HIS ATLANTEAN PRINCESS

CHAPTER 5 *WHAT SECRETS?*

Never have I thought about rebelling against my parents in the recent years, even though living the way I did in the past didn’t make me happy. 

I still did everything they wanted, mother especially, I thought pleasing them, always showing up at council meetings even when I don’t want to be there would make her appreciate me.

 See me!

 Not just as a figurehead for the throne, instead show me affection like a mother would, not once did she, not even when she delivered the news of my betrothal. 

That was the eye opener I needed to see I was living their lives and not mine, seeing how unaffected mother was even when I plead against being with the Triton.

Her face didn’t hold one ounce of regret or sympathy for me, making it seem like it was a duty they birthed me to serve, and nothing else. 

But I know mother, how powerful she is as Queen of Ashira, hundreds of coast inhibited my mermaids in this world answer to Ashira, they all pay respect to her command. 

Everyone knows Queen Daryah as a mermaid who gets whatever she wants. It is come one knowledge, if mother wants something, she gets it at all cost, nothing hinders her path, not even the neighbouring kingdoms can stand against her. 

That’s how powerful mother is, feared in all of Ashira, yet she tells expects me to believe she cannot stop a union that I don’t want?

Then again mother is a known as the merciless queen, she doesn’t know mercy or show mercy which brings me to these thought.

Mother can’t stop the union, not because she isn’t capable to do so, but she isn’t stopping it because she doesn’t want to.

The union my passing will create between our kingdom and that of king El’egro is what mother wants, which is why mother is not trying to stop it even if she can.

“Your majesty! My princess. I’m sorry you we can’t let you step closer, your highness. My princess.”

I turn on my waterbed on hearing Zaire’s voice, pleading with someone, and I tried to listen in the conversation, hoping I can make sense of who was in my palace. But there seems to be no response from the visitor. 

“Your majesty, you have a visitor.”

Zaire knocked on the mouth of my littoral, and I stand up from my waterbed, tired. I haven’t had an hour of rest since I came back from the human world and my body craves the rest. 

“What is it Zaire? am I not allowed a moment of peace in this palace anymore?”

I almost barked at Zaire as I opened the door to my littoral and she backed away, bowing her head in apology to what I said. 

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty, it was unintended. You have a visitor.”

Zaire informs nodding her head towards the Stulkas that formed a barricade wall round someone, and I release a sigh, shooing her out of the way as I closed the littoral door behind me.

“Relieve yourselves.”

I say to my Stulkas standing as a barricade and they all moved aside, giving way for me to see who it was and my anger level spiked as a sense of irritation doused my spirit. 

It is surprising to see him in his mundane form, standing with a sly grin on his face, compared to the arrogant smirk he wears prancing around in his natural form. 

“Prinsessan mín, xu..” [My princess]

“What are you doing here?”

I cut him off without letting him complete his sentence, and he grinned. 

“Jæja ég kom til að sjá brúður mína.” [Well, I came to see my bride.]

King El’egro says in ancient merfolk tongue and I scoffed, folding my hand in displeasure. 

“Did I not make myself clear? Or did mother not inform you? I have no desire to see you or your arrogant face.”

I replied in our modern tongue, which was quite disrespectful to merfolk. When spoken to by an adult or elder in ancient tongue courtesy has it, you must respond in the same tongue but right now I could careless about culture or whatnot to do. 

I made myself clear about when I said there was no desire to see him. Perhaps my message wasn’t clear enough for him. 

The grin on his face vanished, replaced with a scowl as he drew closer to where I stood. Clearly I could see my response wasn’t one he appreciated.

“Farðu frá okkur.” [Leave us].

King El’egro says to my Stulkas, who all turned to me for my consent and I smirked at the baffled king who didn’t expect such from them.

“Your Majesty?”

Zaire calls, and I smiled at her, knowing she intends to ask if I need them to defend me against the king.

“It’s fine. Depart with your sisters. I’ll call for you when I’m done dealing with him.”

I tell Zaire and she bowed along with the other Stulkas as they walk out of the molluscs hallway and I turned to face the Triton who still had the bewildered look on his face. 

Perhaps he didn’t expect my Stulkas to respond to his command by doing nothing when we all know he is the feared Triton-Siren King. 

What mother failed to tell him. Here in my pearl palace only my command stands and my Stulkas answers only to me even if it means loosing their heads. 

“Now what is it, you want from wasting your time to come all the way here?”

I asked with a stoic face and I could his teeth gritting together.

“Sá hroki og virðingarleysi myndi leiða þig til falls, kæra prinsessa. Ég kom til að heilsa brúði en hún virðist vera stolt skemmt gervi.”

[That arrogance and disrespect would lead you to fall, dear princess. I came to pay greetings to bride, but she appears to be a prideful spoilt brat.]

El’egro says, and I held myself back from sputtering out my laughter. 

“You mean soon to be bride? I am not yours yet, only betrothed to you for now which can be null soon. If I were you, I’ll rather not prance around claiming me as your bride when the passing ceremony isn’t happening soon. There are three seasons to look forward to, that’s enough time for me to break whatever deal you made with my mother.”

The irritation on his face was not one to miss and I smile, knowing I can get under his skin when it’s hard for any merfolk to do that. 

“Þú hlýtur að halda að trúlofun sé barnaleikur, elsku prinsessa mín. Ég sé að mamma þín hefur ekki kennt þér neitt en ég verð fegin að kenna þér siði, eitthvað sem ég er best í. Bíddu bara þangað til ég hef þig.”

[You must think being betrothed is a child’s game, my dear princess. I see your mother has taught you nothing, but I’ll be glad to teach you manners, something I’m best at. Just wait until I have you.]

El’egro says in his usual arrogant voice, and I scoffed, shaking my head at his words just to annoy him further. 

“At least you’re right about mother teaching me nothing. While you plan on teaching me manners, watch how you’ll never have me. I would swim to the ends of the ocean if I have to. Anything possible to null betrothal. I would rather become a bride to a common merman than grace you bed. The only thing fuelling this is your greed and lust, giving the number of brides you already have. I refused to be added to your entourage of uselessness.”

I say to El’egro, and he laughs in response.

“Þú munt synda nokkuð langt til að það geti gerst. Njóttu frelsisins sem þú hefur meðan það varir. En ég er líka mjög viss um að Daryah myndi frekar deyja en að gera ekki trúlofun þína við mig. Það eru hlutir sem þú þekkir ekki barn. Sannleikur sem þarf að vera falinn sem leyndarmál. Sem ég er viss um að Daryah myndi gera allt sem þarf til að halda því falið. Svo góð lukka á landvinningum þínum í sundi. Ég mun hafa þegar tíminn kemur.”

[You’ll swim quite far for that to happen. Enjoy the freedom you have whilst it lasts. But I am also very certain that Daryah would rather die than null your betrothal to me. There are things you don’t know barn. Truths that need to remain hidden as secrets. Which I am certain Daryah would do all it takes to keep it hidden. So good luck on your swimming conquest. I’ll have you when the time comes.]

El’egro says, and I frowned at his statements. It held a certain confidence that I didn’t like.

“What do you means secrets? What are you talking about? Mother might be rash but she would do nothing discrediting to her as a Queen or the throne.”

I asked, and he smirked. 

“Það mun koma á óvart hversu langt Daryah myndi ganga til að halda hásætinu. Ég gæti byrjað með kónginum og hvernig hún raunverulega hefur hann. Eða kannski ætti ég að segja þér sannleikann í kringum það hvernig móðir þín hugsaði þig. Það er vissulega áhugavert umræðuefni.”

[It’ll surprise how far Daryah would go to keep that throne. I could start with the king and how she really has him. Or maybe I should tell you the truth surrounding how your mother conceived you. That sure is an interesting topic.]

El’egro says leaning close to me and I listened with rapt attention, hoping to hear what secrets he had to spill but he grinned and leaned back raising his hand to the air. 

“Við aðra hugsun ætti leyndarmál að vera leyndarmál fyrir utan að segja þér að það myndi eyðileggja tilraun þína til að ógilda trúlofunina. Ég hef beðið eftir þessu í árstíðir til enda. Ég gerði tilveru þína mögulega, Ianthe. Það er aðeins sanngjarnt ef ég hef þig það sem eftir er. Búðu þig undir því að vera brúður El’egro fylgir miklum skyldum. Að síðustu; þú gætir haldið að ég sé vondur, en móðir þín er ekki betri. Hún er alveg eins lituð og ég,”

[On a second thought, a secret should remain a secret besides telling you would ruin your attempt to null the betrothal. I’ve waited for this for seasons un-end. I made your existence possible, Ianthe. It’s only fair if I have you for the rest of your existence. Prepare yourself because being the bride of El’egro comes with a lot of duties. Lastly; you might think I am evil, but your mother is no better. She is just as stained as I am.]

I let out an annoyed hiss at his antics to get me riled up. He most definitely wants to get under my skin and he is going so low to lie about my mother?

“To think you would stoop so low to make my mother to look bad just to get under my skin. How irritating.”

I hiss, spitting at his feet and he snarls, raising his hands to strike me, and he stopped. I watched as his face transforms to his Triton form and he cackled out a sound that rumbled down the halls of my castle. 

“Sannleikurinn er alltaf bitur og það er ekkert gaman að eyðileggja hann ennþá. Þú ættir að spyrja Daryah um ferð hennar til mannlandsins. Ég veðja að hún hefur miklu að miðla.”

[The truth is always bitter and there is no fun ruining it yet. You should ask Daryah about her trip to the human land. I bet she has a lot to share.]

My skin pricked at his statement, knowing it had to be true if he could say such with so much confidence and conviction. 

He knew something about my birth that I didn’t and mother knows; she has been to human land yet reminds the kingdom every time how much of a taboo it is to journey to their ocean let alone step foot in their land. 

Just the thoughts of knowing mother might not differ from this evil standing before me irked me the wrong way, and I could feel my blood boil. My fins sprout from both ends of my hips and he dared to laugh. 

“Róaðu hestana þína prinsessa bíddu þar til þú finnur út raunverulegan sannleika. Ég verð á leiðinni. Njóttu nokkurra vertíða sem þú átt eftir.”

[Calm your horses, princess, wait until you find out the factual truth. I’ll be on my way. Enjoy the few seasons you have left.]

El’egro says, and I hissed as he turned to leave. 

“Remember, you hold secrets against mother not me. I am an individual with my own goals, not Queen Daryah’s legacy. My legacy is what I choose to do with my life and seeing to your end has become one of that. Enjoy your remaining reign as king Triton. Am sure the sirens would be able glad to disintegrate you and I would make that happen. “

“Rangt blóð.” [Foul blood]

I call after El’egro’s retreating figure and he halts, pivoting on his feet, and I watched as his hollow eyes darkened and his fangs elongated. 

He snarled loud, distorting the peace of my palace before turning on his heels and he marched out the corridor. 

Over my dead body will spend the rest of my existence with him, I’ll rather die and mother has some explaining to do. 

I stormed into my littoral, slamming the hurð [door] behind me.