Oceantide

by Everly Taylor

I didn’t care about myself enough to fear what she would do to me. I was not going to help her hurt someone, especially the woman from the beach. Someone that had never wronged her in any way other than being prettier than her. Hell, she should want to thank her since the purple haired beauty saved her only son.

  “I refuse to be any part of your magic. You may have wrapped Father around your finger, but there is nothing you can do to me,” I insisted before I walked out the door and slammed it behind me.

  I heard nothing from her for days, but I knew better than to think she would let it go. I waited, watching her carefully, knowing she would strike like the snake she was. It was miserable being on edge like this, but I was willing to take whatever she threw at me to protect the woman that I didn’t know.

  I thought of her constantly. Even more so now that I knew she was in danger from the queen. The way her curly purple hair shined under the sun; hair that would look strange on anyone else. Not on her, though. She was stunning with her flawless dark skin that looked so smooth and soft. I would give anything to be able to run my fingers along it and find out if it were as soft as it looked.

  Her beautiful brown eyes held so much compassion. Eyes that studied me as she laid me on the beach and seemed to speak to my soul. She was with me for such a short time, yet I could still feel phantom traces of her touch as she moved my hair out of my eyes. There was something about her that called to my soul and I hadn’t been able to shake the thoughts of her for the past year.

  As my butler helped me to get dressed for dinner with some important guests that would be joining us that evening, I thought about how breathtaking she appeared in the mirror, even with the sadness across her face. I wondered what happened to her to make her so sad and I longed to find her just to take it away from her. The only thing that stopped me was knowing that the queen had me watched, and she would find out.

  I sighed and adjusted my sash, ready to meet the delegation from the kingdom inland from ours. I knew it would be a tense dinner. Not only because the queen would be present, but also because my father and I disagreed on the matter to be discussed over dinner. The neighboring king had requested to have access to the sea from our land. I wanted to allow it, feeling that all lands should have the opportunity to have access to the sea. That expanding our trade would be a benefit to everyone. My father, however, wanted to keep the commerce that our kingdom thrived on all to himself. He thought it was what was best for our people.

  It was hard to be upset with my father over his views because I had a sneaking suspicion that it was not really his stance on the matter at all, rather it was that of the queen. I only regretted that I couldn’t keep my cool when he so stubbornly refused to change his mind.

  I waited outside the door for the butler to announce me as the guards opened the door to the dining room for my entrance. My parents were already seated as per protocol. I nodded at them both and could feel the tension thick in the air.

  The delegates would be next to come through and my father looked at me sternly, “I realize you do not agree, Adar, but I expect you to respect my decision no matter how you feel. As long as I am still king of this land, my word is law.”

  “Yes, Father,” I said with a bow before taking my seat.

  The delegates were announced and I braced myself for the ruckus that I knew would come at the end of dinner. We spoke politely to each other and chatted about things that had nothing to do with commerce, yet every bite felt like a rock in my stomach. I didn’t look forward to the end when business would be discussed.

  Unlike my father, I could feel the desperation coming off of our neighboring kingdom. I had the ability to see things in people that were deep in their minds, I suppose a gift from my mother's side of the family. I knew that the visiting kingdom was poor and struggling. They needed the sea to help their people. There was a drought that had destroyed much of their crops and their people would starve if they were unable to find an economic boost to be able to buy supplies to feed them all.

  I had tried telling my father this and he refused to listen to me. He thought since the delegates said nothing that I was just being overly dramatic. I knew they held pride and were afraid to admit their weakened state as they thought it would leave them open to being invaded and taken over by our kingdom.

  Because of the queen’s multiple threats throughout my life, I was unable to tell my father of my own powers. She had hidden them so well that I doubted he would believe me anyway. I didn’t know what else I could do to make him listen.

  My heart dropped as the final course was finished and business was to begin. My father stood and invited us all to move to the parlor to enjoy some drinks and music before we discussed the matter at hand. The queen excused herself and everyone bowed in respect at her departure.

  As per tradition, we all bowed as my father was the first to walk to the exit, the guards standing at attention waiting to open the door for him. I looked up from my bow and begged him in my mind to look at my pleading face.

  Instead of looking at me, he paled and held a hand to his heart, his normally sure footsteps stumbled as he tried to move forward. I watched helplessly as he swayed, my mind not able to comprehend what I was seeing. When he toppled to the floor, I was snapped out of my shock and called for the guards.

  Everything was a blur from then on as our staff surrounded him and took him upstairs to his room. The doctor was called in and I knew from the somber faces on the staff that shuffled in and out of his room that it was grave.

  When the doctor emerged from his room, the solemn look on his face and a sad shake of his head, I collapsed where I stood, tears streaming down my face. “No, no, no,” I refused to believe it as I pleaded for it not to be true. My father was young and strong, the strongest man I knew, and no matter what our differences I still loved and respected him greatly.

  “Seize him,” I heard the queen’s cold voice command the guards. “Prince Adar is charged with regicide. Take him to the dungeons.”

  I felt the rough hands of the men that had sworn fealty to my family grip my arms and yank me up from where I had landed on the floor in my grief. I had no time to react and was shocked as they dragged me toward the dungeons, throwing me in a cell as if I were a common thief.

  I had no idea what was happening, it had all gone so fast, and I curled up in my cell and tried to figure out how I ended up here and how my young vibrant father was dead. My tears streamed freely down my face as I grieved over the loss of my father, the man that I looked up to, that I loved so much. I couldn’t believe he was gone. I didn’t even care to think of all the implications his death meant.

  The shafts of dim light faded as I sat on the hard filthy floor struggling to accept what had happened. No sounds penetrated the walls and it was an unsettling feeling for me as I was so used to the constant noise of the castle. I attempted to shout for the guards, for anyone to come and give me news of what was happening in the castle above, but my own voice only echoed back at me, no one coming to my call.

  I wondered what happened to my father and why the Queen had me sent to the dungeons, when I should be grieving for my father. I should’ve been allowed to see him, as was custom, one last time. It was hours before I heard the clang of a door in the distance and the clacking of more than one set of heels on the stone floor as they drew near. I didn’t need to look to know that it was my mother that stopped in front of my cell. I wasn’t sure who was with her and refused to look up in my dire state knowing that weakness was the one thing that she thrived off of.

  “Adar, you have been charged with poisoning the king,” she said without emotion, not even a clue that her husband had just died.

  “I would never do that,” I said desperately, finally looking up at her. “What happened?”

  “Why don’t you tell me, Adar. You are the one that knows best what you did and why you did it.” She clucked her tongue at me, “Were you that desperate and power hungry that you couldn’t wait until the king died naturall
y to take the crown?”

  “What are you talking about? Everyone knows I never wanted to be king,” I kept my voice as even as I could as I wondered exactly what it was she had done this time.

  Another voice spoke, that of my father’s long-time advisor, Fallon, “I saw you talking to a kitchen staff member this afternoon. She admitted to putting the poison in his dish on your command. Claims you promised to make her queen if she followed your orders.”

  “Are you serious?” I shouted. “That person is lying. How dare you take the word of a peasant over that of your prince. You know me, Fallon. You know how much I love and respect my father.” I pleaded with the man I had known my entire life. One that saw every interaction I had with my father and knew me better than anyone else in the kingdom.

  “I also know that you were very angry at your father for his decision. I heard your argument with him just this very morning when you told him he shouldn’t be making decisions like he was. That it was a changing world and he needed to either get with the times or step down,” Fallon replied, twisting the angry confrontation with my father that morning to something that sounded sick and malicious.

  I put my head in my hands, “No, this can’t be happening. I don’t want the crown. I never did and my father knew that. I just want him,” I sobbed, unable to hold in my feelings any longer, Queen be damned.

  “Fallon, why don’t you give me some time alone with my son? I will get to the bottom of this so that we may give my husband the rest he deserves. We must stay strong for our kingdom. Please start planning the transfer of the crown. We can’t leave ourselves unprotected and in limbo, especially with a desperate kingdom at our doorstep.”

  “Yes my Queen,” Fallon bowed and shuffled off to do her bidding.

  As soon as he was out of earshot, she turned to me with her icy glare, the dim lighting casting a haunting glow over her face that made her look frightening. “It seems that there is enough evidence to have you hung for regicide. Though it is a bit flimsy at best and I’m sure the staff member could take back her confession. With a little persuasion, I guarantee the charges will not stick.”

  I sighed, “What do you want Mother?” I knew it was all her doing that my father was dead and I was here because I refused to give her what she wanted. I was shocked that she would go as far as to kill my father, our King, in order to get what she wanted purely for vanity’s sake.

  “You know what I want,” she said stiffly. “You do as I asked you so kindly to do and this all goes away.”

  My mind reeled with indecision. It wasn’t like it would all go away. Even with all of her power, she couldn’t undo what she had done. She couldn’t bring back my father. At the same time, I didn’t know what would happen to my kingdom if I refused. I assumed she was planning on being crowned herself. I was the heir, but given the charges she concocted against me, I would be unable to take the position and she would be the sole ruler. How much would the kingdom suffer at her hands? Was one girl worth whatever she would do to thousands?

  I had no other choice, “I will do as you ask and bring her to you.”

  She had a potion with her, knowing that I would have no choice but to do what she wanted. I spoke the words as she instructed and ate the innocent looking apple that she tended to use to hide the bitter taste of the concoction. It burned as it went down and quickly, I felt the telltale signs of it working through my system. The urge to find this woman was overwhelming and I tried to get out of my cell to follow the instructions.

  “Adar, you will stay here for the night as I undo everything. You will be let out tomorrow and start your journey to fulfill our contract.” She said nothing else as she turned on her heels and left, leaving me alone in the dark musty cell to think about the implications of what I had agreed to.

  The last part of her words dawned on me. If I would be starting a journey, that meant that I would not be here to be king. “Fuck!” I screamed into the empty dungeon, my words echoing off the stones as I realized she had tricked me. The laws stated that the heir must be crowned within twelve hours of the death of the King, and I would still be in the dungeon long past that time limit. She planned to be crowned and send me off.

  I took my seat in the corner again and leaned my head back. I dozed off here and there, waking when my repeated nightmares woke me. My muscles ached from the position I was in, my neck cramping at the awkward way it fell during my short bursts of sleep.

  The orange rays of the morning light shone through the small windows alerting me to the fact that it was the morning and most likely my mother was now the ruler of the kingdom my father had loved so much. What I wouldn’t give to take back everything I said to him, my last words to him when we were alone said in anger and frustration. I only hoped he understood that I didn’t mean any of it and respected him, loved him. He was a great leader and father even when I didn’t agree with him.

  I sat in my cell as darkness once more took over the sky outside, the moonlight the only thing that told me the approximate time that had passed. I cried as I realized that my father was being laid to rest and I was stuck in this dungeon by the Evil Queen that I could never again think of as my mother. I would never forgive her for what she had done to my father, killing him for her own devices. I vowed then, that potion or not, I would do whatever I could to end her and her tyranny over a kingdom that my father had given his life for.

  Again I heard the clang of the door and footsteps clicking on the stone floors. It sounded like three sets, but I wasn’t quite sure. The flicker of torchlight moving towards my cell had me straightening, and in the dim light I could make out three people. I recognized the queen and Fallon but didn’t know who the third man was.

  They stopped in front of my cell and I took in the stranger, his white hair and icy blue eyes seemed to stare right through me.

  The queen spoke first, “Prince Adar, our king has been buried and the council decided that considering your actions against your father, you are not fit to lead this great kingdom. However, they have decided to take pity on you as they were unable to fully determine the truth of the servant. Hence, they have sentenced you to Shadow Isle Reformatory until you can prove yourself worthy of redemption.”

  “You’re sending me to a prison?” I asked, astonished as I wondered why our oath was protecting her. She shouldn’t be able to do this, the magic binding us. I ran the words through my mind and tried to find any holes that she could have exploited to her own benefit that would allow for this. I couldn’t recall any.

  The stranger spoke up, “It’s not a prison, Prince Adar, but a school for those who need to be reformed. We have classes and activities that will help you to see the error of your ways and help you to earn forgiveness from those you have wronged.” His voice was smooth and charming but I could sense something dark lurking beneath the surface. “We have a room befitting a prince ready for your arrival.”

  “Headmaster Frost has come to accompany you to Shadow Isle. He will be the one who ultimately decides when you are ready to come back. I suggest you follow his regimen,” the queen stated before turning to Fallon. “Please escort them to the headmaster’s transport. Make sure to take the back passages as no one needs to witness Adar’s fall from grace anymore than they have.”

  My stomach sank as she turned without another word to me and left me in the hands of a stranger, and a man I had known my whole life. Neither of whom I could trust.

  Chapter 12 - Una

  I stared up into a pair of green eyes I would recognize anywhere as shock rolled through me. I thought I would never see him again after I had left him on the beach. Sure I had thought about the sexy, dark haired man in passing since I had come to Shadow Isle. Curious why I had been drawn to him the way I had, or if he had even survived. But this, seeing him here of all places, left me stunned to the core.

  Jet came up behind me and laid his hand on my shoulder, pulling me from my stupor, “Is everything okay here?” he asked protectively as the stranger stared at m
e with equal shock on his face.

  “Yeah,” I managed, my eyes roaming over the chiseled face that held my gaze. “I just bumped into this guy and was apologizing. Sorry again,” I said quickly before pulling my arms from his heated touch and turning away before I could make a bigger ass of myself than I already had.

  “Who was that?” Jet asked as we walked to our next class.

  “No clue,” I responded honestly, though guilt ate at me. I really had no clue who the guy was, but at the same time I felt like I had known him forever. How did I tell the love of my life that I thought I loved a guy that had almost drowned because of my sister’s antics? That I thought I loved someone that I had never uttered a word to before today? I shook my head, it was better off left alone. There was nothing there and I was probably projecting my emotions that day from the shock of what my sister was doing.

  “Weird, he seemed to know you,” Jet mused as we took our seats for the next class. I wasn’t sure if I was thankful or not that this professor didn’t give two shits and we could just talk amongst ourselves for the remainder of the hour.

  “Look, I’m sure it was nothing. I just bumped into him,” I tried to dismiss it, grateful when Beck interjected.

  “Yeah, I would be a bit speechless if I bumped into someone as stunning as you, too,” he grinned.

  I smiled back at him. Damn if he wasn’t cute and sweet as hell. Guilt tore at me even more that I was grasping the lifeline he tossed me. I let out a breath. I couldn’t lie, not to these two anyway. “I don’t really know him, but I did sort of meet him once,” I confessed as they both looked at me in surprise. “We didn’t really meet, but he saw me. On the beach that day when I was saving the people my sister was trying to drown. He was the only one that was semi-conscious when I dragged him to the shore. Understanding registered on their faces, I knew I needed to tell them the rest, but before I could finish Beck spoke up.

  “You know what this means right?” Beck’s brow furrowed together.