…The hall emptied in silence.
Footsteps faded on the stone as men and women filed out.
The King’s decree had been spoken.
There was nothing more to say.
A royal officer stepped forward before the great doors closed.
His voice carried through the quiet.
“Those whose names were marked shall return to this hall at first light. You will receive your instructions there. Bring only what you require. We set sail when the order is given.”
Jasmina felt the words like a stone in her chest.
First light.
Then instructions.
Then the sea.
She had no time left.
The prince heard the order.
He said nothing.
He did not turn his head.
He walked from the hall with slow, measured steps, his back stiff with a fury he could not speak aloud.
Lady Ella and Onxy followed Jasmina into the cold night.
None of them spoke until they reached the gates of their manor.
Worry lay heavy upon them, but no tears were shed.
Within the manor, the great hall was still.
A fire burned low in the stone hearth and threw long shadows on the tapestries of old kings.
Servants moved quietly, but none dared speak.
Lady Ella set aside her cloak and stood a moment, her eyes distant. This story is hosted at novelping.com.
“Sit,” she said at last, her voice calm but low.
She gestured to the long bench near the fire.
Worry showed in her eyes.
Jasmina sat.
Onxy sat beside her.
“You return to the council hall at dawn,” Lady Ella said.
She looked upon both her children.
“You will hear your orders there. Only then will you know what path the King has chosen for you. But before you go, you must know the truth of your blood. And I will speak to you of this day, as a mother must.”
Onxy and Jasmina lifted their eyes to her.
Lady Ella drew a slow breath.
“I am not only Lady Ella of this house. I was once a princess of the sea.”
Silence filled the hall.
“My father was the King of the Ocean,” she continued.
“But power turned his mind. He grew mad in his hunger for more. He would not bless my union with your father, for he thought a man of the land unfit for the throne of the deep. So I fled. I bore you both in secret, far from his sight. But in time, he learned the truth.”
The fire crackled.
No one moved.
“Your father was a powerful man,” Ella said, her voice steady now.
“He was the Ice Prince of the northern peaks. He stood against my father’s wrath to keep you safe. He gave his life that you might live. That is why you do not remember him. That is why we have dwelt on land, hidden within these walls. For you are merfolk, my children. Born of the sea, raised among men.”
Onxy’s jaw tightened.
Jasmina stared into the flames.
Lady Ella laid a hand on each of them. Get faster updates on g.com.
“And now, of this day… You have learned that kings command, and children endure. You have learned that silence may wound deeper than words. The prince took you from the hall with force, Jasmina, not from cruelty. He did so because he could not alter what was written. Remember this, both of you.”
She fell silent.
Her hands trembled once before she hid them in her skirts.
Fear and anger still burned in Jasmina’s chest.
But now, beneath them, she felt something else — a slow, cold pull, as if the tide had called her name.
Onxy felt it as well.
The same tide.
The same weight of old blood.
Lady Ella looked from one child to the other.
Grief filled her eyes, though she spoke no more of it.
She was done speaking.
Yet fear stayed upon her face.
She was afraid to let Jasmina go.
For it was written that among one of her twins a great power would rest.
A power her father, the King of the Ocean, had carved from the depths.
A power that could either destroy kingdoms, or heal the wounds of the world.Even if she didn’t know who among her children,the prophecy was talking about, still she is still afraid.
Afraid of what will happen to them ,if her father caught wind of them being alive.
And now, at dawn, Jasmina would walk back into the council hall.
She would hear her instructions.
And after that, she would sail toward that fate.
Outside, the manor stood silent against the night.
Beyond it, the sea waited.
At dawn, the King’s voice would speak again.