Kazimir hit the water hard, kicking through the frigid chill; a breath of freedom filling him from head to toe as his toes began to shift, merging back into one, his tail reforming, his skin shimmering, his hair bleaching back to its glistening white as the blue of his eyes finally shifted and slid through dozens of colours once again.

His clothes lay abandoned on the beach, tucked in a quiet corner in the rocks, unseen, to be drawn away in the high tide. In his fist, he held a bundle of cloth. In the cloth was the necklace he'd stolen from the queen, he couldn't bear to let his skin touch the monstrous thing again.

The sun was a long way from rising and the sea was dark but it felt so, so good to be submerged in the water again.

It would be a while yet before anyone realised he was gone. Hell if he was lucky, he could get back, get Aeralie out and they could both be gone before the palace was really awake and aware that anything was amiss.

He was rushing things. He knew that, he could have waited, could have befriended Dalton properly. Could have charmed that ice-hearted queen. He could have worked to seduce the necklace right off her neck and make it so she didn't miss it but... Aeralie was stressed.

She wasn't speaking to him.

She hadn't since the day he'd told her he wouldn't help her reconfigure the emotions of whoever Dalton liked. She didn't understand his thinking. She couldn't see why it was wrong. He wasn't even sure why it was wrong. Why should he care?

But he did.

Some part of him told him not to touch the mystery girl if she ever turned up. And not let Aeralie touch her. But Aeralie wasn't like him. She was like other merfolk.

She wouldn't think much of removing a human.

So he'd rushed.

Going to that tavern had been his own mistake. He knew he'd find someone who could be of use to him there – the gossips of the royal guards told him that much but he should have planned it out better. He shouldn't have gone in there when he knew Cole and Perry were there.

Perry didn't matter so much, he knew the situation.

But Cole... Cole had no idea what was going on. Whenever it was discovered that the necklace was gone and Kazimir had vanished, he would put two and two together and figure out he had used that thief to get the necklace. If he found the thief, who knew how long it would take him to break passed the fuzz of the man's enchanted mind and drag the truth out of him?

What would he think? Well, who was he to judge? His entire was career was built on being a criminal but how would he react? What would happen to Aeralie if he spoke up?

Kazimir was putting a lot of faith in Perry to look out for her and keep those around her safe from her while he was away.

He shouldn't have antagonised Cole. He'd reacted automatically, to get him out of the way, he'd been busy and distracted and didn't have time for Cole's attentions but he should have behaved and not wound him up.

Cole had been weirdly angry as he'd walked out.

The Rip Tide Palace loomed out of the darkness and his heart soared with relief at the sight of it.

Diving down through the water, he veered sharply and raced through the entrance into the glittering halls.

"Mother!" he shouted, his voice echoing around him, probably shaking the sleeping sea creatures from their dreams.

Silence greeted him but only for a moment.

Light flared from one of the corridors and Icadora appeared at the end, staring down the hall at him like she couldn't believe her eyes.

Then she threw herself at him, racing down the hall and hurling her arms around him, hugging so tightly he choked.

"Thank goodness!" she cried, pulling him even closer. "Oh thank goodness, I was so scared!"

"I'm alright," Kazimir choked out, trying to break free from his mother's arms but she held on and in the end, he relented and let her hug him until she had convinced herself he was safe and well.

Finally, she let go and held him at arm's length, looking him up and down for any sign of damage before letting out a breath.

"You're alright?"

"I'm alright."

"Alright... alright." She let go of his arms and they swam through to one of the inner gardens. She snapped her fingers and lights bloomed to life, shooing the settled night from its rest.

"What happened?" she asked once they had taken seats.

Kazimir told her everything, from the second Aeralie had tried to get close to the warring ships to his short time in a fish tank, to meeting the queen, to learning about a talented thief and his manipulation of the man, retrieval of the Heart and his rush to the sea before anyone woke.

His mother looked exhausted by the end of it, her fingers touching her forehead.

"I... I can't... that girl..."

"Ignore that for now," Kazimir said quickly, "It doesn't matter now." He reached for the fold of fabric he'd set beside him and held it out. "We retrieved what you needed, how do I change Aeralie back?"

Icadora looked at the fabric for a moment, and suddenly pain bloomed across her face.

Pain. Relief. Indescribable sadness.

Kazimir stared at her; he'd never seen such expression before.

"Mo—" he started, about to reach for her but the emotions vanished and she reached forwards, taking the necklace.

"I searched for this for so long, to think it was in her necklace, I never even considered it," she muttered.

"It was pure luck that we found it," Kazimir said quickly.

"I never got that close to her, she always hated me."

"You knew the queen?"

"I knew her," Icadora muttered, her tone dark as she unwrapped the cloth.

The necklace draped out over her hand as the fabric fell away and the gasp of horror she took was so sharp Kazimir jumped.

His mother stared at the necklace, holding it at arm's length, fingers trembling.

"What? What?" Kazimir cried, reaching to pull the insulting necklace from her hand but she held it away from him.

"Don't touch it!" she screamed and he recoiled.

She wrapped it up in the cloth again and shoved it onto the table, withdrawing from it.

Kazimir stared. She hadn't even touched it and she had been able to feel all those disgusting emotions? All the colour had bled out of her face, she looked positively ill.

"What is it? Who does it belong to?" Kazimir asked, his voice tight as he watched her.

His mother continued to stare at the necklace, slowly shaking her head.

"It's... it's not the Heart."

Kazimir looked blankly at her for a moment. "What?"

"It's not the Heart I was looking for. It's not the one that's supposed to be up there."

"What?" Kazimir repeated, his eyes widened. "No... no."

He leant forwards, shoving the cloth back and pointing at the Heart.

"That has to be it! One Heart alone is bad enough! There can't be more!"

"It's not the one!" his mother snarled, shock making her harsh. "The one I was looking for was sapphire!"

"So what is this? The start of a collection?"

The mere idea seemed to shake Icadora to her core and Kazimir felt his own chill at the words, at the very idea.

If the king learnt about this...

He pressed a hand to his forehead, thinking.

"I need to go back up," he muttered.

"What?" his mother snapped, staring at him.

"I have to go back and see what's up there," Kazimir snapped back, looking at her, "What if this is bigger than you thought? What if there really is a collection or something?"

"We would know about a collection. How many merfolk do you think can lose their Hearts before rumours start?"

"Well something's going on up there."

"And I don't want you any more involved than you already are!"

"I'll be fine."

"Don't be ridiculous! You have no idea what you're dealing with!"

"And you do?!"

"YES!"

Kazimir stared at her and Icadora bit back her words, looking like she instantly wanted to swallow them.

"What's going on?" he demanded, leaning forwards, "What's happening?"

"I don't know."

"You just said you did!"

"I can only assume!"

"So tell me what you assume? What's going on? Mother!"

"Stop."

The calm stillness of her voice was far more chilling than her rage and Kazimir stopped, sitting back down quickly and watching her as she watched the Heart.

"I don't know exactly what is going on," she said gently, "if this all connects to... it started a long time ago, before your time. This Heart... it belongs to someone who..."

The pain that crushed his mother's voice made Kazimir rise but she held up a hand and he sat back again, watching her.

"The owner of this Heart is dead. The pain you sense while touching it... I can only imagine is the residual pain from the death and..."

Tears formed in his mother's eyes and Icadora pressed a hand to her face.

Kazimir ignored her when she told him to stay back and he quickly swam around the table and sat down beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. After a moment, Icadora turned into his chest and cried, the heartbroken sob wrenching at her entire body as she wrapped her arms around him for a moment and held on tight, like she was scared he'd slip away at any moment.

Kazimir hugged her tightly, dazed by this breakdown of a mermaid he'd never seen quake or crumble for anyone or anything.

Eventually, she gathered herself again and straightened, taking a deep breath, looking away.

"I do not want anything to happen to you," Icadora said slowly, her tone level, "I cannot bear to lose you. Finding the other Heart is not so important that you risk yourself. I will go back up there and deal with it. You and Aeralie will come home. Her father is already beside himself with her disappearance. I haven't dared tell him where she is, for her own sake as well as mine but if you refuse to come home, I will tell him and he will come get you himself."

"Mother, please don't threaten us," Kazimir said.

Icadora stilled, then stared at him, shocked.

"You know what Aeralie's like... or..." He backpedalled and corrected himself given all his mother really knew of her niece was what she'd heard from him and the brief meeting she'd had with Aeralie when she'd transformed her. "Look, Aeralie's basic personality is stubborn and she's not finished enjoying her time up there. The second she finds out that Heart is the wrong one; she'd going to stay. You can hardly just go transforming her back while she's on land in full view of everyone and she won't go near the sea."

Icadora made a sound of disgust. "Then you come home and leave her to her own devices."

"I'm not going to do that."

"Why!?"

Kazimir grimaced. "There's... someone up there..."

"Seas around, please don't tell me you've fallen in love with a human?!" his mother cried.

"What? No, seas no," he said, staring at her like she was demented. "I'm talking about a girl Dalton apparently liked."

"I don't understand," Icadora said, frowning at him.

"Apparently there is a girl the prince cares for," Kazimir said, moving back around the table to his seat.

"So?"

"So, a lot of people will be arriving at the palace soon, now that the queen has returned, and one of them might be Dalton's lady."

"And I still don't see what this has to do with anything."

"It's to do with the fact that I don't know what Aeralie will do to her is she turns up," Kazimir said.

Icadora looked blankly at him. "And... you care... why?" she asked, frowning, "Who cares about this random girl the prince may or may not care for?"

"I don't know what Aeralie will do to her," Kazimir pressed.

"So? I assume she'll either kill her, confuse her or get bored of the whole situation, what does it matter?"

"Wha... Mother, what if she really does kill her?"

Icadora looked blankly at him. "It's no different from bringing down ships, which you do all the time, why are you so concerned about this girl, who you've never met – who you don't even know exists, remember?"

"I know, I know, it's just..."

"So again, why should you car—"

Suddenly Icadora cut herself up and blinked, looking away.

"No, of course, of course that makes sense," she muttered to herself, rubbing her brow, stressed.

"So you see why I have to go back, she doesn't listen to anyone else," Kazimir stressed. "I need to look out for Aeralie and that girl and... I want to know what's going on with these Hearts."

He reached forward and wrapped the necklace back up in its cloth.

"Dalton is obsessed with mermaids," he said slowly, "His mother thinks him mad but he won't change his mind. Yes, he has reason to believe so strongly in them – Aeralie saved him – but, if you think about before he found me, he was still unwaveringly convinced that merfolk existed. Watching him over the years, from what I know, he never once succumbed to the idea that maybe he imagined something. He was a child drowning in a storm, any hallucination could explain what he thought he saw and he should have come to terms with that years ago but no, he doggedly clung to the idea of mermaids. He has two younger siblings and, no doubt about it; they share some of his obsession. They correctly identified me and Aeralie as merfolk within seconds of seeing us."

His mother looked up, startled by that.

"I don't know what's going on up there," Kazimir continued, "But there is something. Before he met me, Dalton was too convinced of our existence. Something fuelled that belief, let me find out what."

His mother was quiet, looking down at the wrapped-up necklace.

"You may not like it," she muttered.

"What?"

"If you do discover what's going on... you may not like it."

Kazimir was quiet for a moment then looked away. "I know," he said, "I almost certainly won't."

~~~

Next Up: Monday

Art By: http://sakimichan.deviantart.com/