The Seelie's Mirror

Chapter 14 Attempted Murder

Chapter 14

I was never the type of person to hate on anyone without getting to know them first, but never have I felt annoyed looking at the mermaid gazing at Klovis with a glimmer in her eyes. I feel bad for feeling the way that I did, but there's just something annoying about the ambiance. When Klovis starts talking to the mermaid, I feel my left brow shooting up when I stare at the Unseelie Prince.

This fairy better choose his words carefully or I might 'accidentally' swing the oar in his direction.

"Who are you?" He begins to question her, giving her a scrutinizing look. His cold and untrusting voice almost did not sound like him, as this is the first time that I have heard him so guarded. Considering the trials we faced, I can't say that it would be an unnatural response.

It's actually embarrassing for me to think that he would turn soft just because he's talking to a girl. I'm relieved to hear that he hasn't let his guard down in the least.

Despite the unfriendly response from Klovis, the mermaid somehow seems to enjoy the attention. She even looks delighted that Klovis is looking at her. "My name is Jamaya." She giggles, making sure to push her shoulders slightly forward to create a crevice between her chest and the water that is barely covering her.

Oh, she is making me feel violent today.

"What's yours, hun?" The lustful slur at the end almost made me lift my oar and hit her on the head with it—assuming I have the upper body strength to lift and move it fast enough that she couldn't dodge.

"His name is Klovis." My mouth starts running to answer her. Klovis and Jamaya both look at me in surprise that I am the one who speaks. Jade, who couldn't look back because of the rules of this floor, flattens his ears like he knows trouble is stirring up. I smile at the mermaid. "Hi, my name is Livia, by the way."

"Right." Jamaya tries to return my smile but it ends up looking obviously forced. She sucks in a breath before moving her attention back to Klovis, obviously trying to ignore my presence. "So, Klovis, what brings you to this place?"

"Klovis, we have to move." I lightly tap his arm with the paddle's end, making sure to give him an evil eye as well. Fortunately, it seems like Klovis wants to leave as much as I do because he does not wait for me to ask a second time before he begins to agree almost immediately.

"Apologies, but if you can, please move out of the way. We are in a hurry." Klovis's dismissive tone just seems to bounce off of Jamaya because when we start to move, she swims and blocks our path.

"Come on. What's the hurry?" Jamaya stubbornly stays in front of us, even attempting to push our boat back. Klovis and I exchange a look. We aren't happy about what she is trying to do, especially after we both exerted an effort to row this far.

"I say it's ride or die. Let's run her over." I coldly express my words, to which Klovis agrees immediately.

"Yeah. She makes me uncomfortable. Let's pretend that we don't see her."

I grin. "Now you're speaking my language."

Klovis and I continue to row, looking up ahead and trying to avoid looking at the mermaid. "1,2,3! 1,2,3!" We count loudly and start to row aggressively. The water ripples and splashes as the boat begins to move again. Jade almost stumbles at how aggressively Klovis and I are rowing.

"Hey, you two just can't ignore me. Stop!" Jamaya screams as we start to carry on forward. I could not see her, but judging from where she's speaking, she's clearly still blocking our path.

"Do you hear something, Klovis?"

"Nope." Klovis chimes in, looking happier than I as we row over Jamaya. "It must be a seaweed or something."

"This is such disrespect to mermaids! Stop. I command you!"

Our laughter comes simultaneously and we turn to each other.

"Your highness, she's commanding you." I snorted, giving Klovis a sideways glance and chuckling.

"Damn, I must look like a peasant instead of a prince." He cackles alongside me.

"You smell like one too." I added.

"Hey. It's not like you're any better!"

A loud splash comes in front of us, including a loud thud. Silence followed after that and Klovis and I shared a look, wondering if we had accidentally killed the mermaid. Our exchange lasted for a brief second before we shrugged and carried on with our rowing.

The mermaid was asking to be run over by our boat, despite our continued warning. What could we do?

"How long do you think it will be until we reach the gate?" I feel sick after staying on the boat for so long. There's not even a wave rocking the boat, but the tension of staying on a dangerous floor is starting to get to me. Jade's ears are even twitching as he keeps a lookout and stares at the water. There doesn't seem to be anything in the water, but judging from the way that Jade is twitching, something must be down below.

Klovis noticed this as well, because I can see how tense he suddenly got. "I don't know, but I think that the sooner we leave, the better. Can you manage, Livia?"

"I'll try to keep—" The boat suddenly shook so aggressively that we almost fall overboard. I almost dropped my oar in the process. Water starts to rain down behind us—rather, it seems more like it was poured over our heads.

We sit in silence while looking at the ground, refusing to look up. It seems like we both have the same idea in mind about what just happened.

Shit.

"Klovis?"

"Yes?"

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?"

"By that, do you mean something huge must have emerged behind us, but we can't look back because of the rules of this place?"

I sigh. "Yeah. That."

Klovis gives off a dry laugh. "M-Maybe if we pretend not to see anything, then it will go away?"
I know that he's not being serious with his suggestion and is only saying those words to make light of the situation. Either that or he is just as tired as I am at this point. In fact, I almost joined him in his illusion that whatever is behind us would just go away; unfortunately, I know that it wouldn't be that easy. There was water in the boat now, making it much worse than it already was.

"Go away?" Jade snaps and takes a step back when Jamaya just happens to hop on our boat and sit in front of us, taking Jade's place. Jade moves back until he is sitting between Klovis and me. Jamaya swishes her aqua blue tail and submerges it in the water in the boat. Her expression, compared to when she first appeared, seems a little cold. I have no doubt that she's angry. She sighs. "It's a shame." As expected, she intends to ignore me and only focus on talking to Klovis. She looks disappointed when she shakes her head. "You were really fitting my type, but you just had to act like a barbarian and run me over with your boat. If you had just been kind, I would have accepted even a peasant fairy like you and taken you in as my husband. You would have been king of this realm. Sadly, I decided to feed you to my sea beast."

With a worried look, I turn to Klovis, just in time as the boat starts to rock aggressively. We lurch forward when a wave pushes us. Water starts to rain over our heads—or more like water is being poured on us as we hear something emerging from the water behind us. As if we aren't cold enough, the fact that we can feel something breathing behind us is making me shiver more than the water.

"Any last words before I feed you rude bunch to my sea beast?" Jamaya smirks, then, for the first time, the mermaid focuses her attention on me. "How about I start with you?"

Everyone was so focused on the sea monster behind us that we were caught off guard when Jamaya suddenly lurched and grabbed me, pulling me into the water with her when she dove. Air left my lungs when she tackled me and I barely had any air left as she continued to drag me into the water with her.

*~*~*~END OF THE CHAPTER~*~*~*

Sorry for the short chapter! I hope you guys can excuse Livia and Klovis for trying to kill a mermaid. They're just stressed. Lol

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