Blood of Destiny (Witch Fairy #6) (12 page)

Zoe nods.  “It was their choice to leave the human realm.  The seas were no longer calm and clean, and they were getting hurt.”

I guess I have to suck it up and work something out.  “What do you suggest we do about this?”

“The very first thing you should do is let the Queen back into her home.”

Yeah, I was afraid she was going to say that.  Reluctantly, I let go of the magic that is keeping the Merpeople at bay.  As soon as they sense that, the Queen makes her way through the crowd.

“You come here uninvited, insult me and destroy my home.  I should kill you myself.”

Implying that she’s going to have someone else do it?  I don’t think so.  “Not to be rude,” well, maybe a little, “but I just proved that I was strong enough to kick you out of your own house, so that’s probably not going to happen.”  Suddenly, there are two hands on my shoulders.  Kallen’s is on my left and he’s using considerably more pressure than Zoe is.  The message is the same, though.  They both want me to shut up.  I decide they’re right.

“What my new friend meant to say,” Zoe says with a sideways glance at me that says she only gets one shot at this so I better not ruin it, “is that she is sorry to have offended you.  She reacted out of fear, not disrespect.  We are hoping that with a proper apology, you will find it in your heart to forgive her.”

Right.  That murderous looking Mermaid is going to forgive me.  That’ll happen the same time I grow a fish tail.

“I may be persuaded.  With a proper apology.”  She glares in my direction.  Uh oh, I hope this doesn’t mean I’m going to grow a fish tail now.

Kallen’s mouth is in a thin line.  I suspect he may have an idea what a proper apology to a Mermaid Queen is.  “I apologize from the bottom of my heart.  I didn’t come here to insult you.  I only wanted to find Zoe and convince her to come back to the Fairy realm with me.”

Undine looks at me in disdain.  “I do not want your words.”

Okay.  “Then how do you want me to apologize.”  I don’t want to know.  Please don’t tell me.  She tells me.

“You will provide entertainment for me and my people.”

“What kind of entertainment.”  It better not involve being naked.  I’m not stripping so a bunch of Merpeople can gawk at my legs.  Or other bits.  And neither is Kallen.

A wicked smile grows on Undine’s face.  “To deserve forgiveness, first you must prove that you are worthy.  A competition of strength and endurance should do nicely.  If my side wins, I will collect my prize.  If your side wins, you will be able to leave unharmed.”

Prize?  What do we have that she would want?  Following her eyes, I think I’ve figured it out.  “You think your prize would be
Kallen
?”

Undine’s lips curve into a sultry smile as she swims towards Kallen.  She places a hand on his chest and slides it along his body as she swims in a circle around him.  I can’t help but notice that she manages to press her bare breasts against him no less than five times.  If I pull any more magic, their entire realm is going to explode.

“You need to take your hands off from my husband,” I growl.  I also give Kallen a dirty look for letting her do this to him.  He ignores me.

“What challenge do you propose?” he asks her.

Swimming back to where she was, but still caressing him with her eyes, she says, “You, against one of my strongest warriors.  A triathlon.  A race, a wrestling match and a show of magic.”

No way.  A race?  How could we possibly outswim Merpeople?  I can’t even outswim my little brother.  I start to say no way, but Kallen speaks first.  “I accept.”

Undine’s smile has gone from sultry to triumphant.  “Then preparations will be made.”  She turns to the Mermen closest to her and begins to speak in hushed tones.

Grabbing Kallen’s arm, I pull him away from the little crowd.  “What do you think you’re doing?” I hiss.

“I am trying to prevent war,” he says, folding his arms tightly across his chest.

“By having some hot Mermaid rub her breasts all over you?”  I know the second those words come out of my mouth that I made a mistake.

His eyes narrow to slits and his jaw barely moves as he grinds out, “I am not the one who blew up her castle.  If anyone is responsible for her
rubbing her breasts all over me
, it is you.”

I want to hit him.  I want to scream at him.  I want to blow up the rest of Undine’s house.  But I don’t.  He’s right.  With my jealousy firmly held in check, I wrap my arms around him and lay my forehead against his chest.  It takes a second, but then his arms circle around me.  “I’m sorry,” I say quietly.

He kisses the top of my head.  “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can go.”

“Unless you end up having to stay here and be a giant Mermaid toy.”

He chuckles.  “I am going to try to avoid that.  I would much rather be a giant Witch Fairy toy.”

I hug him tighter and then let him go.  “Okay.  Let’s go kick some Merman butt.”

Undine turns around as we approach and she has an evil grin on her face.  “These are the rules.  The first two events will be magic free.  You will compete against my strongest warrior and you will compete alone.”  She’s talking to Kallen, not me.

“Why can’t I compete?” I ask.

“Because I do not like you.”

Oh.  At least she’s honest.  “What are the first two events?”

After a quick dirty look in my direction, she turns to Kallen.  “You will race to free your…female before Kai is able to free his wife.  Next, you will wrestle Ocatavian.  Then, a final showdown of magic.  You will compete against me.”

Okay, first, I don’t like how she said female.  Like I’m a bug just waiting to be squashed under her fish tail.  Second, the way she looked at Kallen when she said that the final showdown would be against her makes me want to use several tridents on her face.  “What do you mean, save me?”  Evil grin.  Wow, her Merpeople really like her as their queen?  She’s a horrible person.

“You will be placed in danger and your husband must save you.”  She’s practically purring now.  This is not going to work out well for me.  “Take her,” she says to two Mermen who have obviously found some under the sea steroids.  They are huge.  Freakishly huge.  And they’re grabbing my arms.  “Hey!”   I try to shake them off, but without magic, I don’t have a chance. 

Kallen’s eyes are flashing with anger, but he doesn’t say anything as they drag me away.  He better win this stupid competition so I can yell at him for that.  But, win or lose – there’s no way I’m leaving him here.

The Mermen swim away with me and it takes a good fifteen minutes to get to wherever we’re going.  I haven’t bothered to struggle against them anymore.  It’s actually kind of nice floating along like this.  Until we get to our destination.

“No way,” I say, finally trying to put up a fight.  “You are not leaving me here.”

All I get in return are two smirks.  Then I’m pushed into a giant cage.  A giant cage of crabs?  I wish.  A giant cage of some of the ugliest sea creatures I have ever seen.  This would be a National Geographic photographer’s dream.  I can’t help a little scream when I spy this floating blob of pink with what looks like bat ears and one huge bluish grey eye staring at me.  With my scream, its back side shoots out to resemble squid tentacles that are connected by webbing – like duck feet.  Its ear looking things lie flat and it starts to swim away.  “What is that?”

One of the Mermen laughs.  “That is a vampire squid.”  Stupid vampires.  I knew they’d show up sometime.  “Is it going to eat me?”

He shrugs.  “That one will not.”  Implying that the others will.  Great.  Kallen better swim fast.

A moment later, a Mermaid shows up and she’s all smiles.  She’s also on the other side of the cage walls.  “Aren’t you coming in here?” I ask.  She must be that guy Kai’s wife.

She looks at me like I’m crazy.  “Of course not.  That is not safe.”  Gee, thanks for clearing that up for me.

Some of the things in here are starting to get curious about me.  A couple of them start swimming towards me and it’s all I can do not to use magic against them.  I know if I do, Undine will say I cheated and declare us losers in this part of the competition.  And I’m guessing it’s not a two out of three sort of thing.  So, I suck it up and cower in the corner, ready to punch the first thing that gets too close to me.

After what seems like four lifetimes, I finally see Kallen and Kai.  They’re both swimming hard but Kai is still a little bit ahead of Kallen.  Until Kallen sees me in this stupid cage.  Now he’s as panicked as I am. Which fortunately for me means that he starts swimming faster.  Unfortunately for me, I’m paying more attention to him than I am to the creatures I’m in jail with and I feel a pinch on my arm.  When I say pinch, I mean a pain so bad that it makes me say a lot of words that my mother wouldn’t like.  I shake my arm and a little tiny snail goes flying.  I was bitten by a snail?  I didn’t even know they had teeth. 

I’m get a little woozy now.  It barely registers that the cage door has been ripped open and Kallen’s dragging me out.  “Xandra, listen to me.  You’ve been bitten by a textile cone snail.”  Okay, I can handle a snail bite.  What’s the big deal?  And why does he sound so far away?  “It is extremely poisonous.  When it bites you with its hollow teeth, it injects a lethal amount of poison into your system.”  Oh, that’s bad.  “You need to heal yourself.”

Heal myself?  But that would mean using magic.  And then Kallen would have to stay here.  “No magic,” I mumble and even I can barely understand what I just said.

“You have to use your magic, Xandra.  If you do not, you will die.”

A woman’s face swims in front of me.  “Listen to him.  If you have the magic to heal yourself, you need to do so quickly.  The poison is fast acting and you do not have much time left.”

Well, if the Mermaid thinks I should use magic I should probably use magic.  Using the magic I already had ready to use against the sea creatures, I send it in search of the poison flowing through my system.  I imagine it destroying each particle as it cleanses my blood.  In just a couple of minutes, I start feeling a lot better.  I must look better too because Kallen looks relieved.

“The use of magic is forbidden in the first two events,” Kai says with his arms crossed over his chest.  His pecs are so big that I bet he’d wear a size fifty triple D cup bra.  “I must inform the Queen that you have broken the rules.”

Before I can tell him he’s a jerk, his wife does.  With her hands on her fishy hips, she gets in his face.  “You will do no such thing if you plan on coming home with me today.”

Kai’s face falls.  He may be big but it’s quickly becoming clear that he is not the one in charge.  “But Arie,” he whines.  She just glares.  He shuts up.

Turning back to me, Arie says, “Are you feeling well enough to return now?”

I nod.  “Yes.”

“Good, then we should head back.  The sooner these ridiculous games are done, the sooner you and your husband can leave here.”  Okay then.  She’s not going to tell on me, but she’s not a fan either.  Got it.