Ariana did her best to ignore the odd look the guard was giving her but her increasing feeling of discomfort made this rather difficult. It made it rather difficult to listen to Eliza who thankfully was too caught up in whatever she was rambling about to take notice of her uninterested audience.

The poor thing was rather confused when the distant sound of talking stopped and she realised that she was alone. Looking closely, she could see the distant figure of Eliza and realised how deeply she must have been thinking about the desperate situation. Hoping Eliza had not taken offence, she went back to worrying.

As she was already studying the room, Ariana looked once again to the guard who, much to her continuing discomfort was still giving her that look. A mixture of amusement and possible dark humour hinted that they seemed to share a joke that only he knew of.

The discomfort grew as he left his post to approach her. His whole persona made her nervous. It seemed that only Clay was able to have the horrid smell and not repulse her.

Subtle cringing was obviously not a clear sign for him as he spoke, saying, "you were rather quick weren't you?"

She tilted in her head, showing her confusion with no words. He chuckled and continued, "I guess you must have had other things on your mind when we met before. I was posted outside of Prince Eric's room earlier tonight. Do you not remember? I let you in. You were dressed rather, well, I'll will just say dressed for a clear purpose."

Her conclusion was that he was obviously mad. She laughed nervously as she edged away. "Yes it has been quite a night. Now if you will excuse me-"

He did not like her disinterest. "Just another royal whore," he muttered, loud enough for her to hear.

She spun around, enflamed with rage. "How dare you," she said which was only answered with dark laughter.

"Well I am not the one who was seen entering the Prince's room earlier in the dark hours of the night."

"What?" she sputtered but paused as her mind began to spin with the possibility. "Are you saying that you saw me with Eric on this night."

He sighed, "a whore with no brains. How original. For the final time, yes."

She did not wait for his next pointless insult as the she ran as fast as those pathetic legs could muster. Cursing herself, she realised how foolish it had been to assume Christobelle had simply accepted her sister's lack of plan and left in anger. Ignoring her aching side and burning throat, she ran on. "Curse these damn legs," she panted at the countlessly long winding staircase. Many a person gave her an odd confused look that she ignored. She must have looked a sight but she did not care thanks to the realisation of her sister's plan. A plan of murder.

The room had never seemed so far as countless corridors did nothing but give her more time to imagine the terrible acts her sister would be performing. Or to imagine the state in which she would find the man she loved. Knowing her sister, he would be alive but in unimaginable agony and begging for death.

Finally that familiar corridor came into sight and she continued to run. Bursting open the door, Ariana leapt at her sister and both went crashing to the floor. The elder mermaid was dazed from the hard impact that the stone floor had on her head and the other took advantage to desperately check Eric. He seemed unscathed but horribly pale. Putting her head as close to him as she dared, she listened closely for sounds of breathing.

A crash of water suddenly collided with her, sending her flying into the wall at great speed. Desperately scrambling to stand, she found herself trapped behind a wall made of nothing but liquid. Sight was the only thing that could escape as the water formed a solid barrier.

All she could do was watch as Christobelle stumbled to her feet with a dark look on her face.

"Please," Ariana called out. No other words seemed possible. It made no impact on her sister who strode towards Eric.

Ariana knew what she would have to do to save him. And that was to destroy him herself.

"A week! Just give me a week and I swear that I will get you the key!"

The pause showed that her words had at least been heard and were being considered. "You may want to kill him now, but you still want the power source. And I can get that. All I ask for is one week."

Anyone could see the internal struggle occurring in the other mermaid. Behind the beautiful exterior she was a cold-hearted maniac who wanted nothing more than to rip apart the pathetic human who dared steal away her baby sister. But there could be time for that later, as merfolk took back the land and finally had their revenge.

Merfolk are held by their words. There would be no escape. "And if you fail?" Christobelle asked simply.

Pausing for courage, Ariana whispered, "then I kill him myself."

The wall around her exploded as water shot around every corner of the chamber. When every last droplet settled, there was no trace of the elder mermaid.

An eerie peace returned as the immediate threat fled.

The impending threat however was only just beginning as the burst of water broke Eric from the magic sleep that held him.

He had no time to be confused as he sputtered past the sudden cold. Ariana had blankets ready in an instant and was by his side, assuring him of safety.

Leaping away, he drew his sword at an a amazing pace and had it close to her throat. "How do I know that it's really you?"

She remained calm. After all, this was far from the worst danger she had been in that night. "The first day we meet, you bought me shoes. I made you wear woman's shoes." With that embarrassing fact, he sunk down in relief.

"You wouldn't tell anyone that would you?" he asked nervously.

She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder, hoping that the water protect him as well as silencing him from questions.

This could only work for so long as he slowly asked, "so I probably don't want to know, but why has my chambers been saturated after I was attacked by your sister while she was the spitting image of you?"

Pausing to desperately think of a lie went longer than she expected. It was a rather difficult case to explain after all. "I told you my family was mad," she said with a false smile and he knew better than to question.

"But she is gone now?" he said cautiously, still slightly on edge. She just nodded. "But you are not?" he continued, trying to hide the happiness at this statement. She nodded again.

He put his arm around her happily. This only added to her guilt as she remembered her deadline.

Whatever happened next, she knew that this happiness would soon be gone.

But pain, there would be plenty of.