Save the Sea (Saved by Pirates #3)(33)
“Ready,” I shout, and the dragon dives under the water, swimming straight out of the cave while I hold onto her spikes and keep my eyes closed. When I see a light instead of only darkness in front of my eyes, I force them open in the cold, salty water. The sight before me is worth the slight sting. There’s a town full of castle shaped buildings, some parts have a bubble surrounding them, and others are fully in the water. At the top of the tallest point, is a star. The half blue and half purple star is massive, and it lights up everything for miles. There are a lot of little white lights in the castles too, but I don’t think they need them. Thousands of mermaids and different fish swim around the structures submerged in the water, before going into the bubble areas where their legs appear. Thank the gods they have fabric covering the parts of them that I’d rather not see, but they still don’t seem to like to wear much. I look over at Everly, who appears as shocked as I feel. The dragons zoom towards the bubble, just as I start struggling for air, and they fly straight into it. The air hits my lungs, making me gasp and hold my chest, as my other hand holds onto the dragon. The dragons fly us straight through the city, where the mermaids with their multi-coloured hair all stop to watch us. I try not to stare at them, instead looking ahead at the biggest of the castles, which we are heading straight towards.
“Dmamma,” Kiaw shouts, and the dragons dive towards the castle, landing on a long strip of stone that leads to massive glass doors. The pathway has a circular landing spot, which we are on, and a line of guards standing at the sides, holding long spears with what looks to be giant, deadly-looking forks on the end of them. I glance over at Everly as I slide off the dragon and see her push her wet, blonde hair over her shoulder, looking at the doors in front of us. I shake my own hair when I get off the dragon, looking down at my soaked clothes and already feel like I’m freezing down here.
“This way,” Kiaw says succinctly, as I get to where she is standing in the middle of the path, and Everly walks to my side.
“A whole city underwater, it’s amazing,” Everly comments as we follow Kiaw down the path. I find myself examining the guards standing outside the doors. Still as statues, they remain motionless, not even blinking. I turn back and see Kiaw staring at me, but she looks away as she begins to speak.
“They are Merida guards, controlled by a mental connection to our king. We are all connected in Merida,” she explains, even though I never asked. All I can think about is how creepy that is. Why would you need a connection like that to a whole army? Maybe that’s how the king keeps his rule.
“I heard there was a queen, but yet we are seeing a king,” Everly inquires.
“Queen Idia died a month ago, and her youngest son, King Damien, has taken the throne,” she replies sadly. It’s clear she cared deeply for the queen.
“Youngest? Don’t the oldest usually take the throne?" I ask, and Kiaw stops right outside the doors, resting her hand on the handle to the right door.
“Yes, but here we believe in strength and blood. Blood wins the throne, and King Damien killed his two brothers to win,” she says, her eyes narrowing on me. “Remember that he killed his family to claim his throne. He is not a mermaid to play games with.” With that she pushes the door open, and we follow her through into the large room on the other side. The room has a large open window on the one side, stone floors, and burners that have a nice-smelling blue smoke coming out of them. There is a man standing silently in the middle of the room, his blue cloak and blue crystal crown on his head of blonde hair is all we can see from this distance.
“Leave us,” the man’s deep and frightening sounding voice says. Kiaw bows at his back, before running out of the room and leaving us alone. The man, the king, finally turns around and walks closer to us, but his eyes stay on Everly the whole time. When he steps closer, I can see the blue star on his forehead that matches his outfit. His purple eyes glow slightly as he stands still, watching and waiting.
“King Damien, I presume?” I say, and the king finally takes his eyes off Everly to look at me.
“Changed ones are not welcome in my sea. We do not respect your god here,” he says simply, and turns his eyes back to Everly. I stay still as the king starts walking around us, slowly, and his eyes roll over Everly who doesn’t move.
“I do not recognise your blood. Who is your father?” he asks.
“I don’t know, and that is not something we came to discuss.” Everly snaps.
“It may be the only thing I wish to discuss,” he counters, and Everly swings around, walking straight up to the king before I can stop her.
“War is coming to the land, and when we win, I will rule. How long do you think it will be before war comes to the sea if we lose?” she says, her voice calculating, and the king laughs.
“What is your name?” he asks.
“Everleigh of Onaya,” she replies, using her full name that I’m not used to hearing.
“You are not of Onaya,” he says sharply as he watches her. There’s something happening between them, and I almost don’t want to interrupt, but I know I have to.
“We came to make a deal, a deal for this,” I slide the crystal stick out of my trouser pocket and hold it up. The king looks at it, and then quickly back at Everly.
“You want the crown, the crown my mother swore to protect,” he muses.