Conviction's King | Damian Book 1

Chapter 42

Her hands shake as she manages to shut her eyes, focusing as her cyan glow begins to shift around her skin. Bubbles slowly appear around her as her transformation takes place, her legs elongating. She lets out a cry as she splashes face-first into the water, and I hide a laugh, pulling Cressa-la's mother deeper into the waves as her gills gently filter oxygen from the liquid. Cressa-la comes back up, gasping from shock, and she looks back at herself.

"I'm a fish," she gapes, her eyes wide as she looks up at me. "You happy now?"

"Of course," I grin, walking toward her and pushing her mother out for her to take. "Hold on to her while I change, too. We don't want to lose her in the current."

She frowns but doesn't protest as she takes her mother's hand, pushing herself further into the water, her mother floating close behind. I close my eyes and focus, letting the changes wash over me. Cressa-la is before me as she dips beneath the surface, watching as I sink below, tucking my tail to my chest to let my gills open. She watches me with narrowed eyes, holding her mother at her waist.

'You're right,' she says. 'We do have the exact same tail.'

I shrug, taking her mother from her and carrying her like a child. She's much lighter in the water. 'I told you.'

She follows me out to Sivoli, where Tamir's parents are, and we take a break. She's way winded.

'I'm going to have abs by the end of the day,' she huffs, leaning against the rocks she sits before, placing her hands above her head and pulling her hair up out of the way of her gills. 'Why do we have hair where our gills are?' She complains. 'I keep sucking some in.'

'Flaw in our design,' I shrug, sitting down beside her, her mother. 'But then again, you could always cut it.'

'Yeah, right,' she says with a slight roll of her eyes. 'No thanks.'

'Then don't complain about it,' I say with a shrug. Our eyes drift down to her unconscious mother laying across the both of our laps, a faint twinge of sadness slipping off of Cressa-la.

'Why hasn't she woken up?' She asks quietly, unable to whisper under the water. 'It feels like it's been too long already.'

I say nothing as I shift out from under her mother and push upward, treading lightly as I bend down to pick her up, Cressa-la watching me with doe-eyes. I can feel my heart squeeze under those eyes... but I clear my throat to shake it off.

'Let's go,' I instruct, turning to pass around the edge of Sivoli to get to Murlan. With a shaky sigh, she pushes off too and follows behind me. The way she wrings her hands, I can tell she's nervous about meeting her father. The first time she'd met him, it hadn't gone over too well. I'd actually been there and had to fight Cressa-la's brothers alongside her to prove to her father she was worth loving.

Harsh family.

The last time I was with her and her father, he elongated the span of time she had before the anti magic within killed her. She was so cold, so weak and fragile...

I steal a glance back at her worried face.

Her father hated her because it was originally thought that his wife died giving birth to Cressa-la. It wasn't until Morgiana reared her ugly head and began separating Cressa-la from her island that she revealed the truth: Cressa-la's mother was alive. She was going to be used as a vessel for Morgiana's dead twin sister's spirit, but Morgiana grew greedy and thought Dametria would be better suited to physically hold and meet the energy levels such a powerful One-Hundred's spirit. Cressa-la had mentioned in my previous timeline that it wasn't until Morgiana had pretended to be Cressa-la's mother that her dad had accepted her.

So maybe... just maybe, she can be the bridge to repairing their relationship.

Murlan seems to appear out of nowhere, Cressa-la keeping her complaints to herself as I burden myself with the past.

The past that no longer exists.

I grit my teeth as we hesitate outside the borders. Flatfins will be swarming the streets and, thankfully, not looking for illegal crossings. No one ever wants to cross into Murlan to stay. It's the strictest and most violent city under the water. However, the crime rate is the lowest, and the wages are the highest. Employment rates are at skyrocketing levels, and that's how it's always been. Murlan, although violent, focuses on balance between everything important, and they've found rules that work for them. Of course, they have their own problems, as every city does, but Murlan does it the best.

Even if the King doesn't rule it the best.

'Want to know about your father?' I ask Cressa-la, feeling a bit of angst beneath my skin. 'He's completely for the law of killing human babies. He wishes every human would be decimated once they breathe their first breath. He rules with an iron fist, but makes no attempts to change the laws already in place because it's what got this place to being the number one city on Earth. He's easily perturbed and he's intimidating.'

Cressa-la looks at me, her eyes filled with crackling nervousness.

'But,' I continue, looking into the city. 'When your mother was alive, everything was different. Or that's what I was told. The cities are run by the Queens, not the Kings. The Kings are just the face of the city, tending to minor needs of the people and to minor necessities in the city. The Queens take care of the bigger pictures. They decide the laws, they take care of their people, they are the ones calling all the shots behind the scenes. Some Queens rely on nothing but themselves, while others find help in their Kings. Hence the reason why most of the time merpeople are referred to as 'mermaids', rather than 'mermen' or 'merkind' like humans are. It's because the Queens take on the brunt of society. The Kings are there for whatever else the Queens need, whether it's love, support, assistance in running the city...' I trail off, shaking my head as I look down at Cressa-la's mother and back to her. 'I was told your parents were very much in love. They had the most balanced relationship, taking on the city together with their laws nd rules and regulations. Under them, the Murlan Clan thrived. And when your mom died... you dad had a falling out.' I hesitate. 'Kamier-na is just one result of his downward spiral without her. He's become callous and closed off. However, in remembrance of your mom, he hasn't touched a single law they'd made together.'

Cressa-la nods her head slowly, processing the information. A strange emotions surges within me and I swallow to keep it down, shifting Cressa-la's mom in my arms.

'So he's complicated,' she breathes. 'Maybe bringing my mother back to him will help him, then.'

I nod, letting it be my answer. 'And maybe he'll finally accept you.'