Taiyi's gut wrenched. She wasn't killed physically, but after her rape by Ukdah, her spirit, her innocence was killed. She was a kind of a girl who thought that people were good. She was the kind of a girl who always looked for beauty in the hearts of people and never thought anyone to be so ugly in their hearts. Being the daughter of the King of the Jade Sea, she was protected and loved.
And now that the man who was responsible for her downfall, for killing that kindled spirit in her was standing right there in front of her. She wasn't sure about Menkar and wondered if her decision was right to come to the Garduff Kingdom, but here she was. In front of the man who had taken it all away from her. Alive. "Nerio!" she breathed.
A familiar pressure built around her neck and spread so fast that it enveloped her skull promising to crush it. Her shoulders stiffened.
A low growl emitted from Alrakis who was standing right beside her. He stepped forward, his eyes promising complete annihilation, promising vengeance. Alrakis's glare darkened when he heard the name 'Nerio'.
Taiyi knew that Nerio was dead. He was declared dead by Murel. When she saw the sketch that Tania had made of Menkar, she was surprised that the old man bore similarities to Nerio, but she thought it was a figment of her imagination. She had even gone to check it herself along with King Izo to see whether Nerio was alive and whether Murel was hiding him in his kingdom, but that was a futile exercise. Though the sketch bore some similarities to Murel, but Taiyi just couldn't believe her own intuition.
But now that she was standing in front of the man responsible for all her miseries, she froze.
"You may say so," Nerio replied. He had to keep them in complete dark till the army of Garduff was alerted. He scanned the soldiers behind her and it seemed like they had encamped here. Was she leaving? His exit couldn't be at a worse time. His time was ticking and he had to take action. Soon.
Taiyi stepped towards him and dipped her chin. "You smell of... magic, Nerio," she said in a low voice. "Why do I feel that you are speaking lies?" Her eyes went to his saddlebag and his ride, the seahorse.
"You were just as delusional as earlier," he hissed, growing impatient. "You rejected me and look what you got. A bloody dog!"
"Rejecting you was the best thing I ever did," Taiyi shot back. "You always had an overinflated ego. You were nothing but a merman with a stamp of royalty. All you were interested in was attaining power and becoming the king one day. You couldn't accept the fact that I rejected you and so you threw me in the hands of the demon king, Ukdah!"
Nerio let out another laugh. "You deserved it, whore!"
With a raging yell, Alrakis threw his spear in his direction, but Nerio ducked, missing it narrowly. He laughed again, "Look, your dog is provoked!" Something inside him cracked and a sharp pain shot across his shoulders. The effect of magic was wearing down. A streak of white hair appeared in his beard. "Now if I were you, I would make way and let me go unless--" He was getting too impatient to leave.
"Unless?" Taiyi growled.
"Unless you want to be responsible for the death of so many soldiers," he said in a heated voice, looking at the men behind her. They were armed to the teeth. So these were the mermen he encountered when he was coming here? His hand went to his saddlebag to his stash of explosives. He didn't know why, but he had kept a few of these before he started his journey.