Trap!

"Kiara, leave us alone." Xobaria's voice startled him out of their chatting session and both of them fell silent hoping that Xobaria haven't heard what they were discussing. Who knew for how long she was standing there.

"Yes mother," Kiara slipped out of the waters instantly upon the command and jumped out of the window just like she came in, earning a sigh from Xobaria who mumbled something under her breath afterwards.

She has never liked the I'll-mannered tactics of this girl. Zelda had done a poor job in bringing her offspring up by letting her do whatever she wanted. Another reason for Xobaria's dislike was that Kiara reminded her of her past, her younger self, bold and unfazed.

Aurora's hair was braided and now she was securing them with a dried stem, pretending to be busy and not look at Xobaria. Carefully, Xobaria approached her side and instead of getting into the water with her like always she just stood at a little distance from it. Ever since Xobaria's last talk about humans and what Xobaria wanted her to do, although Aurora agreed to it, she had been acting strained towards her despite the fact that she was silently getting trained for the role she was supposed to perform.

She didn't know how her mother thought that a man would step on their lands and would want to marry her but it had been many months since she had started getting trained how to act around him and how to seduce him to get what she wanted.

But she didn't want anything.

It was Xobaria who wanted something and she had no idea what it as. All she knew was that she was being sacrificed to those monsters. Mother Xobaria never let a man step on her island, never let them touch any of her women, trained all of them to grow up hating men but now she was sending her off to one. Didn't she love her? Was she so worthless to be made a bait for a human man?

'It must be because of my boring, lifeless looking scales that don't attract anyone. It could also be because I can't grow any valuable gems over them and haven't even shed my scales once. Maybe I am not capable of producing the gold dust. Mother must have been disappointed because of my appearance and lack of service.' She had started thinking that way for quite some time now even though Kiara tried her best to make her believe that her scales were unique and beautiful in their own way. She also kept telling her that one day she will surely shed her scales and produce the gold dust. She might just not have reached her adolescence stage yet but both of them knew it was wrong. She had long passed her adolescence phase.

"I am sure you must have behaved well around the man, like we taught you." Xobaria observed her carefully, trying to smell if there was any smoke of rebellion starting to rise off her but seemingly there was none. She just appeared…sad.

"Y-yes mother," she stuttered remembering what she had told the man about being hungry for his heart just moments ago. She couldn't keep her calm for just a little while. How will she stand his existence in the long run?

That attitude and the statements that have been exchanged between them a while ago weren't a well-behaved scenario but he deserved it. However, she had been taught that no matter how the man would behave, she needed to keep her guards up and her act sturdy but had failed in the first attempt. She obviously couldn't tell that to her mother though. She can surely make up for what had been done later on.

"Good, we expect you to never disappoint us.'' She placed her hand on Aurora's head and patted it slightly when she still refused to look at her. "If you think we will leave you alone in their custody then you are wrong. We just need to fool them and play around a little until we get what we want and then we will take you back."

That was when Aurora finally turned her head and looked up at her mother, her eyes glistening with a new hope. "So I wouldn't have to stay married to him forever? You will bring me back?"

"Yes obviously, you are our blood, we will surely reclaim you back but right now we can't trust anyone else beside you." Xobaria's tone was firm and that gave Aurora a little peace of mind. So her mother loved her. It was just that she trusted her the most with an important task. Her little chest boasted with a sense of pride and the burden that was settling over it earlier started vanishing gradually.

"I love you, mama. I will do anything for you.'' She swam up a little and hugged Xobaria's lower half. There was something on Xobaria's face that Aurora couldn't see whilst she patted her head once again.

"Alright, now finish bathing and get ready for your singing class. Your notes are still lagging and we have little time left on our hands." With that being said, she left Aurora alone in the room.

Now the little girl was humming and bathing happily as she hurriedly followed Xobaria's instructions.

Poor girl had no idea what trap was waiting for her…