Gem of the Crown: Chapter 1


The dark gray sky had been a constant for months. The chilling wind blew through her hair as she stood on a cliff, watching the ships sailing into port. Hoping for his ship to come back, even if for just a day. She wanted him back. Wanted to know he was safe. The sound of steel driving into the soil pierced her ears. Grabbing her dagger from her hip, she turned to see who was behind her.
His auburn hair and dark hateful eyes threw her back. That was the last merman she expected to see. And even worse, he was digging a deep hole. Large enough to fit a body.
“Macsen.” She growled. Her dagger clutched tightly in her hand.
“About time you notice I was here. Lost in your desperate search for your human?”
“What are you doing here?”
“I came for you.”
“To kill me and bury my body?” She snapped.
“Never. This is for me.”
“Cause you know I’ll kill you if you touch me again?”
“No. Not by your hand. I could never let you suffer having that on your conscious.”
“Your death wouldn’t be something I’d regret.”
“As cold as ever I see.”
“Why are you here?”
“I came to give you a warning. Something I overheard Delanson saying.”
“Visiting Shelby again?”
He went back to digging, eyes focused on the dirt. “You know I have no choice. I would be with you if allowed. You know that.”
“I’ve never wanted to be with you. Now would you please get on with why you’re here?”
“I don’t know what it means, but I know it has to do with you. Something I wasn’t supposed to hear. They’re already hunting me down. I’d rather not go through another torture session with Delanson. He can’t do what you do to me. But his version of torture is weeks long. I won’t go through that again. Especially if it puts you at risk. I’d rather die than put your life in jeopardy.”
“So what’s your plan after you tell me this? Bury yourself alive?”
“No.” He pulled a crystal out of his pocket. Pressed it to his temple. He shut his eyes as the crystal began to glow. His eyes opened when it stopped glowing. “Take this.” He extended the crystal to her. “It’s every memory I have. Keep it. Destroy it. Give it to your father or Nikoli. I don’t care what you do with it. Just don’t let Silas see it. Don’t let Delanson or Fjord see it.”
“Hmph. So you don’t trust him either.”
“Not with anything to do with you.”
“So your going to kill yourself?”
“Obviously.”
“How?”
“You really want to know?”
“I need to know.”
“I’ll slit my throat.”
“No. That won’t work.”
“Of course it will. It’ll kill me.”
“No I mean… it won’t keep them from getting your memories. My family can retrieve memories from the deceased for up the three years after death… unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Your head has to either be cut off… which is why we could never get my mothers memories… or any other major damage to your brain. It has to be where your memories are stored… otherwise my brothers can retrieve them when they find your body.”
“Show me where and I’ll put a dagger there.”
She looked down at the crystal in her hand. He really did care about her wellbeing more than his own life. She actually meant more to him than just a position of power. In his own twisted way, he loved her. She let out a sigh.
“I’ll take care of it for you. I’ll have to bury your body anyways. So tell me this warning and we’ll finish this once and for all.”
“Follow the blood to find your true king. Until you two are reunited, crimson is the only shade you’ll see. On that day, many will finally be free, but that is just the beginning of your war. You can’t run from this, it will always find you. The bodies that fall because of your hand, are those who will oppose our one true queen.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That’s something you’ll have to figure out.” He looked at the hole and jumped in it. “Think this is good enough?”
“It should be fine.”
“Good.”
He sat in the hole, removing his cuff. His tail came back almost instantly. An innocent childlike smile formed on his face as she climbed into the hole to finish him off. The hate in his eyes had finally vanished. This wasn’t the Macsen she had known and hated. His soul was at peace.
She sat in front of him. Straddling his tail. His smile reaching his eyes. She placed the crystal next to his hip in the torn fragments of what used to be trousers. A firm grip on her dagger. Her heart pounded hard in her chest. She looked him in the eye. This was going to be her first kill. She never expected it to be someone she knew.
“Are you ready?”
“I have one last request. One last kiss. Let me die with one moment of bliss.”
“Just one.”
He grabbed the back of her head, assaulting her lips with his. There it was, the same old Macsen. Same aggressive sea scum she’s always known. She pulled away.
“Thank you. Go ahead a drive that dagger into my skull.”
“No. I’m going with the other option. I can’t risk missing.”
She stood up grabbing the shovel off the ground. She pushed him down with her foot. Making sure his head was down.
“Thank you, for giving your life for me.”
“Aquaria. Nothing would give me greater joy than giving my life for you. I lo-”
She drove the shovel hard into his throat. Refusing to let him say that to her again. It didn’t cut his head off. But it had sliced through enough to reach everything except the spine. The light faded from his eyes. Blood spluttering out of his throat. Watching the blood soak the soil. She drove the blade of the shovel into his throat a few more times. Blood splattering her clothes and the dirt. By the fourth time. She finally succeeded. His head was off. She reached down into the bloody mud. Grabbing the crystal as the blood dripped from her fingers. She climbed out of the hole. Her nails digging into the grass. Leaving a crimson trail behind her. Hands trembling as she grabbed a shell and lighter out of her pocket. She pulled a piece of paper out of the shell and lit it on fire. Putting it back in the shell and throwing it into the grave.
A blue ring of fire appeared in the hole as a tall muscular man walked through it. The blood on the paper let him know how urgent his presence was.
“Why in the underworld am I standing on a corpse?!” He shouted to her.
She looked down in the hole. Face covered in blood.
“What happened?”
“He asked me to. I need help making his body unrecoverable.”
“How unrecoverable?”
“My brothers can’t find him.”
“Why?”
“Delanson is searching for him. He wants his memories.”
“Well you severed the head.”
“Yeah. But I don’t want the possibility of them ever finding him. If they find his headless body, they’ll know there is a memory crystal out there, and my location.”
He grabbed the shell and climbed out of the hole. He handed the shell back to her. Taking a black handkerchief from his pocket, handing it to her.
“You’re going to do it. I’ll teach you how.”
“Alright.”
“Why didn’t you get Styx to help you?”
“She doesn’t know… she wouldn’t understand anyways.”
“Trust me. She would. She had me do this exact same thing for her.”
“I’ll talk to her about it later. Now what do we need to do.”
“Place one hand on the ground. Close your eyes and feel the earth. Feel the actual earth not just what’s below your hand. Search for the center.”
She closed her eyes. Searching for the deepest part of the earth. The center of everything. Her eyes opened, glowing gold. He knew this meant she found it.
“Good. Now pull the body to where you are.”
The body began sinking into the bloody soil. Disappearing into the deepest part of the earth. She blinked her eyes and was back. She looked into the grave. The body was gone. Even his torn trousers, blood and shovel were gone. all that remained in the grave was his cuff. She climbed down into the grave grabbing the cuff. She climbed back out. Shoving the bloody cuff and crystal into her coat pocket.
“Thank you. Father wouldn’t understand. He would’ve kept him alive for more intel.”
“Your father doesn’t understand that sometimes, it’s best to just end a life.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Want to explain the crystal?”
“It’s his memories. That’s all I know. He told me to give it to my father.”
“Are you going to?”
“Eventually. I don’t see a point right now.”
“I’m surprised this saddens you.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Then explain your hair.”
“Oh. That’s something different. I’m just really missing Kelley right now.” She looked over her shoulder at the water, letting out a deep sigh. “I was watching the ships coming in when Macsen got here. I was hoping his ship would come to port today. Once again. I was wrong.”
“Well my dear, I will unfortunately be of no help for you with those matters. I deal in the matters of death.”
“Which is exactly why I asked for your help with this situation.”
“I’ll walk you back. It feels like it’s been ages since I’ve seen Styx.”
“You saw her last month.” She laughed as they began walking back.
“I’m still not a fan of her being in hiding. She has no need for it. We’re the only ones who even remember her existence.”
“That’s true. But she enjoys a peaceful home life.”
“Styx was always a little different than the rest of us.”
“You know she hates you calling her that.”
“Why do you think I do it?”
His sly grin and wiggling of his eyebrows filled her with a laugh no one had heard from her since before Kelley left. He knew all the best ways to cheer her up.