Chapter 59: He Had Been Planning This

Queen Nerida was a born ruler. Unfortunately, she had also been born female. The throne in the kingdom of her birth went to her younger cousin solely because he was a merman though she had been the merking's daughter. She had never gotten over the injustice. 

She tried to deal with it as best she could when she had gotten married off to the crown prince of a different kingdom. She had personally ensured that he became king so she could be queen by luring sharks to attack the former merking. 

No one ever figured it out and Nerida felt powerful. She might not be the ruler but she was still the most powerful mermaid here. 

But good things aren't meant to last. After more than a century of not giving birth concubines were brought in. One of them gave birth to a prince before she could and she was furious because her role as merqueen wouldn't be secure if a concubine's son sat on the throne. 

She needed her own son to be on the throne but didn't give birth to one for another two centuries. It took several decades before another prince was born to a different concubine but she was less worried because that one was younger than her Merrick. 

The first prince had to go. He had lessons with his younger half-brothers and she took that as the perfect opportunity to get rid of him. All that had to be done was slipping poison in his food. Merrick could do that easily and no one would know what had happened because they wouldn't suspect a child. 

Nerida thought all of her problems were solved then because the third prince turned out to be a useless idiot completely unworthy of competing with the newly appointed crown prince for the throne. But Zale's mother Nahla just had to go and give birth to a second child.

She was the only concubine to do so and that was bad. The merking could change who the queen was at any time depending on who he favored. If he thought that she was more capable of producing children than Nerida and decided to change things…

No! She couldn't let that happen. Not after all she had done to get here. 

To have the life she wanted, she needed to either be the merqueen or the mother of the merking. Nahla had to go too. 

Accusing her of trying to bring harm to the crown prince was child's play. She was executed for treason before she could even defend herself. Who cared about the children of a traitor? They were barely allowed to retain their royal status because of the scarcity of fae children. 

Zale was dumber than a rock and Talori (who had been crazy anyway) had been killed by sharks. Pinning the aging merking's murder on Zale would be just as simple as framing his mother had been. Then all of Nerida's worries would be behind her for good. 

She would be able to banish the concubines she had been competing with and rule over her son's harem and whisper in his ear as his most trusted advisor. Nothing would be able to stop her at that point.

Nerida didn't trust any servants to do this for her. She was going to poison Ren herself. The old shark had outlived his usefulness but he trusted her. He wouldn't even see it coming. 

First she had to put on a show. Talking about a gift Zale supposedly sent within earshot of the servants and royal guards would absolve her of suspicion. 

Since Zale was so obsessed with fashion she had obtained a necklace with a live marbled cone snail on it. They were quite toxic so the moment the merking put it on the creature living inside the shell would attack from being handled. 

Nerida had been very careful the entire time she prepared this necklace so she wouldn't be struck herself. All she had to do was secure it around Ren's neck and he would be as good as dead. 

"Hello, my love," she greeted as the royal guards let her into the throne room. "I come bearing a present from the third prince. He prepared this necklace himself."

"Oh, did he?" Ren asked boredly. "It looks much better than that ridiculous stuff he has been parading around lately made of surface items. That has caused me a fair amount of trouble with the nobles. They're concerned about how much is ending up in the coral reef but that isn't any of our business."

"Of course it isn't. It is far better to use the ocean's natural resources anyway. The jewelry is far more natural-looking that way. Allow me."

She swam over and placed the necklace on him before smiling to herself. The creature would strike any moment now and it would be far too late for Ren to do anything. Merrick would become the merking and all would be right in the world.

Nerida saw the exact moment the snail struck. Ren seized and flopped off of the throne. She screamed and put on her best distressed act. 

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"Help! Help! There is something wrong with His Majesty!" 

The guards at the door rushed into the room and one of them immediately sent the other off to fetch a doctor. She continued shrieking about what happened to the merking and put on a rather convincing performance, if she did say so herself. This was one of her specialties. It had gotten her this far. 

The doctor realized the merking had been poisoned by the snail when he arrived and the guards went to arrest Zale because they thought he had delivered the present. It would all be over soon. 

What Nerida didn't expect was that Zale would be smiling and in a not-at-all-idiotic way when he arrived with his wrists bound. It was rather sinister. 

"So this is how you finally decided to get rid of me, huh? Not your best work, Nerida."

She was outraged that he dared address her without her title since she outranked him. That barely overshadowed her realization that he wasn't speaking in his usual tone at all and that he had immediately realized what she was up to. 

"How dare you address me this way?"

"There's nothing I wouldn't do when it comes to you, really," Zale said with a hard laugh. "Do you really think anyone is going to buy that I did this? That's a marbled cone snail. Even if I had been stupid enough to pick one up and try to make jewelry out of it, I wouldn't have known what it was and would have been poisoned myself. Whoever did this had to have handled it with utmost care."

Nerida's heart stopped. She hadn't thought of that. How had she not thought of that?! More importantly, how HAD Zale thought of it? He was the biggest idiot in the ocean!

Or…she thought he was. There was something different about him now compared to usual. His tone, his expression, even the way he carried himself. It was far more regal and far more intelligent. 

Zale had been stupid since he was a child. There was no way it had all been an act, could it? Who had the patience for that sort of long con?

"He has a point," the doctor said slowly. "This was no accident."

"What reason would I have to poison the merking on purpose? I'm not even next in line for the throne. Merrick is. This benefits him far more than it benefits me. And no one even saw me with the necklace. They only have your word to go off of that I had anything to do with it. 

"Funny, isn't it? That's exactly how it was with Hiro and my mother as well. Isn't it too much of a coincidence, Nerida, that all of poisoning or attempted poisoning cases in this palace had only your word to go off of?" Zale asked. 

Nerida's blood ran cold. He had known the whole time. That was why he acted the fool. To get the target off of his back so he wouldn't go the same way. Why had she never considered that?!

One of the royal guards frowned. "Another good point. That is too much of a coincidence to ignore." 

"Nerida didn't have access to poor Hiro though. I've always thought she had Merrick do it since the three of us studied together. It would have been far easier and no one would have suspected a child," Zale added thoughtfully before shooting her a brief triumphant look. 

He had been planning this. How had he been planning this? Had someone ratted her out or was he able to think quickly on the spot?

Nerida's only defense at this point was her title. "Gentlemen, please! You can't seriously believe what this traitor has to say over your own merqueen, can you?"

"I'm afraid what Prince Zale says makes sense, Your Majesty. Do you have any proof you weren't involved in this? You were the one to put the necklace on the late merking, may he rest in peace," another guard said. 

"I…this is preposterous! What proof do I need to offer? I am the merqueen! My word is absolute!" 

"It really isn't," Zale said with a wicked grin. "I have proof not only that I have been in my palace without leaving for days but also that you were planning to poison someone and blame it on me.. I have an eyewitness who overheard you talking to Merrick. What do you have?"

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