Mer-Queen Serapha has been murdered. The already fragile human-merfolk truce is shattered. And as Angie and Kaden find themselves on opposite sides of a rapidly escalating conflict, their loyalties to their families, their people, and each other will be tested.
When news of the merfolk become widespread in Angie’s Pacific Northwest town, she fights to protect the mer from those who wish them harm. But as vicious seas consume coastal cities and tragedy strikes her town and family, she must decide whether to save her family and people, or her relationship with Kaden and the mer.
In Mer-Prince Kaden’s queendom, an unlikely family member takes the throne, sowing dissent among the fractured queendom and further straining their deteriorating relationship with humans. Branded a traitor for loving a human, he must make choose between plunging the mer into all-out war, or fighting for the throne to unite his people, but leave Angie behind, as he can never take a human queen.
If Angie and Kaden cannot bring peace between their people, they’ll find their truce shattered beyond repair, and the sea-crossed lovers will find themselves separated forever.
Unless the mer drown the world in their rage and sorrow, first
Mer-Queen Serapha has been murdered. The already fragile human-merfolk truce is shattered. And as Angie and Kaden find themselves on opposite sides of a rapidly escalating conflict, their loyalties to their families, their people, and each other will be tested.
When news of the merfolk become widespread in Angie’s Pacific Northwest town, she fights to protect the mer from those who wish them harm. But as vicious seas consume coastal cities and tragedy strikes her town and family, she must decide whether to save her family and people, or her relationship with Kaden and the mer.
In Mer-Prince Kaden’s queendom, an unlikely family member takes the throne, sowing dissent among the fractured queendom and further straining their deteriorating relationship with humans. Branded a traitor for loving a human, he must make choose between plunging the mer into all-out war, or fighting for the throne to unite his people, but leave Angie behind, as he can never take a human queen.
If Angie and Kaden cannot bring peace between their people, they’ll find their truce shattered beyond repair, and the sea-crossed lovers will find themselves separated forever.
Unless the mer drown the world in their rage and sorrow, first
Angie kicked her apartment door shut when her phone blasted her C-pop ringtone, and she dug around in her jacket pocket to retrieve it.
The last thing she felt like doing was having a phone conversation after a long day of classes, but she peeked at the caller anyway.
Stefan Bien’s name flashed, a friend of her and her family who co-owned Creston’s local diving shop with his husband, Ken. His profile picture, of him and Ken wearing silly grins on their faces while on their recent vacation in Iceland, covered her phone screen.
She loved hearing from him and if there was anyone who could spike her energy levels with casual conversation, it was him. Lighting up, without missing a beat, she swiped to answer the call.
“Hi, Stefan!” She kicked her sneakers off. “How’s everything up north?”
“Good, good. I’m at the docks with your dad. Thought I’d catch up with you for a bit until he gets back from whatever boss business he has going on.” Stefan’s smooth voice filtered through her phone speaker, as clear as if he were in front of her, and then it went distant as he called out a greeting to whoever was passing by. “He asked me to come and restock a few oxygen, heliox, and nitrox tanks, but you know, he got called away.” His next breath hitched. “Your name came up, and it reminded me I hadn’t heard from you much since you went back to school.”
Angie gave Stefan her full attention while he gave her an update on the daily happenings at the docks. All had been quiet with the mer, he told her, and they hadn’t interacted much with the humans since she came back to school last fall.
She hung her jacket on the coat rack across from the door and slid her indoor slippers on. They were violet and comfortable and made of memory foam, but she missed her fuzzy bunny slippers from home. Angie made her way down the short hallway to her living room. Compared to her Creston home, her studio apartment felt like a closet, but it was homey enough. It was decorated with photos of her family, whom she had visited prior to the start of this semester, and with portraits of the sea and underwater shots.
Her cat, Lulu, awoke from the couch and opened her tiny jaws to unleash a meow belying her small stature. She jumped off, stretched, and bolted to Angie to curl herself around her ankles, rubbing her cheeks and forehead on her.
On the other end, Stefan mentioned a group of them at the docks, him and Ken included, were going out to dinner with Bàba, Mia, and her two kids when the day was over.
A pang twisted Angie’s heart. Undoubtedly, she was excited to be in Seattle, chasing her dreams, but she missed the closeness and camaraderie back in Creston. Here in the city, it was much busier, and there was a deluge of events and opportunities to meet new people. It was exciting and there were endless options for food and recreation, yet it lacked the cozy, familiar feel of her small hometown.
She updated him on school and her and Kaden when he was done, finishing with inquiring, “Business back to normal?”
“Oh yeah.” Stefan’s voice sounded far away, his words followed by loud clinking and clanging—from moving oxygen tanks around, she assumed. “People–”
Then Lulu bolted toward Angie’s bedroom and a rattling and rolling noise emerged.
“Gāisǐ, what is she doing in there?”
“You alright?”
She hadn’t meant to say that aloud. “Sorry, hold on a minute.”
Angie walked to her room, and her eyes widened. Her cat was sitting on the hardwood floor, pawing at a small glass flute, rolling it around, tail sweeping back and forth behind her.
“Oh no, don’t touch that, girl.”
Lulu mewed and ran when Angie rushed to pick up the flute.
“What trouble did she get up to now?” Stefan chuckled.
“It’s a seaflute Kaden crafted for me last year. so we could talk when we’re apart.”
“A seaflute? What, he made a magic flute that works across land and sea?” Stefan sucked in a breath.
“Yeah, he spent half a year studying under a master crafter to create and imbue it with mer magic, and another half a year gathering the materials.”
The cat must have knocked it off her nightstand. Made of clear glass with her name etched in it, the overhead light winked off it, creating a prism flashing before her eyes. She only had to use her finger to swipe his name in Renyuhua across it, he had told her, and when she spoke into it, the soundwaves would carry across land and sea to reach him.
So mer did use echolocation. She grinned, remembering when they first met and he took a jab at her, asking if she thought mer communicated with echolocation like whales.
“That sounds incredible. You’ll have to show me next time we see each other,” Stefan said.
“For sure.” Angie secured the seaflute in her nightstand drawer and made sure it was closed tight. When she meandered to her living room, Lulu sat by her food and water bowl, butt plunked down on the ground. Her unblinking eyes seared through Angie’s forehead. “So, what were you saying about business?”
“It’s great. People love to dive and look for merfolk.”
Angie froze at the entryway to her small kitchen. “Wait, what? You’re making that into a business? The mer have been staying away from people for a reason! We still don’t have a great relationship with them.”
“I know, Ken and I, and the volunteers give them strict rules to follow. Like they’re not expected to see mer, and they are never to touch, try to feed them, or take photos. We take tiny groups, and if anyone tries anything, they’re escorted back to the surface, and we ban them from coming back out with us.” His explanation came out quick and smooth like he was giving the spiel to his tour groups. A shudder rippled through his voice.
Angie grunted. She loved Stefan and Ken like her young-at-heart second fathers, but unease filled her. “Tough show, huh?” she finally said. “But I get it.” Her voice lowered a pitch as she swiped a can of wet food from her cabinet full of Lulu’s food and snacks.
Lulu was still staring at her when she left the kitchen. Another meow.
“Well, we want to stay on the mer’s good side. They already believe humans don’t respect other species, and you know what, they’re not entirely wrong. We’d like to maintain their trust.” A rustle from his end. “I gotta go.” His tone grew lower, more hurried. “There’s a group of divers going out nobody authorized. I’ll call you back.”
She had hardly finished saying ‘okay’ when her phone beeped, indicating he’d ended the call.
He never called her back and when Angie dialed him again several minutes later, he didn’t pick up.
Something was off and her body thrummed with dread as she dumped a chunky chicken and whitefish meal for Lulu into her food bowl. The cat dug in and Angie took the opportunity to leave the apartment while her cat was distracted.
Her next two texts to Stefan went unanswered, and with her stomach tied into knots, Angie silenced her phone or else she would check it every few minutes to see if he responded.
She forced herself to go to bed early for classes the next day.
Sleep never came.
***
Her professor’s words couldn’t come at a better time the next day. “Class dismissed!”
Angie hoisted her backpack over her shoulders and left biogeochemistry. She groaned at the weight thanks to the brand-new, chunky, gaming laptop that Bàba and Mia, her older sister, bought for her before she left for school.
Thank the ancestors because the sooner she got out of here the sooner she could meet Kaden this evening.
Stefan still hadn’t gotten back to her, and she fidgeted with her phone, as if it would make him respond.
The entire class, her mind didn’t stop comparing what she was learning to what she’d seen last year exploring with Kaden underwater. He had taken up residence in the Central Pacific Queendom, where his maternal aunt, Cassia, ruled. He was an advisor to them, while his mother, Mer-Queen Serapha, remained at their queendom in the Bering Sea.
Thankfully, since the truce the humans and mer made that day on the docks, they lived in relative peace. At least, last she heard from regular conversations with her friends and family back home.
Two years had passed since and Angie was in her second year of Pacific Grove University’s Marine Biology PhD program.
A dull shiver ran down her spine at the alternative—not surviving the war.
Finally, she was free for the weekend. That was, as free as she could be with two papers addressing plastic and trash pollution in the sea, brainstorming for her dissertation, and studying for the ichthyology midterm at the end of next week. Ghostly hands squeezed her temples at the work lying ahead.
No, she banished the thought of researching from her mind. She vowed to enjoy the evening swimming with Kaden. Her heart raced. Or they would do more than simply swim. A flash of heat formed at her core, radiating to her thighs.
“Angie, wait up! God, what’s the rush?”
“Dying to get back.” She took a deep breath to calm her quickening heart. The voice came from her friend and classmate, Reesa Park, and with her was the other person in their tiny friend group, Leo Alvarez.
“Yeah, same. Hey, how’s it going with, what’s that company’s name you’re trying to collab with?” Leo asked Angie.
“Bio-nauti-klean. They want to interview me next week.” A tiny smile tugged at a corner of her lips as she thought of the Port Angeles based company, which was devising a machine to clean up tons of trash from the sea without harming sea life. An absent peek at her phone showed there were two hours left before she’d see Kaden and a dreamy smile spread from cheek to cheek.
“Awesome, good luck! And—” Leo’s deep brown irises twinkled. “—Judging by that look on your face, you’re thinking of someone special?” he asked with a knowing grin. “’Cause that’s the exact smile I get when I see Sandra. Or so she tells me.” He fanned out his tapered fingers, glancing at his thick wedding band.
“You two are adorable.” Reesa rolled her eyes with a grin and smoothed out her platinum-streaked, raven hair.
Angie hedged at mentioning Kaden. She kept him a secret. Though they were her friends, they were also marine biology students. Given how her family and villagers had reacted to the mer presence in Alaska, she wasn’t sure what would happen if her cohort got hold of a merman. Especially one as striking and gentle as Kaden.
As far as she knew, the knowledge of the mers’ existence gradually spread, at least, throughout the lower forty-eight and Canada after their last war, thanks to social media. The mer still kept to themselves, and outside of scattered sightings here and there, the majority of people had not seen one in the wild.
“There’s someone, but he doesn’t go to our school,” she replied quickly. Fortunately, they didn’t press her to continue. “Where are you two headed?”
They stepped out of the building where their classes were held. Western Washington’s gentle breeze stroked the bridge of her nose and cheeks, and Angie squinted from the sun’s bright glare filtering through wispy clouds. It was a beautiful January day, the cold weather reminding her of Alaskan autumns. Naked trees, some dotted with buds, loomed tall and majestic over their heads.
“C’mon, I’m starving. Thinking we can get some food.” Leo’s cheery voice broke into her thoughts.
“Yes please! I got an hour, and then I gotta go to physical therapy,” Reesa added.
“How’s your ankle?” Angie motioned to Reesa’s right leg, which was fractured from soccer practice four months ago.
“Better. But it needs to be stronger. Hurts when I stand on it too long.” Reesa looked at her foot and gave it a cautious wiggle. “You keeping my knee scooter safe? Thanks for taking it off my hands. My place has way too much stuff.”
“You got it. I moved it to my building’s basement the day after you gave it to me. Last I saw, it was still there,” Angie replied.
“Okay, good. Ugh, I miss that thing sometimes. I got around so much faster with it. All-terrain wheels are the best,” Reesa said with a wistful sigh. “So, dinner. Korean food sound good? Suddenly in the mood for a nice hot bowl of bibimbap and soju. It was a long-ass day.”
Angie’s stomach growled. Toppokki—spicy Korean rice cakes—with ramen, fish cakes, and an egg sounded like a perfect dinner.
She blanched. As much as she loved fish, the war with the mer had turned her off seafood for good.
Korean tofu soup with mushrooms and noodles it was then. And a shot of Reesa’s soju.
***
After dinner, Angie changed into a bohemian-printed tankini, lounge pants, a jacket, and long-sleeved shirt, and headed down to the shore. She gazed out to the seascape of the vast ocean before her overlooking Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. Western Washington’s beauty never ceased to amaze her.
Angie cast her gaze up shore to search for Kaden, but the Mer-prince was nowhere to be found. Her foot nudged a silky petal and she glanced down.
Partially buried beneath the sand rested a bouquet of seaside flowers. It had become their custom over the past year. Where he would leave a message, and, sometimes, a gift at shore to let her know he was there—an oddly shaped seashell, a formation of rocks or seaweed only she knew the meaning of. And occasionally, she would bring him something in return: tiny glass sculptures, a snow globe, or food.
One side of her lips turned upward into a half-smile, and she gathered them in her hands, gently sliding it out of the sand.
Blooms of violet geranium palmatum, yellow-horned poppies, sea breeze, sea campion, and sea lavender filled her hands, reflecting a rainbow of dazzling colors, bright and shimmering beneath clear skies and the fading sunglow.
“Oh, Kaden. Full of surprises, aren’t you?”
A balled-up plastic bag with the blocky print words Thank you for coming! It rolled out from the bouquet and she stared, agape.
Droplets of cool seawater splashed onto her shoes and she lit up at the sight of Kaden, leaning on his forearms in the shallow surf, his tail curled and prepared to flick another stream of water at her. He flashed her a wide smile, teeth glinting perfectly white and amber eyes aglow.
He was nestled in the waves, their foamy peaks brushing against his chest and neck.
“Do you like them?” He motioned to the flowers in her hands.
She used one hand to base herself as she sat, crossing her legs and laying the bouquet on her lap. “It’s gorgeous.” Her heart stuttered, and she licked her lips as a cascade of warmth overtook her body. “How did you find all these?”
“You can find anything if you look hard enough.” He grinned. “I kept looking along the coast. Picked the ones closest to sea level.”
She held up the plastic bag. “And thanks for this, too.” A sharp pang zinged through her nerves, her heart heavy. How many of these bags still floated in the sea? Tons, most likely. She stuffed it into her pocket to recycle when she got home. This was her project, damn it, she intended to find a way to clean up.
His narrow waist and glimmering, maroon tail came into view as he moved partially ashore, and he flipped the end upward, long caudal fins draping over the streamlined middle. He leaned in and kissed her nose, the mild salt on his warm breath brushing her mouth. “Take a dive with me? I heard you need more Vitamin Sea.”
“Vitamin Sea?” Angie sat back and dropped her hands on her lap, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “You come up with that all by yourself?”
“Mmm.” Kaden quirked his nose and lips. He leaned forward on his arms, his eyes glittering beneath the sunlight. The coy look he knew she couldn’t refuse. “You going to make me swim alone?”
“You’re not alone. There’s plenty of mermaids in the water.”
“I’d rather swim with you.”
Angie reached for the flowers, wanting to keep them in her apartment, but Kaden’s fingertips on her wrist distracted her.
“Don’t make me wait too long,” he whispered.
He let his hand fall to her waist, sliding it to the top of her thigh. She leaned in closer, and when he moved to kiss her, she pulled out of his reach. Kaden’s shoulders sagged.
Angie bit her lower lip and tied her hair back in a tight bun. When she was done, she left her jacket in a heap on the sand, shivering when the cool, evening air brushed her skin. Kaden’s eyes widened with a flash of reverence.
“Ready,” she said.
He flashed her a shark-like smile, his gaze traveling from her head to the tips of her toes. “Stunning,” he said with a hushed breath. “Now let me give you breath quickly before the urge strikes to take you entirely.”
Angie leaned close. “When we have some privacy, I’d like that very, very much.” He breathed deeply into her, and with a quick tug on her arm, she followed him beneath the Salish Sea.
Thoughts of the first time feeling and seeing as the mer returned to her. She recalled the amazement and wonder from the first time she went undersea with the mer magic, despite seeing waters nearly devoid of life. Then, the first time she kissed Kaden. Seeing him in his home, lit by sunbeams filtering through the liquid surface, his beauty incandescent.
The scales on his tail brushed her bare legs and he wrapped one arm around her waist, holding her close. “Careful.” He motioned to something beneath them.
A mottled, gray, big skate glided over the sand underneath, their spiny back inches from her stomach. She gasped at their six-foot length, their fins flapping as they moved along.
“Learn anything fascinating that I can show you?” he piped up.
“Hmm.” Angie thought back to today’s class. “Well, we reviewed factors that determine Earth’s currents, and the role of oceans in regulating the climate.”
“No mention of mer controlling the currents, huh?” He snickered and Angie reached over to playfully flick his wrist.
“Hah, nope.” She lowered her head to allow a school of large-headed, grunt sculpins to glide overhead. “Had Korean food for lunch with my friends.”
“What’s Korean food?” Kaden tugged on her hand, guiding her around a tall rock face covered in corals. “I don’t think we’ve had that before.”
“You’d like it. They have great vegetarian options. I’ll get takeout for us next time.” Her mind swirled with what he might like. Tofu? Mixed vegetables? Plain rice or noodles? Maybe she could get them without sauce, since he preferred his food at best, lightly flavored.
“I’ll give it a try.”
Angie marveled at the sights around her as they traveled deeper, moving past a school of long, lissome sablefish, who scattered when they approached. “And how about you? Had a good, uh, tidesday down here in the deep?”
“It’s always busy here,” Kaden replied. “Spent most of the tidesday checking on our reefs’ and kelp forests’ health, oversaw a burial ceremony, stayed with Queen Cassia and King Varin while they listened to our people’s grievances, and then it was time to meet you.”
Angie grinned.
Two plastic bags drifted by her head, and she quickly took notes, scribbling on her dive slate. A cigarette butt brushed past her forearm, tickling it, and she wrote that down too.
“Ugh. Trash pollution is horrible everywhere,” she commented, slipping her hand back into Kaden’s, unable to fully entwine their fingers because of the webbing from the base of his fingers halfway up to his first knuckle.
“It is. I respect that you are taking steps to address it, though,” Kaden replied. “You said this was to prepare you for your final project?”
“Yup, my thesis. I hope you don’t mind me researching while I’m with you.”
He cast a side-eye at her and shook his head with a partway smile, his expression speaking ‘of course not’. “You know I would support whatever you undertake.”
“I appreciate you. I really want to support and invest in a few companies devising machines that will help clean out tons of trash at a time without harming sea life.” Her heart thumped with excitement at undertaking her passion project.
“Same here, but you knew that already.”
She let out a happy laugh when Kaden gave her a quick twirl, spinning her like they were two ballroom dancers on the seafloor, stirring up rocks and sand.
Beside her, a sapphire wolf eel poked their head out of their cavern to investigate the commotion, likely thinking fish were near. Kaden’s eyes met with the eel, and appearing bored, the eel slunk back into their hiding place.
She was the luckiest woman to see rare sea life so close. To be able to call Kaden hers. And to finally be where she wanted, after the summer she spent fighting for her life, and her love for him.
The ocean now spanned inky black around them, shrouding the world in mystery. And the glow of the queendom came into view. Smaller than the Northern Pacific Queendom in Alaska, but no less majestic. Open-sea with enclosed emerald rooms on top of each tiny spire—it looked to her like a thousand fingers resting atop a circular pavilion. The entire palace rested on a gargantuan, flat rock bed; its entrance was a hallway that seemingly stretched for a mile. Colorful coral gardens surrounded the palace on all sides.
She knew from Kaden that there was one more queendom in the Pacific Ocean, in the vicinity of Southern California and Hawai’i. What would that queendom be like compared to the two she’d already been to?
Mer darted in and out, a dazzling array of lavender and emerald and golden tails. Most paused briefly to give a bow or a nod to Kaden and Angie when they passed. “Where are we going?” she asked after the palace was far behind them.
“I think you’ll like this. I discovered something another hundred fathomspans lower. You’ll see.” Kaden spoke in a hushed, excitable tone, and she gave him her rapt attention.
The dark weighed heavy on her and she squeezed Kaden’s hand tighter. Dull green kelp and eelgrass blades tickled her thighs and stomach, and she flinched. Kaden must have felt her slight lurch and he tugged her an inch upward.
“They can be a bit much if you’re not used to the sensation,” he remarked as soon as they were safely above the grass beds. “Now look down.”
Angie did.
Any tension her body harbored left and her gaze fixed on the lights below. She could hardly breathe or blink, wanting to take all of it in, commit everything to memory—the beauty of this moment. Bioluminescent corals, sea sponges, and unidentifiable sea life—if Angie had to guess, they must be some combination of worms, crustaceans, sea stars, and algae—shimmered below. She stayed beside Kaden as they darted toward the lights, zigzagging over and through the coral formations. The creatures appeared as tiny lights, making her feel as if she were overseeing a vibrant city skyline from high in the sky. It reminded her of the flight when she moved here, watching the city out of the small window. She felt so small and missed home so much. Her father, sister, and even Ken and Stefan.
Speaking of Ken and Stefan. The phone call. How could she have forgotten?
“I talked to Stefan...”
“Is he well? I look forward to seeing him and Ken again.”
“Yeah.” Her face fell, recalling what else he had said. Foreboding prickled as if tapping onto each of her nerve endings. “But he cut off our call because unauthorized divers were going out. I couldn’t call him back and he hasn’t answered my texts. We should—should we make sure everything’s okay in your queendom?” She wrapped her arms around herself, despite the waters feeling temperate over her skin from the mer magic. “I can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong.”
Kaden nodded. “Yes, we should bring this to the queen and king’s attention.”
He tugged her hand, and they took their leave, back to the palace.
On their way, a strong current came through, threatening to whisk them away from their safe little nook. It swept between them and around all sides, breaking apart their handhold. For the briefest of moments, it carried her away from him until he secured her next to him once more. Angie welcomed his touch.
“Neither land nor sea will keep me from you,” he whispered into her ear.
The current blast meant they were approaching the palace’s largest entryway at the structure’s apex, the colder and denser waters driving stronger currents.
“Ready?” Kaden asked.
Angie nodded, eager for Cassia and Varin’s audience.
Midnightsong picks up right where Oceansong ended, but there is a twist: Queen Serapha has been murdered, and it is up to Angie and Kaden to figure out who did it before the looming war destroys all chance of connection between humans and the mer for good.
With Angie away studying for her master's degree in marine biology in Washington state and Kaden left to pick up the pieces left behind after his mother's death, romance was not the main focus in Midnightsong as the politics of the plot took precedence. I was slightly disappointed to not have more in-person moments between Angie and Kaden, but distance made that difficult. The magic sea flute was a nice touch to keep them connected. Ultimately, it was a lot of Kaden and Angie telling each other how they felt rather than showing, but it did not take away too much from the overall story.
I also loved how diverse and complex the characters are. Angie is empathetic and bold, fearless in the face of injustice, and always ready to fight for what is right. Her family also has a deep connection to their Chinese culture, which was shown throughout the story through their verbal interactions with each other and food, for example. While Kaden’s royal family was not quite as close as Angie’s, Kaden’s growing relationship with his brother, Cyrus, was nice to read. Even before falling for the mer prince in the first book, Angie knew what humans were doing to the merfolk was wrong, and those same beliefs were reflected in her actions in Midnightsong. Throughout the story, racism was rampant between the humans and merfolk, leading Angie to create a mer rights movement with her fellow students at her university.
The merfolk magic system in Midnightsong was one of my favorite aspects of this story. Their connection to the ocean and their ability to control it through storms and tsunamis was really cool. I also appreciated the attention to detail when it came to sea life, and I could truly feel Angie’s passion for the ocean and its health as she explored it with Kaden.
My biggest gripe is the miscommunication between the couple, as Kaden withholds vital information from Angie that relates to previous trauma she experienced. While I was reading, I wanted to yell at him to just tell her. On that note, I also really appreciated the PTSD representation on Angie’s end as she processed the multiple traumatic events that occurred in the last two years. As someone with PTSD myself, I think C.W. Rose represented the disorder accurately. The tone of Midnightsong was definitely more intense than the previous book, which makes sense as tensions rapidly escalated following Queen Serapha’s death.
I recommend Midnightsong for someone who is looking for a Little Mermaid-inspired romance with a hint of Romeo and Juliet forbidden love and a politically heavy plot.
3.5 ⭐️