The price has been paid by your sisters so that I would offer you this."
He hands her a dainty but wickedly sharp pearl-handled dagger, "if you kill your faithless Prince Mal, and let his blood drip onto your feet, then you, sweet little princess, will be a mermaid once more, able to return to your life in the ocean."
Her instinct is to shake her head. Surely, she cannot think of murder, not even to save herself.
The Darkling will not take the dagger back, though, "you do not deserve this end, Alinochka. Come back to us, come back where you belong and you will be as you once were."
Alina frowns, "I do not understand. You have my light, a powerful weapon for you to wield. Why would you offer it back to me?"
For the first time in their interactions, the Darkling seems almost unsure and a little confused, "I can use it. I have used it, to great effect. However, I find it does not … it does not bring me the satisfaction I believed it would. I think I would prefer to see the light wielded by the one who was meant to hold the power."
He reaches out, fingers tenderly stroking her cheek, "you are meant for more, Alinochka. You are meant to shine brightly."
Then, he is gone and the dagger is left in her hand.
She knows she should toss it overboard and accept her fate, but she feels a sudden surge of anger.
Why should she be the one to die? Why should she give her life up for Mal, who never cared to look close enough to see the truth of who had saved him?
Alina is quiet as she walks with purpose towards the main cabin, the one where Prince Mal and his new wife are sleeping peacefully.
The door is unlocked. The ship, after all, is full of only the closest and most trusted friends of the prince and princess – the security is both lax and the guards rather hungover.
She watches the newly-weds for what feels like hours, although perhaps it is only a minute or two.
Prince Mal seems lesser now than he had before, as if the rose-tinted view she had possessed has gone. He isn't the most handsome man she's ever seen (so many of the merman are superior, and her mind whispers the Darkling is far more enticing) and he snores terribly. Thinking back, he's never been as a true prince should be – he can be so rude and dismissive and selfish.
Alina will be better off back home, and the death of Prince Mal won't be a real loss to the world.
It is easy in the end, to stab the dagger into his heart, to muffle his surprised shout so that his wife remains slumbering in blissful ignorance.
The blood gushes out, staining Alina's dress and hands and arms before it drips down onto her bare feet.
She feels it as the prince stills beneath her hands, the same piercing pain she had experienced before, when the Darkling's potion had turned her tail into legs.
It is happening. The transformation is beginning.
The cabin's windows look directly out to the ocean. It is easy to unlatch them and she is petite enough to climb out relatively easily, even though she is becoming clumsy, her legs unsteady.
As the princess wakes and screams herself hoarse over her husband's bloody body, Alina takes a breath and dives off the ship.
The familiar waters welcome her and Alina can't help but smile.
Nowhere else is right as this, no human experience could ever measure up to the delicious feeling of swimming through the ocean, her glimmering golden tail restored to its full glory.
For hours she just swims, going to all her favourite haunts, remembering everything she loves about the ocean.
She finds her sisters by accident, when she goes to visit one of the dolphin pods.
They rejoice at her appearance, embracing her fiercely, professing how glad they are to have her back even as they chastise her for leaving.
As it turns out, they had learned of her plight through Fedyor, one of the mermen who had escorted her to the Darkling's cave.
"I think the Darkling himself sent him," Genya whispers, "because he would never dream of speaking about such things unless the Darkling gave him leave to do so."
Alina knows what her sister is saying. They were the ones who paid with some of their own blood (a powerful ingredient for the potions the Darkling concocted), but the Darkling is the reason they knew she was in danger of losing her life.
"What a troublemaker you are, Linka," Nina grins, "turning yourself human and making such an impression on the Darkling that he actually helped us find a loophole in one of his own deals. I'm so proud."
The girls all chatter and demand to know absolutely everything she discovered about the surface world, but there is one place Alina wants to go before she goes to find her papa (who she imagines will be furious and glad in turns – her sisters say he has not taken her disappearance well).
-x-x-x-
She finds the Darkling's cave empty. Feeling disappointed, she goes to leave, but then large hands settle on her waist and the Darkling's long tail – black scales like polished onyx and jet – entwines around hers.
Instinct guiding her, Alina leans back into his embrace, letting him press his lips to her hair.
"You made the wise choice, Alinochka," he murmurs into her ear.
She slips out of his grasp and turns to face him, "and you helped me, for quite a small price, really. Why is that?"
"I told you, little princess, you were meant for greater things than living and dying as a human. You are far more special than you can imagine – your light is a gift meant to be wielded by you, and with it you will be eternal, as I am."
He kisses her gently and then puts the bracelet on her once more.
There is no pain now, only glorious light and a sense of rightness that makes her smile.
The sea whip's scales shimmer and shine, sinking into her skin until all that is left of them is the faintest glittering pattern, like a tattoo around her wrist.
"Beautiful," the Darkling pronounces with a satisfied smile.
He summons a tendril of shadows and Alina finds herself matching it with one of light, watching as they entwine together in the middle of the room.
"I have to go," she whispers after a moment, "I need to see papa. I just wanted to say thank you."
"Run along then, little princess," he laughs, although he seems more amused than mocking, "but remember, you have more power than you think, far more even than King Anton. When you want to find out exactly what you're capable of, come and see me."
And as she swims away, Alina knows that it's only a matter of time before she finds herself back in the Darkling's territory, no matter how dangerous he might be.
They're inevitable. She can feel it.
Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.
You can find me on Twitter under the username Keira_63. At the moment I pretty much just post mini prompt fics.