Lilophea, the Bride of the Sea King. Natalie Yacobson

but a scorcher!” Lilophea appealed to Seneschal, who finally flew up to her head. He came down from the top when it was safe. The torches all around the palace did not frighten him. Apparently peacocks are afraid of cold water, not hot fire.

      A fire was indeed built in the middle of the ballroom to chase away any remnants of the sea invasion. The Second Minister will probably even invite clergymen or wizards here to close the impure ways back with witchcraft or prayers. It doesn’t matter what. The main thing is that he vigilantly guarded the royal daughter he liked so much, and with her the safety of the whole state.

      He bowed to Lilophea and went with the guards to search and find the waterman, who, in his opinion, had probably not yet swum back out to sea from the palace ponds. How well he appeared to be aware of the habits of the sea-dwellers. She, on the other hand, had not been told a word about them. She was fortunate that he knew nothing about talking birds, or he would have taken Seneschal away from her and locked her up so that he would not teach the princess all sorts of nonsense.

      The guests began to disperse, talking excitedly about what had happened. The waterman was long gone. Lilophea was left alone, not counting the Seneschal hovering overhead. She left the ball in the company of a peacock as she arrived.

      Sea Rainbow

      The gifts were from the waterman. The mirror was from him too. And as it turned out, it was capable of showing not only the depths of the sea. Now, for example, it showed a picturesque and gruesome picture of the water apocalypse, when the waves overflowed and flooded all of Aquilania. And inside the sinking state, beautiful and terrifying underwater inhabitants crawl out of rivers, lakes, springs, even fountains and suffocate all those who have not yet drowned.

      At the ball, the waterman made it clear to her that he would destroy everyone if he did not get what he wanted. The mirror clearly showed her what could happen if she refused the underwater lord.

      “For now it is only water, but I will drown your entire kingdom in blood if you do not marry me!”

      This phrase rang in her head for a long time before she went to sleep.

      The palace stood on the very shore. The sea beat beneath the balcony. Aquilania is an island kingdom. It is surrounded by the sea everywhere. To get out of here, you have to get on a ship. And what does it cost a waterman to destroy just one ship instead of an entire country? Once on the ship, she will be in his territory, and therefore completely at his mercy. After all, the sea is his element. It turns out that Morrin’s offer to sail away together and become mistress of the small island kingdom that he will take over is now, alas, unfeasible. The waterman messed up all the plans. He disturbed court life and now all the guards walk through the galleries armed with torches to scare away the water spies by means of fire. The torches looked ridiculous in the daytime. But what can you do if the creatures that crawled out of the water are only afraid of fire. Ordinary weapons, it was rumored, could neither wound nor frighten them. The flames, on the other hand, had a devastating power over them.

      “I wish there were dragons in Aquilanía, like in the mountain kingdom of Tiór,” complained the First Minister. “I wish we could negotiate with the local lord to get one for us. A dragon would be a much better defense against maritime incursions than flaming arrows. Besides, what’s the point of shooting them from the towers if they can fit through any fountain?”

      “All fountains should be drained,” the royal advisers said. “And all rivers and pools could be ringed with torches. Dragons are dangerous to summon. They could easily burn down the realm in self-defense. And Aquilania would be nothing but a pile of ashes in a sea of fire.”

      Lilophea was tired of hearing them argue. No one locked themselves in their father’s study to discuss falling out of the water anymore. Arguments were held around the clock in the council chamber. The doors there were wide open so that everyone could come in and voice their plan on how to protect themselves from the watermen. The king was not particularly embarrassed by the fact that they came sneaking around at night and making mischief. So, they sank a couple of merchant ships in the port, dragged a few decent pages or fishermen to the bottom, demanded to give them some maidens as a sacrifice, flooded the market square once on the day of the High Tide Festival. It’s all nonsense. The kingdom itself survived! But the waterman’s kidnapping of the king’s daughter from the ball was serious! It was almost a kidnapping. But the clarification was of little concern to anyone.

      The creature from the sea! Lilothea cringed when she heard such a nickname again. How could such a charming creature be called a creature from the sea? Yes, the waterman is treacherous, powerful, surely he is mean and cruel if he sinks ships and demands human sacrifice, as they say about him. But he is so fabulously beautiful!

      She closed her eyes dreamily.

      He has a tail of coral, he has gills of gold, he has skin the color of the sea, but he could still be her lover. Earth girls would not understand her in this. Even Morissa would not approve of such a choice. But Lilothea herself believed that it was a sin not to fall in love with a waterman, if otherwise the whole of Aquilania would end. She was a princess, after all. She just has to be a patriot and at least drown herself to save her kingdom from water invaders. And here it is required only not to sacrifice herself to the waters of the sea, but to fall in love with the king of the sea. Although, no… He did not mention anything about such a condition as love. Only that she must marry him. Lilophea knew that princesses marry strangers from the other side of the world without even asking for consent. The main thing is that the future husband himself should be a ruler: a king, emperor, sultan, shah, raja, or even an underwater king. However, no one has ever married an underwater king. She would probably be the first. Lilophea was saddened to think that it was just an ordinary dynastic deal, devoid of romance. Apparently, the waterman only wants her for some political reasons. For example, he cannot possess all the surrounding islands until he marries the princess.