Esmeralda
It had been three weeks since I'd sent Louie to Islanda. I had been getting our new home prepared for occupants. I was still half especting some rogue mermaids to wander by, but eventually Islanda residents would make this their home too - without any memory of the past looming over it. In the meantime, I needed to make this the perfect place to live. The perfect place for me to rule as queen. This would be the new Islanda. That set aside, I didn't understand what was taking him so long. I had only sent him to spy on Violet and report back, but it seemed as though he had abandoned me and this kingdom. At this point, I was just idling and playing with coral, waiting for him to return. What if he had decided none of this was worth it and left? I would need to come up with another plan.
When I thought I couldn't wait any longer and needed to find out what was going on so I could revise the plan, I unexpedly felt movement in the water. I jumped up from my newly claimed stone throne to see Louie. I had often wondered who had occupied this throne before me. I sighed with the breath I had unintentionally been holding in, my lip drained of blood from me biting it so hard. I had been doing so for such a long time now that I felt the permanent imprints of my teeth on my bottom lip. I dragged my thumb across it. "You're back!" I tried to sound annoyed, but the sight of him had made me giddy. I tried hard not to reflect my inner feelings, "And back so late. I was about to go to sleep."
He just stared at me in awe. Again, I tried hard to push down my urges to hug him, "Well? What took you so long? I was about to come looking for you." I kept pushing for an answer until I got one.
"I had to wait until everyone was sleeping..." He rushed over, his eyes racing over mine.
"And why would you have to do that? You were just spying on them..."
"I did one better, and invited myself into their community." He gleamed, taking my hands in his.
"You did what?!" My chest heaved, my heartbeat fastened..."Are you stupid? Now my... our whole plan will be ruined. That is way too suspicious." He was waiting for me to stop talking. A smirk fixated on his lips.
A few seconds passed and my breathing slowed. "What did you find?..." Maybe this guy was smarter than me... no. No one was smarter than me.
"They were not suspicious at all actually. They welcomed me with open arms. They invited me to stay with them." He squared his shoulders triumphantly.
"They what?" I was so choked up on the words, I almost couldn't say them.
"Violet... is that her name? She was lovely, it was her idea actually."
"Lovely?" I scoffed. "Of course she would let in a perfect stranger. That girl has no sense of..." I trailed off. "Actually, this could work to our advantage. We could appeal to her curious and accepting nature. You need to go back there." I darted to him quickly, and then away - pacing the ocean floor. "Yes. You can go back there, make that place your home. You know, temporarily, and then get in everyone's good books, and finally, steal the kingdom from under her."
"Well, I was planning on going back, but I don't know about the rest of that." He backed away from me, looking slightly panicked by my plan. Maybe I was wrong and he hadn't understood my intentions.
"The invitation was only extended until the sand settles from the war and I am able to 'find' my way home." he gestured with air quotes.
"Well, you know what you need to do, don't you?" I lifted an eyebrow to prompt an answer to my proposal.
"What?" he was getting further and further away from trusting me. I needed to hook him, to reel him back in. WIthout his help, who knows if I could ever get back the kingdom that was stolen away from me.
"You need an extended invite. An invitation to live there."
"And if I had one, why would I come back here?" His muscled arms crossed against his chiseled chest. I froze... he made it hard to concentrate.
"Because if you do..." What could I offer him, it had to be good. Of Course... "You will have a place next to me on the throne. We will rule together. And maybe if you're lucky, you could have me as well." I watched as his eyes perked up.
"Well, that is something I could comply with." A grin painted across his smug face as if I was the artist, molding his expression. He was hooked. I had him.
"What do I need to do?"
"Go back there and convince them that you belong. Make it your home. Become one of them. And then come back to me and report anything that you find, as often as you can."
"And you will make me king?"
"I will be Queen, and you will be my king - yes."
"Ok. I'll do it."
"Great. So go back there now and come back here when you can."
"Wait." He was not naive and that wouldn't work well for me...
"What?" I droned.
"Do I have some sort of guarantee that you will make me king, beside your word?"
"You don't trust me?"
"Well... We just met, and they are nice people too. How do I know that they aren't the ones I should be trusting?"
My frustration started rising. "Fine. Take this." I said, handing him my most valuable possession. My locket. My skin tingled as I removed it for the first time. It held the power that both Violet and I had been given at birth. The power that would make one of us queen. Her sisters had tried to steal them many times before.
"What is it?" he ogled at it, tossing it back and forth in his hand.
"It is my power. This is what will make me queen. Don't let them see it. Violet will know what it is and that you are with me."
He turned it over in his hand, "But... if it is so valuable, how do you know you can trust me with it?"
"I need this to work. I have to trust you." I stared at him, hoping he didn't betray me. When he left, I closed my eyes, holding my balled fist to my heart. "Please don't betray me, Louie. Marry me instead." I whispered.
