A Tail of Two Mermaids

Chapter Ten: NIXIE

Nixie had been slouching on the tail of her queen-sized bed, when Lorelei swam into her guest room in the royal palace of Atlantis. There was a haunted expression on the real princess's pale face.

"You look like you slept well last night, Nixie!" Nixie quipped sarcastically. She enjoyed calling Lorelei by the incorrect name.

"Comb my hair!" ordered Nixie. She grabbed a seashell comb off of her nightstand, and handed it to Princess Lorelei.

"Okay..." Lorelei sighed, and started to run the comb through Nixie's tangled, blonde locks.

"By the way, I told Marie that you're the kind of mermaid who likes to be kept busy and work hard from low tide to high tide" Nixie said, with a sly grin. "She said you can work at the palace's oyster farm, alongside her grandson".

Lorelei couldn't suppress the urge to briefly roll her bright blue eyes. That subtle hint of defiance displeased Nixie. "I wanna wear my tiara today" declared the phony princess. "It's still in my shell-case".

"Your tiara..." muttered Lorelei, as she took the priceless royal treasure out of Nixie's shell-case, and placed it on her former Tailmaiden's head.

 A long, bioluminescent table, crafted from a single, colossal oyster shell, stretched down the center of the Atlantean royal palace's dining hall. The pearlescent surface of the table shimmered with an inner light, casting a warm glow over the room. Instead of chairs, merfolk reclined on comfy, pastel-colored cushions.

King Piscine of Atlantis sat at the head of the breakfast table, and Queen Delphine was seated next to her husband. Crown Prince Delmore was across from his mother, and Nixie was sitting to his right. Marie, the head royal housekeeper, served them spicy SeaPro Scramble.

"Mmm!" exclaimed Nixie. Most mermaids and mermen, all over the four oceans, loved SeaPro Scramble.

"I can't wait to show you the Royal Library of Atlantis, Lor!" uttered Delmore.

"The Royal Library is our pride and joy" King Piscine stated. "We own at least one copy of just about every single book ever published in the merfolk world, and even some books from the human world!"

Nixie took a deep breath and looked down at her plate, momentarily avoiding eye contact with Delmore. She had known that the most challenging part of impersonating Lorelei, a very well-read mermaid princess, was concealing her own illiteracy. She needed to choose her words really carefully.

"Actually, I was hoping to visit the Atlantean Indoor Shopping Centre today" said Nixie, changing the subject. "We have nothing like that back home in Baltica, you know".

The false princess, who prided herself on her ability to "read" other merfolk well, could tell that Crown Prince Delmore was quite surprised by her apparent lack of enthusiasm about the Royal Library of Atlantis. His handsome face fell, and his brow furrowed in disappointment.

"The Atlantean Indoor Shopping Centre is a very exciting place indeed!" said Queen Delphine, smiling warmly in Nixie's direction. "You kids should go there today. Lady Marguerite, the Captain of the Atlantean Royal Guard, could chaperone the two of you".

"All right, Lor, we'll go to the Shopping Centre..." Delmore murmured languidly. 

Nixie immediately recognized Lady Marguerite, the Captain of the Atlantean Royal Guard, as the muscle-bound mermaid who had been guarding the palace gates last evening. A flowery, feminine name like Marguerite doesn't fit her at all, thought the fake princess.