The Mermaid That's Sweetest

32] A Dawn to Cry

32] A Dawn to Cry

Eros' POV

Lily dearest is sleeping. And I... I hold my pendants in my palm. Very special, powerful little heirlooms. To communicate to the dead. Drift Pendants from my family.

It was time to harness their call. I could not wait any longer.

"Diana," I whisper, cutting my palm with my sharpest, thickest fang, bleeding into the wood before dropping the two pendants in the water of the rock pool.

I watch as the pendants float, encased in my black-red blood, ever so slowly sinking to the sandy bottom.

I lay my head back. And I float up and out of my body.

I can't tell when the transition begins and ends, so I am not entirely sure of the fact I am now dreaming.

I stand beside the rock pool and the whole entirety of the Ruins remain as dank as they are dark and full of shadows. The shadows themselves move and the wind sings with beauty and spirits.

And then... I see a perfect replication, of my memory, she steps from the shadows, forming, into beauty incarnate.

My mother, Diana, of inky back hair and ocean bluest eyes.

She steps forward and stands tall before me, calm and focused on I.

"Eros," she nods at me, "You called on me."

She is so calm.

I open my mouth, then lick my lips. I did not want to disgrace myself in front of her and cry like a babe. My throat closes off and I retain strength and honour. I straighten my back, and I force my voice to speak loudly and with strength of character.

"Mother? I ask of you. Who killed you, was it Aegir –?"

"No, Eros, it was someone much stronger..." Diana now stares at Lily's sleeping form, my mother slowly tilting her head, a habit I acquired through blood, "...someone much more rare destroyed our entire Clan..."

"Tell me, please, I will avenge you. Mother," I beg with a snarl, it's out of my control. I am desperate for the answer.

"You cannot, Eros," Diana shakes her head, "I instigated the need for retribution. You know the treachery our kind delve into... the kind of games we play... yet, I can see in your eyes it is all you wish to know," I nod, and Diana slowly shakes her head at me, "Fool you are. Though, I will tell you, if it helps you rest," Diana looks back at Lily, her eyes glazed over, "The practice of producing Darvs has come and gone through centuries on this island. Sometimes a popular choice but with some generations... it is completely avoided. Regardless, Queen Fantasia and I were not on good terms and when I found she was having an affair with a mortal pirate, and once I knew she was pregnant with seven young. Well, I thought it quite funny," Diana stares at me now, without a smile, "It is forbidden for their kind to willingly mate with a mortal, to willingly create the creatures they call Darvs. Fantasia herself wasn't prone to order because she was the daughter of a Mermaid and an Erebos. Your sweet Queen, Lily, has our kind's blood, though it is small... so do all the young Darvs in our Castle at this very moment. Hold them close in your palm. Eros. To keep power. Keep the Darvs. Keep them."

"The story, please, finish it..." I whisper, hoping for a name. One name. To hunt down and kill.

"Let me sing it, then, before my time is done here," Diana blinks a single misty tear from her eye, looking up at the Ruin ceiling, she breathes deep, her voice on the edge of tears. And then she finally finds her song, and she tells me her story, "...a warrior rivalled by none... swimming with Orca but fighting by one... Fantasia was fierce... she was sweet to the Coral and cold to our song... Erebos were beneath her... though she was half a bloody one... I exposed her crime... it made me sigh... she lost her throne, her babes, her mind... an eye for an eye..." Diana finally glances at me, one last time.