Betrayed and Sacrificed, I Became the Sea God's Only One

Aqulona, the ancient merfolk city, was unnaturally silent.

To appease the Sea God's wrath, the Seren family had to offer up a princess. The oracle could not be defied.

My father, Steven Seren, reached expressionlessly into the great bowl filled with marked stones.

I could barely breathe.

I was terrified of hearing my own name, yet at the same time, I knew with sick certainty that if it wasn't me, it would be my younger sister.

"Lia." My father's voice rang out. "The one chosen by the gods for sacrifice is Lia Seren."

A wave of muffled gasps broke out in the crowd.

I whipped my head around and looked at my little sister standing not far beside me.

All color drained from Lia's face, and she let out a desperate, heartbroken scream.

My whole body jolted, and I instinctively swam toward her. "Lia..."

Boom!

Before I could even touch her fingertips, a tidal wave tore through the barrier around the square. The force of the water snapped the surrounding stone pillars in half at the waist. The giant bowl was overturned by the current, and the marked stones were swept into the deep sea and crushed to dust.

I struggled to steady myself and finally saw the figure commanding the water.

It was Kyle Drake.

The sole heir of the Sea Dragon clan, and also... the man I had privately pledged my life to.

The moment I saw his familiar face, the tension in my body instantly gave way.

Just last night, he had kissed my forehead so gently and promised he would use the Drake family's influence to keep me safe from this sacrifice.

"This drawing doesn't count!" Kyle's voice rang across the square.

I looked at him with the dizzy relief of someone who had barely escaped disaster, only to realize his gaze had passed right over me and landed on the softly sobbing Lia.

"Lia is my future wife," Kyle declared. "The Drake family will never allow its future matriarch to be sent into the abyss to feed that monster."

Kyle swam to Lia's side, his broad shoulders shielding her shimmering golden tail behind him. Then he turned to look at me.

"For the peace of the tribe, the sacrifice cannot be stopped." Kyle's voice was cold and flat. "Since Lia can't go, Ella will take her place. The Sea God only requires a Seren princess. He doesn't care which one."

I stared at him in disbelief. "Kyle, what are you talking about?" I pointed at the necklace around my neck, made from one of his sea-dragon scales. "Yesterday, you said—"

"Shut up, Ella." Kyle cut me off impatiently. "Lia has always been delicate. She's the most precious jewel in all our seas. And you? Just look at that dull tail of yours. Other than obedience, what value do you even have to this family?"

My stomach lurched violently.

The childhood sweetheart I believed in, the soulmate I thought I had—because I didn't have dazzling beauty or anything he could show off, he could so easily push me toward the tyrant who would tear me to pieces?

"I won't accept this!" I straightened up abruptly and glared at the two of them clinging to each other. "If the marked stones are gone, then bring out another bowl and draw again! Let fate decide for itself—not some sanctimonious fraud from the Sea Dragon clan!"

Smack!

The slap cracked hard across my face, and the force sent me crashing into the reef. The taste of blood flooded my mouth at once.

I wiped the blood from the corner of my lips and looked up, only to see my father glaring at me with fury and disappointment.

"You vicious, heartless woman!" My father's voice shook with rage. "Lia is your own sister! She's been afraid of pain ever since she was little. How can you stand there and watch her be sent to her death? Do you have no compassion at all?"

"She's afraid of pain, so what? Getting swallowed by the Sea God doesn't hurt?!" My tears finally spilled over. "Father, I'm your daughter too! If I had been the one chosen, would you ask for another drawing to save me?"

No one answered.

The merfolk around us looked at me as if I were some unreasonable monster.

Lia huddled in Kyle's arms, sobbing. "Does my sister hate me...? If she wants me dead that badly, then maybe I should go..."

"That's enough!" My father flew into a rage. He whirled around and drew the thorn-bone whip.

"As the elder sister, you refuse to protect your younger sister. As a member of the tribe, you would rather endanger our peace. Carry out family punishment!"

I was pinned down hard against the reef. My father brought down the bone whip, its hook catching the protective heart-scale on my tail and ripping it backward.

"Ahhh—!"

The scale, connected to blood and nerve, was torn from me alive, and I screamed. In an instant, my flesh split open and blood spread through the surrounding water.

Kyle watched the whole thing with cold indifference. He even covered Lia's eyes with care so she wouldn't have to see such a "cruel" sight.

When the last trace of strength drained from my body, I collapsed in a pool of blood. My vision blurred, and all I could hear was my father's voice, cold as ice, issuing his final order:

"Throw her into the Abyss Prison. Until the day of the sacrifice, no one is allowed to see her, and no medicine is to be given to her. Make sure she's still alive when she's delivered before the Sea God."

Something inside me snapped for good, shattering along with those broken silver scales.