The Little Water Elf

16- Three Days

「 Very soon it was said
that the prince must marry,
and that the beautiful daughter of a
neighboring king would be his wife,
for a fine ship was being fitted out 」

Rayla found that her encounter with Tinker left her in an void of emptiness and regret. She ended up sleeping far into the day, and missing both breakfast and lunch.

Claudia came in to check on her around late-morning, confused as to why she hadn't come out of her room as of yet. She was usually one of the first up.

Rayla realized how devoid of emotion she must've looked. She'd tried her hardest not to cry after returning to her room, and succeeded. But at the moment she was numb. The pain that slowly tugged at her body was suddenly oh so obvious.

Claudia must've told her father at some point, because a few hours later there was a knock at her door, with the dark mage's familiar voice calling to her. It occurred to her then that she hadn't yet risen from bed, and her arms and legs were no doubt beginning to have scales cover them.

She needed to rise, and use Viren's potion.

The mage opened her door, closing it quietly behind him.

Rayla regretfully pulled herself up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and wincing as they touched the cold floor. That was strange, she didn't remember her scales ever being red before.

She moved to stand, letting out a silent cry of pain when she felt the skin on the soles of her feet split and crack. Rayla fell, feeling Viren's hand on her shoulders as he attempted to steady her.

"What are you doing? Why haven't you used to potion yet?"

Rayla remained silent.

"Stupid elf," he mumbled, forcing her back into her bed and fumbling in his robes for something. His hand emerged with a vile of a shimmery powder, which he opened and poured into the air over her legs. The pain seemed to dull slightly. "There, that should allow you to make it to the bathroom and tub. Now use the potion, please don't forget to do so in the future."

Rayla nodded, standing and carefully making her way across the room.

She didn't even notice the small trail of blood swiftly being whisked away by the same powder Viren had used to numb her pain.

•  •  •

It was definitely glowing more brightly than before.

That was something Viren was certain of.

It seemed that his magic was working faster than he'd expected, and if his predictions were correct, there should be enough magic stored up by the end of the week.

Saturday he would begin his plan, then. Three days more of pretending. After all, he had two ocean elves now. That was more than enough magic to last him — well, if he used it sparingly, he could see that kind of magic lasting over a decade.

The spells he'd been using with the elder elf weren't nearly as wasteful as the ones he'd used on the mermaid. After all, he didn't need to pretend he was helping the elf in his hidden dungeon. He just needed to keep him well enough to never be in danger of death.

If only the stupid merman would tell him what he needed to know, then he would be able to steal his voice, take every bit of his magic, and be done with it.

Stealing the magic from the voice of a siren was much more... complicated. The process being even worse considering the fact that the damn elf refused to even speak to him. He'd learned after what had happened during his first few nights in that cell — try to sing, and his magic would only be further drained.

The glow in the middle of his chamber heightened, and the sound of Rayla's voice grew, this time to song being nothing but simple, mumbling humming from when the elf was no doubt singing to herself.

It was interesting, having everything the elf had ever said right in the clutches of his hands, he somewhat wished he had control over what the voice did, that he could go back and listen to each conversation and pick out the pieces that were important. But no, if it were that easy he could've just stolen the merman's voice as well and been done with it.

He'd noticed that every time the voice's glow brightened was when more of Rayla's magic returned to it. He'd seen what it did to the ocean elf, but as long as she remained blissfully oblivious to what was happening to her it would be perfectly fine.

He went back to look at the spellbook that lay open on his desk, flipping through page after page. Claudia had been telling him how close the prince and elf had been getting, gossiping about how she suspected Callum had a small crush on her.

There were only three days left until he'd be able to cast the simple spell that would change everything.

It was common knowledge to him about Callum's old crush on Claudia, though he wasn't quite sure if those feelings still remained. Either way, it was always simple to bring up the memory of feelings rather than create what never existed in the first place.

Rayla had three more days to get the prince to kiss her. Three days that would turn into fruitless attempts to create a connection that no longer existed.

Viren exited his lair, making his way down the empty hallways and silent corridors. The princes shared a pair of connecting chambers, ones that were located on the near end of the castle.

He mumbled a simple spell of silence under his breath as he entered Callum's room, before chanting an incantation under his breath. This one was similar to the spell that took Rayla's voice, only much more complex and advanced.

The small, glowing light that made his way into his palm kept flashing scene after scene of a single elven girl.

Viren clutched the feeling of love tightly in his hand, exiting the bedroom as he slipped the love into his pocket.

There was no way Rayla would get her kiss now.

The brewing love potion in his chamber made sure of it.