Loving Atlantis

C H A P T E R 3 — Anoa.

My hands flew up to my chest, instantly trying to pull the corset away from my skin, despite the fact that Silen was pulling the strings on the back tighter. I was convinced that she was trying to strangle me, that she was doing it deliberately. But what was I going to do it she was? Nothing. Because I couldn’t do anything. She would instantly be viewed as the victim if something happened. 

     “I’ll be the one to point out the obvious before someone else does it and upsets you—you’ve picked up weight. I used to be able to wrap these strings around you three times before I tied it. You’ll be lucky if I can do it twice.” 

I allowed myself to watch her in the mirror, taking in the way that she paused, frowning down at the strings that she had been working with, before she started to loosen the said corset. I couldn’t help but allow my back to slouch, relief flooding through my body. My relief was short lived, unfortunately, because the warm sting of her hand traveled through the bottom of my back only seconds later. 

     “Stand up straight. For goodness sake, just because you’ve spent the last few years of your life with those animals, does not give you reason enough to act like them.” 

I could do no more than to bite my tongue, than to tell myself that there would be no gain in allowing her remarks to get to me. She had always been vocal about her disgust with the human race—I should have expected that she would say something like that. After all, she had been raised—and I didn’t say that as an excuse for what she was doing—to believe that they were an inferior race in comparison to her. She wouldn’t do so much as bat an eyelid if they were to go to extinct. 

     “I can’t help but wonder what your mother would have thought about all of this, if she had still been alive. I can’t bring myself to see her being as forgiving as your father has been.” 

     “Serena, with all the disrespect that you take from this, I suggest that you shut your mouth when it comes to my mother—because for starters, you never even knew her in the first place. And the only thing that she would have been ashamed of, is the fact that someone like you took her place on the throne. She must have been turning over in her grave on your weeding day. Now, please do me a favour and leave my chambers before you upset me more. I appreciate your willingness to assist me in my preparations, but I’m not going to sit here and listen to you speak without thinking.” 

I was slightly surprised by the firmness in my voice, although I was thankful for it. I watched the way that she moved away from me, turning around to walk away through the reflection in the polished crystal mirror in front of which I was standing. I waited a long time before I allowed myself to turn around, making sure that there was no chance of her coming back in, and then let my gaze wander around my old room for the very first time since I had been brought back here. 

It still felt so unbelievable. 

There’s wasn’t much noticeable chance since I had left—if there had been any change since I had left. I made my way over to the dressing table, unable to resist the urge to run my hand along the clean, polished surface, soon after opening a drawer in which I used to store my hairbrush, along with my tiara—both of which were still in the exact places where I had left them. Scattered amongst them were the seashells that I tended to collect and pick up whenever I went for walks on the beach. 

I could do nothing more than sigh when I pushed the door closed, feeling like I had gained absolutely nothing from doing so. Everything here felt so dark and morbid, memories that had been meant to be happy being nothing more than an endless pit of sadness. I went to the floor to ceiling drapes, pulling them open in an attempt to distract myself as well as allow some light to flood into the room. 

The fresh air hit me like a tidal wave and I could do nothing to resist the urge that had me stepping down onto the balcony. 

I had always known that the architecture of our homes were very different when held in comparison to the homes that Humans built, but now that I was here again, standing in one, I was one again reminded of this fact. Our homes were bubble-like structures, made out of clay and crystal. Large holes gaped in the places where humans would have put windows, the shutters to close the holes placed in a nook inside the said bubble. That was simply the way that it worked here. 

I found my eyes wandering around the bubbles, noticing the people moving between them, going about their everyday lives—my people. I couldn’t help but notice that something was different, that something felt different. It was in the air. A stillness that I could not recall being there before, one that must have set in after I had left. 

All of the people in the street were adults. There were no children playing in the water streams, no singing, no humming, and I would dare to say that there wasn’t even any talking. Only silence. 

     “I believe that it would be best if you come back inside before someone sees you.” 

I turned around, startled by the voice that had spoken so suddenly behind me. I hadn’t heard him come in, but my father was right there, standing in the centre of my chambers with his hands crossed before him. He had also gotten ready for this evenings dinner party, for he was already wearing something that reminded me of his old dinner suit, except this one was much newer. I knew that it would be pointless for me to rebel at this moment, so I did what he had suggested I do and went back inside, although I decided to leave my drapes open. The fresh air was something that I needed. 

     “King Dae has been gracious enough to accept our dinner proposal. It means that you’ll be required to be on your best behaviour tonight. I am sure that he will wish to speak with you, which you must be fully aware of. He deserves a better explanation than the one you gave the rest of us—perhaps you should try telling him the truth.” 

The truth? 

My father thought that he deserved the truth? 

I didn’t think that my father would even know what to do if he were the one who had been told the truth. I had lied to him—although it hadn’t been a complete lie—for his own good, to avoid this very situation. The moment that I told Dae the truth, that I had heard everything that had happened that day, I would have nothing to use to my advantage when it was needed. 

     “I understand that, father.” 

There was a strange calmness to my voice, one that managed to remain there despite the inner turmoil that I was facing. It surprised me slightly, but there wasn’t much that I could do about it. I was aware of the fact that I was fidgeting with the beads that had been sown onto my gown, and I knew that my father would be bound to comment on it once he noticed it, which was why I made a forced attempt at clasping my hands together, all the while keeping my attention focused on my father. 

He was starting at me just as closely as I was staring at him. I couldn’t even begin to think about what was going through his head at the moment—whatever it was, I was sure that it wasn’t good. 

     “I’m only going to say this once more, Anoa—you need to be on your best behaviour tonight. You have no idea how much it’s going to take on my end to try and convince the elders that you’re still fit to rule. I can’t even imagine what will need to happen for Dae to speak to you, but I leave that in your hands.” 

The longer he spoke, the more he said, the lower my shoulders sagged, his words making it clear to me that he intended to re-establish the marriage agreement with Dae, even after everything that he knew now. I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not Dae had a mistress, whether or not he still felt as he had back then—did he have someone who would make him resist my fathers intentions? 

     “Does that mean that you would wish for me to speak to Dae?” 

I knew that I didn’t have to ask that question, but I also wasn’t ready to have my father leave my company, even though the conversation wasn’t pleasant. I had missed him—even if I would never dare to admit that to him. 

     “You will address him as King Dae, Anoa. He is no longer your betrothed—you are required to give him the same respect that everyone else does. And yes, I do wish for you to speak to him tonight. You need to own up to your mistakes and do what you can to fix them.” 

He was quiet for a moment, but I knew, without a doubt, that he wasn’t done speaking. The air was still to charged, the energy radiating off of him in waves. What was he going to say next? 

     “When you were younger, you told me that you would be a Queen who would risk anything and everything for her people. For Atlantis. I think that it is time for you to prove that to me.” 

My father must have known that I wouldn’t know what to say to a statement like that, for he turned his back on me and walked out of my chambers without another word. He didn’t need to do anything else to let me know that that had been the end of our discussion. 

A sigh slipped out of my mouth, and before I knew it, I had sat down on the edge of my bed, willing the tears not to slip out of my eyes. Of all the things that he could have said to motivate me, he had to go ahead and say that. It might not have been as much of a big deal to anyone else, but to me, that was one of the worst things that he could have said. 

Life in Atlantis wasn’t much different when compared to those of the Humans, no matter how much better or evolved everyone chose to believe we were. After the revolution, things had changed, for better and for worse—in ways that they had wanted them to and ways that they didn’t. 

Majority of the Humans had seemingly become infertile after a vaccine that had been administered to them during a pandemic—goodness knows that there had been many that had followed after that. Those who had continued to reproduce, had been those who had rebelled, who had refused to take the injection. I’m the course of a few years, their population had shrunk drastically, decreasing to mere thousands. There was absolutely nothing that anyone could have done to help them—other than lay the laws that protected them from the rest of us. 

Laws that were completely overlooked by Atlantians. 

Why is that, you ask? The answer to that was just as simple as the question. Atlantians neared extinction in the same way that the humans did. The very same laws that had been put in place to protect them, had been out in place to protect us too. 

     “Princess Anoa, I would like to apologise for my interruption. I bring news that His Royal Highness, King Dae of Southern Atlantis, has arrived. Your presence has been requested in the drawing room.”