A Father’s Failure
A Father’s Failure
Siralaine
The pain is unbearable. I’m not sure how long I’ll survive, after all, the wave weavers made it clear that my father didn’t mind if I was brought back dead or alive.
I’m dragged deep beneath the surface. Only a handful of our attackers enter the water, mainly those who shifted into sea sirens, and a handful of fae who could breathe under the surface.
It’s obvious this was all premeditated. How long had they been watching us?
My heart clenches, remembering the way Kai hesitated, the way he willingly backed away when he saw me in my true form, as if in that moment what I am had really sunk in.
My tears blend into the water, and I smile sadly, remembering a myth about sea sirens.
That we don’t cry…
But of course we do. It’s just you can’t see those tears or the pain. Those are lost with the waves of the water.
I realise they have chained my fin only when the weight cuts into my scales. They’ve bound my wrists with chains, too, stopping me from being able to swim. I’m simply being dragged along.
How did it even come to this? How did I end up back where I swam so desperately from?
We travel for a while, and soon it all begins to look familiar. We’re nearing the underwater capital city of Elmeria, the place where my father’s castle resides.
I try to use my power, but I just can’t. Something is wrong! Why am I so weak?
My brows furrow. I’ve been struggling with my powers more than usual. I put it down to being on land for too long, but here in the ocean, I should be at my best, yet I’m not.
I’m taken to the castle via an isolated route, so we don’t run into anyone. I’m dragged down a secret entrance to the dungeons.
Will they kill me here? Maybe. After all, the wave weavers wanted to finish me, and they guard the dungeon prisoners.
I’m thrown into a cell. The chains are undone, but something is injected into my upper back that sends excruciating pain through me. I try to fight it, but they throw me to the floor before leaving, putting a padlock on the cell door.
I turn and swim free from the chains they left weighing me, slamming on the cell door, but no one pays attention. Their job is done.
“Notify the King that the traitor has been found,” one of the sea sirens leers with a cruel smile as he grabs my jaw from between the bars. “Once he’s done with you, I assure you we won’t be,” he whispers.
I glare at him in rage, but at the same time, fear creeps into my heart, remembering the fate my mother met at my father’s hands.
They leave, and I’m left alone in the dreary darkness. I stare at my hands as I sit on the ground, my heart heavy as Kai’s final expression replays in my mind. My heart squeezes, and I curl up.
How did I think we could ever be anything?
I’m not sure how long it’s been when I finally hear someone approaching.
I swim to the bars and see it’s my father, King Morcant.
Even in the darkness, his pale blue scales shimmer, and his gold crown and armbands, which are encrusted with jewels, glitter.
His shoulder-length, light brown hair is just how I remember it, and his pale blue eyes are trained on me.
His gaze burns into me, his face is emotionless, and after a moment, he motions the two wave weavers who flank him to open the cell door.
I stare at the wave weavers. They don’t even look in my direction, and I move away from the cell door as he lurks on the other side, looking me over.
“Leave us,” he commands as he enters.
The wave weavers bow before they swim away.
The water is still as glass. I bow my head before the King, even if I don’t want to, but I can feel his gaze cutting into me like a blade of ice.
“I have never felt more disappointed in you,” he says, his voice as frigid as the deep trenches.
“If I had stayed, my death was written,” I answer, lifting my eyes to meet his. “You let Maerina, Kalina, and your Queen treat me worse than a servant. They did what they wanted, and you allowed them to. There were times I barely survived.”
I’ve been poisoned more times than I can remember, and although there was no solid proof, I knew it was them.
“You’re alive, though, aren’t you? Our mercy kept you alive!” he roars, the water rippling around him. “Would you rather have shared your mother’s fate instead?”
My heart thrums against my ribs. “Is that what you call living?” I whisper, each word trembling with barely contained rage.
“Yes,” he spits. “Better than you deserve. You are cursed, and your very existence brings ruin to all who draw near.”
The weight of his hatred feels suffocating. For a heartbeat, I wonder if he ever really loved me… did he? I am his daughter, and despite everything, I once wanted to believe that. But that was long ago, a delusion I can no longer pretend is real.
“So why not just kill me, then?” I ask quietly, bitterness seeping into my tone. “You would have, wouldn’t you? You sent the wave weavers after me, and you ordered them to end me.”
His brows furrow. It’s only for an instant, but I see a flicker of confusion, though it’s gone as fast as it came.
“If killing you were the solution,” he says at last, “I would have done so the day you were born.”
His words cut deep, although by now I should be used to his callous dismissal.
My voice is a whisper when I answer him, “Then what do you want?”
He circles the cell, the shadows moving with him, his hands clasped behind his back. The currents stir, brushing against my arms like ghostly fingers. The water is murky and bitter down here.
“How much do you know of the curse you carry?”
“The so-called curse due to my dark scales? The curse that everyone speaks of, how I’m bad luck simply because I’m different? Yeah, I’ve heard about it all my life.”
He laughs humourlessly. “You are far worse than bad luck. Far more dangerous.” He looks at me with hatred again.
“Then why am I not bound?” I demand. “If I’m such a danger, why am I swimming freely in here? Surely, I can’t be that bad?”
A slow, serpentine smile curls his lips. “I don’t think you realise how it works. You can’t do anything from within here, and this curse shall end with you.”
“What do you mean?”
He stops, his expression turning grave before he looks away, as if debating if he should reply or not.
“I think I can fill you in now; you deserve to know exactly what you’re responsible for.
Long before these waters were ruled by a king, sea sirens lived in small pods scattered far from one another.
There was once a sea siren who fell in love with a witch of the deep, but he betrayed her and chose another sea siren as his partner.
The witch, cheated and broken, cursed her beloved, and with her dying breath, she laid her vengeance upon your ancestors, their iridescent scales turning as dark as lucid poison.
Since that day, every firstborn of the betrayer’s bloodline who dared to fall in love has triggered the curse.
The cursed sea sirens end up poisoning their beloved, just as your mother was poisoning me. ”
I shake my head, unable to believe it. So, there’s an actual story behind this curse? “No. There’s no proof of that. Mother loved you; she would never have hurt you.”
He bares his teeth, eyes glinting like obsidian. “From the moment she first kissed me, her love began to rot me from within. Poison disguised as affection. I was dying long before she realised it.”
“No! Then she didn’t know, she truly loved you.”
“Oh, she knew of the curse. Don’t paint her as innocent!” he snarls. I open my mouth to reply when a sudden thought enters my mind, making an icy cold seep into my veins.
Is this true? A memory of Kai flashes in my mind: his gorgeous molten eyes, those perfect plump lips, his breath against my skin, as he leaned closer.
From the moment he first kissed me…
My heart twists.
“How can you be sure this isn’t just fear and superstition?” I plead, not wanting to believe it. Father’s eyes are shadowed, lost in thought.
“Look at me, Father! My powers are weak. I can’t be cursed. Do you have proof you were poisoned?”
His gaze flicks to me, his eyes hardening.
“You are cursed, and I have nothing to prove to you. The witch sang of the curse, warning the oceans not to forget it. The curse was whispered through generations, and the cycle will repeat with every generation. But there is a way to break the vicious cycle, and on her deathbed, the witch shared it. When the ninety-ninth daughter is born, there is one chance to break it. And you, Siralaine, are the ninety-ninth.”
“What did she say?” I ask, refusing to accept it.
His voice deepens as he begins to sing, haunting and deep.
“On the ninety-ninth turning of the tide,
She who is born of storm and sorrow shall bring death to us all,
Or end it. She shall bring death to the kingdom beneath the tides.
She will find her fated, a monster not of her kind,
And love shall draw them both to death’s door,
Her selfish love will feed the venom that she had whispered into his soul.
When the fated falls and the poison blooms,
The ninety-ninth sea siren must slay the man she loves before he slays her.
And in doing so, I shall accept my revenge executed.
But mark this well, none may spill the cursed sea siren’s blood,
For her death by another’s hand shall wake the curse anew,
Weaving ninety-nine more tides of ruin from her blood’s nearest kin.
Wait. Wait for her to do what she must, for she must bring her fated to ruin.
For in ruin lies the key to freedom.”
The last line echoes in the silence as I cling to every word.
I swallow hard, the water pressing in on me.
“So that’s why you won’t kill me,” I say.
“You’re waiting for the curse to be broken.
You’d sacrifice me to protect your precious daughters.
Kalina and Maerina mean more to you than I ever did.
” It’s a statement, not a question, one we both know is a reality.
“Of course,” he says coldly. “They weren’t born from a monster, nor do they look like one.”
The words sting, but it’s not as painful. Somewhere along the way, I’ve accepted it. “Was it my fault I was cursed?”
He says nothing, and his silence answers for him.
“Well,” I whisper, “You’ll be disappointed. This curse won’t break because I have not found my fated.” But fear still eats at me. I may not be able to break the curse, but if he’s telling the truth, then I am poisoning Kai, a truth I desperately pray is a lie.
But Father chuckles mockingly. “Haven’t you?
You think I didn’t know when you repeatedly fled to the surface?
I allowed it because I needed you to find him.
The one who isn’t of your kind, to ensure the curse fulfilled its destiny.
I had a witch seal your bond, so even if you met your fated, you would not feel it… until it was too late. And it worked.”
The world spins, my breath catching in my throat. “You’re saying… that I have met my fated?”
He smirks, satisfied. “Why else would the man you have been travelling with tolerate a sea siren? You’ve already begun his undoing. When he comes for you, you will kill him and end the curse with his death,” he commands.
“No…” I whisper, horror flooding me. “I won’t.”
My heart pounds in fear. I gave him the sea siren’s breath. He’ll come here for Morcant, if not for me. What have I done?
“If you will not kill him,” Father says menacingly, “then I will. And I promise you, he will see no end to the torture. His death will feel like the kindest thing I can give him. And, it’s befitting.
After all, he is a sky siren. Keiran Kaldor of Alvazakh is here to kill me, is he not?
So either way, his end is near. It’s up to you if you do it and make it easy, or if I do it and break him first.”
Fury burns through my fear, flaring like a storm, my eyes blazing with rage.
“He’s stronger than you think. I will never kill him!” I snarl. “He’ll come for you, and he will end your reign of terror.”
His smile widens, a cruel sneer on his face. “I’m counting on it. I doubt he’s that strong. You have, after all, already poisoned him just by loving him.”
With that, he turns and swims away, the cell door closing behind him. I slam my fists against the bars, but it’s just me again, and the ripples fade until the water lies still once more.
I sink to the floor, trembling, the silence pressing in.
Kai… What have I done?
I remain there, not knowing what to think, but one thing sticks out in my mind that doesn’t add up… the wave weavers. According to what Father has told me, he needs me to kill Kai, but the wave weavers said they were ordered to kill me.
Did someone else give that order? But if it wasn’t Father, then who?
And why?
The thought coils around me like an eel, and I shiver.
I am missing something.