The Heir of Depths

A few days had passed since their arrival. Larsin went back to train alongside the army, as well as Calix and Zeroun. And she spent as much time as she could in the extensive library of the castle to get to know more about everything she had learned in the past week.

Despite her being very well cared after, Arline was feeling sick. She had frequent shivers, got dizzy and felt a wave of coldness embrace her body every now and then, she also ate as little as possible, which didn’t help her stay alert nor awake. She tried keeping how bad she felt as a secret, but one person did notice. Prince Merrick.

One morning, he woke up early as always and headed to the kitchens to encounter Pauline.

“Good morning your Highness” the old lady greeted him, placing a cup of coffee in front of him.

“Good morning to you too Pauline, thank you” he sipped his coffee “Can I ask you a question?” She nodded “How is our guest feeling?” he didn’t hesitate to address what wasn’t sitting right with him.

“Honestly, she looks a bit sick to me” she confessed “She barely eats, sleeps late for what I know and wakes up very early” she sounded worried, the way a mother does when her child is feeling unwell.

“How indecent would be to pay her a visit?” Merrick just knew something was wrong and after a very quick breakfast, Pauline accompanied the Prince to Arline’s room. He knocked on the door and she quickly opened up. She looked pale, small bags were forming under her eyes, she had chapped lips and glossy eyes.

“Good morning” she said with a tired yet sweet and polite tone, never forgetting to bow her head to the Crown Prince.

“Good morning Arline” Merrick replied and he noticed how hard it was for her to even perform the smallest action, such as incline her head.

“I’m surprised to see you, is everything alright?” she asked him tilting her head to the side.

“May I come in?” he asked, Pauline had already left.

“Sure” she stepped away and he quickly went in, closing the door behind him.

“How have you been feeling?” She seemed surprised at the question, considering she expected the other Prince to be worried about her.

“Great really” she answered, he could tell her eyelids were feeling heavy.

“Arline, even I can tell you have a fever right now” Arline might have been a good liar but Merrick was even better at recognizing one. She sighed, giving up trying to look composed and sat down on the bed.

“Do I look that bad?” she was trying to keep her head up.

“Not as bad as you think, I’m impressed my brother didn’t notice” Even when he wasn’t there, Merrick tried to insult Larsin.

He approached her and gently placed his hand on her forehead “How do you even keep your eyes open?” he sounded worried for the first time, leaving any kind of ego behind. She didn’t respond but decided to rest her head on his hand “Come with me Arline” he was grabbing her by her arm.

“Where?”

“I can help you, just trust me” That sentence reminded her of Larsin, but decided to avoid making that comparison. She slowly got up and gave him her arm.

Just as his brother requested, Merrick was paying attention to Arline. He could also feel the same wave of energy Larsin felt back in the island. Except that he didn’t feel tingles but the same sensation as when the cold skin comes in contact with warm water, it burned.

When they arrived to his bedroom, he called for one of the guards “Bring Zeroun, it’s urgent” then he closed the door and came back to her.

“I like the smell of this place” she sounded distant.

“It’s lavender” he said, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible “Arline can I lift you hair?” he politely asked.

She nodded, with no strength left, faking feeling well was tiring. When he did, he saw a lilac pattern forming on the back of her neck and went down her spine. His worries started growing as well as his impatience for Zeroun to arrive. When he did, he was confused by the scene in front of him.

“I need your help with her” Merrick said without even greeting him.

“Give me a good reason that doesn’t involve humiliating Larsin” Zeroun then focused on Arline “What’s wrong with her?” Merrick lifted her hair again, giving Arline violent goosebumps. Zeroun expression completely changed and looked as worried as the Prince.

“Arline” Merrick proceeded “We need to get rid of something that’s inside of you” his tone was serious, one of a soldier.

“That sounds wrong” Zeroun silently laughed at her “But sure” Merrick couldn’t believe she tried cracking a joke.

When Zeroun tried grabbing her, she pulled away quickly. A sharp pain invaded her body, followed by suffocating heat all over her skin.

“You have to grab her head” Zeroun commanded the Prince “I’ll take it out” Merrick just nodded.

He placed himself in front of Arline in the thick carpet. Grabbing her head gently by the sides, putting it in position where her back was extended.

“What are you doing?” she weakly said trying to pull him away.

“It’s for safety purposes, don’t take it the wrong way” he assured her.

Zeroun took a scalpel and made a small incision on the base of her neck. She instantly felt a sharp pain and an uncontrollable itch which she tried to scratch, but was stopped by a dominant yet gentle force.

When Zeroun identified what he had to take out, he grabbed a pair of tweezers and carefully pulled one off its extremities. He tried doing it slowly but it was more painful for Arline and left her weaker.

“Grab her tight and don’t let her move” Zeroun advised Merrick and he just nodded again, never looking away from her and trusting his friend completely.

With strength and surgical precision, Zeroun pulled the tweezers up and a big, scary looking parasite with a mouth instead of a face emerged from her spine. Without wasting a second, Merrick caged it, using his powers that formed an iron jail, and stroked Arline’s hair with his free hand to calm her down. She barely let out a whimper escape her lips, she was too weak to even do that. Her neck was bruised and sore, but both the headache and the fever were gone within a minute.

“She will rest here for now and will move her later” Merrick said while placing her on his bed.

“What about this?” Zeroun signaled the monstrosity that was fighting for its life.

“Let it die” he coldly said because he knew that without a living host that water demon could only survive for a few hours.

Zeroun didn’t fight and then left the room, with untold orders of not telling Larsin about what had happened. He will be notified during dinner after his training session.

Merrick sat on a tool in front of her. She was peacefully sleeping, her breathing was already stronger “I can see why he likes you so much” he whispered “You will be a lot of trouble”.