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myloversthesunrise · 1 year

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the starless mermaid [i]

FAR out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower, and as clear as crystal, it is very, very deep; so deep, indeed, that no cable could fathom it: many church steeples, piled one upon another, would not reach from the ground beneath to the surface of the water above. There dwell the Sea King and his subjects.

AO3

Author's Note: helloo this is my attempt of rewriting ACOTAR with my OC insert, and this is set before the ACOTAR book. if you read my previous series, this is a rewritten version of it and the past version will be discontinued. i hope you'll enjoy it and thank you for sticking by me!

trigger warnings: kidnapping, death by decapitation

Mothers are always right, they say.

Lin supposed it extended to grandmothers and other maternal roles too, though she would rather choke on a Mala soup than admit it out loud to her grandmother.

It was ridiculous how Lin was proven to be wrong during the first and only time she stood up to her grandmother’s words.

Everyone in the village hadn’t called her Scaredy Lin for no reason. Her friends had always rolled their eyes every time Lin meekly denied their invitations to stay out late or sneak away while every parent and elderly gushed at her obedience.

But deep down inside, Lin wished she would have more time with her friends. Sometimes she could hear their laughter as they passed by her cottage and stalked deep into the woods that lie nearby. She knew Ah Ma noticed her longing stares, but her grandmother did nothing but nudge her softly to remind her of the current task at hand.

“The woods aren’t safe after dark,” she chided gently. “You’ll understand one day.”

Her small village was deep in the mountain and surrounded by forests. Some say faeries still remain within the woods, some say ancient magic lurks in there, a trouble waiting to be discovered. Lin had preferred the more rational reasonings of wild animals that roam freely in the woods.

But her friends had never been in any danger. The next day, she would see them in perfect condition—not a single hair missing from their head nor even a scratch on their skin.

So why was she not allowed to go?

The wagon—she had assumed she was on one—rode over a large rock and shook violently, causing her to bounce and hit her head against the chest she was locked in.

It must’ve been hours, she winced internally.

How far is she going?

The darkness and the constant swaying of the wagon had brought motion sickness upon her stomach, and as more minutes passed by, Lin could feel herself getting more and more nauseous. Her hands began to clam up and her body began to sweat profusely. She had to do everything in her power not to throw up inside the damn chest and lie upon her own puke.

Lin clenched her hands into fists and dug her nails deep into her palm. Her mind traveled back into her memory where she had left off before the damn rock interrupted her.

That afternoon, Ah Ma gave her a break from helping at the clinic and Lin didn’t waste the rare chance she had to spend some time with her friends.

Charlotte—daughter of their village headman—had invited Lin to a small gathering she would be having in the forest. Lin had a feeling the invitation would not be extended to her had she wasn’t there to have lunch with them. All the invitations and solicitation for her had died out after they realized it would be easier to fight a bear barehanded rather than have Ruo Lan allow Lin to go out after dark.

Lin’s shoulders fell in disappointment and she tried to mask her sadness with a grin—although she was sure it came out more as a grimace. “I’ll try to ask my grandmother later.”

Lin appreciated how everybody nodded and played along even though they already knew the answer.

A warm hand placed itself upon hers, and Lin’s dark brown eyes met Akane’s.

Akane. Beautiful, graceful, Akane. A few years older than her. Skin as lustrous as a pearl. Soft brown hair that stopped below her ears. A smile that could melt anyone into her will.

They both have dark brown eyes, yet Akane’s eyes always shone with warmth like sunshine on a winter afternoon, unlike Lin’s dark brown eyes which were a few shades too dark and always made people feel like she had been glaring at them.

If people in the village adored Lin as a daughter, they had adored Akane as a beauty.

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” Akane gently reminded her. “But we would greatly appreciate having you there.”

Her stunning brown eyes stared into Lin’s dark ones and she immediately lost her words.

“Plus,” she continued with a mischiveous grin. “It’d be more fun to have you there.”

Akane’s pretty brown eyes twinkled with mischief—like she knew something Lin didn’t—and her smile was so pretty that Lin held back her breath.

That was all that it took for Lin to agree.

She did not bother to ask Ah Ma for a permission—she had already known the answer.

After her grandmother went inside her room, Lin waited for an hour and a half until she no longer heard any movement inside. She snuck out through their back door—right by the kitchen—and walked down a small path that leads into the woods.

The old, rickety cottage was the furthest one from their village, so it did not take her long to finally enter the woods, only accompanied by a small kerosene lantern that she had hidden behind their cottage beforehand.

There was a well by the forest, only a few meters into it. It had been here before the village was built yet villagers have never used it.

Faerie-made, they said. Nothing good comes out of it.

She did not think how strange it was for Akane not to be there even though Lin was late into their meeting. Lin had not paid attention how quiet the forest was that night, no crickets nor any other animals made their sound. All the thoughts inside her head was filled with “What ifs” and the nerves of her body was filled with the excitement of sneaking out of her curfew for the first time in her life.

The young woman heard was a snap of a twig before her head was hit by a blunt force and darkness clouded her vision.

And then she woke up tied inside an empty chest.

Waking up without being able to see anything and tied up with her body tucked into a fetal position had sent Lin into a crying, sobbing, hysterical fit. Only after choking on her own saliva, Lin had realized that it would be better for her health and respiratory system to stay calm and distract herself.

Lin tried to think of things that would calm her down, and her mind instantly drifted to her grandmother.

Of all the times in my life to get kidnapped, Lin cursed in her head. It just had to be for the first time I snuck out.

She would never hear the end of this from Ah Ma.

Ruo Lan was a stern woman. She was strict with her rules and cheap with her praises. Despite never raising a hand towards Lin, she had always obeyed her words and sought her approval and kind words so desperately.

Her grandmother had always done all the heavy lifting in their cottage and only let Lin start helping her when she was thirteen, yet Lin couldn’t help but worry for her grandmother who would sleep by the fireside when the night gets a bit colder and winced every time she stood up after sitting down for a long time.

Will she be alright? Lin’s train of thought continued as she bit her lip in worry. Who will help her and grab things from upstairs if she needed them? Who would help Ah Ma prepare for dinner?

Lin had worked herself up into another panic and quickly felt her stomach churn. She dug her nails deeper into her palm and chewed the inside of her bottom lip until she could taste a tang of blood inside her mouth, hoping the pain would stop her from throwing up.

Where are they taking her? What was her captor like? Would she be able to fight them off?

Lin had planned on what would happen. The wagon stops, her captor let her out and Lin kicks them in their crotch before running away.

Assuming that she could aim with her blindfold on.

But despite all of her thoughts and attempts to distract herself, there was one question that won’t stop running inside her head.

Why would someone kidnap a nobody like her? And who would do such a thing?

Her village was one of the smalles ones in the kingdom. To fastest road to Lin’s village from the nearby town is to pass through the forest that surrounds the entire village, filled with urban legends of monsters, ancient magic, and faerie horror. The journey alone takes three days through the unpaved road, and if they survive the mythical dangers of the forest, there was still the matter of wild animals and bandits.

The gears inside her head were working hard to the point Lin did not realize the wagon had already stopped until a few minutes later.

Fear and panic shot right through her. Lin tensed up her entire body and memorized her initial plan (kick them in the crotch then run) and waited for further movement.

The chest she was in was quite thick and well-proofed, Lin could barely hear anything but whispering and mumblings from outside. Not a moment later, a low creaking sound was heard, and Lin could feel people walking around the wagon and beginning to lift the weights inside it—judging by the swaying of it.

It went on for at least thirty minutes before the movements stopped and someone jumped off the wagon. The creaking sound went back—a sign that whoever it was had locked the wagon and climbed up the coachman seat before Lin could feel a hard jolt as the carriage began to move once more.

With her tied fists, Lin began to loudly hit on the chest she was trapped in. Her mouth was gagged but it didn’t stop her from attempting to scream or let out any noise to be heard. Using her tied legs, she stomped and kicked as hard as she could while regretting how she had frozen earlier when someone was on the wagon.

A few minutes later, the wagon stopped and Lin went still for a moment before she began to kick harder and scream louder through her gag. Her heart beat faster than a running stallion and she could’ve sworn it would jump out any moment from now.

She felt the wagon shift and realized that the coachman had left the carriage. The young woman stilled and strained her ears, and just as she had predicted, she could hear slow murmurs of a conversation.

Lin tried harder to listen to what they were saying, but before she could catch any words, the familiar creak had been heard once more and the wagon shifted.

A click-clack sound was heard from inside the chest, and Lin knew her captor was unlocking her chest.

She didn’t know that her heart could beat faster than it already did, but it could. Her palms were sweaty and she could feel it trembling in anxiety.

The chest opened with a loud creak, and fresh cold air brushed Lin in her face.

Before she could kick any crotches, her captor lifted her up by her upper arm and dragged her down the cart. Her eyes darted around in panic as she tried to take in her views the best she could.

Trees. Mountain air. No settlements or cabins or houses in sight at all.

She’s deep in the forest. But which forest?

Right at the edge of the wagon, her captor threw her onto the ground and Lin winced behind her gag.

Not wanting to lose momentum, she quickly got up on her knees and took a good look at her kidnapper.

Well.

Kidnappers.

Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of them both, her ‘captor’ was busy tidying up the cart while the ‘accomplice’—she assumed—was studying her intensely.

The moonlight broke through the tree canopies, shining its glow upon them. Not bright enough to allow Lin to see their faces clearly, but enough to see a pig’s tail growing out of one of their butt.

Lin could’ve sworn she forgot to breathe as her captor turned around and showed off his flat, pig snout to her.

Her head snapped to the accomplice that was still staring at her with his dark eyes, and her eyes finally adjusted enough to the dim lighting to see two pointy ears underneath his curls.

Faeries, she realized in horror. Worse. High Fae.

With wide eyes, she had scrambled back and away using her butt and her tied ankles, completely forgetting her original plans of crotch-kicking and opted to run away.

“Shut up ye’ wench,” a gruff voice snorted.

Lin hadn’t even realized she was screeching in terror until the Piggy Fae snapped at her. Her eyes met his and she began to wiggle away even faster.

“Ge’ back ‘ere!” the piglet cursed at her while pointing his finger as if scolding a naughty puppy.

Her face was wet, and without realizing it, Lin was crying.

What were they going to do to her? Torture her? Eat her? Or… worse?

His accomplice finally straightened up from where he casually stood against a tree with his arms folded on his chest—and began walking towards her.

Her silent cries had turned into loud sobbing and whimpering as he eventually grew closer and grabbed Lin by her upper arm—like her captor had done—and dragged her back to the clearing where they were from.

“Well, she’s in one piece, jus’ as promised.” The piglet explained while gesturing his hands towards Lin. “Wan’ tha’ other half of the paym’n nau.”

So the Piggy faerie was the accomplice and the High Fae is the captor?

Once the High Fae finished dragging Lin back to where they were, he turned his back from Lin.

“Of course,” he answered. His voice was smooth and clear, said with complete certainty. His back covered Lin’s peripheral vision of their interaction.

Lin saw him pulling out a sword and slashed the air with a disgusting schnick.

There was a short moment of silence, before a loud thud was heard.

Her dark eyes darted to the space between the High Faerie’s leg—where she saw the piglet’s head rolling around the ground like a dice on a gambling table before stopping right by his feet.

His eyes were wide open—and they were staring at Lin.

If Lin did not scream earlier, she definitely screamed now.

Her breath was shaking and her entire body was trembling from fear but unlike earlier, the young woman had frozen in place. It was like the sight of a headless body had taken away all of her will to fight.

Lin knew how pathetic she looked right there. Tears were running down her eyes and snot ran down her nose. She whimpering and sobbing like a child—but she couldn’t find herself to stop. Her heart was ready to jump out of her chest any time then and Lin was expecting herself to pass out from the unreleased adrenaline running through her—if that’s even possible.

The High Faerie put back his sword to his sheath and turned around to face Lin with an exasperated sigh.

“Please do not make my job any harder than it already is,” he complained as he walked past Lin to the tree where he had stood by earlier.

Lin silently watched as he grabbed a shovel that was leaning on the tree and began to walk around while stomping his feet. Once he deemed the ground was good enough for a grave, he started digging wordlessly.

The repeated and continuous movement he was doing somehow calmed her down, and her sobbing had stopped. Her breathing went back to normal and her head had cleared up.

If Lin’s change from sobbing into utter silence surprised him, the High Fae did not show it.

He didn’t even acknowledge her existence other his earlier remark.

Lin sat as still as a rock. She calmed her breathing and wiped away her snot and tears with her sleeves.

Slowly and steadily, her hands reached down to the binding that tied her ankles together.

Her eyes were trained on the High Fae, not daring to look away from him just for one moment. A part of her said that it was to keep her eyes on the enemy, but she knew that she couldn’t trust herself to not glance at the decapitated head and start having another fit.

He continued digging the grave—gods knew how many hours he would have to do so—with his back facing her.

The High Fae was wearing an armor, she noticed. Black. Nothing bulky, slim yet sturdy. A guard on duty, perhaps? Or an assassin?

Chill ran through Lin’s bone at the thought and she made a harder attempt of unknotting the ties, but it was hard to do so while keeping her eyes on the enemy.

No. Not an assassin, Lin thought.

An assassin would’ve killed her without bothering to kidnap her first.

The fae in front of her thrusted his shovel to the ground and straightened his back for a moment—causing Lin to froze from his sudden change of movement. She held her breath, hoping that he wouldn’t even remember her existence.

He took a deep, exhausted sigh before wiping the swear off his eyebrows. Without any moment longer, the High Fae grabbed his shovel back from where it stood and continued his job.

Lin waited for a few moments—to make sure that he was truly immersed by his duty—before taking her eyes off him for a second to glance at the knot on her ankles and finish unraveling it.

But that second was all it took.

By the time Lin had looked up, the half-dug grave in front of her was empty.

Her heart had dropped to her stomach, and before she could look around, a blunt force hit the back of her head and knocked her unconscious.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The young woman was peacefully knocked out and curled up by her fireplace.

Her long black hair lied unraveled around her, reminding the faerie of a fair maiden in fairytales. Her cheeks were plump and her lips were small—but not thin—giving her a doll-like appearance.

Unlike her own, her ears were rounded. A human one.

The red-headed faerie noticed a small beauty mark above the right side of her lips.

The same one that Clythia had.

Amarantha jerked back from her niece, where she had knelt by the fireside and studied her niece like a bug under the magnifying glass.

The rumors were true, it seemed. Clythia’s daughter was indeed alive.

At first, Amarantha paid no attention to it. She had heard stories of survivors from Clythia’s entourage, but she had passed it off as lower servants and lesser Faeries. Until a new whisper began to flew from the Mortal Lands, of a black-haired girl with an uncanny resemblance to her late sister.

Still, the Lady Under the Mountain paid no attention to it, even though it nagged at the back of her mind. She had a court to run after all.

Yet, the whisper grew stronger and the story had spread. The young girl lived with her grandmother, a healer with mutilated ears and a scar across her right eye.

That was the moment her blood turned to ice and her fear took over her mind.

Amarantha immediately commanded her right hand to fetch the girl to her. Initially, she wanted to command Rhysand to make it a quick and swift mission, but if it were true that she was Clythia’s daughter…

No. She couldn’t risk her safety nor let Rhysand have a leverage over her. Clythia had died for her baby and Amarantha would not let everything Clythia had fought so hard for to waste.

It took them a week to fetch her—would’ve took Rhysand three days but beggars can’t be choosers, she supposed—and now the young woman was currently sleeping through Amarantha’s crisis.

Her curiosity took over and the High Faerie leaned forward once more to study her niece.

Amarantha noticed her round cheeks—flecked with old acne scars—and her smooth palm. The young girl’s chest rose up and down in steady beats. Her lips were slightly agape and her beauty mark above her lips had reminded her of her sister once more.

But this girl was not her sister.

Her sister would’ve realized she was being watched. She was strong and fierce and none of the softness her ‘daughter’ was.

The sight of her niece’s calm breathing and obliviousness towards what was happening around her angered redheaded faerie.

Her manicured hand grabbed the wine glass by the table and splashed it to the young woman’s face, causing her to wake up with a gasp.

“Wake up, you fool.” Amarantha sneered in anger.

No. She was not Clythia. Clythia would never sleep so easily in front of the enemy, nor would be so unprepared.

The young woman sat up. Her breathing was heavy and uneven and Amarantha could distinctly hear the soft groan that escaped her lips.

Clythia would never do that, she thought to herself. She’d bare her teeth and fought back without any hesitation. A small burst of hope began to grew inside Amarantha.

Perhaps it was all a rumor. A ghost story. And she could kill this girl in front of her, be done with it, and have a restful evening.

The young woman finally looked up to see a High Faerie glaring at her and immediately crawled back with fear shining in her eyes. Her shoulders were hunched in an attempt trying to make herself as small as possible and Amarantha sneered at the cowardice notion.

Their eyes met, and all hope that Amarantha had inside her had vanished into smoke.

Her eyes were dark, almost black. Too dark to be called brown.

But Amarantha knew those dark eyes would glitter like the night sky if she smiled. She knew the beauty mark above her right lip would wink at whoever was lucky enough to see it every time she laughed.

Just like hers.

She had seen them all. In her sister.

Amarantha had desperately wished that she might’ve been wrong.

Yet now that she was awake, there was no mistaking it.

She was Clythia’s daughter. Their curse. The one who unraveled their relationship, their hard work, their entire life, and even ended Clythia’s life.

Amarantha’s breathing grew even heavier. Her head spun and she could feel herself spiraling if she did not take control of herself soon.

The Lady Under the Mountain bared her teeth at her niece. “Do you know who I am?” She snarled. Her nails dug even deeper into her palm, causing a pain that she knew could focus on and stop herself from hyperventilating.

Lin did not trust her voice to be firm and steady, and she could only shook her head. She had thought she would cry and sob again like she had earlier, but it seemed that her tears have dried up and left her with dread and uneasiness and discomfort of being in a new environment instead of the terror that had filled her earlier.

A part of her suspected the decapitated head and seeing it happen right before her very eyes had something to do with it.

Lin carefully raised her eyes to study the faerie in front of her.

Unlike the earlier High Fae, this one was a woman. Her hair was red-gold and her eyes were pitch-black. She was beautiful and terrifying all the same.

The red-headed High Fae glowered at her wordless answer. Her eyebrows were furrowed in frustration as she glared at the ground and despite the dim-lighting by the fireplace, Lin noticed how she bit her bottom lip in concentration. She dragged her hands through her hair and Lin’s eyes followed after it, spotting the golden crown sat atop of her head.

A royalty? Lin’s heart skipped a beat and the gears in head began to turn. She pursed her lips in concentration.

Is she from the Autumn Court? But Lin remembered that the Autumn Court was a highly patriarchal court, and she highly doubted that they would let a woman wear a crown.

Amarantha cursed her recklessness. As soon as she heard the story, she demanded for the young woman to be brought in front of her. But now that she was actually here, Amarantha was at loss of what to do.

What was I expecting? She cursed herself.

Was she expecting her niece to stood up and raise her chin? Was she expecting her niece to be as dangerous as an unsharpened blade like her sister would? Was she expecting her niece to have the same sharp glint in her eyes as her sister had?

A voice inside her answered all those questions.

Yes. Yes. YES.

She wanted to see her sister, or at least a shadow or a reflection or a glint of it. She would’ve claimed her as her own, and raised her the way her sister would have raised her. She would’ve been her successor and the one to continue their glory after Amarantha was long gone.

But what she had was a poor imitation of her sister, and now the red-headed faerie’s plan—or lack of it—was ruined.

Amarantha could always throw her in jail, but the memory of her sister tugged her heartstrings and prevented her to do so. Making her niece into her ward was not an option either. She already had cracks inside her little empire—and having a half-mortal ward would not help her at all.

The Lady Under the Mountain plopped down on the settee and turned to stare at the young woman. Her hand were pinching her chin while being propped up by the armrest. Her dark eyes studied Lin like she was a puzzle she cannot solve.

Lin squirmed uncomfortably under her stare and tried to figure out where to keep her eyes on.

Her gaze darted around the room and studied it the best she could despite the settee in front of her covering the view.

They were sitting by a grand fire place. The settee in front of her was black decorated with gold swirls around it, companied by two other settees with the same coloring on its left and right side of it, creating a U-shape in front of the fire place.

Behind the settee and high up on the wall, Lin could see a black canopy hung against the wall and she guessed that there might be a bed underneath it.

To the right was a hallway, and to the left of where she was sitting—right across the hallway—was a the balcony. The glass door was nearly as tall as the ceiling of the room and was wide opened. Gentle breeze blew in, blowing the curtains in process and bringing in a scent of pine woods and the cold evening air.

The red-headed faerie snapped her fingers and Lin jumped as her head snapped towards her captor.

“Where is the bracelet?” She snapped.

Lin could’ve sworn she saw a slight tremble of the faerie’s hands, but she played it off as a trick of light from the burning fire place.

She licked her dry lips before answering. “What bracelet?” she replied with a hoarse voice.

She rolled her dark eyes at Lin. “The emerald one,” she emphasized on the word ‘emerald’ as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Silver cuff, with small diamonds around it and an emerald in the center.”

Amarantha caught the recognition that flashed through the young woman’s eyes.

That bracelet was all-too-familiar with Lin. She had tried it multiple times when she was a mere child, playing princesses and pretending she was at a ball as she danced around her small cottage.

Until Ah Ma had sold it when Lin was eight years old and struck with high fever to buy her medicines.

Little Lin whom had not understand the situation had cried all night long at the loss of her favorite bracelet.

“My—my grandmother had sold it,” she stuttered in anxiety. “A long time ago, when I was eight.”

Lin turned her head to look at the High Fae, and saw her posture visibly relaxed as she leaned back against her chair.

“Then find it.”

Unlike early frantic she had, the High Fae was calm as she demanded Lin to find her bracelet. She did not yell at her the way Ah Ma’s patient had done when the wanted to be the first one to get treated—she merely stated it and ordered her to do it as if Lin was fetching water from the well beside her house.

“But—but how?” Lin gaped at her. “It was twelve years ago!”

Her victorious stare was replaced by a cold, scathing one.

“Either you find it,” she threatened as her pitch-black eyes glinted with malice, “Or your grandmother will pay for it with her life.”

Lin flinched under her remark.

Under the moonlight, the High Fae sat upon the settee like a queen on her throne. Her chin was raised high as she sat back in the settee and looked down upon her. Dark eyes pierced through Lin and her red-gold hair stumbled down from her shoulders and the moonlight shone against her crown.

She barely lifted a finger nor raised her voice, yet Lin felt like The High Fae was holding a knife against her throat.

Lin opened her mouth to argue—and closed it tight when she could not find herself any strong defense against the High Fae’s demands.

Amarantha sneered. She leaned forward and her graceful hands grabbed Lin by her jaw, gripping roughly.

“Let me tell you a story, child.” She growled while throwing Lin unto the floor—slamming her cheek against the floor in the process—and leaned forward to pour more wine inside her glass.

Lin tried her best to wince quietly before sitting up to her initial kneeling position.

The red-headed faerie rolled her eyes at her wincing and leaned back to her seat. She took a sip out of her wine, and spoke.

“Your grandmother is one of us.”

Her words felt like a punch to her gut, and Lin did not know where she got the strength to speak up, but somehow she choked up her words.

“No she’s not!” Lin protested and hoped she did not sound like a child. “My grandmother is human.”

Amarantha rolled her eyes. “Haven’t you wondered how she got those scars on her ears? Have you seen her age the way your people do?”

Lin’s heart dropped to her stomach.

When she was younger, Lin had asked about her grandmother’s scar once. It ran through her eye, blinding her permanently in her right eye and terrifying enough to scare anyone from bothering two women who lived alone. She answered that she had gotten it from a battle. She was a healer stationed to help injured soldiers and a raid had happened when she was there.

But when Lin asked about her ears, Ah Ma did not reply. In fact, she did not speak to Lin for the next few days until Lin cried out of guilt and apologized.

Afterward, Lin never mentioned Ah Ma’s ears to her again. But sometimes when Ah Ma wasn’t looking, Lin would accidentally study it.

It was rounded—yet jagged—like someone had cut through it. Rough scars ran through the top of it which confirmed Lin’s theory even further. Lin wondered what kind of battle Ah Ma went to that would have her ears mutilated so horribly.

Lin ignored the ache in her gut of realizing that the High Fae had a possibility to speak the truth and watched as the red-headed faerie took a sip from her wine before continuing her story.

“Ruo Lan was my servant, once.” Lin’s heart skipped a beat when the High Fae mentioned her grandmother’s name. “And she stole a lot more than that—not just the one bracelet I asked you about earlier.”

“After The Great Mortal War,” the faerie continued and piqued Lin’s interest. “Your grandmother grew restless, saying something about how she wanted to settle down and live out the rest of her life in peace.”

“I ignored her, assuming that it was a mere phase of hers and it’d pass soon.” Amarantha waved her hand to emphasize. “But one night, your grandmother ran away from me with a chest of my treasures.”

“Rumors had it that she took a newborn babe from a couple of mortals and ran off to have a secret little family, but I didn’t believe it until I saw it myself.”

Her grandmother had told Lin that her parents had died in the Great Mortal War.

“I could care less what she chose to do with her life,” she scowled. “What she did was an act of betrayal. She abandoned her master and ran away to chase her hopes and dreams.” The High Faerie rolled her eyes in annoyance. “I could’ve punished her for it, sentenced her to death.”

She turned her obsidian black eyes to stare at Lin’s dark ones.

“But she was a good servant, so I ignored her betrayal and opted to leave her alone with her fantasies of having a happy ending.”

“However,” She glared at Lin while the latter flinched under her stare and tried her best to stand her ground. “I would like my treasures back.”

Lin’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Growing up, Lin knew her grandmother did not have many jewels. One is the emerald bracelet the High Fae had demanded earlier, and the other one is a jade pendant. They had never lived lavishly either, barely earning enough to save up. If her grandmother had the luxury of selling those jewels, she had never shown it.

“But if my grandmother was the one who stole it,” Lin asked ever so softly and politely—as if not wanting to upset the High Faerie that could very much kill her with a swipe of her arm. “Then why did you take me instead of her?”

Lin saw a ghost smile on the faerie’s lips. She lifted up her wine glass as if raising a toast.

“A treasure for a treasure,” the faerie gloated with a triumphant glint in her eyes. “She took my treasure, and I took her treasure.”

Lin frowned and opened her lips to argue but before she could speak, the High Fae tutted at her while waving her index finger from side to side, as if scolding a naughty child.

“It’s either you stay here with me,” the faerie chided. “Or I take your grandmother’s life as a payment.”

Once again, Lin thought she would cry as soon as the faerie said those words, but all that was left was a terrible stomachache that happens when she was under a lot of pressure and chest pain coming from the stress.

She took in a long, shaky breath before speaking.

“If I stay here,” Lin asked with a trembling voice—as if she was one nudge away from tears. “Will you leave my grandmother alone?”

Her dark eyes met the faerie’s pitch-black ones. If Lin was going to give her life away, then she wanted to make sure that it would not be in vain. She did not care if the High Faerie was right and Ah Ma had lied to her during her entire life. Lin knew her grandmother loved her, and that was all that mattered. She wanted her grandmother to live out the rest of her life in peace.

Amarantha held her gaze and swore, “I promise.”

Lin’s gaze slowly faltered under her shark-like stare and she quietly nodded before bowing her head.

“I’ll stay.”

Her voice was only slightly louder than a whisper, but Amarantha had heard it nonetheless and curled her lips into a triumphant smirk.

“Swear it,” she demanded. “Bargain with me.”

The red-headed faerie held out her arm and Lin stared at it like a snake that was about to strike.

“Say it out loud after me,” the faerie commanded.

“In the place of my grandmother’s life, I am bargaining my own to forever be with my master until death separates us.”

Lin tried not to cringe at how the High Faerie addressed herself as her ‘master’.

But she had no choice.

So Lin raised her own hand to meet the snake’s bite and grasped it tight to mask her trembling hand.

“In the place of my grandmother’s life,” Lin denounced loudly to stop her voice from shaking. “I am bargaining my own to forever be with my master.”

Lin shook her hand with the High Fae’s.

“Until death separates us,” she swore.

When their hands shook, Lin had expected something to shift. Perhaps she would bear a mark of their bargain or something would feel different in the air.

Something.. magical.

But it felt like nothing, other than the fact she had sold her soul to a monster. It was a normal handshake with the price of her life.

She was almost disappointed. Almost.

“Aspen!” the red-headed faerie suddenly called out, causing Lin to jump.

Lin heard the sound of a door being opened and closed, proceeded by the sounds of footsteps.

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

Lin’s head snapped towards the source of the sound and saw her first captor standing merely a few steps away by the fireside. His hands were folded behind his back a

Her first thought was beheading.

Her second thought was how she was going to be the next person to be beheaded.

Her third thought was if it was possible to run past two High Faes to jump off from the balcony and straight to her death.

Fortunately for Lin, it was all unnecessary.

‘Her Majesty’ nodded her chin towards Lin.

“Take her to the dungeon,” she commanded. “And make sure no one else knows of her existence.”

‘Aspen’ nodded, and walked towards Lin to grab her by the arm. Lin turned her head to protest to the red-headed High Fae, but before she could speak, the world around her shifted and twisted along with her stomach and she had to grip her hands in fist to hold in the content of her stomach.

But when her feet finally touched the ground (when did they start flying?), Lin knelt over and threw up.

Her throat ached, her stomach was in pain, her body was dripping in cold sweat, and she had never felt as disgusting as she did in that moment.

Lin didn’t have to look to know that her captor (the pig decapitator) was standing five feet away with a wince plastered on his face. “Why couldn’t you throw up in the bucket?” he complained.

Once she was sure she had nothing else to be let out, Lin wiped her mouth with her sleeves and took a few steps back from her puddle of puke.

Lin’s eyes hazily darted around and sure enough, there was a bucket siting one inch away from her mess.

“Here,” Aspen snapped and shoved a glass of water towards her and splashing the top of her dress in progress.

Lin did not care. She grabbed it and gargled a gulp of water inside her mouth to rinse the disgusting taste of her puke. Keeping it inside her mouth, she jumped over her puddle and grabbed the bucket before throwing it up inside it. Lin gulped, gargled, and threw it up and repeated the process until she was sure that her mouth had tasted back to normal.

“Thanks,” she mumbled while handing back her glass.

Aspen grunted and threw the glass back into where it took it from.

Usually, Lin’s nosiness would’ve made her look but she was too sick to care. Her hands gripped on the bar and breathed heavily, trying to collect herself.

Wait. Bar?

Lin opened her eyes and turned to look to where she was leaning on.

Sure enough, there was a bar. Bars, to be exact. As tall as the ceiling and completely covering the room behind it.

Aspen opened the door, grabbed her arm, and threw her inside one of the cells. Lin did not even have the energy to protest nor fight back.

Her bum fell on the floor and she watched helplessly as the faerie locked her jail cell with keys before pocketing it.

Not magic? She frowned in daze.

For so-called monsters born with magic running through their blood, they seemed awfully… human.

To her surprise, Aspen flicked his finger towards her puddle of vomit. Then, Lin watched as it slowly moved to the drain until there was nothing left of her mess.

But it didn’t stop there.

A closet opened itself and a mop accompanied with a bucket walked out. A few seconds later, a bottle of what she assumed to be a floor cleaner followed suit.

The bucket stopped under a faucet. Aspen flicked his fingers once more and it opened itself, pouring water inside the bucket followed by the floor cleaner, leaving a distinct smell of apple. The faucet turned itself off, the mop dipped into the bucket and began to clean the floor, especially the spot where she had vomited earlier. It squeezed the filthy water out by the drain, and floated towards the faucet where it was magically turned on again and began to rinse itself.

Not long, the mop floated back to the bucket and sneaked inside the cell adjacent to hers and began mopping it clean.

So they do have magic.

From the corner of her eyes, Aspen straightened up and Lin snapped her head towards his.

“Wait!” She cried out.

Aspen surprisingly turned and waited for her to have her words.

“I—” she stuttered. “How long will I be here?”

He shrugged. “Until the High Lady says the otherwise.”

High Lady?

“Will you remind her of my existence?” Lin carefully asked.

“If she’s in a good mood.”

Lin nodded. She supposed it was the best bargain she could get in this situation. Her eyes met his and she thanked him quietly. “For cleaning the floor,” she elaborated.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Aspen said matter-of-factly. “I hate winnowing in to the smell of puke and shit.”

If Lin was sober enough, she’d ask what he meant by ‘winnowing’, but her lingering nausea shut her up and rendered her weak.

The young woman sighed dejectedly before finding a corner of her cell and curling up against it.

Aspen took one long glance around the room before meeting Lin’s gaze once more.

“Try not to die before the High Lady visits you,” he asked.

Lin could’ve sworn she heard something about the “High Lady” blaming Aspen if it ever happened, but all the stress and shock finally came down upon her and she passed out cold before she could hear the rest of his sentence.

#the starless mermaid #my writing #rhysand x oc #rhysand x reader #rhysand x original female character

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