Lawrence's mental assault on my feelings didn't do anything to help my confusion over what to do with my suddenly acquired brother. The shock itself was still settling in my system and it wasn't doing me a whole lot of good to sit there and worry about what was going to happen. I had a couple of choices. I could just go find Aquean and challenge him to a duel but something tells me that it wouldn't sit well with me. He didn't have any of the Selenium traits that I noted and I somewhere in the ritual books that law had told me to read that they couldn't cross breed with the other species except humans. An odd trait if you ask me but that's how it was. As I wondered about what he was going to do next, I came across a room with a lock on it. I had thought that I had looked through the entire castle before but I could have been wrong. Looking behind me, I didn't see anyone coming so I opened the lock with my markings and eased inside.
It was a shrine. My mother's face was plastered on the wall with paintings and statues that littered the floor in a precise way that I knew would make out other face if I ever looked at it from an aerial view. As I got through the maze, I saw a table in the middle with an old man bending over it weeping. As I drew closer, I noted the same features that were in Aquean. His relative didn't seem to want to move but I gently put a hand on his shoulder anyway.
"Are you alright?" I asked rhetorically knowing full well that anyone who shut himself up with a bunch of statues and pictures was not well at all. At the sound of my voice his shoulders bunched up inside his clothing and he practically shoved me away from him.
"Go away. Leave me with my love," he moaned piteously and I considered him for a long moment. My mother had been loved by a lot of people and this was probably one of the few who had held on to that love past its time. I couldn't blame him though. I couldn't blame the man who seemingly loved my mother more than any other man I had ever known. My own father had left her when he found out about me and I had never met him. It hadn't bothered me then but now...
"You really loved my mother," I acknowledged quietly and he started.
"She never had any other children besides Aquean," he protested feebly and I placed my hand back on his shoulder.
"I would think that I look too much like her for me to be anyone else," I replied and he slowly turned towards me and the depth of shock on his features made me wonder if I had truly done the right thing.
"You look just like her," he mumbled reaching up and touching my face and I smiled gently at him.
"I should. I'm the female of the line and I carry my mother features proudly," I replied and a wavering smile slowly curled his lips.
"So beautiful...my own son didn't have any of his mother's features," he warbled and I nodded understandingly.
"Did you know that your son has taken over the kingdom?" I asked questioningly and he slowly shook his head in mild surprise.
"I know I had left to mourn for her when I found out she had died but I don't know how long I've been in here," He responded and concern pasted themselves on his features.
"You need to get back in the game. Your son's about to wage a war that the merpeople can't hope to win," I informed him and a shot of fury appeared in his eyes.
"His mother loved the humans. Said they were a doubled edged sword all her life. Didn't matter to her one way or another about what and why they were who they were. I refuse to allow my son to make the mistake that I did so long ago," He declared and stood up with the sudden strength that I had seen very few men do. He burst through the door with an energy and willfulness that left my mother's shrine in the dust. I trailed after him curious to see what was going to happen to the young king.
"Aquean!" his father roared through the grand hall and the soldiers stopped what they were doing to stare at the older man in astonishment. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He was furious! The aura of anger just seemed to glow brightly around him and I felt Law's presence come to stand next to me. The raw energy that came off of him made me want to flee but I held my ground.
"Father? I thought you were mourning mother," he gapped staring at him in such a state of shock that I recalled the older man's look not just a minute ago looking at me. It seemed as if the younger man thought that he would've died there. Not that I could blame him. The old King probably would've died there if I hadn't interrupted his weeping.
"I was until her daughter came in and informed me that you're going to wage a war against humanity," he accused bluntly and Aquean's face went a deep green. It took me a moment to realize that he was blushing. Whether it was out of anger or something else, I never found out because the next moment his face was schooled to patience and he stared at his sire.
"The humans stole our mother away and I refuse to let anyone else suffer as we have," he announced and the king grew angrier.
"Whoever said that you had that choice? If anything this young lady would have it. I had heard that she had had a daughter but had thought nothing of it since I hadn't seen her but now that I have I know she can has it more than either of us. After all, her mother died protecting her, not us," he told the younger man and Aquean turned to me with something like surprise in his face.
"You were there?" he questioned and I sighed heavily.
"I had told you earlier when we first met. I'm surprised that you don't remember it," my voice was flat against the anger and patience of the two men and they looked at me with something like shame in their faces.
"I suppose...she truly does have the choice," he muttered and waved to me as if that was his way of telling me to go ahead and make it.
It wasn't a heard decision to make. I knew my mother wouldn't have wanted me to hurt the human race anymore than I already did but the solemn faces of the soldiers, spouses, and children around me made me at least pretend to consider. I wouldn't change my mind but I did look through the facts one more time. It came out in the same answer for me.
"It's not something I would want anyone to do," I told them and the two men nodded.
"Are you certain? I'll let you rule the land while I rule the sea. We can be a sibling duo," he offered and I raised an eyebrow.
"I see what kings, queens, and royal children go through every day and I wouldn't want to rule for the life of me," I rejected and he sat down heavily.
"I suppose I'm not king anymore am I?" he asked his father and the older king shook his head.
"No and that's the end of your rebellion too," he replied gravely.
Author's note:...It's my keyboard. I really like that fact that I can sit anywhere and type on it and it won't matter in the slightest. In any case, thanks for your support! Don't forget to vote and comment!
