The Golden Chalice

✰✦✰ Chapter 3 ✰✦✰

✰✦✰ Chapter 3 ✰✦✰
" Mermaids & New Kings "

DAYS HAD PASSED since Jacks's arrival and Sarinne and I still didn't know what to do with him. We'd locked him in the cellar and kept him fed and well taken care of every day. We involuntarily talked to him. I hated that he could be quite funny. Sometimes, Rinne would even come back upstairs, blushing and refusing to tell me about what she and Jacks had spoken of, only saying he was an "arrogant bellend whose mouth we ought to sew shut".

Then there was the insane idea of finding a sorceress to wipe his memory or another mental idea of if we should just let him go and hope that nobody would believe his story about having found the long lost heir of Goldaria's crown.

Then again, if we sent a sorceress to wipe his memory, he'd tell them before they could and then we'd be as good as gone too. And sorceresses were rare. There were truly only a handful across the country and we didn't even know where to find one or even how to gather the money to afford their expensive aid.

The sun was starting to set on that December evening, a soft chill stroking my arm. That was how long I'd been sitting here, staring out at the lake ahead of me. At the aquamarine water caressing the shore and my bare foot like a cold blanket. Fireflies glittered all around me, as if they knew how dampened my mood was and made sure not to leave me in the dark. The water shimmered in all its glory and I rested my head on my knees that were tucked into my chest.

Memories of my sisters and I having a conversation about mermaids once assaulted me suddenly. Gazing at the lake reminded me of how Clara had always wished to be a mermaid, as little girls her age did. She had always played the role of one whenever we swam in waters; always described her tail as a "really pretty blue one" while Euphemia and I were forced to play her fish friends.

I hate it here. I loved it here. I loved sitting next to a lake, dreaming about a life I could've had. A life I'd never wanted and yet one I'd never wanted to be stolen from me in such a violent way. I had saved all my romanticism for my inner life and I'd get lost on purpose, pissing my father off whenever he tried to teach me the ways of a successful monarch. Despite it being my home, that castle had made me feel worthless.

"Ow!" someone hissed behind me.

My head whipped round and my eyes met with those of the girl from the pub a few nights ago. The girl with the beautiful blonde hair and surreal blue eyes. Slightly taller than me, she smiled when she saw me, her cheeks faintly red like she was embarrassed I'd caught her. She was wearing a tulle dress in peachy pink fabric, her feet bare as she stumbled slightly.

"Sorry," she said to me. "I didn't mean to bother you. I just. . .I saw you looking all sad and I. . ." She stopped, pursing her pink lips. "Never mind. Hi."

I frowned, unsure and reluctant. "Hi. . ."

She motioned to her feet, chuckling nervously. "I'm only now learning how to walk. It takes a while."

"You're the mermaid, aren't you?" I asked her. "From the pub the other night?" I'd heard that natural mermaids weren't allowed to come up to the surface until they were seventeen. Luckily, she seemed to be getting more adjusted to it by the second.

When she finally reached me, the blonde girl offered her hand with a toothy smile and said, "I'm Luna Dubrovno. Originally from the Isle of Atlantis."

There was something so warm and welcoming about her. "I'm Sofia."

Luna cringed as she sat down next to me. "I hadn't even noticed the amount of people in the pub that night. I didn't mean to cause such a scene, really—"