The Sea Witch (The Era of Villains Book 1) (13 page)

Poseidon looked at
their clasped hands with disdain, and the happy bubble in Serena’s
chest popped. The look was all too familiar; she had seen it on
another beautiful face set below a crown.

“
You’ve
found a maid, you mean,” said Poseidon. “This is your
idea of doing justice to the bloodline? You choose the most common
of common folk? And not just any maid either; the maid who spited
your mother so. The maid your mother would never have let touch you,
much less marry you. This is how you honor her memory?”

Serena felt tears
burning in her eyes, but this time they were not tears of shame, but
tears of anger. Once again, she was being judged for her job title
and a lack of expensive ornaments in her hair.

“
Father,”
said Triton, his jaw tight and his voice severe, “that’s
enough. How dare you suggest I am tainting Mother’s memory
simply by falling in love—just like you wanted me to. And
Serena isn’t just a maid; she’s a sea witch. She has
inherent magical power. She is someone to be admired.”

Serena was relieved
that Triton was standing up for her this time. She won the battle
against her forming tears.

“
Oh
yes, a sea witch,” said Poseidon with a sneer. “Sea
witches are treacherous sea snakes who lure you in with coy looks
and promises of the thing you most desire, even if they can’t
actually deliver. Your mother knew the truth. A sea witch, this
one’s mother, almost tore our marriage apart. That is what
they do, Son. Don’t you see?”

Serena
felt electricity in her fingertips, and she let go of Triton’s
hand so as not to shock him. There it was again. Judgement for her
and her family’s powers.
He’s
just jealous
, thought Serena.

“
Your
Highness,” said Serena, mockery dripping from every syllable,
a smirk much like Moira’s on her face, “you will
remember that you invited every eligible mermaid to your parties,
not just the wealthy ones, the so-called ‘well bred’
ones. There is no law that says a prince cannot marry a maid or a
sea witch.”

“
She’s
right, Father,” said Triton.

“
I
invited every eligible mermaid so as not to start a riot!”
said Poseidon, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “I
thought you had enough sense to marry well, but clearly, I was
wrong. How do you know she hasn’t got you under some sort of
love spell?”

Serena jumped. Fear
surged up from her fins to her throat, rendering her speechless, but
Triton swam at his father so fast and with such a look of fury on
his face that Poseidon shrank back against his throne.

“
How
dare you, Father!” he said. “You think I’m a fool?
You think I don’t know my own heart?”

“
Triton,
please,” said Poseidon, regaining his composure, “I’m
just trying to be the voice of reason here. We can settle this right
now. Just let me use the Trident to see if there is a spell on you.”

“
No,
Father,” said Triton, his voice dangerous and low, “I
won’t let you point that thing at her. You’ll have to go
through me first.”

“
It’s
alright, Triton,” said Serena, her anger back in her voice.
After the brief moment of fear, Moira’s face had appeared
before her eyes, looking disappointed and angry that Serena was not
confident in her magic. The spell could not be broken by the
Trident. Only true love’s kiss would work. “Let him try.
There’s no spell to break, so no harm done.”

Triton looked like he
was going to protest, but she looked him in the eyes and nodded
once. He nodded back and came to wrap his arm around her waist.

“
Go
ahead,” said Triton, staring down his father.

Poseidon rose from his
throne and pulled the Trident free from the stone octopus’s
grip. He leveled it so that the central tip was pointed directly
between Serena’s breasts.

“
I
command the spell to be broken,” he said in a clear, booming
voice.

The Trident glowed for
a moment and there was a crack like thunder. Poseidon looked at
Triton, a question in his eyes.

“
Still
love her, Father,” said Triton through gritted teeth.

“
Perhaps
I have to point it at you, since you are the object of the spell.”

“
Go
ahead and try.”

The words were spoken;
the glow and the crack were the same.

“
I
will marry her, Father,” said Triton, and Serena smiled with
one eyebrow cocked at Poseidon.

Poseidon puffed up his
chest and his brow creased in anger. “You will not,” he
said. “There may be no law about marrying below your rank, but
the law does state that the king and queen must crown the new
princess, and I refuse! If your mother were here, she would say the
same. That witch will never be part of this family as long as I
reign!”

— — —

Serena’s shriek
of rage filled the whole cave. Moira came shooting out of the
corridor, Hazel and Casius not far behind.

“
Serena?”
said Moira.

“
What
happened?” said Casius.

“
The
same thing that always happens when it comes to the royal family,”
said Serena, her voice a predatory hiss. “Poseidon refuses to
crown me princess of Adamar even though Triton wishes to marry me,
all because I’m a maid and a sea witch. That vain, pompous oaf
just can’t stand the idea of a royal with her own inherent
magical power sitting on the throne. You know why?”

“
Because
such a royal would be legendary,” said Moira, an almost
religious fervor in her voice. “His name would be forgotten in
your shadow.”

“
Exactly!
You were always right about them, Mother. You too, Casius. I should
have listened earlier.”

“
That’s
alright, darling,” said Moira. “You know the truth now,
and you can make it right. You’ve found a rare royal in
Triton. He’s not like his parents.” Moira was careful
with each sentence, her voice calm and clear. She had to make sure
she pressed all the right buttons. The palace was within reach. “You
saved him from his mother. I had hoped that would be enough. I
thought Poseidon was harmless, but it seems I was wrong. I think you
know what you have to do.”

Serena had been
pacing, swimming back and forth across the living room from the left
corridor to the right, but now she stopped and raised her head
slowly to look at her mother. The tiniest of smiles twitched her
lips.

“
Are
you sure that’s the only way?” said Casius. “It
seems rather risky. Two poisonings in just a little over a
fortnight? The citizens, the doctors, they’ll be suspicious.”

“
They
won’t be able to prove anything,” said Moira, her eyes
narrowing at Casius. “Besides, Triton is completely smitten,
and he’ll be the new king. Serena will never be suspected, at
least not by the one person who matters.”

“
It’s
the only way,” said Serena, her face hard.

“
I’ll
get started right away,” said Moira with a smile.

“
I’ll
help.”

Adamar
was in a panic. Both the king and queen had died of the same
strange, incurable illness in less than a month. The doctors were
sure Poseidon had caught the disease at his wife’s bedside,
and everyone feared for Triton. If Triton died, there would be war
between the noble, wealthy families over the throne. Usurpers from
other parts of the ocean might even show up and take advantage of
the turmoil.

The whole
kingdom mourned the loss of the king and queen whether they thought
fondly of them or not. Triton set up a solemn parade in their honor
and declared the day an annual event to celebrate his parent’s
lives. The royal guard swam in full ceremonial battle gear—breast
plates made of turtle shells, nets draped around their chests like
sashes, tridents, spears, or swords at their sides. The queen’s
handmaidens came next, singing sad, sweet songs with tears on their
cheeks. The king’s favorite servants blew conch shell
trumpets. Triton and Serena came next in a dolphin-pulled carriage
made of clam shells. She had told him the citizens might not think
it proper for her to ride with him, but he insisted.

“
I
need you there if I’m going make it all the way through,”
he had said, holding both of her hands in his, and she had been
powerless to refuse.

He let
her see his grief and talked with her about his pain. When his tears
fell, she felt sick with guilt, but she comforted him all the same,
telling herself over and over that she had done the right thing for
both of them, for their future together. He refused his advisors’
insistence that he have his coronation immediately, so that he would
officially be king of Adamar and not just a prince, but he refused.
Serena assumed it was another way he was trying to honor his
father’s memory.

A month
after the mourning parade, he came and picked her up from her home
in the early morning and took her to play with a pod of dolphins.
The dolphins took to her quickly, saying things like, “Seems
you’ve finally grown a brain, your Highness. Good thing, too,
or this one would be terribly bored with you,” and “Marry
her quick before she realizes she’s too good for you.”
Triton had laughed good naturedly to all of these jibes, and Serena
felt a rush of pride. His parents hadn’t gotten as tight a
grip on him as she’d thought. If any sea creature had dared
say such things to Amphitrite or Poseidon, they would be punished.

By the
time they had swum around the outskirts of the whole city, flipping,
spinning, tossing a clam shell or a boulder back and forth as they
did flips and spins, Serena was breathless from exertion and
laughter. She waved goodbye to the dolphin pod and turned to Triton
with a smile on her face.

“
What?”
she said, self-consciously tucking her hair behind her ear when she
caught Triton staring at her intently.

He
snatched her up in his arms, pulling her against his chest, and
tilted her chin up to look at him as he said, “Serena, will
you be my queen?”

Serena
gazed at him with a wide-eyed, slightly open-mouthed, dazed smile.
Her happiness stole her voice. Despite her smile, her silence made
Triton nervous. His eyes moved quickly over her face, and he sounded
a little anxious when he said, “I think you’ll find you
have to, because I refuse to be crowned unless you’re by my
side with a crown on your head too.”

She
laughed and said, “Well, when you put it that way, it’s
my duty to say yes, now isn’t it?”

Triton
laughed. “So that’s a genuine yes, right?”

“
Yes,
of course,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck and
kissing him.

For the
first time ever, Serena had pearls woven into her hair. Her thick,
dark mass of hair was all pulled up and styled in elegant twists and
braids clasped together by a large hair pin decorated with white
seashells. Two large, pure white clam shells served as her top.
Three interlocked bracelets made of iridescent cave crystal sparkled
around her wrist. There was a matching necklace, but Serena could
not wear it. The golden heart-shaped locket had to stay around her
neck. She tried not to think about it or what it implied about the
marriage that would start in just a few minutes. It was easy to cast
the thought aside. It was her wedding day, and she was giddy with
delight. She couldn’t stop smiling, and her cheeks were
beginning to hurt.

“
You
look magnificent, darling,” said Moira, that overly-sweet
cadence in her voice. Serena was beginning to grow used to it and
found herself trying extra hard to make Moira happy just to hear it.

“
Thank
you, Mother.”

“
You’ll
look even more magnificent once you get that crown.”

Moira’s
eyes blazed for a moment, and she adjusted the makeshift coral
crown on her head. Serena thought perhaps she could get Moira a real
one once she became queen. Moira would like that. Hazel should have
one too.

Moira
swam up behind Serena, put her hands on her shoulders, and kissed
her hair. Hazel, who had just been about to tell Serena how very
beautiful she looked, frowned and said nothing. Hazel was maiden of
honor. In fact, she was the only bridesmaid. She, too, had pearls in
her hair, though it was draped in a braid across her shoulder. She
wore a brand new blue shell top. Serena had had it specially made
for her, as her favorite black one just wouldn’t do for a
wedding, and the white one she had worn for the royal dinner party
would not work because only the bride could wear white. Hazel had
gasped in delight when Serena had presented it to her, rubbing the
pink pearls woven into it with admiration. She looked quite lovely,
despite the poor health of her hair and even the frown now on her
face, but Moira had said not a word to her about it.

Serena
sighed dreamily and touched her sore, smiling cheeks with her
fingertips.

“
I’m
going to marry Triton,” she said, shaking her head as if it
couldn’t possibly be true.

“
You’re
going to be queen,” said Moira.

The
ceremony was in the bright and vibrantly colorful coral reef. Fish
of all shapes, sizes, and colors peeked out of their homes to watch.
Everyone in Adamar who could come surrounded the ceremony from every
angle, forming a multicolored dome of tails. Moira gave Serena away.
Casius sat in the front, resting on a large sponge, and at one
point, Serena caught him rubbing an eye with a tentacle.

Triton
said his vows first, holding Serena’s right hand in his and
looking deep into her eyes. “To have and to hold.” The
love she saw there could be nothing but genuine. Right? Her left
hand snuck up to her collar bone to fidget with the locket. “For
richer or poorer.”
What if he never
really loves me? What if he finds out what I did to him, to his
parents?
“In sickness and in health.”
With one final, almighty effort, she shoved the guilt aside. She had
him, and she would keep him, and she would love him well, and that
was that. She had done what she had to, and she would do it again.
He’s mine now, and I deserve him, and
I’m not letting him go.
“‘Til
death do us part.”

Serena’s
hand fell away from the locket so that Triton could slip the wedding
band made of pearl on her finger. She said her own vows with
confidence and joy. She and Triton interlocked their left hands on
top of their clasped right hands. The priest pointed the Trident at
their hands. This part was supposed to be the king’s job. They
both said “I do” in unison, and a golden, glowing chain
burst from the tip of the Trident and wrapped around their joined
hands. The chain glowed brighter and brighter until Serena almost
had to shut her eyes, and then the chain burst apart into glittering
fireworks.

“
You
may now kiss the bride.”

Despite
the passion of the kiss, the locket thrummed on just the same.

After the
wedding, Triton and Serena were whisked off to the throne room for
their joint coronation. They stood on the throne pedestal together
and swore the oaths to protect and provide for the people of Adamar,
to share their city peacefully with other sea creatures, and to
wield the power of the Trident in the name of justice. Triton’s
chief advisor, an old merman named Malik who had served at
Poseidon’s side, presented him with the Trident. It glowed
when he wrapped his hand around it for the first time. Malik then
rested the golden crown, created by the Trident itself, on his head.
The gold was shaped into thick points all around his head. Malik
then fixed the much more delicate, silver crown onto Serena’s
head. The silver was thin and impossibly shiny. Three thin spikes
like castle spires stood up from the band in the front, the middle
one taller than other two.

The
throne room was crammed with citizens. It was a
first-come-first-served ceremony, and merpeople were still trying to
shove their way into the doors. It seemed that the merpeople of
Adamar were desperate to ease their grief and fear at the sudden
loss of their king and queen by bringing in their new king and queen
with more excitement, happiness, and vigor than ever before.
Finally, things were going to be normal again, perhaps even
better—they were all fond of Triton and hoped that perhaps he
would prove to be a greater king than his father, though none of
them dared say those exact words out loud.

“
Citizens
of Adamar,” shouted Malik with a flourish of his hands, “I
now present to you, King Triton and Queen Serena! May their reign be
long and prosperous!”

— — —

Hazel’s
laugh was sweet and childlike as she flopped herself down on her new
bed of lush sea grass nestled in a giant clam shell. She lay back
with her hands behind her head, lifting up her tail and flicking it
back and forth.

“
It’s
so soft,” she said with a sigh of content.

“
I’m
glad you like it,” said Serena. Her smile had hardly left her
face since her wedding a week earlier.

“
I
love it! My own bed in the
palace
.”

“
Well
don’t wet it,” said Moira with a condescending roll of
her eyes.

Hazel’s
happily flipping tail flopped down on the bed. Serena scowled at her
mother. Moira raised her chin and appraised her oldest daughter with
narrowed eyes. Hazel watched with dread and curiosity as the two
mermaids sized each other up and weighed the consequences of
fighting verses backing down. To Hazel’s utter surprise, Moira
lowered her chin, put a small, somewhat reluctant smile on her face,
and said, “It suits you, Hazel. We’re all finally
getting what we deserve.”

Serena’s
smile returned.

“
How’re
things in here?” said Casius, appearing tentacles first in the
doorway, his voice a little tense, having overheard the whole
exchange.

Serena
looked to Hazel, who said, “Wonderful. Look at my new bed,
Casius.”

Casius’
voice hinted at the relieved smile he could not show when he said,
“Yes, it’s quite lovely, Hazel.”

“
And
the sea grass grows from a garden made in the bottom, so I don’t
have to put a preservation spell on it or switch out the dead grass
for fresh or anything like that.”

“
Even
if the grass did need to be replaced, you don’t have to do
anything for yourself now, Hazel,” said Moira. “Remember
that. We are royalty now.”

“
Technically,
Serena is the only royal here,” said Casius, a smirk in his
voice. Though he respected Moira, Casius was not altogether fond of
her, and he liked to push her buttons because he knew if she wanted
to stay on Serena’s good side (which was imperative if she
wanted to remain in the palace) she could do nothing to him. Moira
slanted her eyes in a furious glare but bit her tongue. Serena eyed
the two of them nervously.

“
That
reminds me,” said Serena. “I’ve been wanting to
speak to all of you together. You aren’t just going to be
beloved, welcome guests here in the palace. Mother, I would like to
make you my chief advisor, and Casius and Hazel, I would like you
two to be advisors also. You’ll have official titles, and
you’ll be involved in all the decisions I make as queen. You
will also work alongside Triton and his advisors. That is, if you
would like to accept the positions.”

“
Of
course, darling,” said Moira, a sly, crooked smile slanting
along one cheek. Serena thought she saw the tattoos winding along
her arms and torso vibrant, but she blinked and they were still.

“
I
would be honored,” said Casius.

“
You
really want me to?” said Hazel, her voice wary and her
eyebrows raised suspiciously. “You’re not just including
me as a pity gesture or something?”

“
Not
at all, Hazel,” said Serena. “I think you probably have
a lot of good ideas. You just need to learn to speak up more.”

“
Then,
I’m in.”

“
You
want my first piece of advise?” said Moira, eyebrow raised.

“
Sure.”

“
I
think it’s time to start your magic lessons.”

Hazel’s
smile turned down.
That’s the end of my
magic lessons
, she thought.