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.

The tides of the Tideveil Sea had already told me: my three years of mourning were over, and since I had never bound my heart to anyone on land, I would dissolve into foam at dawn.

Before long, the assistant came aboard to ask me down from the ship.

The car drove a long time before it reached the old Sanchez estate.

Asher Sanchez sat in the garden, the scent of cedar clinging to him.

I stood off to the side, awkward, trying to hide the briny smell of seawater all over me.

Merfolk live on the water by nature, while Asher stayed at the old estate to look after Emily Delgado in his elder brother's place.

So we hardly ever saw each other.

He looked at me, his voice tender and pained.

"Mari, why won't you go out to sea with me?"

"You weren't like this before. Is it because I've gone so long without my memory? Are you angry with me?"

There wasn't a single ripple in his eyes.

I didn't lift my head either.

Asher sighed and took my hand.

"Mari, you're sulking again, aren't you?"

"I don't want to put you through it either, but the shipping magnate's wife has to go out to sea sometime. Emily's health is poor, and she can't do without me. Mari, I need you."

"I may have lost my memory, but I know you'll always help me. Right?"

My mother once told me: the colder a human's heart, the better they perform.

My palm curled in his, but I didn't expose him. "I'm not going."

"Asher, I'm going to die."

His brow twitched, then he rose and pulled me tight against him.

"Mari, you're only sick."

"It's nothing more than prenatal depression. Once this voyage is over, I'll take you to Bayport to find the best therapist there is."

"But…" He let go of me. "Emily's condition is more serious. The doctor said she can't be exposed to the wind. And she's about to give birth."

I lowered my eyes to the cracked, chapped skin on my hands.

He remembered that Emily was delicate and precious, that she couldn't bear the wind and brine of the open sea.

Yet he had forgotten that I, too, was once the cherished, doted-on princess of the Merfolk Clan.

Three years ago, he was dragged to the bottom of the sea by the wind and waves.

It was I who hauled him along, swimming inch by inch to a deserted island,

who tended him without rest for half a month.

I still remember that in my most hopeless moment, he had run to me, his eyes full of light.

He said, Mari, marry me, and I swear I'll never let you suffer.

And now?

He remembered Emily's due date down to the day, but the handmade balm he had promised to make me had been forgotten without a second thought.

I once believed he was different from Bradley.

Only now did I understand.

Neither of them loved enough. That was all. So one could hand me off like an object,

and the other weighed and compared, back and forth.

"Asher."

"I told you, didn't I? In the Tideveil Sea, there's a legend that if a mermaid can't marry the first person she sees after coming ashore, she'll dissolve into foam."

He froze for a moment, then frowned.

"Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?"

"Mari, I know you want to get married. But I can't recall my love for you, so how can I marry you?"

He still thought I was pressuring him into a wedding.

So I gave up. "Fine. I understand."

"Mari. Don't be like this."

His voice dropped low, his expression grim.

"Emily just fell asleep. I don't want to fight with you. I swear, this is the last voyage. After this I'll never let you suffer again…"

Before he could finish, the sound of shattering glass came from upstairs.

His face changed, and he rushed up the stairs.

The assistant took me back to the ship, and I shut the door.

I burrowed under the covers and wrapped myself up tight.

Looking at my fingers, paler and more translucent by the moment, I gritted my teeth and tore out the sharpest scale from over my heart.

I touched my slightly rounded belly.

"I'm sorry. But Mommy can't be here to watch you grow up."

Blood slid down between my fingers, soaking through the bedding.

I'd lost too much blood, and the world kept fading to black in waves.

The baby they'd cut out of me lay against my side, pale and weak.

He couldn't even cry.

Before I could so much as touch him, Asher's assistant came again.

He didn't knock. He shoved the door open, sweat streaming down his face.

"The senior Mrs. Sanchez is having a difficult labor. The second young master says he needs your blood to keep her alive."

I said nothing. I only slid one hand out from under the heavy blankets.

The little blood I had left was drawn out of my body, and the cold made me shudder.

Something pained flickered through the assistant's eyes.

"The second young master says mermaid blood has powerful healing properties. She's hemorrhaging, barely clinging to life, and only you can save her. Don't worry, the blood-bird's nest tonic is already simmered. You'll get your strength back soon."

My eyes half closed, I nodded.

Years ago, when Asher took away my clansmen's bodies, he told me not to worry too.

For three years, every time I wanted to go and mourn them, I was stopped.

He said, don't worry, I'm here, going there will only break your heart and your health.

But I never imagined that the burial he spoke of meant sending them into a laboratory,

processed into life-sustaining blood packs to keep Emily Delgado alive.

And now, it was my turn too.

The blood was carried to the old estate, pack by pack.

My mind drifted further and further into the dark.

Faintly, I heard cheering beyond the door.

Emily's baby had been born without trouble. Mother and daughter both safe, plump and rosy.

While my baby lay in my arms, his organs not even fully formed.

My phone was buzzing. A video call from Emily.

She waved the baby's chubby hand at the camera.

"Mari, thank you."

"I really thought I was going to die. Thank goodness Asher said your blood could save me."

I stared at Asher beside her and didn't speak.

"Mari, don't be angry with Asher."

"He's too young, he still has his immature moments. The two of you found each other against the odds. Don't give up on him."

She exchanged a glance with Asher and smiled.

"Years ago, your eldest brother-in-law and I were the same. We'd have died for each other. I think the two of you are just the same."

Asher's face changed for an instant.

"She's not like you."

"Tonics poured into her like water, and she still let herself waste away into this dying state. Isn't it just to make me feel sorry for her?"

I looked at him.

"Do you know that you and her look just like a family of three?"

My voice was very faint, because I had no strength left.

But Asher reacted even less. "My brother's setting sail. I'm going to keep him company."

"Emily came to thank you, not to listen to your sarcasm."

All at once I felt how absurd I was.

Even now, I was still secretly envious that Emily could be loved that much.

While my own feelings were like a stone dropped into the deep sea.

No one there to catch me. I could only sink to the bottom without a sound.

"All right. Emily, you need to rest."

"Mari, you should rest too. Tell Cary Lambert if you need anything. Take care of yourself, don't hold up the voyage."

I'd heard those words countless times.

Asher was like the ocean. Generous with his hand, and yet stingy.

Tonics, jewelry, money. Whatever I asked for, he gave. But he never gave me love.

Even this child in my belly was an accident, conceived after he'd been drinking.

That night he murmured Emily's name,

and I thought he simply hadn't had enough, so I sat with him and opened several more bottles of fine wine.

The call ended. My gaze moved frame by frame, settling on the table piled with tonics and medicinal dishes.

I threw myself at the table and forced them down my throat, mouthful after mouthful.

But my stomach churned, bitter, sour bile rising up,

and I clutched the table and vomited until the floor was a mess, my throat burning raw.