One evening, after several months of secret meetings, Stella came to the shore looking deeply upset.
“What is wrong?” Arinzé asked anxiously.
“My father… he is arranging a marriage for me,” she said, her voice trembling, “with the son of his chief advisor.”
Arinzé’s heart tightened.
“When?”
“In two months,” she replied, tears in her eyes. “I do not want to marry him, Arinzé. I… I love you.”
Their first kiss was gentle and shy, like a bridge between two worlds separated for so long by hatred and fear. But neither of them could imagine the consequences their love would bring.
Weeks passed. Their love remained hidden, but secrets always find a way of revealing themselves.
One morning, Stella felt strange. Her movements were heavier, her belly ached. When she told her mother, Mother Ado stared at her in shock.
“Your scales are changing color. You sleep more than usual. Stella… are you pregnant?”
The young mermaid looked away.
“Yes.”
“Who is the father?”
Stella remained silent.
“Stella, who is the father?”
“His name is Arinzé,” she whispered. “He is human.”
“Human? Have you lost your mind? Do you know what they will do to you, to your child?”
“He is not like the others, Mother. He is different. He is good. He… he is Prince Arinzé.”
Mother Ado’s face turned pale.
“The son of King Embaku? The king who banished us? Oh, Stella… what have you done?”
Devastated by her mother’s reaction and overwhelmed with emotion, Stella stopped thinking clearly. Forgetting the danger, forgetting that it was broad daylight, she swam to the surface, determined to find Arinzé.
But the moment her head broke the surface, cries erupted from the riverbank.
“There! A mermaid! Catch her!”
Nets flew through the air. Before she could dive back down, she was trapped.
Rough hands dragged her violently out of the water. Soon, she was surrounded by furious villagers.
“Please,” she begged, “I mean no harm to anyone.”
“No harm? Like you meant no harm to Emeka, perhaps?” shouted a fisherman.
Blows rained down—fists, kicks. Stella tried to protect her belly, thinking only of the child she carried.
At the palace, a guard rushed into the throne room.
“Your Majesty, they have caught a mermaid at the river.”
Arinzé’s heart nearly stopped. Without saying a word to his father, he ran through the village as fast as his legs could carry him, praying he would arrive in time.
But when he arrived, it was too late.
Stella lay motionless on the riverbank. Her beautiful blue scales were covered with dirt and blood.
Silence fell over the crowd as the prince knelt beside her.
“What have you done?” he whispered.
Then louder: “What have you done? You have killed them both—my love and my child.”
The villagers stepped back, shocked by his words. King Embaku, who had followed his son, stood frozen at the edge of the gathering, unable to speak.
Suddenly, a rumbling rose from the Muya River. The water boiled, foaming with rage. King Eloh, armed with his glowing trident, surged from the depths. Behind him, an army of water people broke through the surface. Their faces were twisted with pain and fury. They were ready to stain the river with blood.
But a figure stepped forward between the two sides—Mother Ado.
