Chapter 20: Chapter 19

HIIIIII! Guess where I might be going this weekend? San Diego! (More specifically Los Angeles, but I'm making time to travel to San Diego.) I'm going to visit the famous aquarium where my story takes place! \^o^/ If you wanna follow me on my trip, I'll be posting on story insta at -> andie_s.e

Also, I will no longer be updating on Mondays anymore. Today will be the last time I update on Mondays. I will start updating on Fridays. So I will be updating this coming up Friday as well. So you will be getting two updates this week. Whoop, whoop! However, I will be resuming to update once a week.

As always, thank you so much for your support/comments and votes!

Enjoy~

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Tristen

Pain exploded across my cheek and I spat out blood. I tossed my head back and laughed. "I barely felt that one." I sat back in my chair that I was tied to with thick, metal chain. My long tail stretched out from the chair to the floor, flickered with glee. I grinned madly at the dark fay with fiery red hair and even fierier temper.

Burn growled. "Shut up, you bastard!" His timbre of his voice echoed in the small, white room. There were no windows, only one steel door to enter and exit and a strong smell infiltrated the small room. It reeked of antiseptic. I glanced up to the wide mirror in front of me, trying to see through the fake mirror but only coming up with my reflection. My face was beginning to take up a mottled color and blood dribbled down my chin. Burn paced between me and the mirror. Hm, he's an impatient one... He leaned toward me. "Why did you attack the other mer?" I glared as my mind flashed back to the events leading up to now.

* * *

"Red." I called out.

She turned, her golden eyes blinked. Gods, she was beautiful.

"Be careful. I mean it."

"I will." She smiled, setting her eyes on fire. My tail flickered. She closed the door behind her. I sighed in relief that Red and I were ok, she entrusted me of her fears and I told her of my royal lineage and nothing change but made us closer. My tail twitched. Is it wrong of me to want us to be closer? My jaw clenched in confliction. I sink in the water. The membrane of nose sealed off the water from the salt burning my nose and I opened my sets of gills. I slightly waved my flippers to glide to our spot to see Red out.

Gale blocked my path.

I raised my brows at his bravado – blocking the crowned prince – He would've been punished if he wasn't my best friend. "What is it?"

Gale crossed his arms with a smirk, then signed in thalassa's hands. "Got something to tell me, Prince Tristen?" Mockery had dripped from my name.

I kept my face neutral. "I don't know what you're talking about." I signed defensively.

Gale arched a brow, "Don't think I didn't see it."

"See what?" I signed sharply.

"She felt it. The shi-amare shock." Smug, Gale swam closer while his hands moved. "When I touched her?"

I stared coldly at Gale, hiding the fact that my heart was pounding and that my mouth went dry.

Gale mistook my change of mood as confusion. He continued explaining. "You know what happens when a bonded shi-amare touches someone that is not their shi-amare. We feel pain and it only intensify until we touch our rightful shi-amare. I know why I felt pain, 'cause I already have found my shi-amare, Red shouldn't have felt it but she did." He pointed at my lax hand that was still tingling from holding Red's hand. "You touched her after she touched me and she no longer felt pain." Gale grinned as he rushed over to hug me. "Congratulations, my ahu, you found you're shi–"

I wrenched back. "Don't."

Gale jerked back like I punched him.

I clenched my jaw. "She is not mine."

Gale narrowed his brown eyes. "Why are you denying it?'

"I am not denying anything." I looked away. "She can't be mine."

Gale's forehead wrinkled. "Wh–you know how rare it is to find your shi–!"

"Dammit, Gale!" I growled as I signed. "It can't happen!"

"Why?" Stupefy, he asked.

I dryly stare at him. Does he seriously fail to see the flaw? "She's human, Gale. And she's afraid of the water." I shook my head, "I won't do that to her. Despite her fear, I still wouldn't ask her to uproot her whole life here on land..."

"Ahu, I don't think you have a choice. She is your shi-amare whether you like it or not."

My chest thudded at that, but I squashed the fringe of hope. She is your shi-amare whether you like it or not. I ran a hand through my lock frustratedly. "No, not if I can help it."

"You know your parents wouldn't have a problem with her being human. Your mother isn't mer but a nereid. I just don't understand why you have a problem with it."

"Because she is not my shi-amare." I signed harshly.

Gale rubbed his nose bridged and muttered out loud, using his sonar voice."I understand my comrade now, he tried to beat some sense into me when I denied Bodhi as my shi-amare." He lay a hand on my shoulder, then switched to signing. "Ahu, I don't think you understand. You will not be able to help it. You will lose your sanity to the call of the bond, your bond to Red has already begun since you first met her and you will lose the battle of wills."

I shrugged off his hand angrily. "I can't have a shi-amare!" I yelled, too angry to sign. "How can I protect my shi-amare when I can barely protect my people?" I clenched my fists.

Gale slumped in realization and then pity, "Prince–."

The slight panic I felt earlier grew stronger till I was gasping for breath. Trepidation flooded me, mingling with my unbearable anxiety of something unknown.

Meredith.

I don't how I knew that she was in danger. I just knew that she needed me now. A dark, primitive need filled me–I need to find Red. Rage trickled in me, wanting to hurt the ones causing Red distress. I need to protect her.

As if Nixie heard my thoughts, she speedily swam over to me and signed rapidly. "Prince Tristy, Meredith is still in the storage–"

I swam around her before she could finish signing and rushed over to the glass to search for Red. She was nowhere to be found. Shit, why was she still in the storage room? Did she fall down the stairs? A gruesome image manifested; her twisting her ankle and falling down the stairs, bumping her head then bleeding. My tail rippled and my chest ached. I need to find her. Nixie floated behind me, warranting my attention. I faced her, blocking her flying hands as she signed, from human – and dark fay – eyes. "I just saw two dark fays entered the storage room."

Gale swam up next to me and signed quickly. "What do we do?"

Before I could make a plan, I was driven by desperation–I acted on impulse, which is something I never do. I knew I had to create a distraction and Gale just happened to be there.

I swung my fist.

*  * *

But I wasn't going to say a damn thing to the fays. I'd imagine Burn hunting down Meredith... I saw red and my jaw clenched as protectiveness and possessiveness seized me. No one is going to touch her. Burn glared at me, threatening me to answer.

I shrugged. "Ah, that male mer was being a little stingy bastard. Always hogging up the good ol' fish kibbles, you know?"

Burn snarled. His fist came flying next. My head rattled and I saw stars. My cheek throbbed fiercely. I coughed out blood. "Wow, I almost felt something there." I stretched my mouth painfully into a shit-eating grin. Burn's dark eyes blazed and he raised his fist. I taunted, "Put some backbone into it. Maybe this time it'll feel like a punch and not a tickle."

Burn bellowed and kicked out, hitting me squarely in my chest. I spewed out more blood as I fell back into my chair. I wheeze when my back slammed on the linoleum floor. My lungs spasmed as I try to inhale. Fuck, that one hurt. I laughed, ignoring the way my chest ached. Oh, this bastard was just too easy and fun to taunt. I think he managed to break a rib. I shifted and winced. Yep, make that two broken ribs. The throb lessen and my ribs begun rapidly healing.

"Enough." A deep voice said.

I twisted my head from the ground to see the newcomer and I stilled. A tall male figure slithered through the steel door. The new dark fay calmly closed the steel door behind him, bringing a sense of dark foreboding that made the hair on the back of neck pricked.

"Oh, here for the party?" I asked, letting my cockiness dripped in my voice. "You missed all the fun." I smirked, despite knowing that other dark fays were watching the fun from the other side of the mirror.

He smiled, but the gesture didn't reach his cold gray eyes.  "I think I came on time." His long blond hair was swept back from his stoic face. He wore dark jeans with a t-shirt to showcase his inked arms. This was no ordinary dark fay. He held himself with command and his eyes were far too calculating be another ordinary dark fay.

He casually tossed out his hand. Smoke of black shadows dripped from his hand and slinked across the floor towards me. I tensed, refusing to reveal my trepidation and I stared at such power I have never seen before. The shadows curled around the back of the steel chair and I held my breath. The dark shadow curled around the back of my chair and slinked across my back like a cat would. I clenched my jaw at the contact. It was so cold that it burned my skin. The chair suddenly jerked upright, slamming on its legs and I bit my tongue to not hiss in pain as my chest ached from the impact. The stranger called back his shadow to him. The black smokey substance uncurled from my chair to slither across the floor to be sucked up by the dark fay's outstretched hand. When the shadow retreated back to his hand, he tossed his head back with his eyes closed, as if relishing the shadow returning back into him.

Special soldiers of any Fay courts are preferably hired if they have the ability to control a presented element and bend it to their will–increasing the temperatures or move presented rocks. A simple bending of their surroundings, it's very limited. Nothing compared to the royals or high houses–nobles, dukes, duchesses, princes, and princesses–who can conjure and manipulate the elements, meaning they can call their respective element and absorb it in themselves for later whenever. Unlike, the Seelie and Unseelie Rulers, the Light and Dark Monarchs can not only manipulate their elements but create them. They were the elements.

The Controller, the Conjurer, and the Creator.

This one was a conjurer and perhaps a noble of the dark houses or a duke of the dark court–the dark court has no princes. There was only one princess, the crowned dark princess–Princess Massena. Either way, this dark fay was someone that I needed to watch out. I had to play this carefully.

The stranger moved slowly to stand in front of me–standing besides my long outstretched tail. He leaned down, his face in front of mine, trying to get me to back down, but I stared back unwaveringly–determined not to cower. "Who are you?" I asked slowly, letting my condescending tone drip.

"My, my, what a brave mer." He gripped my chin with his long cold fingers. His grip that told me that he was far stronger than Burn. "Or a stupid mer." I jerked my chin out of his grasp.

I wondered if he was easy to taunt, like Burn. I smirked, testing him. "Hm... Is that a rhetorical question?" The ones you need to watch out are the patient ones – unlike Burn they're the ones you must tread with caution. They do not allow their minds to be clouded with futile anger, competent to carry out decisions with clear precision and astute of their enemies' weaknesses.

And that made them formidable.

The stranger frowned and looked to Burn over his shoulders in silent order. The stranger stood up and Burn punched my gut. I wheezed. "Oh, you're getting better there, Burnie boy."

"You fu–" Burn growled and stepped forward–

The stranger held out his hand. "Leave."

"But General–" He rasped in protest. Ah, this noble from a high house was made general... With his power, I could see why and at such a young age. Every general has a warlord, their commander. I only knew of the current dark general, Slade. But I've met General Slade and this dark fay was not him... Did the dark court replace him? And who was his warlord? The dark fay that was supposedly a general glared at Burn.

Burn bowed his head without a word and walked out, slamming the door behind him. Obviously, this stranger is of status and I was beginning to suspect that he was in charge of the aquarium. My mind raced, scouring from my studies of the royal fays and their courts. He was far too young to be the infamous general Slade of the dark king and queen. Who was he...

"Excuse my soldier. He hasn't quite grasp the concept of self-restraint."

Then it clicked. "The new promised General of the dark legion." I whistled, impressed. "Your to-be-warlord is the dark, fearsome Crowned Princess Massena." I chuckled. "I should've guessed she was behind it all." Princess Massena was not only the next promised dark queen, but a promised warlord as well. She has proven herself a successful prodigy in war strategy. She would be the first dark queen to be a warlord in fay's history.

"General Kol to you," The general Introduced himself with an eerily smile, "And your keeper." He iron eyes beamed darkly.

I clenched my jaw. I was nobody's damn pet. I withheld my vexation and sat back. "So how's the dark princess these days?" I smiled like we were best buddies having a chat over cold brew. "You still her serving wench?"

Kol moved with a flash and his hand was suddenly pushing against my broken ribs, shocked that he knew of my weakness. I hissed in pain, flashing my fangs at him. I heave when I realized my rage yanked my glamour off and I nearly shuddered in relief at the absence of my too tight human skin.

"There you are... Your true self." Kol gestured to the walls of the room. "This room is glamour free."

I looked to the mirror to confirm and there I was. My face was the same as my human face, but the angles were bit more sharp. The luminescent, small scales sprinkled across my cheekbones and a trail of them around my hairline. More scales scattered across my torso and around my gills. I looked at my arm. A long thin fin sprouted on both of my arms, the colors matching my fins that was shining luminscently.  My dark hair and my facial scruff became more coarse and thick. My skin gave off a golden glow. My iris of my eyes were slited like a feline and it hummed with an intense color of sea green. I tongued my fangs. There they were, long and thin. Sharp enough to bite into my catch. I immediately reached for my power and–I grunted at what felt like I ran into a wall, sending my mind reeling from the mental impact.

"My, my, what a look. You certainly don't look like an ordinary mer." He leaned forward to sniff the air around me. "Such power at a young age," Kol cooed then he tsked. "This room also won't allow powers other than mine." He yanked out a dagger with a blade as dark as onyx. "So tell me, who are you?" He trailed the blade over my torso, stopping over my heart. "You have don't bear the mark of a soldier and I just saw you attempting to use your power, so tell me," Kol nicked my chest and I didn't dare flinch, giving him the satisfaction. Blood bloomed, traveling down my chest. "Who. Are. You?" Kol pressed the blade harder.

I smirked. "I'm Ariel the little mermaid."

He glared, then pulled back. He raised his dagger and studied it with fascination. "Do you know what blade this is?" He caressed the blade like a lover.

I shrugged, not giving a damn at his attempt of intimidating me. "Good ol' fashion steel?"

Kol chuckled. "It's Nyx's blade, the only weapon that can truly kill a sidhe."

I faltered at that.

Fays and mers, with our swift speed, super strength and rapid healing ability, we were difficult to kill. But killing a royal like me, was nearly impossible. My powers–the ability to control the element of water and earth, swift healing and unmatched strength. I was nearly immortal. However, the blades of the old gods holds power that we, royals, cannot wield. These blades renders us mortal, meaning we cannot heal from the wound inflicted by the blade and it can end powerful royals like me.

Permanently.

My eyes narrowed. My instinct tells me that he won't kill me. If he wanted to kill me, he wouldn't have made Burn leave–he doesn't seem like the type to dirtied his hands. From what I gleaned about Dark Princess Massena, she is very intelligent and a fearsome warlord. As much she craves for violence, she desire winning more. She will only kill if it'll benefit her. I don't see how my death would benefit General Kol at the moment.

I sat back, feigning calmacy. "You're bluffing. You won't kill me. I know the dark princess can't be too happy that you're killing us." Kol jaw tensed. I smirked. I was right, as someone who converse closely with his sea warlord, I was knowledgeable in the art of war. You cannot kill your hostage if you plan to use them as bribery to get what you want. The dark princess knew of this and she would not be happy indeed. "Kill us all, you have no ends to bribe for an army for your Dark Princess." I said smugly. "You will fail to carry out your Dark Princess's wishes."

Kol threw back his head laughed.

I stilled.

"Oh, you are good." His eyes darkened. "You are truly no ordinary mer." He trailed his finger down the blade. "Maybe you don't respond to pain," He raised his eyes and tilted his head slowly, resembling a snake. "You seem quite fond of the young merchild."

My skin pricked with dread then I tried to play it off. I smiled confusingly. "What merchild?" I shrugged. "I'm nice to all the mers."

He grinned. "The merchild with the pink tail, of course." Kol pondered. "Perhaps we can refresh your memory by bringing her in." He raised his head, "Burn, can you–"

I saw red.

I snarled and strained against the chain, trying to break them so I can plummet this bastard's face in. "Don't you dare fucking touch her!" I clenched my jaw and grunted as I tried to bring my arms up, the thick chain dug into my skin. I needed to hurt him.

Kol laughed. "Oh how fun is this! Now this is a party!" Kol poised the blade to my face, slithering it down the side of my face. I jerked away from it. Oh, where I would like to shove that blade...  Kol said, "Now, are you gonna be a good fish and tell me who you are?" I clenched my jaw in fury, wanting him to hurt him till he bled. Thalassa, I'd give anything to beat this bastard to the earth's core...

He pressed the knife harder to my face. "Answer me," He smirked. "Or do I need to bring the merchild?"

"Artie Atlantean the duke of sea court." I lied smoothly. I held his gaze, feigning honesty and desperation in my eyes–knowing only that would lead Kol to accept my answer. This will be the sole acceptable alias I can use. He is a cousin of mine and he has powers–not even close to being strong as mine–but still powerful.

He retracted the blade. Kol stared at me for a bit longer, then he grunted–accepting my answer as the truth. He straightened himself and glanced at the mirror. "Return him to the aquarium."

I nearly sighed in relief then I glared at him. He may think he won, but he will look like a fool when he realized just who I was – oh, how I can't wait for that day to come. Burn and a female fay that stabbed me earlier came in. Burn smirked, he raised a syringe. "Wait–" I jerked back. Too late. The thin needle punctured my neck with a rough sting and immense drowsiness quickly followed. My eyes shut on their accord and my breath slowed. I couldn't move, but I could still hear.

"This is great news!" Shade said excitedly. "We can use the duke to bribe for the alliance."

Alliance? I puzzled over this, the dark princess didn't just want the sea legion. She also wanted alliances? Alliances is when two courts sign a contract, to ensure peace and honesty between the two said courts–peace between the Unseelie courts and the sea court has never happened. I intended to keep it that way. I refused to allow my people to be caught in between the ancient war between the Unseelie courts and Seelie courts.

Kol chuckled. "Oh no. The duke is useless."

Burn argued. "What? He's royalty, King Neptune has to take him."

Kol laughed darkly. "King Neptune has over fifty nephews, you think he'll give a goblin's ass about this one?" I hear rustling then my chains fell loose. I was free but I still couldn't even so much lift a finger. The dark fays made no movement to return me to the aquarium. They were still arguing.

"But he's a duke, they couldn't let him die." Shade relented.

"We need to up our stake." Burn sighed in realization. "We need the crowned prince."

Shade sniped. "But he swam away home. He still out there, nowhere to be found at sea."

Burn clucked. "We'll find him soon."

"Meanwhile," Kol spoke, "King Neptune has two sons. The Crowned Prince Tristen Aegaeon and Prince Nefion." He tapped his chin. "The dark princess tells me that Prince Nefion lives on land, pretending to be human."

Shade gasped. "Really?" Light footsteps echoed. "What are we waiting for? Let's send out our trackers and bloodhounds to find him."

Kol hissed. "No." A slow, methodical step sounded. "No bloodhounds. They're too messy and loud. They will blow our cover. I'm sending only three of my best trackers–Sable, Onyx and Ash." The steel doors open, "Those are my orders, I expect you two to carry them out immediately." The door closed behind him.

Burn chuckled.

Shade grumbled. "Sable, that bitch..."

They both grabbed each of my arm and dragged me back to the aquarium.

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