A Mermaid's Curse

Chapter 4

Tonight is almost identical to the previous night's. The only difference is that a mermaid is in Drew's place, face drained of color and eyes blank. My stomach drops, mouth opening as a cry escapes my lips. Queen Katrina stares at me, her face expressionless. Ronan is floating beside her, a smug grin on his face.

A dark-blue pendant rests at her throat, taunting me. I start to swim to her, but before I so much as take a stroke forward, something glints in the dim sunlight on the surface. A dagger. I open my mouth again to shout—but am just a fraction too late. With a single movement, Ronan shoves the tip into her chest.

Time slows to a crawl. Sound is muted in my ears, as if someone has turned the volume on life down to one. There is only me, Ronan, and Queen Katrina. The latter is sinking to the ground, a hand covering the wound on her chest. Her copper skin is grey, her breathing wet and labored.

"Thank you, Isadora," he says casually, as if resuming a conversation we'd had minutes before. "I was beginning to think that I'd have to resort to extreme measures to complete my task, what with my banishment from Aegrem and Beltmare. She was the finishing touch I didn't know I needed."

I can barely hear him over my heart pounding in my ears. Every stroke seems to take an eternity. When I finally reach Queen Katrina's side, I rip the pendant off her neck, stuffing it inside my pocket.

One hand is on the wound on her chest, the other wrapped around her shoulder, supporting the queen as she lays in my lap. Her chest hitches as she struggles to breathe. My heart skips a beat as a line of blood trickles from the side of her mouth.

When she speaks, I have to put my ear inches from her lips to be able to hear her. Even then, the words are faint. "Take.... care of.... Kai," she rasps, a weak cough rattling her frail body. "You two... belong together." My heart stops as her chest rises, falls, and ceases.

"No! Please!" My voice breaks on the last word, tears spilling down my cheeks as the light vanishes from her eyes. They're blank and unseeing as they stare up at the surface.

A voice speaks up from behind, making me flinch. "And to think, everyone was just getting used to the princess from Aegrem. Imagine what they'll think when they find out you killed both of Beltmare's rulers? Better yet, what will Kai think?"

My free hand is already clutching a dagger as I spin around, locking eyes with Ronan. "Are you still upset about Mom killing your sister? Forget about her. She's never coming back." As the words leave my mouth, I'm momentarily shocked at how cruel they sound.

He moves so fast, I barely register it. Knocking the blade from my hand, he angles the dagger in his own across my throat. The tip bites into my skin, drawing a thin line of blood. "I told you," he hisses, voice cold and deadly soft, "I don't need to kill you to make you suffer. You're doing that all on your own."

Though I try not to, my eyes follow his to Queen Katrina's lifeless body on the ground. I open my mouth to respond—not that I expect any words to come out—but it's too late. Ronan has vanished.

I slap a hand over the wound on my neck, blood trickling through my fingers. Not too deep—enough to scar, but not permanently damage. A glow emanates from my pocket and I freeze.

I wait for the ghosts to show, but after a few tense seconds, I'm still alone in the water. Brokenly, I swim over to Queen Katrina's body, gently closing her eyes. A tear slips free from my eye, landing on her chest.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper, my voice barely audible. "Kai and I will take care of each other. I promise." My voice breaks on the last word and I bite my lip, trying to stifle the tears that are so close to escaping.

A loud thud jerked me from sleep, a gasp escaping me as I sat up. I glanced around fearfully, expecting Ronan to be hiding in the shadows, but our room was empty. I rose from the bed, stretching my sore muscles. It was going to be a long day.

I was just about to swim into my closet when a flash of gold caught my eye. I blinked several times as I looked up into the calm eyes of my husband. "I was just coming to get you for breakfast," Kai said, putting a steadying hand on my back. "I've got a surprise for you."

When I didn't respond right away, his gaze turned worried. "Everything okay?" He asked.

I nodded, getting dressed in a daze. I pulled my cloak tightly around myself as we swam out of our room. We'd been living here for a while, so you'd think I'd be used to the various sights and sounds. Normally, I would have been. But today... Today, I flinched at every noise, resisting the urge to reach for a dagger.

Ronan's taunting expression was frozen in my mind, his words on a loop: "'And to think, everyone was just getting used to the princess from Aegrem. Imagine what they'll think when they find out you killed both of Beltmare's rulers? Better yet, what will Kai think?'"

Instead of going to the dining room, however, we cut through a passage beside the kitchen, emerging into the open water. A long table had been set up in the center, with several chairs surrounding it. The reflection of the sun on the surface provided enough light for everything to be bathed in a warm glow. When Queen Katrina met my eyes, a smile on her face, I almost swam right back inside.

I dragged a shaky smile to my face. She wasn't alone. Mom and Dad floated across from her, gentle smiles on their faces. "What do you think, Izzy? It was all Kai's idea." Dad's voice was soft as he spoke, eyes on my face.

It took all of my willpower to keep that smile on my lips and not burst into tears right there and then. "It looks great, Dad," I responded. Through sheer will, I managed to get some of it down. The rest of the time, I just picked at my food, mustering half-hearted responses when spoken to.

Kai put a hand on my arm as we swam out into the open water after we finished eating. "I noticed you didn't say much at breakfast. Everything okay?"

I'd held it in for as long as I could. I'd managed to maintain my composure, even though every glance I shared with Queen Katrina made tears spring to my eyes. "Ronan was right," I finally choked out, voice muffled by tears. "I can't escape it. First King Drake, now..." I trailed off, unable to meet Kai's gaze.

I flinched when I felt a finger under my chin, lifting my eyes up to meet his. "Take a deep breath and tell me what happened." His voice was soft, but firm as he looked at me.

I did as he instructed, though it felt like an anchor was sitting on my chest. "Ronan was in my nightmare. Instead of it being just me and him, there was someone else." I avoided his gaze as I spoke the next words. "Your mother."

I felt him tense up beside me. He didn't respond for several seconds. When he did, his voice was so low it sent a chill down my spine. "What happened." It wasn't a question.

I rubbed a shaking hand over my face. "Ronan still blames Mom for killing his sister and wants to make me suffer. He'd already hurt Mom and Dad, so he moved on to someone else I cared about. I was too late. I couldn't save her." My voice had turned hollow by that point, so much so that I hardly recognized it.

I took a shaky breath, then exhaled deeply. "He killed your mother. After she'd..." I trailed off, biting back a sob, "died, he said that he was going to pin her and King Drake's murder on me." Saying it out loud didn't make me feel any better, even though I knew that Kai (again) would never think I was responsible.

He wrapped his arms around me, pulling my body to his. "I know you didn't kill my father," he responded. "And as for Ronan, we know the truth. That's all that matters."

I kept to myself the rest of the day, taking leisurely swims when I knew others weren't around. I just didn't have the energy to deal with anyone. When nightfall rolled around, I was barely able to keep my eyes open. The best I could do was a few bites of dinner before swimming into bed, the adrenaline-turned-exhaustion from today's events hitting me full on.

Kai swam into bed beside me, kissing the top of my head. "We'll figure this out," he whispered. "It'll be okay."

I clung to his words as I laid awake, wishing more than anything I could believe them. When I finally dozed off, Ronan's face haunted me, his words on an endless loop in my head.

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