Heirs of the Ocean

Chapter Five: Murder and a New Queen

    Two years passed. The war had finally ended. The sirens had won, obviously. The mermaids were now in huge debt to us. They had to give us some of their land and move far away from the siren kingdom. It was my seventeenth birthday. I slowly began to understand more and more what love was. A month passed. I was swimming around the kingdom, making sure there were no mermaids, humans, or sirens that were breaking the rules. One of the guards swam to me in a panic. "Pallesea!! Come quick. It's the queen. She's been murdered," She said. I quickly swam to the castle. "Dorieos? Dorieos, what happened?" I said. "I don't know. I thought I smelled blood coming from the castle. So I swam here as fast as I could and found her motionless and bloody," Dorieos said. "Do we have any suspects of who did it?" I said."No," Dorieos said. "Well, there is one person who we can suspect," The guard said."There are many people who we can suspect," I said."Yes. But there is one person who can be our main suspect," The guard said."Who?" I asked. Dorieos gasped. "King Kailani," He said. "Yeah. He already tried to kill your mother before. That's the whole reason why Queen Neania calls him a traitor and why she kicked him out of the siren kingdom," The guard said. "My father? No way, He would've gotten caught trying to enter the siren kingdom," I said. "He could've sent a hitman or something," Dorieos said. I swam into the castle and saw my mum's corpse. She was surrounded by blood. I bent down and looked at her body, trying to find how she was murdered. I gasped and swam backwards. Dorieos quickly swam inside and pulled me into a hug. "What? What is it? Why did you gasp?" He said. "She was stabbed with a trident and her throat was slit using broken glass," I said. "Ok? Why did that make you freak out?" Dorieos said. I stopped hugging Dorieos and he let go of me. I swam back to my mum's body and placed my hand on her arm. "There are only two people who I know that are talented enough to use a trident. And there is one person who I know collects shards of broken glass. They either worked together or it's the one person I'm thinking of," I said. "Who?" Dorieos said. I was silent. I swam out of the castle. "Guineviane!!" I called. A siren swam up to me. "Yes, Princess?" She said. "Guineviane. I need you to gather everyone in the kingdom and call an emergency meeting at the Meeting House," I said. "Right away Princess Pallesea," Guineviane said. She swam away. I fell to the floor and began to sob. Dorieos sat down and pulled me into a hug. "I'm so sorry Pallesea. I should've been standing guard at the castle. I could've prevented this," He said. "No. It's not your fault. You weren't in charge of guarding the castle. Clarila was," I said. I looked down." I just. I can't believe she's gone. Just like that," I said. "I know," Dorieos said. I saw all the sirens slowly enter the Meeting House. I stood up and took a deep breath. "I have to tell everyone the news," I said. I swam to the Meeting House. "Thank you all for coming to this meeting. I have some awful news. Our amazing Queen Neania Arime has been murdered," I said. Everyone gasped. "I looked at the murder scene and I have two suspects who did it based on the evidence I have gathered," I said. Everyone was silent. "The murderer is someone who is currently in this room. It's not a mermaid that killed my mother. It was one of her people. A traitor. And there are two people in this room who I suspect is or are the traitor or traitors," I said. The room filled with murmurs. "Who are the suspects?" Evisise said. "That's information that I'm not comfortable sharing yet. I will have a few of the guards arrest the suspects within the next several hours," I said. I began to swim away. "Princess Pallesea! Wait," Guineviane said. "Yes, Guineviane? What is it?" I said. "Before you release everyone, I found this letter in Queen Neania's room," Guineviane said, holding up an envelope. "Alright. Read it," I said. Guineviane opened up the envelope and took out the letter. "If you are reading this letter it means that I have died. There is no time to mourn. At least, not now. We need a new leader as soon as possible. I have thought for a long time about who I want to be the leader after I've died. In the event of my death, I want Pallesea to become the new queen of the sirens. It's not because she's the oldest. It's because she is the most mature. As soon as whoever is reading this letter is done reading, Pallesea will immediately become the new queen. You will no longer refer to her as 'Princess' Pallesea. She will now be referred to as Queen Pallesea. This is the end of my letter. You can mourn on your own time," Guineviane said, reading the letter. I stood there in shock. Me? The queen? Would I really be good at being the queen? Leading all these people? I dismissed everyone and went to the castle. Mum's body was still there. I sighed. "Dorieos!" I called. Dorieos swam into the room. "Yes, Queen Pallesea?" He said. I rolled my eyes. "Could you find someone who can come and remove my mum's body from here?" I said. "Right away Queen Pallesea," Dorieos said. He swam out of the castle and I swam to my room. I fell asleep crying that night.