Page 98 of Mermaid on Heels
Faelina blinked, and then she snickered. “Who are you Faelina?” She mimicked Liriya’s question and gave a mocking bark of laughter. “Well, I must admit, if you hadn’t had my name there, I would have thought you caught amnesia on the spot.”
“No, seriously,whoare you?”
Faelina dropped her amusement and seemed almost genuinely baffled—almost. “You are crazy, right?”
“Who were you before you became this evil person?” Liriya softened her voice.
The corner of Faelina’s lips twitched. “So Iamevil, am I?”
Liriya heaved a sigh. “Faelina,whomade you like this? No one was born evil—”
“Or, perhaps Iamborn—”
“No, you arenot,” Liriya cut her off firmly. “You do realize that, if Papa knew about you, you would have been in the castle with us, growing up together as our older sister and the heir to the throne, do you not?”
Faelina narrowed her eyes into slits. “I don’t know what game you are playing Liriya, but it won’t work on me. Unlike you, I am not vulnerable.”
“Everyone has vulnerability in them Faelina, including you.”
“No!” Faelina snapped, losing her cool entirely this time, taking Liriya by surprise. “Iamevil and powerful, butyou,” —she jabbed her index finger at Liriya— “Youare vulnerable, stupid, and wrong!”
“You are tough, I shall give you that,” Liriya said, rubbing her temples tiredly. “But you do not have to be like this. Have you ever known what it is to love, to have a family, sisters—”
“Anemone’s sting!” Faelina swore, throwing her hands in the air as if she was frustrated. Just when Liriya thought her prodding was working, Faelina retrieved a silver dagger from her pocket and marched towards Liriya. “Give me one good reason to let you keep talking. I should’ve done this the moment I came in, but I was looking forward to having fun. Now you ruined it, you ruineverything, Liriya!”
Liriya backed away from her, her wide eyes darting between Faelina and her dagger. “What are you doing?”
“What I should’ve done already,” Faelina spat and caught hold of Liriya’s left hand in a swift movement that was too quick for Liriya to block. She glared when Liriya tried to jerk her wrist free. “Keep struggling and you will lose your precious little sisters.”
Liriya froze.
Faelina smirked. “Now, I have your attention.”
“I swear, Faelina,” Liriya began, drawing out each word with an angry snarl. “If you touch them, I will kill you myself.”
“Oh, it is notmeactually; my men are in your sisters’ room with daggers pointed to their rising and falling chests. So, hold still, little sister. If you make any tiny sound as if to cry or do anything such as struggle, a hum under my breath will be all it takes for them to drive the daggers through dear Ella and sweet little Sessa’s hearts.”
All the strength drained out of Liriya. She couldn’t move even her littlest finger. “Why could not you just let us be, Faelina?” she asked in a soft voice. She was fearful that anything louder than a whisper would endanger her sisters.
“Apparently,” Faelina said as she adjusted her grip on Liriya’s wrist and held her palm open. She brought the dagger above it, ready to cut through Liriya’s skin. “You are the source of my problems now.”
Liriya held back a sharp cry as the blade ran over her palm. Red liquid trailed the path of the blade that Liriya believed to be her lifeblood; she had never seen her own blood or anyone’s before. Her breaths became ragged, her heart thundered in her ears, and sweat beaded on her forehead.
“Wh-what are you doing, Faelina?” she hissed.
Faelina ignored her. She pocketed the dagger without caring about the blood that smeared on it and retrieved the Mermaid’s Mirror. Then she held Liriya’s bleeding palm over the polished surface of the bejeweled seashell and began talking in a strange language.
The mirror glowed. Liriya watched the drops of her blood descent to its iridescent surface and vanish as soon as it touched it.
“Faelina, what is going on?” Liriya pleaded.
Faelina ignored her again, as though she couldn’t hear her, and raised the mirror in the air, holding it in front of her face. Her chanting continued, and she dropped Liriya’s hand.
Liriya rummaged through her mind to think of anything she could do to stop whatever this was, all while reminding herself that her sisters’ lives were at stake. Then she saw what she had never imagined in her wildest dreams that she would see.
It started with Faelina growing two inches, her white-blonde hair darkening to coal-black, and her sapphire eyes shifting to blue-green.
Liriya couldn’t believe her eyes. She blinked rapidly, trying to dispel the illusion, hoping against hope that this was some sort of trick, a figment of her imagination fueled by the dancing flames in the fireplace.