Mermaid origins (Complete)

Chapter 12

Hey so apparently some other people have read this as well... thank you.

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Richie's POV

As weird as it sounded, I'm actually relieved to have to go to work today. Which is very unlike me.

But if I didn't go to work, I would be heading back to the palace to help out new friend the heir study the kingdom's past. And I don't want to have to study history again.

Our new friend the heir. I shuddered, grinning at how odd those words felt. We're friends with the heir.

Everyone had some fear of the royal family, especially the ruler and heir. Well maybe not nobles, but everyone who didn't spend all their time shining their scales knew of the horrors some rulers have done to the merfolk who didn't like them.

The Flesh Drinkers were just one example. The most horrific and well known example sure, but still, they're still other well known examples.

Like the sleeping sufferers. Criminals that the ruler decided couldn't be kept in prisons for various reasons, so they put them in a coma. Trapping them in their own mind for life, allowing the insanity they added to slowly torture them. Sometimes the ruler would have guards physically torture them at the same time. Stories said that the sufferer's mouth would open in a scream, that no one ever heard.

I shook myself. After having actually met the prince, I knew he would never do that. He was a nervous wreck, like Kay, but he kept in more, and no one ever pried I him out of his shell. He was loyal, and kind, like Xylo, but he didn't know what to be loyal to. He honestly kinda felt like he was lonely, which only a week ago would have made me laugh.

The prince, lonely? Impossible.

But now, I realized no one wanted to be friends with the prince, in case the king disliked the connection. No one wanted to end up like whatever happened to Bryan and the last Protector.

You might be wondering how I know so much about the way people's mind work, and the thing is, I'm a therapist or psychiatrist, I've been given jobs for both. I've specifically studied on how to learn more about people simply by observing their habits. And I'd recently decided that Brandon was my newest patient.

But I do have other patients, including the one I'm going to visit now. A Flesh Drinker who lived a bit of a ways out of town.

So I really should get going, sorry to cut this short.

Brandon's POV

I grinned at as I let, Inmo, Xylo and Kay in my room. Kay had brought many more books again, even though she left most of the ones she brought last time.

"No knock knock jokes this time Kay?" I asked smiling at her.

"Oh shut up." She grumbled. Inmo laughed and Xylo looked confused.

"I'm sorry, did I miss something? I feel like I'm missing something." He said, looking around the room.

Inmo started explaining the situation to him, as I picked up the book I'd been studying.

"The true Ruler's Powers" the title read. Kay has lent to me, privately, saying: "the king destroyed most of the copies of this book. I don't think he likes people knowing the truth."