Swimming up and down in her room crying, Cordula stops as Hayame, the midwife, enters the room.

"Are you not feeling well, Princess? Should I go and get the King?"

"No, please don't go Hayame. I am feeling well. I am afraid I discovered something worrisome today."

"Is it something I can help you with, Princess?"

"It is terrifying news, Hayame. The King is talking about killing my babies when they're born."

"I don't believe that." She gasps, looking at Cordula with wide eyes raising her eyebrows. "The King will never kill his babies. I have known him since he was a baby. He is loving and gentle and will only harm someone when he is protecting himself and his kingdom. I raised him and will never believe that of him." She said louder than necessary wrapping her arms around herself.

Cordula swims over to her, grabbing her by her upper arms. "I overheard him, the Queen and the Goddess speak this morning. If it is twin mermaids he can sacrifice them to gain power to conquer all four kingdoms. They were discussing the ritual when I came across them. I will not lie about something like this." She said with desperation in her voice "I need help and I don't know where to get help. I can't get to my family, and I have no friends here."

"You can trust me, Princess. My whole family lives in your kingdom and my sister works closely to your mother. I am only here because of King Kino. I never left because I could not leave him to face his evil mother alone. Since his father died, things changed. I will do my own investigating. If it is true, I will help you."
Gripping her hands, Cordula smiles sadly at her: "Thank you. I don't know how I will repay you."

"I am only doing this to prove my master's innocence. I will not believe he is this evil. I will convey a message to your mother... if I find your story to be true."

"My parents will be able to advise me. They will know where I can hide my baby."

**********

Two weeks later

"I received word back from your mother. We have a plan to get one of the twins out of the kingdom." Hayame said in a low voice when she enters Cordula's room.

Cordula swims excitedly over to her and grasps her hands in hers. "Does this mean you found what I told you to be true, Hayame?"

"Yes, it is true." She said, slumping her shoulders. "I can not believe this of my master. He does not know what he is intending to do. He is under the evil spell of his mother. That is why I have decided to help you. I want to protect him from making a grave mistake."

"What is the plan?" Cordula is looking at Hayame through different eyes. As a matter of fact, she has never seen her as anything else than a spy for Kino. She did find it strange that she was always in the vicinity where-ever she went in the castle. She feels guilty for not liking her all this time.

For the first time since she moved into the castle, she is really seeing Hayame. Looking into her gentle golden brown eyes, she sees sadness. She has devoted her whole life to Kino, protecting and caring for him. Hayame is a merwoman with more grace than that of the queen. Her tenderness is evident in her voice while she's explaining the plan to her. She clearly is a confident merwoman, always with her chin up, chest out and shoulders back.

With her chestnut hair and flashes of red, braided, and pinned on top of her head like a crown, she looks more a queen than anyone else in this castle. Locks of hair is spiraling down her shoulders. The red flashes in her hair reflects her passion and affection towards Kino.

Her fluke is swishing anxiously which makes Cordula move away from her. The normal yellow glow of her tail is now glowing flame-orange. A sign that she is confidant and courageous.

"This is the plan we formulated: I will train a trustee of mine for the day of the labour to help you. She will cover the baby and take it out through the servants quarters without anyone knowing.

I will not help with the labour, because I will keep myself busy elsewhere in the castle. It is my duty to inform the King as soon as you go into labour, therefore I can not help. They must see me at another place the same time you give birth, otherwise they will not believe that I didn't know.

We will not let anyone in the kingdom know that you went into labour. We will keep it quiet for as long as possible or untill the babies are born. They will obviously summon me to find out why I didn't let them know. I will just say that you didn't call me and that I wasn't aware of their births.

The baby will be taken away immediately to a friend of your mother. Her name is Tanya. She was a mermaid, but cast a spell on herself to turn into a human. She did this because she fell in love with a human and could never think of a life without him. She could never have children and desired a baby for very long. She will cast a spell on your baby, making her human so that no one will ever discover her.

Your mother has already spoken to her and she agreed to do this. All you need to do now is write a letter to her, explaining everything from your side and tell her what the baby's name should be. The letter will be delivered to her with the baby."

"Hayame, I can not thank you enough. I will always be indebted to you."

As soon as she left, Cordula started writing the letter. She was so caught up in it, that she didn't hear the door open.

"What are you doing my lovely?" His raucous voice startles her, which causes her to drop the pencil. Reaching down to pick it up, he stops her. "No, let me."

She quickly slides the slate she was writing on, to the bottom of the pile while Kino reaches for the pencil. On several of the slates she just started writing. A few of them has mermaid names written on it. She's trying to decide which name to give the mermaid baby that was going away.

"What are you doing?"

Stuttering, Cordula runs her one hand through her hair. "Uhm ... I... I was thinking of baby names. I wrote some down. Here, look. This is the first one I came up with." She handed him the one with the baby name on top with a shivering hand.

"Marilla. It's a beautiful name, but I thought we were going to name one of the mermaids after my mother."

"I was thinking, maybe we can choose unique names. If it's twins, it won't be fair to the one that doesn't get your mother's name. How will we choose which one of them will get your mother's name? To be named after the queen is a big thing."

"It ís twins, Cordula." He said in a taut voice. "The goddess predicted it and the midwife confirmed it with your check up. Why do you seem so determined that it is not?"

Cringing away from him she says softly: "I'm sorry."

Seeing the fear in her eyes because of his reaction, his composure softens: "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Are you ready for your daily swim?"

"I don't feel so good. I think I'll rather stay here and rest."

He lifts her chin gently with his fingers: "Are you feeling sick? You haven't been out to sea for a swim for two weeks, and whenever I touch you at night you push me away. Is something wrong?"

"I'm just very tired these days. More tired than usual." Touching her lips with his thumb he pulls her closer to him. "I miss you."

When he kisses her, a shudder goes through her whole body and she pulls away. "I'm sorry, I feel nauseous, I need to take a nap."

He looks at her with narrow eyes, and turns to leave the room. "I'll see you at dinner."

When he closes the door behind him she let out a gasp. She didn't realise she was holding her breath.

"Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness." With her knees feeling weak she sinks to the floor crying.

How will I ever survive this. I'm not going to see my child grow up. Her destiny is going to be taken away from her. I wish I could just take my babies and go far away, where no one will ever find us.

TAKE ME WITH YOU

Take me with you.
To soaring heights.
Above the mundane.
Beyond time and space.
Drifting through the sky.
Through puffy clouds.
Past neighboring birds.
Take me away.

**********

The above poem was written by Susanne Leist. Check out her blog: https://susanneleist.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/7620/ She is the awesome writer of 'Death Game'.

**********

This chapter is dedicated to @AanchalBudhiraja. She won a dedication for participating in the Wattpad blockparty Feb 2016. Congratulations :-)