Legendary Love

Wave 7

After days of travelling, I could finally see the Kingdom from afar. It was like Cadfael said, there was really no forest protecting it. No matter what he said, I couldn't calm my nerves. How could they survive against predators or worse the humans?

As we approached, I could see a gate surrounding the whole Kingdom. Behind it, there were guards. They seemed heavily weighted in weapons.

"Halt!" one of them shouted and we stopped. "Identify yourselves!"

"My name is Cadfael, First Prince of the Second Sea! I came back with my mate!" his voice boomed through the ocean. "Open the gates!"

After hearing merpeople shouting and ordering others around, the gate opened and the seahorses advanced. Now closer to the gates, a guard came to the prince to apology because they couldn't identify him from that far. Cadfael only smiled and told them to follow the protocol no matter what which I suppose was what they did.

Before going any further into the Kingdom, we unmounted the seahorses.

"Before going to the castle let me show you around my city," he smiled and gently grabbed my hand before starting to swim.

I looked around mesmerized as I blindly followed him. It was so different yet so similar to my home. The streets were lively and without a seaweed forest surrounding it, the Kingdom seemed more vast and enlightened by the sun.

When merpeople recognized the prince, they bowed as we passed. I blushed and looked down since they were all looking at me. From the corner of my eyes, I could see them whispering and nodding before swimming away.

What were they talking about? I looked at myself and saw nothing abnormal. My tail was still shiny and I didn't have a starfish sticking on it.

When we stopped, I realized the I didn't listen to Cadfael talk during the tour. Now, we were in front of the castle. I looked up and saw guards swimming around and other standing in front of the doors. As we approached, they stepped aside and let us in. The interior of the castle was even more spectacular. I had never been inside one and it was so spacious and beautiful. The entrance was a long hallway decorated with glowing orbs and statues in armours. Beside each one of them, there were paintings of men.

"They are all my ancestors, all the previous Kings," explained Cadfael as he saw me looking at almost each one of them and as we were swimming in front of the last one, "And this is my father, the present King."

I looked at the painting and saw a few resemblances, but if he didn't tell me, I wouldn't have known. Every King here were men and some paintings were so well made that they looked almost alive. I wouldn't like being here at night, I was going to find myself thinking that they were actual merpeople and have a heart attack.

"Come, I'll present you to the King and Queen," he smiled and I followed him.

He was going to present me to the King and Queen right now?! Oh, Gods, I wasn't ready! What if they thought I wasn't enough, or worse! They could kick me out of their Kingdom! Oh please, everything but not that. I didn't want to be all alone in the middle of unknown waters where predators could attack at any moments. We soon arrived in front of huge closed doors. I gulped as I looked at it. It made me feel so small and powerless.

"Don't worry, everything will turn out well. I know you're nervous so let me do the talking and answer when they ask you a question okay?" he explained, but I was so nervous that I looked at him stupidly. I was surely making a weird face because he chuckled and out of sudden, he kissed me. I tensed immediately, and my heartbeat went even faster, but for a different reason.

"W-why?" I stuttered after we broke the kiss.

"Because you were so cute and to wish you luck. Don't worry, my parents won't throw you out or anything. Be yourself and everything will be alright."

I nodded and reluctantly touched his hand with mine. He looked down at what touched him and when he saw my hand his eyes softened and took mine in his. He brought it in front of my lips and gently put a feather kiss on my hand. I took a deep breath and nodded again. With one strong push, Cadfael opened the doors and we slowly swam in. There were huge windows surrounding the room and glowing orbs near the ceiling. On the opposite wall of the door, there were two thrones. One was bigger than the other and so was the merman sitting on it. Next, to the King, there was a more delicate and gorgeous looking mermaid, the Queen. Now close enough, we bowed and then stood straight when the King told us it was okay. Even though, I still didn't dare to look at the man in the eyes.

"My King and Queen, I, Cadfael, the First Prince of the Second Sea came back from my journey. As promised by the matchmaker, I found my mate whose name is Llyr in the Fourth Sea."

"Look at me, Llyr," ordered the King as my breathing hitched. I took a few deep breaths and forced myself to look at the man. We stayed like that for Gods knew how long. His Highness didn't move an inch nor said a word and yet, here I was a nervous ball of nerves hoping this would end soon. Suddenly, the King laughed loudly making me jump and look at everyone in the room with confusing eyes. "I'm pleased to finally meet you. We will have plenty of time to get acquainted with each other. For now, I welcome you with open arms," smiled the King.

When I looked next to him, the Queen seemed pleased to and only nodded to me. I nodded back and she warmly smiled. Looking closer, I could see where Cadfael took all his traits. He was almost the spitting image of her mother. She was a mix of everything, beautiful, delicate, yet her eyes were strong and determined.

I glanced at Cadfael and saw the resemblance, but even though he tried to look cheery and was smiling, his eyes and stance showed the opposite.