The First Vow:

I vow that I will be obedient to my closest male relative. If I am married, it will be my husband. If I am not, then my keeper shall be my father. If I am orphaned, then I shall do as my oldest brother commands. If I have no family, then I will be appointed a Priest to be my guardian. The Priest will act as a father and even though he may not be my blood, I will obey him without question as though he were.

~Sons of the Pure Holy Text.

We all jump back into the water. The water immediately fills my lungs again. It isn't as horrible as the first time, but the first few breaths are uncomfortable. I guess I have The Gift after all. I'm glad it finally decided to show up. Nianzu transforms into a large water beast. I grab onto his fin as he drags pulls me along after the King and Queen. I cannot swim even close to the speed that they can. We go back to the main cavern. The Red Guard who came with us wait nervously, still secured by the Mer. Upon our entrance, the room stills again to look at us.

"The deal has been made!" Queen Seraphina shouts. The room erupts into celebration. It is really weird, however. Not actually hearing the sounds of cheering and applauding. The Mer let go of the Red Guard who immediately swim toward me. Unlike the Mer and Sirens, we don't have the ability to communicate in our minds. So I just get concerned looks and odd hand signals. I nod my head and try and tell them I am alright. Prince Zoran swims up to me, his golden scales glistening.

"So what is your odd friend?" He asks. I look at Nianzu and laugh.

"Nianzu?" I ask. "Would you like to explain to the Mer Prince?" He lets out a low huff, still sulking about being caught. "My friend is a Demi-God. The Son of the Goddess of Beasts and a human. He can transform his body into any creature she created," I tell the Prince. He nods impressed.

"That explains why you weren't an easy catch," he chuckles. Nianzu chuckles in my mind. Happy that he put up a fight.

"We should go back up to the surface and talk with the Centaurs about our plan," I tell the prince. He nods his head. 

I crawl out of the water onto the banks where I was caught by the robed people earlier in the day. Water forces its way out of my mouth so I can breathe the air again. The Red Guard are all doing the same. It isn't a nice feeling. Pretty much throwing up the cold water of the lake. I turn around so I am on my back and lie panting. I sit up slowly and ring out my hair as some of the Mer begin to crawl out of the lake too. They also cough up water as they drag their tailed bodies out. We watch in awe as their bodies change. Their tails turn to strong legs, yet the scales don't completely disappear. They still decorate their bodies in various places and patterns. Creating a bodysuit of sorts. The sun makes them glitter as they walk out of the water. I look over to Wyatt. He has a smirk on his face as he eyes up the Mer Prince.

"Oh stop it," I say to him as I throw a pebble at his body. Wyatt grins at me and winks. I roll my eyes and chuckle. "I can't take you anywhere," I sigh. Though I can see why Wyatt eyes up Prince Zoran. He is beautiful. He is very muscular and his dark skin smooth. Also, the mixture of the sun shining on his wet skin and golden scales makes him almost seem to glow. His wet brown hair hangs down his back and a smirk plays across his features. He is taller than I thought he would be. He towers above me and most of the others. The Red Guard come rushing over to me.

"Princess, thank fuck you're alive," Merissa says. I smile and give her a hug.

"I've missed you," I say to her and all the other Red Guard. This group were my best friends growing up. I spent so many hours every day training with them. I grew up with them. As the Queen's trial got ever closer and we got older, my father slowly separated us from each other. Especially from the boys. Wyatt slaps me on the back, hard. I wince and curse at him. "Fuck you, Wyatt," I mutter before he lifts me up and squashes me into a big hug. I hug him back, burying my head in his neck. I almost begin to cry and I squeeze him tighter. I hold the tears back.

"I'm so glad you're alive," he finally says. I chuckle.

"Yeah, me too," I reply. 

"We thought we were going to lose you in the Trial," he tells me.

"So you didn't think I'd win then?" I ask. "Thanks for believing in me," I chuckle. He sighs.

"We thought you could win," he replies. "But we knew you would rather save one of your sisters," he replies and I close my eyes, hugging him that little bit tighter. "We never thought..." he continues.

"We never that we'd be with you like this again," Merissa continues as Wyatt finally puts me down. I look at the group of Red Guard. They are all children of the streets. Brought to the Castle at a very young age to train with the best. Found when Councilman Drake saw something he liked. However, out of the hundreds of children that were trained, it was only a few that were good enough to get into the Red Guard. Of course, my father wanted me to train alongside the best. My life was on the line after all.

"Yeah, I hate to break up this reunion, but we may have a problem," I turn to Nianzu who looks at the woods with a frown.

Adam, the centaur leader walks out followed by many others.

"Don't worry, he's with me," I say to Nianzu as I walk over to him.

"So you have the three you need?" he asks with a grin. The King and Queen appear next to us as Adam walks over.

"I do," I smile as it sinks in. "I've done it," I grin. The grin falls from my face and I close my eyes, letting out a long sigh. "It isn't enough though..." I say. Plus I have to free a centaur slave mine before they will actually help me. "We need the Lupine," I tell them.

Zoran snorts. "Good luck with that," he tells me.

"Yeah, I agree with him," Wyatt says. "The Lupine are stubborn fucks," he tells me as he crosses his arms. The Mer prince looks at him with narrowed eyes. Wyatt is half Lupine. Meaning he is almost the size both in height and muscle as the Mer Prince.

"Wyatt," I sigh. "Can't you try and be more helpful?" I ask.

"What it's true. If you had grown up with my mother, you'd say the exact same thing," he shrugs.

"Err," I begin.

"You grew up with us dipshit. Wait. Wasn't your mother human?" Merissa says as she whacks the back of his head.

"Well, yeah..." he begins. "But she told me stories about my father before she shipped me off to the castle," he sulks. I groan.

"Well, we can't do this without them," I snap, quieting everyone. "Look, everyone get some rest and set up a secure camp. We'll figure out our next steps over dinner. Nianzu, we need to have a little chat," I tell him. He nods his head. The two of us walk away from the others and sit down on a log. We speak in our minds and I tell him everything that happened from when he left me to look for the Mer and up to when I got him back. It seems that as the two of us have grown closer, the need for a Nianzu to be in his animal form in order to communicate through our minds is no longer necessary and we can do it almost whenever.

"I'm glad you're alive," he says and holds his arm out. I lean into his side as he wraps his arm around me.

"Yeah, I'm glad you're alive too," I chuckle looking up at him.

"You know, I don't think I'm going to like it not being the two of us anymore. Everyone here just stares at me," he sighs.

"Well they are going to have to get used to you," I tell him. He smiles and we sit in silence for a few moments.

"Nianzu," I begin. "I need you to do something for me," I begin. He narrows his eyes.

"What?" he asks.

"I am safe here, surrounded by a centaur army, plus the Red Guard, plus the Sirens and Mer." He lets out a long groan.

"You want me to leave and hide that damn book, don't you," he growls. I nod my head. He doesn't say anything. He just stares out at the lake. I nudge him.

"I trust them," I say.

"Then why can't you get one of them to take the stupid book?" he asks.

"Because none of them can fly," I remind him. He huffs.

"Look. We'll set up camp here for a week or so and figure out our next plans. It will be secure and the Centaurs and Red Guard will lead my father's men away from us. Whilst we do that, I need you to take the book away and hide it. I promise I will not leave here until you are back. I can't do this without you," I tell him. He nods his head.

"Very well. As long as I come back to you still being here and not having left without me. I can't be abandoned again..."

"Nianzu. I am never going to abandon you. You are my friend and I am always loyal to my friends," I tell him. He nods his head. "You are a part of my family now. You aren't going to escape it that easily," I chuckle as I nudge his arm. He smiles softly as we look back to where a camp is being made. Wyatt, as usual, is causing trouble. He has picked up Marissa and is now throwing her in the lake. I laugh and roll my eyes.

"They are different to how I imagined them," he replies. "They aren't as scary as I thought."

"Trust me, you do not want to get on their bad side. They may be carefree now, but there is a reason they are in the best elite force my father has to offer," I warn him. He shrugs. "Not every Red Guard member is like them. The ones loyal to my father are much crueller," I say as a memory flashes in my mind. Nianzu must see part of it because he holds me a little tighter.

We stay silent a little longer before he finally stands.

"If you really want me to do this, I had better be off. Where do you want me to hide it?" he asks. I tell him a rough location and he nods his head.

"Risky," he says. I nod my head.

"Yep. Just make sure there is no way of it being found by anyone but me," I tell him. He nods his head. We stand up and look at each other.

"It will take a while to fly there. I'll probably be back in just over a week," he tells me.

"It's only a week," I reply optimistically.

"A lot can happen in a week," he says with a dark expression. I gulp and wrap my arms around him.

"Just make sure you come back. That's an order," I tell him. He wraps his arms around me.

"Yes, my Queen," he replies. We stay like that for a few moments before we let go. He nods at me and smirks. 

"Are they all watching?" He asks. I roll my eyes.

"They've been watching us since we started talking," I tell him. He grins and begins to change into his dragon form. He lets out a roar and stretches his wings. As he begins to take off, the force of his wings forces me back a few steps. I shake my head.

"Show off," I chuckle. He laughs in my head before lifting off the ground and begins to fly off.

I watch as he disappears behind the clouds. I know that as soon as he is out of sight of the others, he'll transform into an animal much more appropriate and less obvious. I sigh slowly as jump as I feel a slap on my back. Wyatt stands behind me.

"That was pretty cool," he says. "Have you ridden him yet?" he asks. I slap his shoulder.

"Don't be so crude," I chuckle as we begin to walk back to the camp.

"What, I just want to know if he's available," he tells me. I groan.

"I thought you were eyeing up Prince Zoran," I tell him. He shrugs. I just laugh and shake my head.

"Come on. We have work to do," I tell him.