You Should Bow to the Sea God

Epilogue

The prison was cold, so very cold.

Everywhere in different cells, creatures hissed at her in a threatening manner, whispering words that messed with her mind. She wasn't fazed, not anymore. Instead, a strange sort of calm washed over her.

Execution. Execution. Execution.

She had heard the words so many times she had stopped feeling scared. She had stopped feeling anything a long time ago.

She had just received news through the prison guards that Percy had given up his position as King and the sea god to return the position to Atlantis's true heir, Triton. She knew she had no reason to believe he would, but a small part of her had hoped that Percy would come meet her, at least one last time before she would be executed for her crimes.

Percy Jackson. The name sent a melancholy feeling through her, making her shudder. She would be lying if she said she hadn't fallen in love with him. She was never supposed to.

Maybe he never knew she was sentenced to die. She knew Percy wouldn't agree to that... or would he? Reality was a blur for her now. She knew the Council needed someone to pay, to make an example out of someone. Since Lady Serena was dead, someone else had to take the fall.

A loud 'clink' made her look up from the cold, hard ground that had been her room for the past three days. She blinked at the sudden light that streamed into the prison to focus on a pair of ocean green eyes that appeared emerald in the light. Without a warning, the other inmates collapsed in their cells, unmoving, as if they had been killed. Her eyes widened and she stumbled back until her back hit the cold wall behind her. The figure came nearer and she recognized him immediately.

"Triton," she murmured, her voice barely audible.

"Sylvia," Triton said calmly and raised an eyebrow when Sylvia tried to make herself as small as possible. "I'm not here about your execution, in fact, I highly objected to that but I was outvoted."

Sylvia blinked. "Thanks?" she asked with uncertainty. She couldn't tell if she should be happy with that fact or not.

"I believe you've heard the news."

A chill snaked down her spine at the words, her instincts screaming at her.

When she didn't answer, Triton sighed, walking towards her cell, walking past the rest, unbothered by the fallen inmates as if... he was the one who did it. "I just wanted to talk, in private."

Triton held up two fingers and a cloaked figure entered the prison, its movements sluggish. It stopped right beside Triton and let its papery cloak fall to the ground in one swift movement. Sylvia gasped.

It was a woman, yet not. She could be described as neither woman nor mermaid. From the waist up, she was quite normal. She had pale skin with a strange tint of lavender and long, wavy white hair that cascaded down her back in luscious locks. Her ears were shaped like gills that moved every time she breathed and they protruded from her hair. Her lips were red and full yet she knew concealed a set of gleaming sharp teeth. She was still breathtakingly beautiful despite her abnormalities.

But from the waist down, she didn't have a tail or legs. She had tentacles. Black, inky tentacles that glided in every direction as she moved.

"The Sea Witch," Sylvia murmured, recognizing her, for she was the one who had made an exchange with the witch once upon a time. Her own long hair for the dagger, just like the fairytale, and fairytales were real.

And what was Triton doing with her?

"I need to thank you," Triton said, softly, not looking at her. Instead, his eyes were fixated on the other fallen inmates but he didn't seem bothered. "You and your 'mother'. Thanks to you, everything has gone according to plan. And I must admit, I didn't expect it to go this well," he said with grudging admiration.