The princess was singing her favorite song when suddenly she could hear another voice joining her own.
“Will the circle be unbroken? By and by, lord, by and by. There's a better home awaiting. In the sky, lord, in the sky.” Their voices harmonized.
The princess tried to keep her composure, but the song died in her throat as she looked around at where that voice that joined hers came from.
It was then that her eyes settled on a young teenage boy who looked to be her age, he was swimming in the garden waters and singing her song.
For a moment, the princess was confused at how a random boy with such an ethereal voice was swimming around in her garden out of nowhere until she noticed a long royal blue tail in the place of his legs and gills at his waist.
“A merman?”, The Princess said as the words popped of her mouth.
As if on cue, the boy paused his singing and faced towards her direction.
“Why yes, yes I am.”, Arthur said, smiling.
The young merman pulled himself out of the water and settled on a nearby rock, letting the scales of his tail shine in the sunlight. The princess’ eyes were wide and her mouth opened slightly, speechless as she saw the boy move his tail in ways no human could ever recreate in a costume. Her mind flashed back to when her mother told stories of a mermaid and a merman. Even without the fish tail, features about the boy attracted her as she looked at him.
Short blonde hair that matched with her's. Blue eyes giving off a mischievous glint. A lean body that was contrasted with a slender tail. She also noticed one small tooth was hanging from his mouth that gives a cocky smile. He was cute, she admitted to herself. But she looked down at the ground and frowned, knowing her father would never approve of a man like him.
She fell in love with boys before, but her desired mate would always be rejected by her father and removed them from the kingdom. This, along with her mother’s death, completely lead to her feeling isolated and alone. Her father's anger against his men made her afraid to ever be close to him again. Arthur looked at the princess’ expression and understood that she likely had her heart broken more than once.
“I see how frustrating it is to have a father like him. I saw him yelling at his men as I came here.”, Arthur spoke.
The princess’s face was filled with frustration. “I know, it’s awful! He’s so angry all the time since my mom died and now he wants to conquer a kingdom all of a sudden.” she ranted with years of childhood fury being let out. “I hate him! I hate him so much that I built this garden so I wouldn’t face him again!"
The princess looked at Arthur stepping down from the rock and blushed, realizing that she just vented to a creature that could easily just swim away to the ocean and never see her again, leading into another heartbreak. She covered her eyes in her hands and sobbed.
But instead of hearing splashes fading away into the distance, she heard splashing getting closer to her location until she felt the boy gently pulling her hands away, revealing his face to hers.
Feeling brave, Arthur kissed the princess’ cheeks and wiped her tears away. He continued kissing the princess all around her face, leading her to giggle as she tried in vain to push him away.
But in truth, she didn’t want him to stop. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, she found someone who was willing to appreciate her intimately and not judge her for being a princess. For the first time, she felt at peace with a boy she liked. Even if the boy was a bit arrogant, she felt he had every right to be.
Once the kissing was over, she looked at the boy that comforted her and looked at him with fascination between sniffles.
“What are you?”, she asked.
“I’m Arthur. Prince Arthur.”, the boy replied.
“Prince… Arthur…”, she repeated to herself, surprised at what she heard. She couldn’t believe she was with a prince, a merman prince, no less!
“What your name, princess?”, Arthur questioned, gently kissing the hand of the girl.
“I’m Samantha. Princess Samantha.”, she replied, smiling at her newfound lover.
“Samantha.” He repeated, seeing how it sounded with his voice. “I love it- It’s an honor to meet you, Samantha.” In the back of his mind, Damon was grinning, he heard of Samantha’s name before, but it felt so good to say it himself right in front of her.
“Arthur”, Samantha smiled to the merprince. “Thank you for being with me.”