Siren's Curse

Prologue

Inpu's POV

Despite being in a pretty small town with little to no interest, I was always stuck in my father's shadow no matter what.

When my father was my age, he was on a ship that wasn't far from our town and managed to survive a siren attack by swimming back.

No one would have believed him if it weren't for the fact one followed him, but I kinda wish it didn't follow him because of the pressure I constantly had on me.

Even though I knew sirens were dangerous, I was just so fascinated by them, it was the main reason the tank to my library was decorated the way it was.

There were so many books about sirens, but none of the information was consistent, so I could only hope my dream would eventually come true.

It was a simple day on the ship, we were about to head back to the coast, but they ended up putting out the net one last time to get a few extra fish.

Something big clearly got stuck in the net since it took a bit longer to get out.

I was sent to check it out while everyone else went to pack up so we just had to unload the tank.

When I got down to the tank we had at the bottom on the ship, I didn't notice anything at first, then I saw something that caught my attention.

All I could make out was a set of golden scales due to all the fish, then after a bit longer of watching and trying to figure it out, I noticed some silvery pink hair and I knew right away what it was.

Before I ran up to inform the crew of my finding, I noticed something was off since while it was clearly a siren, it wasn't moving.

I began to watch it and pray that it was still alive since I had my chance to observe one, but I wouldn't get to bring it home to watch if it was dead.

After around an hour of traveling back to the dock, I had managed to inform the entire crew of what we had on board and we all agreed it would be my trophy since I identified it.

My father met me at the dock since he dealt with transport tanks, so he knew right away what type of tank to use.

The boats tank was brought out as normal around the time we got back, and that was when my father met up with me.

"So, where is this siren?"

"Still inside the tank, but I have a feeling it isn't doing to hot, I've seen no movement from it, the only movement has been from the water"

"I can see you got enough fish out to be able to see it, the skin color seems normal, but I've never seen a calm one so I'm not sure"

"What should I do? I was hoping to keep it in my library, but I don't want to leave it there if its dead"

"Take it back, give it a week, then if it still doesn't move, we bury it somewhere, as deadly as the damn things are, it would be cruel to leave it for dead, it clearly has some fin damage"

"Alright, then let's get it to the house so I can hopefully study it"

3 hours earlier

Bryan's POV

Despite being a high ranking siren, I was a subject for constant insults due to my food preference.

Most sirens believe that you have to eat at least one human a month in order to survive, but I was able to prove it false.

I've never been a fan of human meat, there was just something in the taste I couldn't stand, so I became vegan to siren standards which just meant eating only fish and seaweed.

I was able to deal with the torment of those who lived in the underwater city, those who were in the palace and tormented me were the ones who got under my skin.

To my mother, I was her pride since I never really left the castle, but everyone else would wait for my mother to leave then say nasty thing when I was in earshot.

It always annoyed me, but I usually kept to myself so I didn't hear it too often.

Today started like a normal day, the sun made the water warm, and there were large schools of fish swimming around that were easy for me to catch.

My mother called me to her throne room, which was unusual for her to do so early in the morning.

Once I got in the room, I noticed my friend River, who was one of the head guards, and his father both waiting for me, so I swam up next to him.

We just gave each other a confused look before River's father left the room after saying something to my mom, then she looked at the two of us.

"I'm sure you're both confused as to why I called you both in here" [Aphrodite]

"Yes, mother, this is confusing, is everything ok?" [Bryan]

"Everything is fine my darling son, but I have made an important decision" [Aphrodite]

"Then why am I here? I'm not royalty" [River]

"Well, you will be, I have arranged for the two of you to be married" [Aphrodite]

"WHAT!?!" [Bryan]

"I'm sorry, your highness, but are you sure I'm a good choice?" [River]

"Forget if you're a good choice, this was never discussed with me" [Bryan]

"Bryan, you are 17, once you become an adult you begin to take on higher responsibilities that the king would have, so you need a husband, and you and River are close, so I think it would be perfect" [Aphrodite]

"What happened to my feelings on the matter, I don't have romantic feelings for anyone yet, why can't I pick my own husband" [Bryan]

"They need to be a fit ruler with you along with being high ranking, so its not as easy for you to pick a husband" [Aphrodite]

I just froze in place, yes River was my only friend, but I didn't want to marry him.

After a few minutes of processing the shock and ignoring what my mother was saying, my shock grew to anger and I left the room.

I quickly swam back to my room and grabbed a handful of things.

Swimming in the deep ocean was one of my favorite things since I was rarely seen by humans, but when I was, I was known for saving sailors who were stuck under rubble.

It was easier to look for any ships and hang out around them, so if I didn't return home, I could at least become the mystery of some fishing village.

Time began to pass and I found a ship to stay near, they seemed like they wouldn't put down their net again, so I stayed close to where it was, then it came down again.

I began to panic since I knew it would cut my fins if I wasn't careful, and unfortunately luck wasn't on my side.

Soon, my fins were cut up to the point I couldn't move and I got stuck in the net.

My fins began to ache as I felt myself get put in a glass tank that was already filled with a lot of fish.

Before I passed out, I could barley make out the figure of someone looking into the tank.

The most I could make out was that they seemed to have black hair that was incredibly hard for me to see.

The tank was really overfilled, so despite being passed out, I was able to feel what was going on around me, so I easily felt myself being moved from the large tank to what I could only assume was a smaller tank that I could fit in.

After I was moved into the other tank, I lost my other senses since it was clear I was actually alone this time, so I just let myself relax and worry about what was going on when I woke up again.