DANIELLA

CHAPTER ONE

I am currently in my room admiring myself in my mirror orb.
Whoever said mermaids were beautiful did not know how beautiful we really are.

I admire my golden tail... All royals have golden tails and I'm royalty.

I forgot to introduce myself.. I'm Daniella daughter of the sea king . I'm the second daughter and also the last born to my parents .

I have a sister, Amelia but we don't get along . We are complete opposites because while I like my natural appearance she loves applying tons and tons of makeup. I wonder where she gets them from considering that we have been banned from going to the human world.

Amelia loved trouble and so trouble was always attracted to her. Causing chaos was her idea of fun and so I did my best to avoid her which was easy because she hated my guts, complaining that I was favored by dad more when she was the first born and the heir to the throne . This was partly true.

Our Chambers were only separated by a water wall but we saw less and less of each other.

We had maids who did everything for us.
My personal maid Anita was more of a sister than a worker.
We talked about girl stuff, how a certain merman was handsome, our crushes , our aspirations and goals.

"What are you thinking Ella ?" Anita asked getting inside my chamber.

"Just us. You know , I wonder how it would have been if I wasn't royalty " I replied sincerely

"Ella we've talked about this severally. " Anita laughed at this proceeding to clean the place arranging it neatly.
"Although I must say, I would have been more beautiful than you if you didn't have that golden tail ." She continued

"You wish !" I scoffed

We continued talking and laughing while she did her chores .

"Have you seen Amelia lately ?" Anita asked yet again

"You of all people should know that I rarely see her and if I see her I always change direction so we don't meet !"

"You should see her Ella . I think there is a certain merman who has caught her attention because the layers of makeup she's applying are many you can't tell her real skin !"
To this we burst into fits of laughter, picturing Amelia in layers of makeup.

I told you the girl was royalty so her beauty was on another level but she always insisted on toning herself.

"Tell me about it," I answered in between the laughs

"And hey! A little birdie told me her crush,"

"You know Damien? The best warrior's son? He's the one but the guy has a lot of female attention that he hasn't realized Amelia's."

I froze .

It can't be him.

Anita must have realized something was up because she turned to me

"Spill it out ,"

"You remember me telling you about that guy who has been hitting on me for a while now ? The one who has been bothering me with stupid Messengers and gifts? I failed to tell you that he's the same Damien you're talking about."

"That smells like war to me." Anita concluded

"No need for war . I will gladly give Damien to Amelia... I mean it's not like I had fallen for him. "

And just like that the conversation changed to another one.
Anita looked restless today which was rather odd.

"Anita is something bothering you?"

"No..no .."

She quickly answered avoiding my gaze which only confirmed that something was not right

"Anita ... After all the years we've known each other you still afford to lie to me?" I asked annoyed that she could lie to me

"I haven't eaten in two days and the king forbade us from telling you but we're starving out."

I gasped at this obviously shocked at her revelation. Anita would serve me plenty of food and each time I requested her to eat with me, she would refuse with a different excuse each time. But for some time now, the quantity of food has reduced but I didn't bother to ask because it was still much for me to eat .

"Why have you not eaten Anita ?"

She was now playing with her fingers, a habit she always did when nervous .

"Uuhhmmm... Uuhmm... I..,"

"Anita?"

"The humans built a factory very close to the sea and started dumping all the dirt and chemicals in the sea. At first it was just next to the shore and didn't affect us but they started bringing the wastes deeper which killed almost all the fish. Our food hunters went the other direction and found that the same humans have fished almost everything that other side and so the small that we get is the one that you are fed with !"

"What? And why was I not informed about this? How does my father rule hungry people ? We should be the ones hungry and not our subjects Anita? This needs to stop! And why did you refuse to eat with me every time I asked you to?"

"Ella! Stop shouting or else you will land me in trouble. We were given strict orders not to tell you anything or else the king would have our heads. If you try going to talk to the king about it then he will ask where you got the information and he will have my head !" Anita snapped

"Does Amelia know?" I asked

"Yes... She knows because apparently your father wants her to start thinking like the future Queen of the mermaids and also because you know he loves giving her stress ,"

That was meant to be a joke but it didn't sound funny to me.
I felt angry at the kind of leadership my father was showing his people . My mother didn't have a say in the matter so I knew she couldn't help.

"I need to do something! I can't just sit here and watch all of us die from hunger !"
I was now swimming from one corner of my chamber to the other corner, my mind already coming up with various scenarios that would befall our kingdom if I did nothing.

Right on cue, their was a banging of the shells outside my chamber . This was how you requested to enter someone else's chamber .

Opening my water door, there was a servant outside, his head bowed down in respect

"My princess," he spoke

"How may I help you?" I asked politely . Mother had taught me to treat everyone equally regardless of the social status .

"The king requests for your presence." He said

"Tell him I'll be there in a few minutes."

The servant nodded ,bowed again and swam away towards the throne room.

"The king wants to talk to me so I'll talk to you afterwards okay? Meanwhile there is some food in my drawer I had preserved help yourself out !"

"Thanks Ella and make sure to stay clear of Damien and Amelia!"

We laughed at the joke as I proceeded to see my father but with each step , my inner being was telling me that everything was about to change in a few.

@hellenimari