Chapter A Plan
A Plan
Siralaine
There’s not enough time! My heart pounds as he kisses me softly before slipping out the cell door and quietly locking the padlock again, placing a finger on his lips before he begins to back away, his form blending into the shadows beside the empty cell door opposite mine.
My heart is hammering as I swirl my tail around, making sure no sign of what we just did remains. I fix my hair over my neck before I curl into the corner, wishing I had told him about the curse.
I will never kill him, but the fact that I’m weakening him is terrible, too. I had gotten so caught up in the moment that I didn’t get the chance to tell him what I should have.
I wait for whoever is coming this way to reveal themselves.
My eyes widen in surprise as the last two people I thought would ever come down here stare at me with disgust from the other side of the bars.
My sisters, Kalina and Maerina.
Kalina has light brown hair and a soft green and purple tail with large green eyes. Whilst Maerina’s tail has the lightest shade of shimmering blue, which matches her pale eyes, and she has long blond hair.
“Finally, you are where you deserve to be,” Maerina says, looking at me with smug satisfaction.
She’s the older of the two. At nineteen, she’s two years younger than me, and Kalina is eighteen.
“Yet, you missed me so much you came all the way down here,” I counter, unfazed.
Kalina scoffs. “Don’t be so cocky. We both know that you screamed and begged not to be brought down here. I hope they’re treating you exactly the way you deserve to be treated.” She looks at me with scorn.
“The same way your mother was treated.” Maerina laughs, and anger sears through me. I see Kai move out of the shadows from behind them, but I give him the slightest shake of my head, and he sinks back into the shadows.
My eyes burn with rage, and I pull at my suppressed power, allowing it to swirl around my fingers, and the water ripples.
They both move back. “You’ve been injected, how are you using your powers?!” Kalina snarls.
“Be careful what you say, unless you want to find out exactly what I can do,” I hiss. I’m not sure how much I can muster, but they don’t know that.
Maerina tilts her head. “Well, if Father doesn’t end you, I will. Soon, I will marry High Lord Vaan.”
My heart skips a beat.
“The ice fae?” How is that possible? The ice fae are the most brutal of the fae-kind, and they are rarely seen. They keep to themselves… “How could Father agree? Does that mean he is ready to step onto land?”
“Times are changing, what did you expect? That we’ll have to remain in the ocean forever? If you were patient, even you could have gone to land,” Kalina adds. “Maerina will become Queen of the Ocean and the Lands.”
“But Maerina, the ice fae are nothing short of monsters-”
“Are you telling me who is a monster?! Don’t think Mother didn’t tell us that you were whoring around with a sky siren! They are the worst!” she shrieks.
I smile. “Then do as you wish. Marry him, Maerina, but you are idiots if you think you’ll be treated well, He only needs you…” I trail off, a sudden thought popping into my head.
“What, a piranha got your tongue?” Kalina sneers, her face not so beautiful as it distorts completely. Beauty really is skin-deep when it comes to these two.
I ignore them, just wanting them gone so I can talk to Kai. They throw a few more insults my way, and I simply go and sit down on the rocky floor, refusing to entertain them any longer.
“Let’s go. I hope she’s beaten to death,” Maerina says.
“I know, I thought I saw the last of her,” Kalina agrees with a sneer. I look over my shoulder at them, my hair floating around me. This may be the last time I ever see them. It might be my only chance to ask them.
“I do have one question for you both. What did I ever do that made you hate me so much?” I ask quietly, remembering when we used to play together as children until their mother refused to let me be around them.
“You were born,” Maerina says.
I nod, wishing they had an actual reason. It would hurt less. “You all know about my curse?”
“Of course,” Kalina says arrogantly.
“Well, did you know that if I’m killed, that the curse transfers to the closest of my kin, which would be one of you two. So be careful what you wish for, dear sisters,” I say with a poisonous smile, satisfied when their smiles vanish.
“You’re lying!” Kalina screams, her eyes full of anger.
“Am I? Go ask Father.”
“Come on, Kalina, being around Siralaine is bad luck in itself. I’m getting married. I don’t need her shadow upon me.”
“She can’t bring you bad luck, you are the most beautiful sea siren,” Kalina adds before they both swim away.
I sigh softly as Kai emerges from the dark, his eyes glimmering with anger.
“They would have been dead with one swipe,” he says, holding up his hands where his talons are out, and I can see the sharp teeth in his mouth. My heart skips a beat, and I move closer to the bars, pressing myself against them.
“Mmm, why does you sounding so pissed turn me on?” I whisper.
He cocks a brow. “You don’t want me anywhere near you when I’m pissed, trust me,” he murmurs, his eyes running down my body, lingering on my breasts that are pressed between the bars. I smile when he swallows, my core knotting with hunger for him again.
“I think it’s exactly where I want you… But there is something I need to tell you,” I begin, my heart sinking.
He moves back and goes over to the padlock, picking it with shocking ease before slipping inside. “What is it?”
“It’s the curse… we’re mates, aren’t we?” I whisper.
He stiffens and looks away for a second before nodding. “Yeah. I always wondered why you couldn’t tell.”
“My father had a spell cast on me because apparently the curse will affect my mate.” Guilt eats at me as I quickly explain what Father had told me.
“He didn’t want to risk my finding out exactly what the curse entailed, knowing I would stay away from my mate.
I’ve been poisoning you. The longer you are around me, the weaker you become – and yet I let you be around me again!
” I say, frustrated that I thought only of my own desire again!
“Hey, it doesn’t matter; no curse is strong enough to bring me down. I feel fine.” He wades towards me, but I move back, shaking my head.
“For now. He said it’ll begin to affect you, and to break this curse, I have to kill you.” He grabs hold of my arm and pulls me close.
“But you also said if anyone else kills you, that the curse will transfer?” he asks, his eyes glinting. I nod, wondering why he’s asking, when he smirks. “Then, that’s perfect. They need you to kill me, and no one can kill you, so we’re safe here. I will kill Morcant, and we’ll be together.”
“But this curse, Kai-” He puts a finger to my lips.
“Doesn’t matter. You’re mine, and there is nothing, not even death, that can take you from me. Let’s focus on what we need to do. Do you really want me to kill your father?”
I look up at him, my heart thundering. “If I said no, would you really let him live?” I ask.
He smirks, one that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Probably not. The more I learn about him, the more I hate him.”
I wrap my arms around his waist and rest my head against his chest. “I want him dead for everything he has done. He allowed my mother to be abused and murdered. I can’t ever forgive him,” I whisper.
“With pleasure, darling. He will die.” His words are sharp, promising me the vengeance I have sought for years. He rests his head on top of mine.
I close my eyes, knowing I could never kill him. I’d rather die myself; I don’t care if Maerina or Kalina have to carry this curse. I will not kill Kai, because Varindor needs him.
To protect him, I’ll do anything.
He looks down at me. “So we need to make this believable, you need to convince your father that you will kill me,” he says quietly.
I nod as he caresses my neck. “And I think it’s time we marked one another. It’ll help if we are able to communicate.”
My heart skips a beat. Marked? Meaning we’ll be bonded to one another fully. Leaving him would hurt even more…
“So, what do you say, my Little Liar, ready to allow me to claim you?” he whispers.
“Yes.” There’s no doubt in my mind about that.
I arch my neck, giving him complete access as I submit to him.
He caresses my jaw, kissing my lips lightly, before brushing his lips across my jaw.
I feel him shift, feel his talons come out once again, feel his power around me and then his sharp teeth sink into my neck.
I gasp at the sting of pain that’s followed by a wave of euphoric pleasure that washes over me, and I wrap my tail around him. He extracts his teeth, flickering his tongue across the small wound as a ripple of blood mixes with the water around us.
Well, hello there, darling, he murmurs in my mind as he moves back.
I smile up at him, kissing his lips softly. I can’t respond via the mind-link until I’ve marked him back, but I can’t… I won’t sentence him to damnation.
“Now, your turn. Mark me,” he whispers seductively in my ear as he lifts me by the waist, so I have better access to his neck.
“I can’t, Kai, if my father sees it, he won’t believe that I am willing to kill you. We have to make it appear real,” I say smoothly.
He searches my eyes for a moment too long, and my gut twists. It’s almost as if he knows what I’m thinking.
“Sure, Little Liar.” After a moment, he smirks, and I smile back, hoping he isn’t suspicious of me. But the way ‘little liar’ sounded on his lips… it makes me wonder… but he doesn’t push it. “Now, tell me, do you sea sirens always swim around naked?”
He looks at my breasts, and I smile bitterly. “No, especially not royalty. It’s their way of humiliating me. To show I’m nothing, but I really don’t mind being naked,” I say, cupping my breasts.
“Me neither… but I’d rather it only be me who gets to enjoy them.” There’s a possessive tone to his voice before he kisses them tenderly, making me sigh softly before he lets go of me. “I should get going.”
“Wait, find out when the engagement is. If it’s soon, they will go to land for the engagement. Killing my father there might be easier,” I say with urgency. “I’m sure my father has an inkling you might be here, but you’re stronger on land.”
“I can sneak up and kill him in his sleep, darling.”
I shake my head. “No, we need to wait. I need you to find out about the ice fae. The wave weavers wanted me dead, but my father didn’t because of the curse. I think there’s something we don’t know. Something else is going on.”
“Understood.” He kisses me softly before he exits the cell and locks it behind him. I’ll be close, always.
I nod. “I’m glad,” I say gently as I watch him swim away and turn away from the bars.
After everything is done, I will die to protect him.
I’m sorry, Kai, but you deserve more than a cursed sea siren by your side.