Aura [bxb]

Thirty

Without a doubt, the prince was a wild-card compared to the other mers. What more could you expect from a person born into royal life with a silver spoon in their mouth? It was more than expected that the prince would grow into an imperious ruler. Some would try to ignorantly compare the current king and the prince. Comparing the two royals was like comparing humans to mers. Similar in a few aspects, but very different in others. It was perhaps their similar loose tempers that made the two alike. As alike as their tempers were, though, it was their mindsets that truly differed between the king and prince.

King Noaelis, the current reigning king and father to Prince Edmern, was known for his problematic rule. Instead of bettering the kingdom, the king threw all his responsibilities away to visit the kingdom's royal harem. Such behavior had once been toleratable before the prince was born, but now that the king had provided an heir, the behavior was mock-able. That was what King Noaelis would be remembered as, a mockable king who abandoned his royal duties for pleasure.

Perhaps it was the mockery of his father that inspired the prince. The king's failure created an excellent example of what the prince shouldn't do when the time came to ascend to the throne. The prince could only hope that his father would peacefully descend, but it wasn't likely that he would. The authority that came with being king was a powerful one because who would deny a king?

The prince could only do so much regarding the laws and ruling practices that the past royals have put in place. Being prince only allowed him to do so much. Making changes was virtually impossible without the king's support, which was something that Prince Edmern never seemed to have. It made getting rid of one of the worst laws implemented removed difficult.

Prince Edmern never managed to figure out what had driven his father to order the death of sirens. The prince had always assumed it had to do with a subconscious fear the king had towards their song. The prince had been a baby when the king initiated the order to kill sirens. That order was one of the last impactful ones that King Noaelis would issue before falling into the repetitive habit of visiting the royal harem.

The past can profoundly affect the future, as history has shown time and time again. Everything can change the future, but the decision to kill sirens would be King Noaelis's most devastating mark on history.

Although there was no use in wondering what if possibilities, the question could still stand, what would the world have been like had the siren's never been eliminated? What if the law had never been implemented? These were the questions that the prince often pondered over while he was alone inside his study.

Since his father lacked interested in appearing in court, a small council of noble mers was appointed to make decisions in the king's place. It was those men that were currently the prince's biggest obstacle in obtaining the throne. The moment that Prince Edmern ascended to the throne, the council was getting tossed into the royal prison.

The prince would never understand what his father saw in those greedy, old bastards. All they ever did was raise taxes and implement laws that harmed everyone except for the noble class. The prince didn't understand why his father just allowed them to let these problems worsen by leaving control in those evil men's hands. The prince knew that if he removed the council now, there would be new people soon after. The prince knew how to deal with the ones currently in place, but if new ones were introduced, there would be a chance that they would ruin all of his plans. As long as the council remained oblivious, the prince had time.

Or, the prince thought he did. Things can change quickly, and new cards were constantly getting introduced into the game. Like finding out he has an unknown child with a mermaid he hasn't seen in years, a mermaid he wished had never left.

While King Noaelis never had a consort, the prince being born from one of the ladies-in-waiting, who passed during the birthing process. The king didn't seem interested in settling down with a single partner, but the prince was different. He didn't want to spend each day with a different lover; he wanted her. And for the longest time, the prince thought she had wanted the same. Their relationship had been kept a secret to protect them both from the court. Even with all the secrecy, the prince had thought that she wanted to be with him. Until recently, he had just assumed she left the kingdom to get away from him.

How wrong he turned out to be. The real reason behind her disappearance remained unknown until a few weeks ago. Even after she disappeared, Rain remained on the prince's mind, as a mate should. She was his mate, which made her disappearance hurt more than Edmern thought it would. Prince Edmern sometimes wondered if his father had ever met his mate, as nothing his advisors or nannies ever mentioned hinted towards the answer being yes. Was that the reason that the king found peace inside the royal harem? Edmern would have asked his father if he dared to venture into such a place. It wasn't like his father would answer him anyway; it seemed to be a tricky topic to bring up to his father.

Edmern wished it would be as simple as pleading to his father to remove the siren law since it was a law that would order the death of his son, the king's only grandchild. That was why his mate left, something Edmern wished he had known years ago. He had been unaware that his mate had gotten pregnant, let alone that that baby would be a siren. When Edmern first learned this, he laughed. He had been convinced that it was some kind of sick joke. After he had been sure that his mate would never be seen again, so after fifteen long years, why now? But her reappearance lit hope inside of the prince. There was a chance that he could finally have the ideal family he longed for, that he had been dreaming of.

The only thing standing in his way was the one thing that made his son . . . different. Prince Edmern didn't care that his son was a siren; if nothing else, it gave him a sense of relief knowing his son would be able to defend themselves against predators. The problem was the law and the way that the law has shaped the nation since its implementation. His people thought sirens were evil and that they deserved the sentence of death. Would his people rebel if a siren was put into the line of succession? That their future ruler was a siren? The prince didn't know what the future would be like, nor did he know if things would work out for the better, but he was still going to try. He was going to do everything in his power to make it happen.

Even if even he was beginning to question his methods on how.

I finally rewrote the chapter, after almost a year. ;-;