Arthur couldn’t help but smile. His plan worked, he had just wooed a human princess!
Granted, he was doing it to try and spite a being that threatened his father’s kingdom, but that didn’t seem to matter now. Now all that was left to do was to get her out of this castle and go back to his parents and talk to them about the king.
The merprince didn’t want to come off as pushy, but he felt the time was running out.
“Well, I think the path forward is clear,” Arthur said, smiling softly to Samantha, “Two royals meet, taken by one another… would it not be more beautiful still to come to my home, a human princess and a merman prince together in one kingdom?”
Samantha frowned a little as she looked at her feet. “Oh, I’d love to come with you to your kingdom. But how would I live underwater?”, she asked.
“Growing up, my great-aunt taught me many magic spells, one of them being a transformation spell.”, Arthur replied.
“Really?”, she questioned.
Arthur muttered something under his breath. When he finished Samantha started to faintly glow. The princess felt a warm feeling move throughout her body and quickly lost her balance. Luckily, Arthur grabbed her before she could fall hard to the ground.
“Oh dear, what is….?”, she said as she looked down at her body.
Her legs started to shift, starting with her legs locking together at the heels. Samantha watched with curiosity as her feet flattened and joined together, and the merging of her ankles started to extend up her calves. As her legs pressed into each other, little red scales appeared one by one, slowly at first, then picking up in pace as they swept over her skin. Her feet had completely transformed into two large, caudal tailfins, and her knees had disappeared completely as her thighs finished merging to form one, thick, uniform limb.
The scales enveloped the princess’ whole lower body, glittering in the sunlight like little rubies, and they merged seamlessly with the skin of her upper body. Her dressed dissolved completely, leaving her midriff completely bare, but two seashells covered her breasts, even as her bosom seemed to gain heft.
Slits formed along the sides of her torso, only just barely visible after they finished appearing, but they were clearly gills that allowed her to breathe underwater, which worked alongside her lungs to deliver oxygen to her blood.
Samantha’s eyes widened at what became of her lower body. She flopped her tail against the grass and couldn’t feel her knees at all. When she tried to wiggle her toes, her tail fins only flapped instead. She could only smile as she felt a long lost child-like excitement filled her body.
“I’m a mermaid… I’m a real mermaid!”, Samantha said as her voice wavered.
Arthur could see water forming on her eyes, she must’ve really wanted to leave the castle for a long time after living with such a terrible father all her life.
The new merprincess hugged Arthur and cried tears of joy in his arms.
“Thank you, Arthur. Thank you!”, she said to her prince.
Arthur returned the hug and stroked her ruby red scales, “You’re welcome, Samantha.”
The merprince looked to the left and noticed a wide-eyed Guard Chief looking at him. Arthur looked back at the Guard Chief and smugly grinned at him. Arthur knew the Guard Chief wouldn’t dare send his guards against The King’s own daughter, especially in such a vulnerable position as a mermaid above the surface.
Samantha looked at what Arthur was glaring at and noticed the shocked Guard Chief, who seemed speechless at the princess being a mermaid right next to a merman who he had no idea even entered the castle in the first place.
Arthur turned to The Merprincess, “Let’s get out of here.”
Samantha nodded and the mercouple quickly jumped below the water.
The Royal Guard ran towards the garden’s waters “W-wait! Princess Samantha! Don’t go!”
But it was too late, the last thing he saw of Samantha was her red tailfins leaving splashes across the water and back to the water stream.
Neither Arthur or Samantha cared that they were making noise to the guard’s training room or The King’s throne. All that mattered to the two now was escaping this place and getting to Arthur's home. Without any worry of being quiet, the two merfolk quickly dashed through the entire kingdom’s water stream and into the open ocean.
“I’m free! I’m free!”, Samantha yelled as she swam out to the open ocean with Arthur.