Gem of the Sea (Mertalia SpaMano AU)

33

Romulus visited often now that Lovi was awake, and one of his brothers were always by his side as he slowly recovered, bringing him news of the world outside his room, but never of Toni. As the days passed Lovi slowly felt stronger, his scales started growing back in and he quickly regained the strength to speak, but the questions he wanted to ask suddenly seemed forbidden when he looked at his family's faces.

Four days after waking up, around noon, Feliciano came with an update "do you feel well enough to leave your room brother? Today is Cerce's trial and father said it's okay for you to ask her any questions you have beforehand" he spoke softly, tucking the blanket around Lovi's tail gently.

It was the first time Lovi had left his bed in days, and he certainly felt it, he was so stiff that he needed to lean on his guard escort most of the way down to the dungeon, but once there he sat alone in front of the cell, Cerce didn't look much better than he himself, her arms bound behind her back and her fin destroyed, but for all that and the thick iron bars that separated them (Lovi wasn't going to question how the built the cell) she appeared calm and dignified "they said you might come, My prince, I assume you have questions then"

"I'm not your anything" he snarled quietly "what exactly are you, Cerce, and what did you want from me?" He felt himself curling his tail closer under her unblinking gaze, he still felt the way her nails had sliced through his fin and it made him shudder.

"What am I?" She laughed, leaning her head back against the stone wall "simple, my prince, I am eternal, I...we," she corrected herself and for a moment her expression was pitiful "were and are every disaster that befalls the sea and it's travellers, the humans have a delightful name for us, Calypso has heard them call us the Bermuda curse, isn't that cute, my prince?" She laughed and Lovi flinched, even though she couldn't reach him through the bars, he felt sick in his stomach

"Then why me? What could you possibly have gained from me if you had all that power?"

"Simple" her eyes were suddenly on him again "I wanted to see this kingdom collapse, but the night we met you were asleep in you big brother's bed"

"That doesn't make sense, you knew about Toni, you knew about me!" He insisted

"Of course we did, in fact, I'm surprised the whole kingdom didn't, you're very easy to read, and I know how to improvise" she shrugged "you were actually totally useless to us, but you were a fun toy" Lovi stared at her in shock, he wasn't even the one they had wanted, meaning all of his pain had merely been on a whim, seeing his expression, one of the guards pulled him away from the cell, and he didn't resist, he had no more questions, Cerce grinned sharkishly "I have a question for you now, little boy, what are you going to do now?" She laughed coldly but to Lovi it felt like a burning poker through his chest, Toni couldn't be hear with him, and thanks to Cerce's potion, he couldn't return to land, he suddenly felt very ill.