“Surrender,” Phillip commanded, holding his sword so the pirate couldn’t move.
Jameston glowered at him for a long moment. Then, as fast as lightning, he lunged toward Norah. But instead of reclaiming his prize, he met the end of Phillip’s sword.
Chapter 19
Home
Norah clung to Phillip’s arm as the Maricantans rounded up the pirates who had survived the battle, but there weren’t many. Even the infamous Willamina had fallen, though, according to the Maricantan soldiers, she had been incredibly difficult to bring down.
“Well, that was exciting,” said the man who had transformed from what could only have been a merman into a human. Norah hadn’t been able to place him at first, but when he stood next to Prince Lucas, she gasped.
“You’re King Michaelangelo!” she exclaimed. Which only made sense. Everyone had heard of how Prince Lucas’ older brother, the Maricantan crown prince, had recently married the mermaid princess. Now they were Queen Arianna, the prophesied Sea Crown, and King Michaelangelo, the Sun Crown. The tale of the prophecy fulfilled by true love had enchanted even the bitterest of jilted lovers in TiFiore. Norah should have recognized his ability to transform between a human and a merman immediately. He was just so much… younger than she had expected him to be. Not much older than Phillip.
“Please call me Michael,” the king said, grinning at hisyounger brother. They shared the same dark curly hair and olive skin. “And though it’s probably not the most genial of circumstances in which to say it, congratulations on your nuptials.” He looked expectantly back at Phillip. “So, it seems her gift worked after all.”
“It does,” Phillip said, pulling Norah more tightly against him.
“Wait.” She shook her head and pushed away just enough to meet his gaze. “I don’t understand. How are you… alive?” Her heart beat faster as she remembered with frightening clarity the way Jameston had delivered what could only have been a killing blow. “Jameston was right. My power can heal, but it can’t bring people back from the dead.”
“He was almost dead,” Michael pointed out. “Our contingent of mermen had been swimming below, waiting for his signal, when he fell in. All we did was remove his chains and lift him back up to the surface, where he could breathe.”
“I wasn’t dead when they dropped me overboard,” Phillip said, his eyes on Norah’s. “I was dying.” He shrugged. “Whatever you did, you healed me before I was completely gone.”
“As much as I want to hear the rest of this story,” Lucas said, looking out at the Ashlandian ships, which were much closer than they had been before, “I think we need to wrap up whatever this party is. Then meet back at the palace?”
Norah, who never wanted to set foot on a ship again, was only too happy to agree.
Lucas hadn’t been exaggerating when he said that the Maricantan ships were in a bad way. The single ship that they had sailed out in to meet the Ashlandians’ fleet looked ready to sink.
The Ashlandian ships, on the other hand, were by far the most magnificent Norah had ever seen. And by the time theadmiral joined Norah and the others, they had already so thoroughly destroyed the pirates’ armada that most of the pirates who had survived the attacks were pleading for capture so as not to sink with their ships.
Norah wanted nothing more than to return to the palace with Phillip immediately. But as Phillip had regained his ability to speak, he was needed, of course, to talk with the other men about what was to be done with the pirates, as well as whether they should search the city for any that had hidden or escaped. So Norah reluctantly resigned herself to sitting on a stool and waiting for their problem-solving to end. Much to her relief, however, before too long, Phillip turned to her and held out his hand. “Ready to go home?”
Home.
How good that sounded.
“But aren’t you needed here?” she asked.
“Technically, none of these ships or men are mine, so I’m free at the moment. We’ll talk more when we’re all back at the palace.”
One of the Ashlandian sailors rowed them back to shore in a rowboat, where Sir Oliver and soldiers from the palace were waiting with horses to escort them home.
Freya burst into tears when they entered through the gate, and she cried even harder when Phillip assured her that they were fine in his deep, musical voice.
And while Norah was aware that both the city and the palace would need time to get in order after such a disturbance, she knew for the first time in a long time that in time, everything would indeed be well.
Chapter 20
Spark
As promised, both Maricantan brothers and the Ashlandian admiral met them back at the palace that evening. And while it hadn’t been planned, Michael suggested that they hold Phillip’s official coronation ceremony at the same time.
“We’re all here to act as witnesses,” he said. “Considering how long it’s been since TiFiore had a ruling monarch, our presence would provide credence for anyone who might try to object or question Phillip’s claim to the throne.”
Everyone agreed that this was a wise decision, so for the second time that day, the back garden was filled with as many stools, benches, and chairs as could be found in the castle, and all the nobility was invited to an immediate attendance. Most, to Norah’s surprise, came, though Freya said smugly that this was because they had all been vastly curious about the prince’s whereabouts, and that none of them wished to be left out of local gossip.
Whatever the reason, Phillip was crowned king before his allies and his court in his torn military uniform, and Norah was crowned queen beside him, though she was allowed to change.
