"Care to tell me why you abducted me at the shore, Neriah? Or should I say 'Your Imperial Highness'?" Tristan inquired.
Neriah's smile faded away, replaced by a look of confusion.
"How did you..." She started, but then her expression changed to one of anger. "You insolent little–" She shouted, her hands balling into fists.
Tristan laughed at her reaction, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. After all, you're the same person who tried to seduce me earlier today."
Neriah's face flushed red with rage, her eyes burning with fury.
"What do you say, girls?" Tristan turned towards the closed doors behind him.
The doors burst open, revealing Lily and Lyla, both wearing their signature smiles. They walked towards Tristan, their hips swaying hypnotically.
"We heard everything," Lily said, her voice dripping with malice as she glared at Neriah.
Lyla added, "And we've come for retribution."
Neriah scowled at the two ladies as they approached Tristan, their eyes fixed on him.
Tristan jokingly cautioned them, "You have no idea what you're getting yourselves into.
Lily grinned, "we have every idea." She reached down and grabbed Tristan by the collar, pulling him close to her.
"Now, where were we?" Lily whispered in his ear as she pressed herself against him.
Tristan could feel her soft breasts pressing against his chest, and he could smell her sweet scent. Her lips brushed against his neck, sending shivers through his body.
"I don't remember," Tristan whispered back, his voice barely above a whisper as he struggled to keep his composure. Temporarily forgetting about Neriah and Selkie, he focused entirely on Lily.
Lyla moved around to stand beside Lily, and she tapped her sister on the shoulder.
"Hey, sis, maybe we should take this somewhere private later on, don't you think?" Lyla suggested.
Lily looked over at Neriah, who was glaring daggers at them, before turning back to Tristan, "Maybe we should."
"How dare these insignificant filths get in the way of our time together!" Neriah snarled furiously.
"You wouldn't happen to be talking about the two of us, would you?" Lyla asked with a sly grin.
Tristan caught on to one little detail he had overlooked.
'Where the hell is Selkie?!' he wondered as he scanned the room.
Boom!
The explosion rocked the grand hall of the Siren Kingdom. Dust and debris filled the air, as an immense force swept across the room, blowing back anyone too close. The large double doors leading into the chamber were torn off their hinges, landing heavily on the marble floor. In the wake of the explosion, the once regal room now looked like a battlefield, with broken columns, shattered glass, and torn tapestries littering the area.
From the smoke and dust, a figure emerged, her presence as chilling as the devastation she had caused. Her glowing blue eyes, as cold and deep as the abyss, held a vicious light. It was Selkie, who regarded the intruders with nothing less than utter contempt.
"How dare you enter my mother's kingdom, you vile things!" Selkie's voice echoed around the room, filled with rage. She pointed a finger at Lily and Lyla, her eyes filled with fury. "I'll rip you apart for your audacity!"
Lily and Lyla exchanged glances before turning their attention back to Selkie. Unfazed by her declaration, they both wore smirks that mirrored Tristan's.
Their blue eyes switched to a fiery red hue that gleamed in the dim lighting of the room.
"You're welcome to try, fish girl," Lily retorted, her hands already starting to glow with a green hue. The floor beneath her started to vibrate, small pebbles and debris levitating around her.
Lyla, standing beside her twin, has a strong gust of wind whirled around her, blowing away the dust and debris, and revealing her determined face. "We won't be defeated that easily."
Selkie's eyes narrowed at the confident declaration. She let out a chilling laugh, the sound bouncing off the broken walls. "We'll see about that."
Amid the chaos, Tristan couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. He folded his arms across his chest, leaning against a broken column, a smirk playing on his lips as he watched the confrontation unfold.
'Who would have thought girls would be willing to fight each other for me?' he thought to himself, his mind wandering to the countless girls who had met a fatal end by his hand. 'It's kind of funny really.'
While Selkie and the twins engaged each other in a stare-down, Tristan took this moment to analyze Neriah. She was furious and shocked, but there was also a hint of worry in her eyes. It seemed she hadn't expected the twins to locate her Kingdom and put up such a fight.
'A perfect opportunity to test my new technique.' Tristan thought as he pushed away from the pillar and started to approach Neriah, his steps quiet and unassuming.
Noticing his approach, Neriah's gaze locked onto him. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked warily.
"Just thought it might be a good time to chat," Tristan replied, his smirk widening as he slowly continued to close the distance between them.
*****
Meanwhile, Selkie launched herself at Lily and Lyla, her supersonic scream shattering what was left of the glass in the room. The twins reacted in sync. Lily used her ability to form an earth barrier to absorb the brunt of the impact while Lyla manipulated the wind to divert the sound waves away from them.
But Selkie was relentless. She barraged the barrier with her super strength, shards of rock and dust flying around her. Yet the twins stood their ground. Lyla increased the force of the wind, countering Selkie's strength while Lily reformed the barrier with each impact.
Tristan could see the tension in the air rise with each passing moment. He finally reached Neriah, standing mere inches away from her. His body was thrumming with anticipation and his mind was teeming with strategies.
"Do you know what your mistake was, Neriah?" Tristan asked, the electric sparks in his eyes illuminating his smirk. "You thought you could control me."
With that, he reached out, placing a hand on Neriah's shoulder, a mild shock pulsing from his hand activating the taming mark on her. He was ready to show her exactly why she couldn't.
"But now," Tristan continued, his smirk growing more sinister, "it's time to show you what I'm truly capable of."
Neriah barely had time to react as Tristan's fingers flexed, exerting pressure on her shoulder. To her shock and horror, she could feel her telekinetic abilities dissipating, sucked away into a black hole by his mere touch. Her breath hitched as her power—her lifeline—was being effortlessly ripped away from her, leaving her defenseless.
"N-no..." she stammered, her eyes widening in fear. Her gaze flicked to Selkie, still entangled in a furious battle with the twins. Her heart throbbed painfully as she realized she couldn't aid her daughter. She was powerless, completely at Tristan's mercy.
"Why...?" She barely managed to whisper.
Tristan's grin was predatory, his eyes twinkling with a dangerous glint. "Let's call it...a lesson in humility," he said, stalking around her like a shark circling its prey. His fingers curled around her neck, cold as ice and unyielding, his touch making her wince.
"Still think you can control me, Siren Empress?" he murmured dangerously close to her ear, his warm breath contrasting starkly against the coolness of his grip.
Neriah swallowed hard, her throat constricting under his grasp. "You're a monster..." she hissed, the venom in her voice barely masking her underlying fear.
A deep chuckle resonated from Tristan's chest. "So I've been told multiple times, but I'm the monster you invited into your home, remember." He drew back, his eyes roaming over her, seemingly studying every finesse of her terrified expression. His hand fell away from her neck, but the threat of his touch lingered. "Just remember, you brought this upon yourself."
"Mother!" Selkie's scream echoed in the grand hall, drawing their attention. Neriah's blood ran cold as she watched Lyla manifest a transparent, dome-shaped form of compressed air around Selkie's head. The edges of the dome shone with an ethereal glow, giving it an almost divine appearance, but its purpose was far from benevolent.
Neriah could see Selkie's mouth moving, her body convulsing in panic, but she couldn't hear her daughter's voice, couldn't hear her desperate cries for help. A horrifying realization dawned upon her: Lyla was draining the air from her daughter's lungs, effectively silencing her supersonic screams and slowly suffocating her.
"Stop it!" Neriah cried out, lunging towards Selkie. But she was instantly blocked by a barrier of dense earth, courtesy of Lyla. The sudden impact sent her tumbling backward, her back hitting the cold, hard floor.
Tristan stepped in front of her, blocking her view of Selkie. "Let's just watch, shall we?" He said, the wicked grin never leaving his face. He then shifted his gaze back to the scene unfolding before them, his eyes sparkling with an unnerving mixture of delight and intrigue.
Neriah felt an icy dread crawl up her spine as Tristan forced her to watch Selkie's ordeal. She could see her daughter's eyes, filled with terror and desperation, gasping for air. It was a sight that made her insides churn, one that would forever be seared into her memory.
"Tristan..." she choked out, struggling to find her voice amidst her sobs. "Please...save her..."
Tristan's response was a cold, heartless laugh. "And why would I do that, Neriah?"