A Mermaid's Kiss

Chapter 18

"Mother you can't do this to me! I won't be a prisoner in my own room!" I had been shouting for almost two hours now, waiting for someone, anyone to respond. I couldn't believe that after all I had done to escape, I was back where I had started.

Finally, someone came and opened the door. "Your Highness, your mother requests your presence in the throne room."

I nodded. "Lead the way."

When we reached the entrance to the throne room, I nodded to signal to the guard that he could leave. When I was alone, I steeled my nerves. I knew that I was going to fight with her, and the thought terrified me. My mother and I had rarely fought, until I found out about the ship that is. I took a deep breath, and opened the door.

My mother was sitting on the throne, reading a book. I cleared my throat to get her attention.

She looked up. "Darling, I'm glad you finally came out of your room."

I snorted. "I was under the impression that I was to be kept under lock and key, never allowed to leave my room again."

"That's not true darling, you are free to move about the palace as you please. You just can't leave the city."

"Yes, because that's much better. I am able to stay in the city, looked after every minute like a child."

She at least had the decency to look guilty at my words. "Yes, well, that won't be a problem for much longer. You are probably wondering why I had you come down here."

"Not really, I was preoccupied with the additional guards that you have posted. Are you fearing an assassination? Or is it because you don't want me to run away again."

She ignored me. "I called you down here to introduce you to somebody." She gestured to the shadows. "Adrienne, I would like you to meet Gabriel." A young man came swimming out of the shadows. "Your future husband."

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In retrospect, lunging at my mother with the intent to scratch her eyes out probably wasn't the best idea on my part. But I couldn't think of anything else to do! She knew that I didn't want to have an arranged marriage, and that was the reason I ran away. Yet she still goes out and finds someone who would do her bidding and have him marry me.

So now I was in someplace I never thought I'd be, the dungeons. Compared to the ones at William's castle, these were actually quite nice. But I still couldn't believe that my mother put me here.

My stomach growled. A guard came and gave me something to eat a while ago, but I ignored it. Now I was regretting that decision. I reached my arm through the bars, trying to reach the tray I had thrown, to no avail. I couldn't reach it.

I swam back to the cot, hungry, tired and angry. Suddenly, a voice rang out. "Princess, if you want something to eat, all you have to do is yell. The people here adore you, and would do anything you want."

"Ya, anything except let me go. What do you want Gabriel?"

He came over to my cell, leaning nonchalantly against the wall. "I decided that I would come see how my future bride is holding up in prison. I know how delicate you princesses are."

"You don't know anything! You're just a spoiled brat whom my mother is paying so that you'll marry me. And for your information, I'm not delicate. I spent time in a human prison, with no food, water, and just the clothes I was wearing. So if anyone here is delicate, it's you."

He held his hands up in defense. "Hey, don't look at me like that, I'm just going off what people have told me about you. They said that you're "sweet like an angel, and as delicate as coral. Now I can see that they were wrong." He smirked. "And I just happen to like a mermaid with fire inside her."

I scoffed. "You're delusional if you think that I'm actually going to marry you."

"Delusional I may be, your mother is going to make sure that this wedding goes off without a hitch, no matter who wants or doesn't want it."

"What do you mean? Do...do you not want to get married either?"

"No, I don't want to marry you. I was living a perfectly happy life, with dozens of women fawning over me. Then you had to run away and ruin everything."

"How is this my fault! I didn't go out, looking for possible future husbands."

"I know. But when you left, your mother ordered a proclamation saying that all mermen between the ages of sixteen and twenty were to report to the palace to be inspected for the possibility of marriage, to you."

I looked at him, incredulous. "I find it very hard to believe that my mother would do that. She couldn't have known that I was going to come back here."

"You're right,  I didn't." My mother's voice came out of the doorway. "But I hoped. Gabriel, you may leave now, I would like to speak to my daughter, where I know she can't try and harm me."

"Yes Your Majesty." With a bow, he left.

"I don't want to here your excuses mother. You betrayed me."

"I didn't betray you, YOU did. You aren't meant to be human. I tryed everything to make you come back. Whenever you were near the ocean, I would call out to you, see if you could come home. Whenever you got little bits of your memory back, it was me, trying to make you remember who you are."

"I didn't want to come back mother, don't you see? I was happy there, in love."

"You may think that you were happy, but you weren't. You didn't know who you were."

"You don't get to decide whether I'm happy or not, I do. And then you decide to go and choose a husband for me! A husband who doesn't want to get married as  much as I don't."

"I'm doing whats best for you. You WILL marry Gabriel, thats final." With that, she turned away and left me alone again.

I had to escape again. I had to find William and Aaron. And I was going to use Gabriel to help me get out.

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Again, so sorry that I haven't updated lately, but here it is, chapter 18. I decided to add the character of Gabriel because I watched The Patriot in History and I couldn't get that name out of my head, so I added him here! I hope you liked it!!!!

<3 Ellie