From the Depths
Ritualistic Fate

Kirea coughed into her napkin, wiping away the blood and hiding it in her dress pocket.

“It’s getting worse isn’t it?” Henry looked up, he sat across from her at the wooden table that had settled down on.

It had been a few days now since their encounter with the King. They had spent each morning seeing Ren before heading back up to the castle’s library at her request. As she was the one taking care of the King's pet project it wasn’t an odd move and she’d even been given unrestricted access to the not-so-well-known books. The ones about magic.

She flipped the page of the text she was currently reading. “It was bound to happen at some point, I'm not worried.”

“You shouldn’t push yourself.” He added with concern.

“We don’t have much time.” She sighed.

“It could be nothing!” He protested.

She eyed him. “You really think that a certain someone has nothing planned for the red moon with a mythical creature involved?” she whispered harshly.

He laughed nervously. “You have a point.”

They were careful not to mention anything that could get back to the King. Ever since the meeting in the hall, Kirea had been on a rampage. She was trying to figure out what the ritual was he had planned. That had to be it, it had to be a ritual, nothing else made sense.

Henry had been actually been kind enough to mention and show her to the library in the castle, given that she’d already raided the bookstores in town and found nothing of use.

“Look at this one.” Henry turned his book toward her. “It says here that the Blood moon, which I assume is a red moon, is used to bind one’s life to another.”

She skimmed over the details. “It’s possible, but I doubt he would want to mate with a... fish species.” She pointed to a line that stated copulation was a requirement.

He sighed in defeat. “The red moon is significant for so many different reasons.”

“Maybe I should try to get into the King’s quarters again.” She pondered allowed.

“What!” Henry shouted.

“Shhhhh!” The attendant hushed him, scolding him for being too noisy.

He waved an apology. “You really think that’s a good idea!” He added in a harsh whisper of his own.

Putting her book down she looked at him with a pained expression. “What other option do I have? The King has to have gotten this information from somewhere, and I bet he keeps it close.”

He groaned, knowing all too well that she was right. “You want to bed him? Are you insane?”

She scoffed a laugh. “I never said that, I just need to sneak in.”

“That sounds just as easy as it would be for me to start liking women, that’s never going to happen.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

Surprisingly after everything that had happened, Henry had really opened up to her in the past couple of days. When she had insisted that she must figure out what the King had planned he went along with it. She suspected it had something to do with pity for her condition, but honestly, at this point, all she cared for was Ren’s well-being.

“You never know unless you try.” She responded.

“Oh trust me, I’ve tried.”

She rolled her eyes. They seemed to argue like brother and sister would these days. He’d picked up another book to start going through it. However, She couldn’t deny the huge help he had been.

“I promised him he’d be safe here, I need to make sure that’s truly the case or I’d never forgive myself.” She pulled another folklore book toward her as she seemed to sadden. “Who knows how much longer I’ll actually be able to look over him.”

He eyed her from atop his book. “We could just set him free, then stow away on a ship to escape, live out your dream.”

Her face crept into a half grin. As fun as that would be she couldn’t do that for two reasons. One, her mother. She couldn’t leave like that, the King would likely order her mother to be killed as punishment. And second, was the fact that she knew what the female Sirens did to the men, sending him back to the ocean wasn’t an option.

“We can’t, as fun as it would be...” She trailed off lost in thought. “Henry?” She finally asked, her expression more serious.

“Mmm?” He responded.

“If anything were to happen to me... no. When it happens-”

“Kirea, we don’t need to do this.” He interrupted putting his book down.

“I do. When it happens.” She looked down at her pocket that housed the bloodied napkin, it was only a matter of when. “You’ll go tell my mother, won’t you? Tell her everything. That I wasn’t mistreated, that you looked after me, what I was doing, that I had an amazing time... Please.”

The pained expression that pulled at her heart was becoming the new normal for him, he didn’t respond but he did nod, albeit grimly. An awkward silence filled the air as they both continued to read.

“What I still want to know is how they mate.” He finally said.

She raised a brow at him. “What do you mean, they have a tail on their bottom half so they would surely breed like fish do.”

“I don’t think that’s the case, why would the females bring them to the surface and tear them apart as Ren described? And look at this.” He turned his book around to show her an image that depicted a pregnant mermaid. “This implies that they don’t lay and fertilize eggs like most fish.”

She made a puzzled expression then sighed again. “We still know so little.”

“This is becoming tedious, I feel like we are grasping at straws, can we not just ask Ren?”

She groaned, again with the asking him. She really didn’t want to, she didn’t want him to know that the King had some horrible plan that she knew nothing about.

“I know you don’t want to, but-”

“Help me sneak into the King’s quarters, if we replace nothing then we will ask Ren, deal?”

He gave her a stern look as his bottom jaw clenched, it was some time before he responded. “Fine.”

She beamed, hurriedly putting the books away before she proceeded to pull him out of his seat.

“Seriously, right now!” He protested.

“If not now, when? We can’t wait till night, he’ll be in there!”

He groaned. “Woman, you are seriously aggravating!”

“Thanks!” She smiled.

“Not a compliment!”

She giggled and pulled him toward the exit again.

“How did I ever let you convince me to do this?” He muttered.

“I asked nicely and you couldn’t resist. Besides, I think deep down you’ve been wanting to rebel.”

He huffed in response, giving her the answer she already knew.

“There’s only so long you can play the loyal guard dog without getting annoyed at your owner for mistreating you.” She pointed out.

“He hasn’t mistreated me.”

She raised her brow. “That’s why you turned as white as a ghost when you were accused of mishandling me.”

He averted his gaze.

“Don’t expect me to feel sorry for you.” She retorted.

He laughed coming back to his stern self. “I’ve looked after myself just fine, thank you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Hurry up, we only have a small window. He’ll be sitting down for his meal soon.”

They hurried back through the castle, racing through the halls. How’d they play it off as normal? Well, Kirea simply hiked up her skirt and ran from Henry giggling like a schoolgirl. Nobody saw it as odd as it had already been announced that they were to be newlyweds soon. It made for a surprisingly good cover to move rather freely through the castle together.

And that was how they ended up in the king’s bed chambers, alone, together. It had been surprisingly easy to sneak in, the door wasn’t even locked. Shaking her head she looked down the hall and gently closed the door behind them, leaving it open a crack so Henry could keep watch.

Not a lot of good it would do though, as his chambers were at the end of a rather long corridor, which was a dead end. And the outside window only led to an early death. She needed to be quick about her search. Rummaging around the desk that he had shown her with all the information on the Siren. She had already read all this, if it were a secret she was trying to keep, she would hide it.

Using that logic, she ran her hands along the desk, fondling the edges and underside until she found something. With a light click, she let out a triumphant cry, only to be hushed by Henry. The hidden draw slid out revealing exactly what she was looking for. A leather-bound book that read Sacra Diuturnitate, her eyes widened. It was Latin for Rituals of Longevity.

Flipping through it she found the one she was looking for, the one that referenced the blood moon and a siren alongside what needed to be done to gain eternal youth. All colour drained from her face, she dropped the book as her hands flew to her mouth, the shock too much.

Henry rushed to her side the book had fallen to the page she was reading. On it, an image of what looked like a sacrifice. A man stood over a siren’s body with a bloodied blade in hand, a still dripping heart clutched in the other.

The image was followed by another.

It depicted the man consuming the heart under the blood moon.

Ren had a death sentance.