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Chapter 1

"How can you not kno to use the royal seal?"

I glare at Dosinia across the kitchen table She looks fashionably bored as always, her perfectly glossedpucker If there weren’t stacks of kelpaper and pots of waterproof squid ink between us, I’d be tempted to jump over the table to throttle her

Besides, with Brody practically glued to her side--as close as Aunt Rachel’s wooden chairs will allow--he’d get equally doused with the thick liquid And I’m sure Prithi, the furry little traitor, is curled around her feet They’re innocent bystanders in this farumble, "I do I’m just out of practice"

Of course, I’ I’ve never sent out invitations to a council of kings and queens before I’ve never even sent out any sort of invitation other than to birthday parties, and those usually had bubbles and seahorses on them, not royal seals This is a level of responsibility I’ve never faced

I need to get used to it

As of o, I am officially Crown Princess of Thalassinia, which means all my correspondence--my underwater correspondence, anyway--has to bear my royal seal It looks just like Daddy’s, except that instead of saying KING WHELK OF THALASSINIA, it says CROWN PRINCESS WATERLILY

Every time I stamp the seal onto a sheet of kelpaper, I slance sideways up at Quince and find hi the open pot of dark-blue squid ink I bite back a laugh when he jerks away at the disgusting smell

He must sense my attention, because he looks over at me His expression shifts fro him He winks at me, and I feel my cheeks burn hot with a blush If eren’t surrounded by friends and fa, "Like what you see, princess?"

Oh yeah, he would have been worth the sacrifice, for sure But I’lad I found a way to keep both him and my title

"On an official state invitation like this," Dosinia says, interrupting my moment with Quince, "your seal should be placed at the bottom of the correspondence Not the top"

"You--" I start to argue with her, but then a long-forgotten lesson from the royal tutor resurfaces Before I came to live on land with Aunt Rachel, I had hours and hours of training in royal protocol How to enter a dining room What to wear to a state funeral And, as much as it pains me to remember, where to place the royal seal on official correspondence

That doesn’t ht I never like adive her the satisfaction--and the chance to say I told you so--I slurab the stack of misstamped kelpaper, and drop it on the floor behinda deal?" Shannen asks