It certainly was not normal or customary for a Sensitive to enter the sea kingdom. While there were no seas on Tripolis, the Assigner always warned against mixed company. He said that the Sea Sensitives were vicious, unnoble creatures full of spite, hate and petty grievances against their state of being.
There was nothing they wished more than to walk the earth. How their king was able to get himself a pair of legs and venture onto dry soil completely escaped me, but we had more pressing matters to attend to.
Everyone, it seemed, was vying for the dragon heart on Valorian. And while the little baby took to my brother like a beach to a tide, I warned Areilycus against forming an attachment toward something he'd inevitably have to eat in order to survive.
How I was going to break it to the Queen of Nereids was another matter entirely.
As the sirens pulled us into the deep end, descending through the aqueous veil into the murky depths of the Queen Salacia's kingdom, my senses were assaulted by the grotesque sight that unfolded before me. The Nereid Queen herself was perched upon her throne, a twisted mass of what seemed to be living coral and bone.
Her face, if it could be called such, was a contorted tapestry of sea life gone awry; barnacles clustered where cheeks should be, anemones writhed in place of hair, and her eyes... they were abyssal pits, reflecting a darkness deeper than the oceans.
Flanking her throne, the sirens stood guard, their forms more nightmarish. I has been surrounded by celestial beauty for so long, and Tripolis was such a beautiful world full of beautiful people, it did not occur to me ugliness also existed alongside it.
Their skin bore the pallor of drowned corpses, while jagged scales covered their misshapen bodies like armor. Lips pulled back over elongated, needle-like teeth as they hissed our arrival, their haunting voices creating an eerie dissonance with the lull of the underwater currents.
It was only by the grace of the celestial bond we Sensitive shared with the cosmos, and Areilycus' mastery over light, that we could breathe so freely here. Our celestial essence mingled with the arcane energies of Valorian's waters, forming a protective shroud around us that allowed us to partake in the sea's breath as though it were air.
The Queen shifted, her movements sending ripples throughout her court. "This is certainly unexpected."
The water around me quivered with the force of Salacia's words. "You pulled us here," I told her, Areilycus placating my tone with a gentle pat on the back. The color from his skin started to fade again now that the dragon was once again clicks away from him.
"Surrender to me Captain Kinsley and his crew, along with the dragon's heart," she boomed, her grotesque visage contorting in greed.
"Captain Kinsley is at your mercy, as are his men. But the heart of the dragon remains with me." My words were bubbles of defiance rising against the pressure of the ocean.
The little bitch didn't seem to like my response. The very little I knew of the sea people from Vectra spoke of their greed and ambivalence. Salacia wanted everything. She was on the warpath, I just didn't know what it was exactly except for hanging Edward upside down by the balls.
Her mouth, a twisted abyss lined with serrated teeth, opened as if ready to swallow worlds whole. The sirens encircling her, hideous parodies of beauty, hissed their agreement, their scales dull and mottled like rotting sea leaves.
"Without the heart, my brother, the Lord of Light, will succumb to the Diamond Storm's poison," I confessed, the weight of my twin's life anchoring me steadfast. "It alone can mend the fluctuations tearing him apart."
Salacia's laughter was a maelstrom, coiling around us. "How has the Lord of Light been so dimmed?" she mocked. "And what of the White Snake, nipping at his heels with venom?"
"You know the Assigner?"
"Only land-bound humans remain ignorant of the divine architect," she spat contemptuously. "Seems like his favorite creations have bored him."
"Then you understand why we cannot yield," I pressed on, "why the heart must save one touched by the Assigner himself."
Her scowl deepened, barnacles upon her chin shifting like tectonic plates.
"I have no quarrel with the White Snake," she said. "I would rather not start one. If he marked your brother for death, defying his will shall only bring chaos to your realm. It is better if you surrender the heart to me."
The dimness seemed to gather and clot around the throne where Queen Salacia lurked. It was not just darkness that shrouded her; it was the sheer repulsiveness that seemed to warp the very water we moved through. Her face, an amalgamation of features mismatched and twisted, bore a snarl that could curdle the currents. The bloated body, draped in seaweed and carcasses of unrecognizable sea creatures, throbbed with a grotesqueness that defied nature.
"Grant us the boon of keeping the heart, and in return, I shall bless these hallowed seas with the kiss of light," Ari said. A chuckle, wet and gurgling, erupted from Salacia's maw. "Light?" she rasped. "I am sovereign of shadow, prince. My power is woven in darkness, and my subjects thrive unseen. Your 'blessing' holds no sway here."
My heart sank like a stone. We had come so far, gambled so much, only to be met with refusal. The source of light that Areilycus offered would bring life, would foster growth in these desolate waters – but the queen of the Nereids desired none of it.
Luckily, I knew of one thing she did desire.
I could not let despair win. Gathering the last shreds of my resolve. "There is a yearning that even the Queen of the Twelve Seas cannot deny—the longing for land, for the caress of soil beneath one's feet."
Salacia's grotesque visage twisted in a sneer, her bulbous eyes narrowing with suspicion. The sirens around us stilled, their haunting forms poised like statues of revulsion, their silence more terrifying than their shrillest cries.
"I made an acquaintance with the Vlachy witch," I continued, taking advantage of her silence, "I will convince her to give you legs."
A murmur undulated through the court, a ripple of shock and intrigue. Salacia's countenance contorted further, if such a thing were possible, rendering her features into a map of dismay.
"Neptune," I pressed on, daring to invoke the name of her consort, "that is how he did it, no? Somehow he convinced the Vlachy witch to give him legs to walk the land."
The queen recoiled as though struck, her throne of coral casting sinister shadows across her maligned form. The water vibrated around the seaweed in her hair.
"Neptune betrayed me," she hissed, her voice laced with venom and torment. "He invaded her slumber, entwined his will with hers, bartered freedom for flesh. Yes, he gained legs—to abandon his queen, to love a wretched human pirate!"
Her pain resonated in the watery abyss, a tempest of fury and sorrow. In her confession, I glimpsed the raw wound of betrayal that festered in her soul, an injury that light could never heal. And yet, despite the ugliness that marred her, that very ugliness seemed to underscore the tragedy of Salacia.
Ari being Ari, swam forward, his strength slowly dwindling. The sirens closed ranks in front of her until the Queen commanded them to disperse.
Ari slowly outstretched his arm, placed his hand on the bare bone of her breast and closed his eyes.
I witnessed a transformation akin to witnessing the sea calm after a tempest. The lines of anguish that had etched themselves into Salacia's ethereal features slowly ebbed away as Areilycus channeled his healing powers.
Salacia's chest rose and fell, a syncopated rhythm gradually aligning with the steady beat of the tide. As the pain that Neptune's betrayal had inflicted upon her began to dissipate, a subtle shift occurred within the ocean.
Light from the sun had pierced through. Where there had been heaviness, a lightness began to permeate, wrapping around us like a comforting shawl.
I could almost sense the fragments of her shattered trust beginning to find their way back to one another, a silent dance of healing orchestrated by my brother's unwavering intent.
As the session drew to a close, Areilycus stepped back, his task completed. Salacia rose, her stature regal, her composure regained, yet forever changed by the depth of her ordeal.
"What did you do to me?" she asked bewildered.
"I took away your pain," Ari said, drawing his breath in heavy inhales and shallow exhales.
The Queen seemed to contemplate herself, her feelings, as if she suddenly realized without her lust for revenge, without the pain, she was nothing but an empty vessel.
"Have the witch remove the protection spell from Kinsley as well, and then we can talk further."
***
She let us go except she did not. The ship would not leave the bay until Kinsley agreed to give himself up, which would never happen. At least we still had the dragon. The supplies were running low, the drinking water for the crew, the food supplies, the alcohol.
We could not stay much longer. When the dragon nestled itself on Ari's chest, my twin immediately came to himself, exhaling as if he could not breathe for the past century and this was his first alleviation from the ordeal.
The quarters were suffused with a briny tang that clung to the heavy air, hanging like an omen. I crossed the threshold gingerly, my gaze flickering over the charts and maps strewn across the large oak table before settling on my companions. Edward stood by the stern window, his silhouette carved against the backdrop of the churning grey waters outside, while Bonnie leaned against the wall, arms folded, her eyes sharp and attentive.
"Salacia will not let us pass," Edward said without preamble, his voice a low growl that seemed to resonate with the very timbers of the ship.
Edward and Bonnie cornered us while I soaked the cloth in fresh water and cleaned Ari of sea salt. His arms were all but covered in it while I remained clean, as if Salacia demanded she would mark him with her filth for all the good he had done to her.
No good deed goes unpunished.
"I'm surprised you still have all your limbs," Edward quipped but the tension in his shoulder betrayed his true feelings. It was not fear, no, fear was much too primal to lodge itself in between Edward's breastbone and whatever else lay in his chest instead of a beating heart.
It was something akin to unrest, doubt springing from his mind that he would not win this war against the Queen after all.
"She insists on taking you down, I'm afraid there is nothing Ari or I could do about that."
"But you said Areilycus healed her pain," Bonnie argued, her red hair wild in the breeze coming from the small window.
"It does not work like that," I told her. "He can take away the pain, but the slight remains. Some people are susceptible to persisting in their anger despite their wound having healed. Nereid are -"
"Vengeful bitches," Edward completed for me.
"So you helped her get a clear head and walked away with nothing!" Bonnie raged. It was not a time to unleash my anger, I needed to get a clear head, but with the humans nagging me,
"We can keep the heart, that's something," I argued.
The baby dragon, scales glinting a soft emerald, cooed and wriggled contentedly in Ari's gras. Areilycus stroked the beast with tenderness. They were bonding.
"We cannot split the heart," Edward said.
"How do you know?" I asked. "We must ask the Vlachy witch for help."
I couldn't tell them the bargain I had made. Salacia would see to it my plans would tank. And since I now knew for certain she had met the Assigner, I couldn't be too sure she wouldn't betray me to him.
I still couldn't shake the ick in my stomach when I thought of betraying Edward.