Kalina has light brown hair and a soft green and purpletail with large green eyes. Whilst Maerina’s tail has the lightest shade of shimmering blue, which matches her pale eyes, and she has long blond hair.
“Finally, you are where you deserve to be,” Maerina says, looking at me with smug satisfaction.
She’s the older of the two. At nineteen, she’s two years younger than me, and Kalina is eighteen.
“Yet, you missed me so much you came all the way down here,” I counter, unfazed.
Kalina scoffs. “Don’t be so cocky. We both know that you screamed and begged not to be brought down here. I hope they’re treating you exactly the way you deserve to be treated.” She looks at me with scorn.
“The same way your mother was treated.” Maerina laughs, and anger sears through me. I see Kai move out of the shadows from behind them, but I give him the slightest shake of my head, and he sinks back into the shadows.
My eyes burn with rage, and I pull at my suppressed power, allowing it to swirl around my fingers, and the water ripples.
They both move back. “You’ve been injected, how are you using your powers?!” Kalina snarls.
“Be careful what you say, unless you want to find out exactly what I can do,” I hiss. I’m not sure how much I can muster, but they don’t know that.
Maerina tilts her head. “Well, if Father doesn’t end you, I will. Soon, I will marry High Lord Vaan.”
My heart skips a beat.
“The ice fae?” How is that possible? The ice fae are the most brutal of the fae-kind, and they are rarely seen. They keep tothemselves… “How could Father agree? Does that mean he is ready to step onto land?”
“Times are changing, what did you expect? That we’ll have to remain in the ocean forever? If you were patient, evenyoucould have gone to land,” Kalina adds. “Maerina will become Queen of the Ocean and the Lands.”
“But Maerina, the ice fae are nothing short of monsters-”
“Are you telling me who is a monster?! Don’t think Mother didn’t tell us that you were whoring around with a sky siren! They are the worst!” she shrieks.
I smile. “Then do as you wish. Marry him, Maerina, but you are idiots if you think you’ll be treated well, He only needs you…” I trail off, a sudden thought popping into my head.
“What, a piranha got your tongue?” Kalina sneers, her face not so beautiful as it distorts completely. Beauty really is skin-deep when it comes to these two.
I ignore them, just wanting them gone so I can talk to Kai. They throw a few more insults my way, and I simply go and sit down on the rocky floor, refusing to entertain them any longer.
“Let’s go. I hope she’s beaten to death,” Maerina says.
“I know, I thought I saw the last of her,” Kalina agrees with a sneer. I look over my shoulder at them, my hair floating around me. This may be the last time I ever see them. It might be my only chance to ask them.
“I do have one question for you both. What did I ever do that made you hate me so much?” I ask quietly, remembering when we used to play together as children until their mother refused to let me be around them.
“You were born,” Maerina says.
I nod, wishing they had an actual reason. It would hurt less. “You all know about my curse?”
“Of course,” Kalina says arrogantly.
“Well, did you know that if I’m killed, that the curse transfers to the closest of my kin, which would be one of you two. So be careful what you wish for, dear sisters,” I say with a poisonous smile, satisfied when their smiles vanish.
“You’re lying!” Kalina screams, her eyes full of anger.
“Am I? Go ask Father.”
“Come on, Kalina, being around Siralaine is bad luck in itself. I’m getting married. I don’t need her shadow upon me.”
“She can’t bring you bad luck, you are the most beautiful sea siren,” Kalina adds before they both swim away.
I sigh softly as Kai emerges from the dark, his eyes glimmering with anger.
