Dangerous Waters Unexpected Love

A Vision of a new Blessed Mermaid

Chapter 8

Andreas’ POV

The knocking on my door had not stopped for the last two minutes. I finally had to call out, “Enter” in frustration. I am busy with work, but clearly, they were not going to stop knocking. I saw my younger brother Jason enter, with our Kingdom's Oracle right behind him. Sometimes called Seers, they get visions of things to come, and their words are to be heeded. Our oracle's name is Olympia, and she has been the oracle for the Atlantis kingdom for the last thousand years. Each of the six kingdoms has one. They helped the kingdoms navigate what direction they needed to go in. They were valued members of the kingdoms they represented because they could see into the future. Olympia was not just the oldest of all the oracles, she is also known as the best of them all.

What she tells us is given to her directly by the gods themselves. Olympia is favored by the gods and is personally favored by being more powerful than the rest of the oracles. You need to listen to her when she comes to you to tell you her vision. I stopped what I was doing, and gave her my full attention. I realized that the message that she was bringing had to be very important. She very rarely comes to the King herself. Usually, we go to her to get the information that is being passed on to us. She has never come to my office since I became King two years ago when I turned twenty-two. I don’t remember her ever coming to the office to speak to Dad either. So, I know that this visit she was making was incredibly important.

“Olympia, is there a problem? What brings you to my office?” I asked her.

“I have had the same vision on three separate occasions this week, Sire. I have been compelled to bring this news to you as the gods themselves wanted you to know this. They do not want you going through with the contract with your betrothed. I have had a vision of who you are supposed to be married to. The one who is supposed to rule by your side,” Olympia told me. I have to admit I am thoroughly surprised by her announcement. This was unexpected, and I wondered who it was that they wanted me to marry instead.

I was pretty happy to hear this news. I have met my betrothed on just a few occasions. She is Kano’s daughter, Mariela. Her father is the king of both the North and South America kingdoms. She was beautiful, just like her mother Doris. She was also hateful, conceited, and underhanded. No man in his right mind would want to be tied down with someone like that. I know I didn’t, but she was the same age as me, with an excellent bloodline. The thing about it was, someone's bloodline has never mattered to me. I have never wanted to marry Mariela.

That is one of the things that is occasionally looked at for someone to be qualified to marry the King of any of the kingdoms. I kept myself from getting too excited about this news just yet. Doris’ grandparents, on her mother's side, had come up with this bright idea. They, along with my grandparents, agreed to it with the birth of their first granddaughter, Mariela. They had been lifelong friends and wanted to keep the Atlantis kingdom stronger than the rest. It makes sense, as Poseidon and Amphitrite still live here for the majority of the year. They only leave to go to Mount Olympia when they are needed.

This will help my case. The gods were the ones who demanded this to happen. I knew Poseidon himself was on board with this prophecy. He is the one to personally bestow the blessing on them, for them to even be able to become a blessed mermaid. They are his personal creations. He makes it known that they have his blessing, at a glance. They are his most favored of all mermaids. Along with the blessing of his mark, he also blesses them with additional powers. Powers that were case-specific to them, ones that they would need to survive. I knew without asking her, that she had already spoken to him about the visions. This gives me hope that I will grow to love my wife, as she was created for me. Much more so than Mariela.

I already know that my grandparents, and Mariela’s grandparents, are not going to be very welcoming to this change of plans. I am also praying that what Olympia saw would be able to get me out of the contract. I honestly cannot bear being around her. Even her voice grates on my nerves. I do not enjoy being around her, even when she manages to stay quiet. I feel bad for saying it, but if there is any way out of this contract, I am going to take it. I have no interest in Mariela at all, and this is very welcome news for me. I am glad for the interruption now.

“Do you have a name for her yet? Which kingdom is she from? Does she have a strong bloodline? You have to know that it is going to be very hard to get out of this contract. You know that this is going to cause problems between our kingdoms as well. Do you know anything about her?” I asked Olympia. I need to get a game plan together, and quickly. I want to help her as much as I can. I would like to get as much information about her as I can. There are so many things to get done in a very short amount of time. I need to be able to head off the ones who will want to enforce the contract. They have to know that Poseidon himself is involved because it is one of his special creations. He has spoken volumes already, this unknown blessed mermaid, is to be my wife.

I would very much like to know her name. I wanted to try to get some information about her, a picture of her at the very least. My interest is piqued. Who did the gods want to bless me with? I already know that this is going to be bad. Kano will probably be a little upset. But as he was forced into a marriage contract himself, he should also understand why I wouldn’t want to be in one. It will be Doris and Mariela who will end up losing their minds the most over the contract being canceled. They will not accept it. So, I need to make sure that everything is in place before anyone else finds out about her. Which brings me to another question.

“Has anyone else been given this vision, Olympia? I do not want anything bad to happen to her. If someone else is made aware of what the gods want, she could be hurt. This could be used against both me and her. I am positive that Mariela would try to kill her if she knew that she was going to lose her dream title of being the Queen of Atlantis. That is the main reason that she is as brazen and spoiled as she is. She knows that something big will have to happen to get that contract broken,” I stated the obvious to the room, but I was concerned about this unknown mermaid.

“No, Sire, this vision was given specifically to me. I have asked Poseidon himself about my visions. He knows how much trouble this will bring for you both. I have had all three dreams this week, as she just came into her powers. Calissa is her name, Sire. She is a descendant of his as well. He told me that she is a daughter of Kano, but not an official one yet. She is a hybrid, as her mother is human. She is going to be brought to the North and South American kingdom. She has to be trained and taught how to use her powers. She will then be officially tested in about a month's time. Poseidon requested that he would like you to be there for the official testing. He believes that she will be put in direct danger. I have to say that if he believes that it will happen, it is going to happen. I have never known him to be wrong about his own visions. I know that Kano’s wife, Doris, and his family have now found out about her. They know that she is coming. I was shown that they were furious that she had been gifted with special powers. Especially when his own royal family didn’t all get to have special powers. Mariela already hates her for being half-human. When she finds out that she is to be your wife as well. I am sure things will only become even more difficult,” Olympia told me.

“I am sure that you are right. I will try to make sure that I prevent her from being injured or killed in her test,” I told Olympia.

“I thank you for doing that, Sire. I was told by Poseidon himself that two of her gifts had come straight from him, not including her being a blessed mermaid. He knew who she was. He told me that he had visited her before she turned eighteen. She didn’t know who he was, but he gave her his direct blessing at that time. She can make herself invisible, Sire. She has teleportation powers as well. Both are powerful gifts that she was given. She will need the teleportation to be able to travel here anyway. She will have a hard time there because the royal family there will hate to see another one of Kano’s illegitimate children. You know how they view humans there. I believe that is why Poseidon himself stepped in to try to help her. From the visions that I have seen, she has had a hard life. He is very concerned about her well-being,” Olympia told me.

That is concerning. They would all be against her, and want her to fail. They will look for any reason to prevent her from being a recognized member of that kingdom. I will have to act quickly. Every single one of the kingdoms has mermaids that are crossbreeds, even this one. They were not as frowned upon here, as Poseidon himself wanted to help populate the waters with his kind. But in other kingdoms, your bloodline is what matters most to the ranked members. I can’t allow them to put her life in danger.

I will need to get the testing information for the last decade now. I need to see what they have done previously in their testing. That will let me know if they are deliberately trying to make the test hard enough to make sure she either fails or ends up being killed during the test. Either way, I will not allow it to happen. I don’t know why, but I already feel protective of her. Now that I know that Poseidon is the one to decree it, I feel like I have the backing I need to go forward and give Calissa as much help as she needs with this. If needed, I would either run interference for her on the test or just bring her directly to Atlantis to be accepted into my kingdom.