What Lies Beneath the Water

Home (44)

**Aqua's POV**

The moment that I got home, my legs disappeared and was replaced by my iridescent blue tail and scales that covered my chest. My hair bled back to my normal blue, and I was once again Princess Aqua Marie Okeah, daughter of King Destin Okeah and his mate the late Queen Genesis Okeah. I was once again Princess Okeah, pupil of Queen Mia Rose I of Balance and Tomoe and Kou. I was once again the Enigmatic Princess. Some part of me missed my title, but the other part of me longed to be Aqua Gray again. With Aqua Gray came a freedom that I never had as Princess. It came with a freedom that I will never had.

That freedom that I so loved was being taken away from me by Tomoe and Kou. Once again, other people's actions dictated who I can and cannot be around. The powers that hang over my head once again stopped me from doing what I wanted.

I wasn't angry that Tomoe and Kou cared enough about me to protect me. I was angry that they were keeping me away from those that I love due to fear. My dad had done the same thing for going on 1246 years. My dad, although I love him with all my heart, always walked around eggshells with me because mother's murder was still out there. He wouldn't let me go anywhere without at least ten guards and Kai. And even then, I was never brought to court except on my birthday. I was not allowed to be seen because my life was at stake. It only magnified when Kai left because then I became the heir who had the powers of all the oceans of all the seas and the sky over my head.

The anger and saddness grew in me to the point where I couldn't just sit in my room and cry or be mad. I had to do something and so I made my way over to our personal training room. I walked over to the blank wall and put my hand on it. The wall broke apart and pulled back together with a target right in front of me. I walked straight across from the targeted wall and saw racks upon racks of throwing daggers.

I threw the first one and a tear fell out of my eye and mixed with the salinity of the ocean. I grabbed the next two daggers and threw them one after another as two more tears came out of my eyes. I just kept throwing the daggers, tears falling out of my eyes, until I finally came to the last dagger. I went to go and tried to throw it, but someone just grabbed it out of my hand.

I turned around and saw my dad, with the same blue eyes as Kai, looking at me with concern. That was all it took for me to just let everything out and just cry and cry. He just kept on hugging me until I calmed down, and the tears stopped.

"My baby Seahorse. Why are you home early? You didn't have to come home until tomorrow." He kept on rubbing my back like when I was little, and someone was being mean to me. He would just let me cry it out until I calmed down and talked to him on my own terms. He never forced me to speak in those moments.

"Dad, I just had a really bad day and needed to come home.... I missed you, Dad."

"I missed you more than you will ever know my Little Seahorse. I am just glad that you are home regardless of why. And I cannot believe that my baby girl is turning 1246 years old! You are making me feel old!" He smiled at me, and I couldn't hold back.

"That's because you are old!" Dad's mouth opened in shock, but not too long after, he started laughing which made me laugh. Only my dad could make me go from a blubbering mess to laughing in just a few words.

"Well Baby Girl, since you are home there are some proposals in your office that you need to get to, and I will send the dress maker in to talk to you. Other than that, you are free to do as you wish, but I expect to see you at lunch and dinner." He kissed the top of my head and started swimming away.

"It's good to be back, Dad!" I yelled at him with a smile.

"It's good to have you back, Seahorse!"

~

"Oui, oui I have a wonderful dress made just for you. Trés belle." He was a mermaid designer from the northern part of the Bay of Biscay close to the English Channel. His accent could only be described as that of a French man.

I looked up from one of my proposals on my desk in my office, located in the northern part of the castle above the water so I had legs and a dress on.

My eyes met a dress with a gunmetal gray color with both silver and gold printed accents on the dress telling the story of how merfolk came to be. The structure of the dress loosely resembled armor but was still very feminine seeing as it was a ball gown with no straps, cut straight across the chest. It was equally strong and delicate.

"It is absolutely beautiful, and i would be honored to wear it. But may I be so bold as to ask you the source of your inspiration for such a decadent dress?"

"Ah, oui, I was drawn to Her Majesty Queen Genesis Okeah, your mother's, coronation dress. I liked how gold and silver blended in the dress, but each sketch that I drew was far too...how do you say it? Feminine. So I looked to other court fashion and found Archduchess Dahlia Michaelis's style. Do you know her?" He asked, and I had to keep a smirk from forming on my face.

"I am sorry to say that I am not well acquainted with Her Grace, but please do continue." By then, the dressmaker had my full attention.

"Well the dresses she wears are very...structured and strong. I liked the idea of armor-like structure on a dress with the gunmetal, pewter color mixed together with the gold and silver. And," He kissed his fingertips, "Il est parfait."

I smiled at him and pulled out an envelope of money that I earned and handed it to him. "Je vous remercie." He bowed his head before taking it and giving me more pleasantries.

It was just the dress and me in my office with thousands of proposals and new laws trying to be pushed. But even with a stack of papers, almost as large as me, I couldn't keep my eyes off of the dress. It was truly magnificent and would shock all of court. It would show the court that I was no longer the young girl that they thought me to be. I was strong just like this dress.

*****

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