“The prince had no memory of the first time he drowned. The salt numbed his mind. But the second time, it stung. Every breath brought a thousand barbs, slicing his flesh to ribbons without spilling a drop of blood. His lungs screamed as never before—voiceless.
What makes a man choose to drown? A great many things, the prince was sure. But for him, it was two eyes more vivid than the sky. Her eyes, her hair, her tail of vibrant blue.”
After a shipwreck claims the life of his sister, a human prince cannot forget the face of the mermaid who rescued him. Desperate to find his sapphire beauty, the prince makes a bargain with an earth witch to become Mer himself—for a price. Not fully Mer, the prince struggles to balance the new underwater world and what remains of his humanity. He is unable to communicate at first, but he meets a mermaid who can read and write. Though she hides her own secrets and mocks him for his infatuation, she agrees to teach the prince their sign language. In exchange, he teaches her about the human world. The prince has one year to win the heart of his rescuer–or turn to sea foam. With a crucial memory stolen by the witch, resurging trauma could drown both prince and teacher.