From the part of her shoulder that had been pierced with the sharp scepter, a golden liquid started to stain the water around Nixxia.
"Father!" Nixxia called angrily, staring at her wound and then glaring at her father.
"I gave you this blood, and I have the right to take it from you," King Nereus said in a deep, angry voice.
"Arrgh! Father!" Nixxia cried in pain as her father violently drew his scepter out from her shoulder.
Her scales suddenly burst with intense bright colors, traveling across the whole room, causing Valtor and King Palegius to place their arms over their eyes to shield them from the disarrayed colors.
Valtor slowly looked at Nixxia as the light dimmed out, and he was surprised to see Nixxia's wound completely gone, he instantly turned his head to his father, a shocked look marking his beautiful face.
"The power of the golden blood," King Pelagius muttered, astonished.
They knew what it meant to them if they succeeded in getting an offspring with golden blood. They could rule the whole underwater kingdoms with that blood!
As royalty, Nixxia's blood was golden, but not all royal mermen had the golden blood; only those from the descendants of pure and powerful mermen bloodline had it.
The golden blood signifies great strength and power and unmatched healing with many other attributes.
The lineage of golden blood has also been known for using their blood to keep their slaves obedient to them; by mixing the blood to a certain type of mystic portion and giving it to their slaves, it bounds the slaves and leaves them at the mercy of their master.
"You shall be locked up, till the time of your marriage rituals tomorrow evening!" King Nereus boomed angrily.
"Thallaneus!" He called loudly.
Instantly, a huge merman with a thick silver chain around his neck emerged; the engraved face of King Nereus could be boldly seen on the body of the slave guard.
"Lock her up in her room, do not let her out till tomorrow evening,"
"As you wish, my King," Thallaneus replied, lowering his upper body in a bow.
"I will not marry him, Father!" Nixxia remained unyielding.
"I'm sorry, Princess Nixxia, I have to follow the King's orders," Thallaneus said and moved closer to Nixxia.
"Do not lay your hands on me, Thallaneus," Nixxia warned.
"Then I shall follow behind, my Princess," Thallaneus said respectfully.
Nixxia angrily glided away from her father, glaring at King Pelagius before speedily swimming up to her room, following the same stairs she had passed earlier.
"I'm sorry, my Princess," Thallaneus said as he slowly closed Nixxia's strong wooden door.
Nixxia heard the sound of her door being locked and angrily used her strong tail fin to push down the beautiful shell vase that was holding a bunch of seaweeds to the floor, shattering the once beautifully colored decoration.
She looked around her room in anger, searching for something to break to transfer that overwhelming anger within her, but she couldn't destroy anything else; she was already feeling guilty for the shell vase that was now scattered across the floor.
This was her sanctuary, but her father wanted to turn it into a prison for her. She won't succumb to her father's tyranny.
He released a deep sigh and slowly swam towards her curved sofa that was made from coral and shells.
She lowered herself across it and stared at the ceiling, the delicate seaweed strands hanging like chandeliers caught her attention as she became lost in thought.
She absent-mindedly moved her eyes from the ceiling to her glass-arced windows; her room was set high in the Castle, allowing her an overview of the kingdom.
"A kingdom filled with misled people," She whispers as She raises herself and moves closer to the sealed glass window, placing her forehead and hand beside each other.
She stared out at the vast and beautiful landscape; she could see warm lights shining through the windows of the dome-shaped houses and creatures swimming about freely, going about their everyday life activities, with no one dictating how they should live it.
She envied them, but there was another creature she envied most; the human creatures.
Her mother had told her numerous enchanting stories about the humans, she even promised to take her out of the ocean when she grew older to see how the humans laughed with joy and played around freely beside their water.
She'd never been allowed upshore before, and her only hope of witnessing the happy creatures was dead.
She sighed and went back to her sofa, she was about to close her eyes when she heard her door being unlocked.
Her frills stood alert, ready for another confrontation with her father, but when her door opened, it wasn't her father who entered; it was her sister, Maren.
She scoffed and turned away from her, returning to look out of her window.
"You disobeyed farther again," Maren asked, stepping into the room.
Nixxia continued to ignore her sister, staring outside her window.
"Ignoring me won't make me go away, sister, just like your problems, they wouldn't go away even if you ignored them," Maren casually swam over to Nixxia, slowly swinging her tail to keep herself floating beside her sister.
"End all these troubles and marry Valtor, Nixxia, for the kingdom and father," Maren said convincingly.
"I don't care about Father or even the kingdom," Nixxia's voice was low and serene.
"Do not say that again!" Maren scowled.
Nixxia chuckled dryly, looking up at her sister's face beside her.
"Since you're so patriotic to your kingdom, then go ahead and marry Valtor, after all, you're the rightful heir to the throne," Nixxia challenged.
"Do not speak to me in that manner!" Maren was getting angrier as she spoke.
"You can't command me!" Nixxia raged.
Maren glared at Nixxia, her grey-silver scales starting to intensify in color, indicating her anger.
"Know this, sister," Maren sawm closer to Nixxia, leaning her face closer to her.
Nixxia didn't cower; she stared at her sister head-on, showing her anger through her ever-changing color of scales.
"You will marry Valtor, at all cost!" Maren said in a low tone, then she angrily swam out and slammed Nixxia's door, the waves from the door, shaking the decorative shells on Nixxia's wall.
"In your dreams, Maren!" Nixxia cursed, using her tail to push another vase off her window seal.
She couldn't bear it anymore. All her life, she'd lived under the shadows of her brother, and she had accepted that life, enjoyed it even. Then, why did they suddenly want her in the spotlight, becoming Queen? That was never going to happen.
She had to leave...yes, she had to find a way to escape.
She was still pondering how she would escape when the reflection of the broken vase caught her attention to a marking beneath her rug-like material on the floor.
She narrowed her eyes, lowering herself to examine what the marking was all about. She gently brushed the shreds of the vase away from the floor and pulled the material away.
She was surprised to find a round-marbled lid on her floor.
What was this? A tunnel?
She frowned.
This was her room; she'd slept in this room all her life, and she'd never noticed something like this before.
But, as she stared longer at the marbled lid, an image suddenly popped into her head.
She remembered when her mother had argued with her father, her mother had pretended to be angry and told his father that she would be sleeping in her room; that same night, she had woken up at midnight just to find her mother swimming down through the hole beneath the lid.
Nixxia suddenly smiled; she remembered that her mother later returned home through the front gates, which meant that this tunnel led outside the castle.
Nixxia felt a certain kind of happiness bubbling within her.
She was finally going to be free!
She put her finger through the golden ring that was at the center of the marbled lid and pulled it...it didn't budge.
Nixxia huffed, she had underestimated the weight of the lid. She tried again, this time, using more strength.
The lid finally came off, and she noiselessly dropped it beside her on the floor.
For a second, she got scared as she stared into the pitch-black tunnel, but when she remembered what she was trying to run away from, she picked up her courage and dived right into the tunnel.
The water under the tunnel seemed cooler than the one above but that didn't deter his decision. She forged on, swimming fast but cautiously through the tunnel.
Nixxia swam for a long while, almost doubting her decision, but soon, she saw the rays of dim light dancing from underneath the tunnel ahead.
She paused, listening in to know if she'd been spotted.
"Lock him up, till the king orders his release," She suddenly heard Thallaneus' voice from below the tunnel.
She slowly swam on, and when she reached the source of the light, she peeked through the tiny barred window and discovered that she was above the castle's dungeon.
She saw the guards pushing some people into the dungeon cells through the cage-like opening.
She quickly swam ahead. Whatever they were doing wasn't her business anymore; she had to hurry before they found out that she was missing from home.
The end of the tunnel was closed. She had to push and push before she was able to open it.
She hurried out and closed it back. Looking ahead of her; she discovered that she had arrived behind the fence of the castle.
That was good; not many people came here, and the area was deserted and dim, just perfect for her escape.
She swam away, no destination in mind, but she was sure she would be far gone from this kingdom before tomorrow arrived.
She was gone, and never to return.