He pressed his lips to hers, hard and forceful. His soul, deceptively sweet and beautiful, slipped inside her and wove its fingers around her fighting spirit, plucking the delicate strings of her soul. But knowing who he was and what to expect, Tatiana fought back. The darkness, cloaked in a promise of love everlasting, pushed into her harder, demanding her free-will.
“No!” she screamed, seeing the promise’s beguiling hold for what it was—lies. And before succumbing to him, she rammed her knee firmly into his groin and tore her mouth away from his. His soul ripped from her, empty handed.
Azor doubled over, groaning. Tatiana clambered up from the floor and ran around the corner directly into Chauncey. He grabbed her around the waist, securing her arms.
Tatiana shrieked. “Let me go!”
Azor marched up to her with a limp. “If you weren’t pregnant, I’d beat you!”
Tatiana sucked in a breath. “What?”
A coy smile spread over his evil mouth. “You know that you are. Couldn’t resist me, could you?”
Tatiana spit in his face. “You’re disgusting and I’d never mate with you, ever!”
He winced and wiped away the spittle. “Oh, but you did. How do you explain how you can nurse?” He reached out to fondle her breast.
“Don’t touch me!” She reared back, flailing her legs, kicking Azor in the stomach. He backed up and grimaced. She then stomped on Chauncey’s foot, but he didn’t let her go.
“So feisty,” Chauncey said in her ear. “I’ll hold her down if you want her. That’ll take out some of her fight.”
Azor glared, his chest rising and falling. “I just need to get rid of
him
, then she’ll be mine again, beg for me, like it was supposed to be.”
“What about Xirene?” Tatiana asked through gritted teeth.
Azor lifted his chin. “She’s dead, Tatiana. You got your wish.”
Tatiana sucked in a gasp. “Dead? I never wished that. How? Did you kill her, too?”
Azor clenched his jaw. “What do you take me for? She birthed the baby alone, and… ” He looked away, his nostrils flaring.
Tatiana’s chest heaved. His ardor the night he’d found her nursing the merling made sense now. With Xirene’s death, he’d been freed of his promise to Xirene and could feel his connection to Tatiana. He’d hoped by kissing her, the promise would rekindle for her as well. But she didn’t let him. She’d broken the original bond. She’d chosen freedom over the promise spell.
“I’ll never love you, Azor. Ever,” she seethed. “You’re evil and you’re…” She remembered what the Queen had said, that he wasn’t her son. That she’d switched him for the girl, for Ash. “Not even a royal!”
“What?”
“Xirene doesn’t have the mark. Your own daughter doesn’t have the mark.” She laughed. “You were adopted and you didn’t even know it!”
Azor’s head pulled backward, his eyes falling into slits. “I don’t know what was wrong with Xirene, but you have it. You have the mark!”
A grin pushed up on her lips. “Because your father kissed me…”—she lifted her chin in defiance—“that’s why.”
Azor’s face fell. “What?”
She felt despicable for lying, but she couldn’t tell him the truth—that the girls had been branded, royal blood or not. She had to trust Desiree’s confession was true, otherwise he’d never let his quest for power go.
Chauncey’s grip slackened and Tatiana’s arms were suddenly freed. Chauncey believed Tatiana, too. And that he could choose whether or not he still wanted to be loyal to Azor.
“You’re an orphan,” she said plainly. “I bet the Queen couldn’t birth Phaleon a boy, so she stole you from a human family and converted you. Ironic, isn’t it? You’re a beta-mer.”
Azor’s hands slipped down to his side. “It’s a lie,” he whispered, searching the floor.
“Desiree used you to secure Phaleon’s throne, just like what you tried to do with your
daughter
… but the people know the truth now.”
“When? When did the King kiss you?”
“While you were trying to avenge my father. I visited him in his room and he told me everything. That you’d left him there to die. He called you a fool and even predicted you’d murder him, that you’d steal the crown. I didn’t want to believe him. Sea stars, was I wrong!”
Evil crossed Azor’s face. He straightened, his eyes canvassing her body. “After your mark showed up, you still wanted me.” He grabbed her hand and pulled off her ring, flinging it across the floor. “If he kissed you, then where’s your tattoo?”
She pulled her hand back. “You don’t get the tattoo when you’re kissed by someone who is already promised, idiot!”
He grabbed her arm and swiveled her around, lifting the hem of her dress. “
I
gave you the mark. Me!”
Tatiana pulled away and slapped him across the face. “Don’t touch me!”
“But Jacob kissed you, too.”
“He didn’t!” she screamed and ran down the hall. “Get away from me!”
“Kill him. Kill Jacob,” she heard Azor demand to Chauncey behind her and her heart lurched. She looked over her shoulder and watched Chauncey march in the opposite direction.
“NO!” she screamed, doubling back.
Azor grabbed her by the hair, pushing her to the floor. “You’re wrong, Tatiana. You will
love
me! I will
make you
love me!”
Tatiana pawed at him, kicking and screaming.
“Azor!” Fin yelled, charging their way with a scythe in his hand. “Unhand my sister, you bastard!”
A group of mers followed behind Fin, all rebels. Azor stood up and bolted in the opposite direction.
“Tatch,” Fin said breathless, helping his sister to her feet. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.” She dusted her hands on her skirt.
Behind them, Badger barked orders to the rebels to split up and search for Azor. “Aye, girl. Good job. We’ll get that mangy pain in the arse in no time.”
“No!” Tatiana did a quick double-take at the twin Ashes standing with Badger—one confident, the other shook up. “Ash?”
The less confident girl smiled and ran to her, embracing her neck. “Tatchi!”
Tatiana relaxed into her, finally feeling safe, when fear about Jacob’s safety coursed through her once again. “Wait. We have to find Jacob before Chauncey does. He’s going to murder him!”
“Aye!” Badger whistled with his fingers. “Grommet, round up yer men and search da eastern side. The rest of you, come with me. Is there a jail here, Princess?”
“What?” Tatiana asked.
“No,” the other redhead interrupted. “If we ever had prisoners, we only kept them at the compound.”
“We’re foostering. Let’s go!” He ran forward, down the same hall Chauncey escaped, toward the northern porthole. The rest of the group followed and Tatiana explained briefly what happened along the way.
Fin cursed after she finished. “That son of a bass. When I get my hands on Azor—”
“You’ll be havin’ time later to bleed dat gobsite, but fer now, don’t be wastin’ yer energy,” Badger said. “Jacob needs findin’.”
Outside of the palace, while Badger barked orders to search Natatoria in pairs, Tatiana tried to smell the water for Chauncey’s stench, smelling everyone else instead.
“Return here in an hour!” Badger called out to the rebels.
“We’re too late,” Tatiana exclaimed, flopping her tail, defeated. “I’ve lost Chauncey’s trail.”
“Don’t ya be worrin’. He can’t be far. Split up and search the caves. If he’s not at the compound, I’ll come help ya look,” Badger said over his shoulder.
“Azor, that jackfish!” yelled a dark-haired merman, one who had a striking resemblance to Jacob. “If my brother’s anywhere, it’ll most likely be the caves. You three search the northern wall and we’ll go to the southern wall. Chauncey couldn’t have gotten far. Come on.” He charged ahead while holding the hand of the confident redheaded girl.
“Let’s go.” Fin motioned, holding Ash’s hand.
“Tatchi!” she exclaimed, reaching for her.
You okay, sis?
Fin asked telepathically.
I think so, yes.
Tatiana pressed the water she’d been holding through her gills and clasped onto Ash’s hand, the three of them speeding north. “You two practically gave me a heart attack. What are you doing here?”
“We’re here to save you from that… asshole!” Ash exclaimed.
Tatiana sucked in a startled breath, stunned by her best friend’s attitude, not to mention her tail make-over. Actually, she’d resembled the other princess
down to her green fin and—?
“Whoa… how’d you get that?” Tatiana pointed to the fleur-de-lis.
“Cool, huh?” Ash said with a smile, motioning to Tatiana’s matching mark. “Means we’re princesses.”
“I know that… but you’re not supposed to have one. Why haven’t I ever seen that?’
Ash blushed. “’Cause I always wore a one-piece to cover it, I mean, who had a birthmark that looks like a fleur-de-lis? But I just found out why. Queen Desiree switched me for Azor when we were babies, ‘cause she needed a son. Your uncle thought I was Galadriel and stole me, then kissed me…”—she grimaced. “So disgusting. And it’s why I swim fast and—”
“Wait? Wha—?” Tatiana’s mouth gaped open.
Ash tsked. “There’s too much to tell. We need to find your friend, first. Come on.”
Tatiana ran her free hand through her hair, her brain spinning. This had to be some crazy-ass dream. There’s no way this was happening.
“And you thought high school has drama…
girlfriend
,” Ash said.
Tatiana choked on a gulp of seawater and pinched her eyes shut to refocus.
Jacob. We need to find Jacob.
43
: : :
Slice of Life
“Ah, Jacob. Still alive and flipping, I see.”
Jacob’s eyes startled wide at Chauncey’s calm voice. “And Azor’s still making you do his dirty work.”
Chauncey laughed, slithering in from the pool. “If you mean King Azor, then, yes. Yes I am.”
Jacob snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“Didn’t you hear the horn toll?” Chauncey sneered. “Oh, forgot you can’t hear it, locked up in this lovely place.” He gestured around the cave.
Jacob gave a dismissive nod. Of course he heard the bell and had been curious. But king? Chauncey had to be lying.
“Here’s a recap,” he continued. “Phaleon’s dead and King Azor and Queen Tatiana are now in charge.”
Jacob laughed. “How is that possible without an heir?”
“Didn’t you know?” Chauncey threw his chin up and shoulders back. “Tatiana was pregnant this entire time. Gave King Azor a son just in time.”
Jacob’s eyes narrowed, disbelieving. How long had he been locked up? Couldn’t have been six weeks, could it? He would have died without food. “You and I both know he paid more attention to Xirene than Princess Tatiana, with her bubbled room and secret exit.”
“Did he now?” Chauncey raised his brow, touching his finger to his lip. “I wouldn’t know, considering she’s dead, too. That leaves just one loose parasite to dispose of in order for Prince Treviathan and his parents to live happily ever after.”
Jacob pulled his head backward and seethed, “Azor will never be happy.”
Chauncey leaned in, his eyes flashing. “That’s King Azor to you.” He lifted his scythe, swiping it across Jacob’s fin.
Jacob yelled as the blood spurted out. “You can kill me, but you won’t get away with it! The rebels will revolt! Jack’s coming back!”
Chauncey laughed hard, and sliced Jacob’s fin again.
Jacob roared, writhing in pain, fire burning down his fin.
“The rebels have all been beheaded in the square. King Azor has won. And even when I was leaving the palace on strict orders to dispose of you, Tatiana couldn’t control her joy over the crown. I watched her and Azor
celebrate
naked right in the middle of the hallway.”
Anger ripped through Jacob’s tail at the thought of Azor touching Tatiana. He reared back and knocked Chauncey over. Then with a hard jerk of the chains, he broke free one of the chains above his head.
“Chauncey, you coward!” He yelled, yanking the other, which held firm. “Make this a fair fight and let my hands free!”
Chauncey grunted, pulling his body upright. He sliced Jacob again, this time across his chest. He then removed the parasite off his tongue and placed it on one of Jacob’s wounds. Jacob flicked his tail, but the thing latched on, anxiously drinking his blood.
“Naw,” he said with an evil smile. “I’d rather watch you suffer first.”
44
: : :
Silence
As Tatiana, Fin and Ash swam off toward the caves, Tatiana began to lose hope. She kept smelling the water, unable to pick up anything. Without Chauncey’s scent, finding Jacob would be like looking for a diamond on a sandy beach. As they approached the northern walls of Natatoria, Tatiana’s eyes canvassed the obsidian rock, looking for caves or holes, not finding anything large enough to hide inside.
She cupped her hands to her mouth. “Jacob!” she called feebly. “Jacob!’
Out of answers, she felt her optimism crumble. Pressing her eyes shut, she prayed as a last resort.
I don’t know where Jacob is. Please help me find him before it’s too late.
She inhaled the water deeply through her nose, hoping to catch Chauncey’s stink again.
“Are you sucking the water through your nose?” Ash asked, confused.
Tatiana stopped and opened her eyes, embarrassed. “I’m smelling the water, actually. Chauncey reeks kinda like—”
“Oysters?” Ash finished.
“You know the scent?”
“What scent?” Fin asked.
Ash wrinkled her nose, then looked to Fin. “Like rotten oysters. It’s disgusting.”
Tatiana frowned and shook her head. “Fin’s sniff-blind.”
“Oh.” Ash’s eyebrows furrowed as she paused a beat when hope filtered into her eyes. “Then let’s split up. I’ll go and smell the water this way with Fin, and you scour the cliffs that way. Call out if you find anything.”
Tatiana perked up and nodded, propelling her tail to the left, while Fin and Ash disappeared to the right. She knew eventually, she’d hit the shark tank to the eastern side. Thinking back to her interaction with the sharks before, her stomach quivered. She’d just swim around and continue on. Quitting wasn’t an option.