Chapter 23

"The palace?!" Aiden exclaimed. 

"Shh!" Aurelia placed one finger over her lips, reminding him to stay quiet. 

Aiden lowered his voice and continued to question her. "I thought you said the palace was dangerous!"

"It is." She said.

"And that we should stay away from it at all costs!"

"That is true. But we have no choice." 

His eyes glanced around the library as he thought. Going into this, he had thought they would just be in and out. Or that was what he had hoped for. But he should have known that it would not be that simple or easy. Nothing ever was. 

They were lucky enough to not have any encounters with a siren so far. If they were to go into the palace, their chances of not being seen would be slim. But as she said, they did not have another choice. He was here to see this through. He was not going to stop halfway and turn back now. 

"Alright." He said, turning back to her. "We will just be in and out, yes?"

"That's correct." She nodded. 

"Then let's make this quick." He said as they both made their way out of the library. Aurelia swam out first to check if the coast was clear. When she was certain that no one was there, she gestured for Aiden to follow her. 

Sticking to the darker patches of water and areas with more coral and other things to hide behind, they slowly and carefully made their way towards the palace. Aiden was surprised by how vacant the kingdom was. He would have expected it to be crawling with sirens. But somehow the place being empty seemed even more eerie than it would have been with them.

As they approached the palace, they had to hide as a guard swam by. When she was gone, Aurelia grabbed Aiden's hand, giving a look that told him to be careful. "Follow my lead and don't make a sound." She said before leading him into the large, imposing building. 

He did as she said, stopping whenever she did and doing his best to not make a single sound. As they made their way through the watery halls, he could not help but stare in awe at everything around him. The palace truly was a magnificent spectacle. He had thought it looked eerily beautiful on the outside, but it was even more so within. 

The walls all shimmered with deep-colored stones. Part of the walls looked like they were made of sea glass but when he tried to peer through it, he found that it was completely opaque. 

The floor shimmered just as much as the walls and was made up of pure black onyx. It was so shiny and clear that he could somewhat see his reflection in it. He could also see the reflection of the soft blue lights that hung from the high ceiling. 

Never before had Aiden seen anything so magnificent. But with all its beauty, it also emanated an intimidating air. It felt like the walls themselves were watching his every move. Like the palace knew he was an outsider and rejected his presence, ready to strike and remove him at a seconds notice. 

If it were just him, he would have been tempted to turn back. He knew he did not belong or was welcome there. But it did not seem that way with Aurelia.

She seemed to fit right in, like she had swam through these halls thousands of times. The way she led him through the palace reminded him of when he snuck out of his own castle. Only this time it was the reverse. 

Aiden was impressed with how well Aurelia seemed to know her way around the palace. She was somehow able to avoid all of the guard's posts and knew to hide before any of them passed by. He began to wonder if she had done this before. 

When they entered a large room with towering rows of tomes, Aurelia let go of his hand. "Stay quiet. I shouldn't take long." She told him. As she swam further into the room to look for the book, he looked around. 

He had thought that the library was impressive but it paled in comparison to the royal collection kept at the palace. All of the books had covers encrusted with gold or rubies and were titled with fancy lettering he could not read. Instead of shelves there were dozens of large, spirling pillars that each held hundreds of books. Though the library was much bigger and held more books than the selection here, he could tell that the quality of these books outshined all of the others. 

"Do you need help looking?" Aiden asked as he swam over to Aurelia. 

"I got it. I know I saw it somewhere." She muttered the last part under her breath. 

"So, are all sirens allowed to come and go through the palace?" He asked her, wanting to know more about the sirens and their kingdom.

She shook her head. "Only with a few exceptions."

"How do you know your way around here so well?"

Aurelia was quiet for a few seconds. She was just about to open her mouth to say something when the sudden sound of the door to the library opening stopped her. Both of their eyes grew wide as she quietly whispered, "Hide!"