I'd rose from my sleep at the first rays of sunlight emerging into the room from the open windows.

Zander was out cold beside me, his heavy arm draped over my torso. When I'd tried to lift his arm, he'd frowned in his sleep then literally glued me to his body like a possessive caveman.

I'd scowled openly at his slumbering face before a wide cheeky smile had pulled at my lips.

He almost looked like a stubborn kid clutching onto his favorite teddy.

It had taken up a lot of effort to will myself to detach from his hold and leave his side. I'd almost wanted to wake him up from his sleep with lingering kisses and jump his bones all over again.

I didn't even know yet what new sensations would bud with now both of us mated. And I didn't think I could handle it with him awake and staring at me.

With the engagement ceremony now just hours away, I could spare both of us the gloomy mood we'd surely endure when we had to part ways.

So I'd leaned closer to him, brushing his hair out of his face and kissing his cheek.

Zander had stirred in his sleep but before he could wake up, I'd insistently slipped from under his grip and fleed his room.

Coming back to the present with the said ceremony just minutes away, I was seated in front of the mirror fully dolled up.

I could've sworn the gown I wore weighed half my body weight.

A heavy corset the colour of sparkling gold decorated with white laces along the neck and bodice snug to my body like a fitted glove. The shimmery ivory silken material of the lower skirt flowed from my waist down to the very tips of my toes.

I couldn't understand the reason for such an extravagant dressing. And perhaps old. Who even wore corsets these days? No one except Layla and her somewhat of a possessed court.

I took a look of myself in the mirror. My hair was a wild mess atop my head. Sighing, I gathered them from the sides and clipped them with gold oyster shaped clips.

Without sparing my reflection another glance, I rose from the chair in front of the dressing table making my way outside the room and into the isolated hallway.

Music buzzed downstairs, loud and clear and eerie. Something about the screechy violin and the echoing piano didn't seem quite right. If not anything, it sounded like a melody from a haunted lore.

I took a deep breath prepping myself one last time before descending down the stairs step-by-step, the golden heels I wore leaving a click-clack sound behind.

Music ceased. People stopped in their actions to glance up my way. Their blank, hollow stares were unnerving but I'd lived here long enough to be not affected anymore.

My gaze did a quick sweep over the ballroom taking in the well-dressed nymphs and merman and mermaids.

All of them abducted and glamoured to only listen to Layla's commands and do nothing of their own.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and raised my chin high. When I got down the last step, that was when I looked to the center of the ballroom.

Layla sat in her full glory dressed in a gothic emerald silk gown with tiny pearls belt holding the snug off-shoulder top of her dress and the champagne skirt in place. A diadem of pearls adorned her hair and a similar beaded pearl necklace was hooked around her neck. She looked beautiful.

Something tugged at my heart as I took in how her eyes were fixated on the man beside her dressed in a similar emerald coloured tuxedo with his raven hair gelled away from his eyes to stay perfectly over his head.

Despite having his 'to-be-wife's' full attention on him, I saw how Zander's gaze met mine. Those grey eyes seemed to soften and I saw a flicker of hurt in them or maybe I just imagined because the next moment, they were blank as he looked away.

'I'll pretend.' He'd said and I'd agreed to it.

But it didn't hurt any less. And it was my own fault more than his we were in this situation. He'd proposed to put an end to this, go home, cause war on Layla if she didn't let go. But I was too damn insistent on setting him up with Layla, wasn't I?

Layla caught on Zander's sight fixated on me and finally decided to glance my way. Her silver eyes shone under the overly bright ballroom lights and a smile that was nothing sweet pulled on her lips.

An onlooker would consider it as evil without a single doubt, but I saw through it. I saw the hollowness, the sadness in her eyes she concealed with that disturbingly wicked smile.

Hooking her right arm with Zander's left one as if to provoke me—and it did spike a tinge of envy—she raised her other hand holding a wine glass in a toss,

"Ladies and Gentleman," Layla said, "Welcome my lovely little sister, Marilla, on the eve of my and the demon king's engagement. As well as Marilla's engagement to Derek Hernandez, my to-be husband's second-in-command."

Zander scowled at the words while the possessed creatures clapped as if they even understood what Layla was spewing.

The ceremony would begin in a few minutes now, that was final.

I saw Zander's desperate gaze flicker to me as if he still wanted to make sure whether I was willing to make the run.

I looked away from his gaze and approached Derek standing on the dais, a few feet away from a priest who was the only one who didn't seem possessed here.

How Layla had managed to get him to the Black Sea willingly, I didn't know.

The priest in his pristine white cotton robe was busy making arrangements for the ceremony as if it was a marriage ceremony and not a simple engagement.

Derek was dressed in a gold and ivory tuxedo matching with my clothing. His hair were messy as if he'd given up on gelling them half-way through. He looked good.

Derek stared at me as if I were an alien creature as I fell on step beside him.

I raised a brow in question as he kept drilling at my face before his eyes shifted over to my neck.

My brows furrowed in confusion as he stepped closer, tucked all my hair from behind to the front making them fall around my bare neck.

Derek passed me a flabbergasted smile before leaning towards my ear to whisper, "The fuck, you and Zander mated?!"

My eyes widen in shock and I glance towards Layla to check whether she's paying attention. When I'm sure she is more focused on looking at Zander as if she's going to see him for the last time, I throw Derek a look of disbelief.

"How-"

"You have a very visible mark on your neck that you should be careful than to parade around with. And Zander's aura is super intensified since the morning. The aura he got after mating with you, I'm sure." He gives me a suspicious look, "I knew there were only two sirens existing, but I didn't know you people had such. . . .unearthly aura. It seems very. . . .powerful and ancient. But why are you both sulking again?"

My brows knit in confusion. My powers weren't much stronger than Zander's, that I could be certain. What's Derek on about-

My train of thoughts cut short as I notice Layla rise from her seat. She passes the sullen looking Zander a smile before turning my way.

Her eyes instantly meet mine and I see something akin to sadness flash within her eyes for a second before its gone. Her determined steps approach me.

Derek turns to follow my sight. He gives Layla a short awkward wave but her focus remains on me,

"Come, I want to speak to you for a moment." She says and without waiting for a reply, she turns around, strides down the dais and towards a corner of the ballroom where the drinks counter is.

My brows furrow. What in the-

"You're gonna follow her?" Derek asks.

I watch Layla's retreating silhouette, "I don't have much of a choice here. She still has me by a leash with the captors. And while I don't care about what happens to the other, Avyanna is still a concern."

Derek sighs at that, "If only we could find out where she's captured." He then turns to me with seriousness, "Be cautious. Keep your guard up in case Layla does funny business."

I nod, "I will."

Then I'm walking down the dais myself to reach Layla.

My sister stares with those unnerving eyes as I stand beside her and pick a drink from the counter.

Bringing the drink to my lips, "What did you want to talk about?"

I see her eyes shut for a moment as if to brace herself before she speaks, "Have you been a good queen?"

I frown over the rim of my glass at the out-of-nowhere question, "I'm not even sure why you're asking me this."

"Just answer, Mari." She sighs, gently propping her palms flat on the counter.

My frown deepens at that nickname. At the soft tone she uttered it with.

"I don't know." I answer honestly, placing the drink down.

Absent-mindedly, she picks up the same drink and sips from it, "Answer a question, would you?"

I stare as she continues, "What would you do to an enemy who's a threat to you and your people?"

Where's she even going with these questions. . .

"End them if they're a high threat." I retort in a clipped tone.

"Why haven't you done it then?" Her silver eyes challenge me, "Do you perhaps consider me a lesser threat?"

For a moment, I don't understand what's she on about but then it finally clicks in my head where she's going with the question.

What would you to the enemy that means harm to you and your people?

Right now, the only enemy Seagill had is Layla. . . .

My eyes widen as they shoot up to her in horror, "You're asking me why I didn't kill you? You want me to kill you? Have you lost it?"

Layla doesn't retort. She just simply takes another sip from her drink before the anger I'd grown so accustomed to flashes within her eyes.

"I'll be as horrible as I can be. I'll start with ending Ursula and then the others one-by-one. If you truly care for your people, do the wise thing. The queenly thing." She spats with venom in her tone.

My own eyes shimmer with anger, "You really still want to do this? Attack the kingdom? Can't we just let it go? You can still be a queen. Rule a kingdom. If you and Zander-"

"-Get married? While he's in love with you? Don't think I'm stupid enough to not notice. Or dumber to pin for a love I'd never get. He just loved me before because he was doused by the spell. He'd never truly love me. . ." Her voice breaks at the end and a look of immense sadness takes over her features but she brushes it away into indifference in a second, "Even if it'd hurt, I know when to back away from something. And how do you think you will be able to see us both together after mating with him?"

My mouth goes slack at that. How does she. . . .

As if listening to my thoughts,

"I saw you both sleeping in each other's arms on the bed together yesterday late at night when I came to check on Zander." She answers, a lost look coating her expression, "And I saw the mark on your neck."

I try to speak something but words don't come out of my mouth. Everything feels so. . . .puzzled.

"What exactly do you want me to do?" I ask instead, my voice weary.

Layla finally looks at me, "Do what a queen would do. Fight fiercely against your enemy, against me. Here and now. No one has to get engaged. Avyanna will be released by a friend of mine and your people would be threat-free. The priest will bless the soul of the one who dies. Even I'm not a fool to delude myself with delirium. There was a reason I never truly caused war against Seagill. We both know who has the higher chances to win, Marilla."

We do. . .

We certainly do. . .

I knew if I and Layla ever had to fight against each other, who had the probability to win. That was why the merfolks hated me.

Because they knew, they knew as the queen, as the holder of the sea crown, I could end Layla if I wanted to without any effort but I chose not to.

I couldn't do it. 'Cause of my own reasons.

But why would Layla. . .

"Why do you so badly want to. . ." My eyes pricked.

I couldn't say the word. I didn't want to do it. Wouldn't do it. But I wanted to know why.

Layla's eyes soften drastically and I almost loose my breath at the doting emotion on her face, the emotion that reminded me so much of the sister I adored growing up.

"I don't have anything, anyone who would make me want to keep going, do I?" She asks, her tone so low it was a miracle I could hear, "I'm sick and tired of it. I'm tired of feeling hollow and lifeless. Tired of being haunted by the same nightmares again and again. Sick of not being able to pull myself out of the horrors. You'd do me a favor by doing it, Sea Doll."

A tear slips down my cheek as I step in front of her to grab her shoulders, seething with anger, "You have me! Do I not matter? Am I not enough to make you want to stay back?!" I almost yell the words out.

Layla opens her mouth as if to say something, but then her eyes widen.

The next moment everything happens so fast, one moment Layla was in front of me then she was pushing me sideways and out of her path as a crystal dagger flew threw air and pierced right into her chest.

Y'all prolly planning my virtual murder right now.....

But but where do you think the dagger literally came "flying" from?

And I feel like such a beech for making Layla and Marilla end paths just when they were making amends😭

But aight drama comes first🚶‍♀️