Mermaid_ A Twist on the Classic Tale - Carolyn Turgeon [78]
IT WAS PRINCESS KATRINA who approached Lenia that evening in the queen’s outer chambers, after Lenia had spent over an hour trying to calm the prince, who insisted he would have no part in his father’s plan.
“As my father said, she is the princess from the North,” Katrina said. “They have arranged some sort of deal, to bring peace. And now my brother will be forced into this marriage.” She spoke in a matter-of-fact fashion, as if Lenia’s heart were not breaking in her chest. “You are crying! Why are you crying? Oh, sweetheart. Did you want to marry him? Even without this peace treaty, my brother could not marry you. He is a prince. He cannot choose his own wife.”
Katrina sighed, then turned back to her ladies-in-waiting. “I would like never to marry, of course. I would like to play the vielle and write poems, and I would quite like to live like one of these court troubadours. Wouldn’t that be lovely? Not be forced into some marriage to help the kingdom, as my brother will be. Most likely, though, I will be married off within the year.”
“If we can find a man to have you,” the queen said, making everyone laugh.
Everyone except Lenia, who sat stunned, watching her own tears falling on the crude embroidery in her hands.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The Princess
MARGRETHE WOKE UP SLOWLY, TO THE FEEL OF A SEA breeze moving across her, dusting her with tiny, sparkling grains of salt. She’d dreamed all night of the sea. The mermaid’s hand in hers, the two of them swimming together, gliding through the water like birds, deeper and deeper into the ocean, their arms spread on either side of them. She could feel the hard skin of the mermaid’s hand, like soft metal, in her own. Somehow she knew that they were going somewhere spectacular, mysterious, as wonderful as the visions that the old nuns saw when they trembled with love. And the water turned to clouds, to stars, and the mermaid turned into her mother, leading her up … until she could no longer see, the light was so bright, the love moving through her.
She sat up, her heart sinking in her chest. Edele was awake, sitting by the window, staring out. Behind her, the sky was a dying smoky blue.
“You were dreaming,” Edele said, turning to Margrethe.
“Yes.” Slowly, Margrethe rose from the bed, her shift dropping in folds around her, and joined her friend by the window. “Edele, do you think I made a terrible mistake?”
Edele turned to her. “No,” she said. “I think you’ve done the right thing. But anything could happen to us. I knew that, coming with you. The prince must not realize who you are, that he has met you before. And he was caught off guard. I mean, look how his father just humiliated him.”
Margrethe nodded. “You saw?”
“Yes, I was seated with the princess’s ladies. I thought you saw me.”
“I could barely see anything, I was so frightened.”
For a moment they were both silent, staring out at the beach from the tower, the guards stationed at the shore, the small boats rocking back and forth. Avoiding talking about the topic on both women’s minds: the prince’s lover. Astrid, they had called her.
“What did you dream about?” Edele asked, her voice falsely bright. “Tell me.” She put her hand on Margrethe’s, and Margrethe started, surprised, then relaxed into the gesture.
“Nothing, just silliness,” she said, shaking her head. “I was swimming with a mermaid.”
“A mermaid!”
“Yes.” Margrethe smiled. “She was showing me all kinds of wonderful things, secret things in the ocean.”
Edele sighed. “I wish I could dream about such fantasies. You looked so happy. In my dreams, I find a bit of thread or an earring I thought I’d lost. It is quite a letdown when I wake up.”
Margrethe smiled. “It was nice being somewhere else. People don’t like that we’re here, Edele. He doesn’t like that we’re here. I don’t know if this will work, if I’ve put us both in grave danger for nothing. Prince Christopher … He didn’t even look at me. It has been so little time, really, since I was with him, and already he loves someone else.”
“He was upset at his father, Margrethe, not you. He