A World No One Knows (bxb) [editing and rewriting]

Chapter 9

Casmir closes the door behind us, and when he turns around, I punch him in the face. I shake my hand out as he holds his cheek. He looks at me while I glare at him. My heart clenches, and I feel like crying. But I refuse to shed anymore tears over him. He doesn't deserve them.

"What do you want with me?"

He flinches. "Blaise, I-- I thought you were dead. My father--"

"Lied to you. What a shock. Lying must run in the family."

His face goes white. "I can explain."

I cross my arms and glare at him. My bracelet burns. "No need. I heard all I wanted. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go get the medicine for my sister."

"Wait! But Blaise, aren't we going to talk about this?"

"Talk about what?" I shout. I glance at the closed doors and lower my voice. "Talk about how you lied to me, tricked me so that what? You could get the throne? Hate to break it to you but I'm not a mer Royal. I'm human. I live on land, and that's where I'm going when all of this is over." I shake my head. "Why do you want, Casmir? Because I gave you my heart and apparently you don't want that."

"I'm sorry, Blaise."

"Don't. We may be mates, Casmir, but we're done. I'll never trust you ever again, and I will never love you. Not after what you've done."

"Blaise, you have to believe me when I say that I'm sorry. I never meant to do that to you."

A lump forms in my throat, and I swim to the other side of the hallway outside the throne room. I can't stand to look at him right now. When Casmir saw me in there, he played off some lie that he'd been looking for me and that he needed to talk with me as soon as possible. The king and queen let me go, but I know his father is suspicious. I would be, too.

"I don't believe you," I say and look back at him.

The broken look on his face almost makes me want to take back my words. But I hold strong. I don't need him anymore. My heart clenches, and I think back to what he said about mates not finding each other and slowly falling into depression. I can't help but think that that would be less painful than this.

"Let me make it up to you. Give me a chance—"

"I'm here for my sister. Not for you."

He looks so broken and lost. "If you know about my father's plans, then you know about the revolt. It's going to be a bloodbath. Please get out of here before it happens. I don't want you getting hurt."

"Too late for that."

He looks devastated. "I'm sorry, Blaise. Truly. But there is something you should know."

"And what is that?"

"My father wants you dead. That's the reason he made me bring you here. So he could kill you. When you leave, he'll ask me who you are, and he knows when I'm lying to him. Nothing can stop him from wanting you dead. For some reason, he thinks that you're a threat to his plans."

I laugh. "Even when your mate is leaving you, all you think about is your father. I'm not even surprised. Trying to be enough for him, right?"

"That's not fair, Blaise, and you know it."

"Not fair? I'll tell you not fair," I yell and swim over to him and get in his face. "Not fair is giving your heart to someone and watching as they rip it to shreds." I see the fear in Casmir's eyes, and I'm confused until I hear, "Calm down, Blaise. Look around you."

I look and see a water tornado around the both of us. I see boiling water and chunks of ice strewn in it. I'm so angry I could kill someone. My bracelet burns like the middle of the sun. I close my eyes and rub my temples. I have to calm down. When the water calms down, I continue. "I'm not leaving without getting the medicine to help Jes."

"Then you'll get caught up in a battle that isn't yours to fight. You have to get out of here before it's too late."

"I don't have to do anything you tell me to." I shake my head. I have to get away from him. "I don't want a part in your war. I came for my sister, and if the medicine I need isn't here, then I'll go see the wiseman. I'm leaving."

"He won't stop," he calls after me.

"Let him try," I shout back. "Let's see who dies first."

I find a random window and swim through. I stay towards the edges and try to find my way out of this kingdom. It's a lot bigger than I thought with lots of color and living creatures. It's truly a sight to see, but I don't marvel in it. I want all of this to be over. I want Jes to be okay again.

I feel a hand on my arm and twist around, right into the hands of another merman.

"Hey!" I shout as I struggle. "Let me go! What is with everyone and trying to kidnap me?"

One of their tails wrap around my legs, holding me in place, but I use my powers to pry them off of me. He lets go with a shout. I swim away, but they follow. Since they have tails, they catch me a lot quicker than I think. I see a glimmer of shackles in one of their hands, and my hands shake. They start burning, and then I realize that the water around me starts steaming. The merman yells and drops the shackles when the water around him becomes too hot to handle.

When he shouts in pain, I drop my powers. I want to get away, but I don't want to hurt anyone. While I stare at the red hand of the merman, the other comes around behind me and manages to shackle one of my wrists before I throw him back. I kick away and glare at the tinier merman and the water around him starts turning to ice. It encases his tail, and, with a shout, he sinks to the ocean floor. I kick with my legs and manage to get away before the other mer a grabs my foot. He yanks me down and hits me on the head.

I gasp in pain and curl into myself. He hits me again, and I form a bubble around myself. It gets big enough to push him off and away as I make a swim for it again. I feel dizzy and tired, but I can't give up now. For all I know, these mers could be working for Casmir and his father. Finishing what they started.

The water in front of me becomes harder to swim through, and I stop as I realize that these mers have powers too. I pant and look at the both of them. The ice has vanished, and the older one looks angry.

"This was supposed to be easy. 'He's a human' he said. 'Tiny and weak.' I'll show him tiny and weak." The older one growls and lunges at me again. I squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for the pain, but open my eyes to feel the shackles being snapped into place behind my back. I struggle and try using my powers, but I know it's useless. I sag in defeat. Everything hurts.

"Finally." The tinier merman comes up and looks at me apologetically. "Sorry for this." He places a blindfold across my face, and my vision becomes black.

"Don't talk to him like that. He's our prisoner now. Treat him like one."

I get pulled along. I can feel the water flowing past my skin and cooling the skin around my wrist. I didn't realize until now that it's been burning. I've gotten so used to it. I guess this is one good thing that Casmir did.

The water around me gets cooler, and I can tell that we've entered some sort of cave. Voices hush around us, and then I get thrown against a wall. I grunt in pain, but the blindfold comes off. I blink as a cell door closes. I glare up at the two mermen from earlier.

"What do you want with me?" I ask, but the older one leaves.

The tiny one looks at me. "I'm sorry. This wasn't my idea. I tried to tell them that you would come willingly, but they wouldn't listen. They said that this needs to be done. Don't worry, you're not in any trouble." He smiles and leaves.

I look at him in confusion. That didn't help at all. Why am I here? Who were they? What do they want from me? I look around me. Back in a cell with these stupid handcuffs on. I'm tired of getting thrown in a cell.