victims for the temple, one branded slaves for the sea plantations, one branded workers for the underwater mines. All those branded were doomed.
“People are treated like cattle here,” Desmond said noisily.
“Do you think a captured pirate would be treated more gently on the surface?” Merediana arched her purple eyebrows haughtily. What a beauty she was! Desmond’s heart sank at the sight of her riding a huge seahorse. The curvature on its back was as if it had been specially adapted as a saddle for a mermaid. Merediana curled her tail into a ring and pulled on the reins.
Was she really going to leave? Wouldn’t she want to make the captured pirate her personal slave? Desmond had never encountered such pronounced female indifference before. If only a mermaid could be called a woman.
The branding had indeed turned out to be magical. While the tentacles of the octopus overseers held the young man tightly, Dor tried to cauterize his forehead with the brand, but nothing worked. The brand hissed and dug into Desmond’s skin, but it couldn’t make a mark on him.
“Was he enchanted?” Dor scratched the back of his head with a long tentacle.
“You just don’t know how to do anything, you assholes!” Merediana was angry.
The overseers were afraid of her anger. She must have whipped them more than once herself. By the way, the whip, made of a live sea serpent, looked great in her hand. It coiled around Merediana’s wrist like a bracelet, then it hissed, wriggling in her palm.
And a mermaid like that wants to dump him as a slave on a plantation instead of keeping him for her. Her slave he’d be more willing to be. Desmond could not understand himself. He had never wanted to be anyone’s slave until now, and now the mermaid had waved her purple tail in front of him and made his head spin. Earthly beauties are far from her.
Merediana tightened the reins of seaweed and made the skate swim closer.
“It’s done like this!” Merediana ripped open the shirt on her captive’s chest and placed her hand where his heart should have been beating. Her claws and webbing were suddenly red-hot. Desmond felt his skin burn. A large burn spread across his chest, the mark of a mermaid’s palm.
Oh, my God! Merediana had branded her mark on him. Well, maybe she’ll take him with her after all. The sea queen’s look was unyielding. It’s obvious she wants to punish him for kidnapping an eminent person.
“Let him work hard. Don’t let him chill,” she told Dor.
The monster bowed courteously.
“If I find out you didn’t treat him too harshly…” Merediana squinted, her eyes turning into two red slits. Desmond felt dizzy.
“And if my sisters want him, don’t give him to them. Everyone knows their sympathy for beautiful earthlings.”
Merediana’s character turned out to be very unhealthy. How could such a beautiful woman be so mean! If only he had been warned that the Princess of the Sea was such a nuisance!
“If you want to be my master, you’ll be my slave!” She turned to Desmond.
Desmond laughed.
“Do you think it is fun?”
“All the aristocrats and courtesans and earthly princesses told me that in a streamlined form. Only the mermaid said it directly. You’re honest, but impractical. I’m not a galley slave, I’m not shackled. I can swim back to the surface.”
Not so. Her magical power made him kneel on the sea bottom.
“I could sell you as a galley slave, too, and threaten the captain that I’ll send a storm every time you’re treated too gently.”
“You’re better than the princesses of Earth! They didn’t think of that, just threatened me with war if I didn’t marry them.”
“What do they care about a pirate?”
Desmond wanted to argue that he wasn’t a pirate, or at least he hadn’t always been a pirate, but decided not to say anything. It was better that the mermaid didn’t know that. Or else she would decide to sell him to his family for a large ransom or blackmail the king with such a prisoner. She can’t read minds, apparently. Or can she? Her eyes are too perceptive.
And he thinks she’s better than the princesses of Earth. All princesses are the same bore, Earth or sea.
“Oh, I have forgotten,” Merediana slipped her hand under his arm and pulled out a shining scroll. “You’ve broken a maritime treaty, and even though you have a favorable contract, you’re still liable.”
The glittering scroll stretched into a ribbon in her hands, and the ribbon wrapped around the captive’s wrists and ankles.
“It is so much for shackles!” The mermaid snarled.
The shimmering scroll was indeed able to change its shape and transformed into a kind of shackles. You can’t run far in these shackles. They glow brightly underwater, attracting unnecessary attention.
“He’s shackled like a privileged hostage,” Dor squinted suspiciously.
“It’s only until the trial. Make sure he doesn’t try to escape before the sea king judges him. I’ll try to arrange with my father for the trial to take place as soon as possible.”
“And what happens after the trial?” Desmond felt suddenly unable to speak. Only gurgling bubbles came out of his mouth. Merediana smiled slyly. She must have blocked his speech with her magic.
“Slaves are supposed to be silent,” she said, her crowned head held high and proud. Her purple curls fluttered in the water like a storm.
Desmond stared at her dumbfounded. Would he never see her again? It was unlikely that she would personally appear at the trial. Most likely, the sea king himself and all the underwater executioners would torture and execute him. But Merediana will report to her father and ask that the kidnapper be dealt with severely.
“You will probably meet your former friends and enemies on the plantations. Many pirates and sailors end up here.” Merediana nodded at the shabby shadows bent on the seaweed plantations. They themselves no longer resembled workers, but slouching water monsters. Were they all former pirates and current slaves of the sea kingdom?
An incredibly beautiful newt swam up to Desmond and gave him a stern look.
“Should we sacrifice him to Darunon’s followers right away so that he wouldn’t further annoy your highness?” The triton nodded at the temple behind the plantations, with huge tentacles wrapped around its pillars.
It must have been the temple where Darunon’s so-called followers dwelt. Desmond had heard somewhere that Darunon was a terrifying sea god. His followers were probably monsters, too.
“It is not now, Laor,” Merediana, who was about to leave, turned the seahorse around and looked at the newt in surprise.
“Why aren’t you at the ceremony at the palace? You were supposed to help there.”
Laor tucked the blue strands of hair behind his
