Simon
I watch as the man leans in and places his hand on her arm. The way she flusters around him irks me, and a small flame of disgust and jealousy is sparked. The anger turns into rage as she allows him to speak her given name. Her other male companion practically spoke for me, "As much as I like the chemistry going on between you two love birds, you better not let your future fiancé see both of you like this in the future." The way she and the knight both are in sync to snap at him fills me with possessiveness. As i watch the scene unfold, my impulses get the better of my will, and I force myself to go forward on my horse, stopping a few feet behind the group, "You should listen to him, I wouldn't like it if this continues any further, especially considering you are to be my wife." The words come out harsher than intended, but make my point come across clearly as the day. Her head quickly turns to look behind her, and I can see the regret etched on every inch of her face. I relish the fact that she fears me. The knight places his hand on the hilt of his sword and stares me down, the need to intimidate me clear in his eyes. Unfazed by his glare, I turn to the princess, the future queen of my country, and grin. "Hello Princess Ruana," I growl in distaste, irritated that she's already grown comfortable with other men who are not me. "Good evening, Your Majesty…" She bows her head slightly, the same irritation palpable in her voice, but I could hear the slight fearful lilt in it.
I was vexed by the way she looked, not because of her attire, since she wasn't dressed scandalously or too prudely, but for her lack of… presentable attire. "I came as soon as possible. I heard that you were attacked?" I asked with mock sincerity, "I couldn't let my future Queen be hurt, could I?" She nods, "Yes, Your Majesty. Members of the rogue group, Trinity, tried to ambush us at an inn due southeast of here, earlier this morning." She's still the same, quick with her words, but she looks… different. I nod, riding next to her. She gives her knight a quick look, and he smiles back. As she returns his smile, I let out a low, indistinguishable growl, wanting to ride between the two, but I take a deep breath. He has done nothing but smile at my future wife, there is nothing wrong with a smile. Neither is it wrong that she returned it. Nor that the two were quite literally conversing in secret, right beside me. I look forward, eavesdropping on the whispered conversation between the princess and her knight. "Ruana, you'll need to be careful when you're here…" "Theodore, anywhere and everywhere I go, I will need to be safe. Even in my own home, I had to lie low." What does she mean by that? I shake my head slightly, understanding that her conversation at the moment was not my business.
We arrive at the gates of the city, "Your Majesty, welcome back. We hope you had a safe expedition." I nod hastily at Tyrun, my secretary, "I saw Ruana on the way. I need you to look into her relationship with the mage and the knight, Theodore. Can't have any loose ends before the wedding. Not when I can finally have her again." He tries to discern the meaning behind my words. I give him a quick, stern look; he bows and rushes out.
~
When I sat down at the dining table, I could feel her gaze trying to take me apart piece by piece and reassemble me to figure me out. I return her gaze. Raking it up and down her silhouette. She really is here now. I glance back up to meet her eyes, the fury at my bold glances burning bright in her blue eyes. How her nose crinkles, her knuckles turn white, and how her dark hair flares a little do not escape me. "Well. Seems you are not happy to see me," I grunt. "Not happy is an understatement." Even her growls are the same. "How come?" I asked, noting the way her eye twitched a little. "Oh. Maybe because you never told you were King, or were you never trusting of anyone, Casfen?"
"Don't call me that," I growled.
"Why shouldn't I?"
"That is no longer my name. And you should forget about the boy you met. I am no longer him."
"Well, I wouldn't have forgotten about the boy who had been a friend of mine for a good time, or should I have, Your Majesty?" "Well, maybe you should have. It would've been best if one of us had forgotten." She glares at me for a few more seconds, "Maybe I should have, since it's clear you have changed." "And it's clear you stayed the same stupid girl I met back then." She stopped eating, lowering her fork to the table. She looked up and glared at me, "Thank you for the meal… I will retreat to my room. I don't want to further ruin your meal with my stupidity." Sherose rose from the table, the chair scraping against the stone floor. "Good night, Your Majesty."
After she left, I continued to eat. What she felt was not my business. This marriage is little more than a contractual arrangement between two kingdoms that require an alliance. "You should have been kinder, Your Majesty," I heard a stern voice from behind me. "Shut it, Birtly," I growled at him. The old man, whom I had designated as my advisor, shook his head and stepped once toward me. "You should at least let her feel as if she were welcomed. Now you may have to wait for her to come to you willingly." "She will have to dine with me each night. I will be her husband and her King. She will end up listening to me. She has to," I stated to him as I continued to cut through the veal on my plate. Birtly shrugged, turned around, and headed towards the door. "I have not dismissed
you yet, Master Birtly." I sternly pointed out, not bothering to look up at him. "And you don't need to, Your Majesty. I am leaving on my own accord." He turns and walks out the grand oak doors, "What the hell is going on today…"
~
I walked through the halls. It was dark out, the moonlight glinted through the windows, the rays of light illuminated the main part of the hall, leaving the corners to their darkness. I allowed myself to relax as I paraded through the silent passageways. As I pass by one of the many chambers that are scattered across the palace, I hear the light murmur of speech. A female and male voice. I stopped and took a few steps back. I felt the tingle on my lower back, of my magic creeping from my core to the tips of my fingers. I gently press my hands to the door, which amplifies the voices for me alone. "...please, Theo…" I heard the woman say a little… exasperated. Or was it desperation> My excitement was heightened. Was it a maid and one of the guards? Or was there something else going on? "Ruana, please. Listen. Just let me help you with these." My brows shoot up at her name. She's in there with him? Under her own fiancé's roof?! I thought to myself. "Theo… you don't understand." I heard a light quiver in her voice. Which was then heightened when she started to sob. "Come here…" I heard him tell her.
I stepped back. Shocked. A bit betrayed. But mostly, I felt pure rage at her carelessness and foolishness. How the fuck is she this stupid to be alone in a room with another man? I turned and walked away before my idiocy and frustration impelled me to grab them both by the hair and kill them. I stormed back to my quarters, grabbed one of the vases with flowers, and threw it across the room. The sound of the ceramic shattering filled the room. I continued to throw object after object at the wall. The only peace I found was when exhaustion overcame me and I crashed onto the bed. I thrashed and kicked in my sleep as all I could dream of was the prospect of Ruana in the room alone with her knight. As the night progressed and turned into the early moments of the morning, I could only come to terms with the fact that she could not leave me. And also the fact that I was about to murder anyone who crossed me today, especially with little to no hours of sleep.
~
As I went down to my office, freshly changed although there were visible cuts on my face from the glass shards, I paid no heed to the people surrounding me. I walked through the winding hall, "Good Morning, Your Majesty," a few maids here and there said. I've slept with a few that greeted me, but I grunted and walked past them. A few huffed and walked away. She isn't special either. Stupid for thinking she would be. I slammed the door behind me, resting my forehead against the oak. "Fucking hell… why was she with him last night?" I mumbled to myself. A small knock on the door startled me, causing me to bang my head against the door. "Shit!" I rubbed my forehead before opening the door to reveal one of the maids. She looked at me expectantly, and that's when I noticed her lewd outfit. She was one of the maids I used to call to my office or bedroom when nights grew long and I needed release.
"Not now, Illiriana," I grumbled. She ran a hand down my chest and torso, an effort to seduce me. Disgust only grew. "But you seem stressed today, Your Majesty. And our appointment time is for this hour…" I gently shoved her hand away. "Illiriana. No. I am to be wedded. If I am to be caught with you, it could ruin the diplomatic agreement. You know how prude the Asmiths are." She didn't take heed and continued with her ministrations, backing me up against my table as she tried to unbutton my shirt. I stopped her, grabbing her wrist as she spoke, "Your Majesty, allow me to relieve you myself."
As I open my mouth to reject her once more, the sound of clattering is heard outside the wooden doors. My head shoots up as the doors slowly open, revealing a slightly shocked but unimpressed Ruana. I pushed the maid off and straightened myself. The air of indifference that surrounds her shoots a pang of confusion through me. I shook it off and asked, "What brings you here, Princess Ruana?" "I only came to apologize for my ill manners from the night before, Your Majesty." "You are forgiven," I stated slowly, as an idea crept into my mind. If she could be with her knight in her chambers, alone, then I could make her believe that I, too, had a woman in my office to bring me release. I wrap an arm around the waist of the maid. Her eyes widen, but I'm focused on Ruana's expression. It did not change, even as she saw the maid press her generous breasts against me. "If that is all, I would like some alone time," I smirked, but she seemed as unaffected as ever, only turning around and closing the doors behind her as she retreated.
I scoff, impressed and a bit angry at her indifference. I push Illiriana away, "Get out. Now." "But, Your Majesty-" "Now!" I slammed my fist down against the desk, making the small ink bottle fall and shatter on the ground. She scatters away, the door slamming behind her. The liquid spills onto the floor, staining the carpet with red ink. "Call for one of the servants to clean the mess up!" I yelled when I stepped out of the office. I stormed down the hall and towards the library, "Who angered you this time?" I whipped my head around and saw one of my closest friends, Javick. I let out a calming breath and spoke slowly, although every inch of me screamed for me to punch his smirking face, "No one. Just a minor inconvenience." "I heard the princess arrived last night with only two men," he taunted, "And one of the knights told me that she was exceptionally close to her knight."
"Enough! I will hear no more of what happened that night."
"She saw you with one of the maids?" A smirk appeared, and had it not been for the care I felt towards him, I would have taken him with me forcefully and pushed him out the window, and allowed him to plummet down the thirty-story Northern tower. "Yes. She did, but-"
"So the big king himself is mad that she is mad?" He snickered.
"She wasn't mad."
"What?"
"Indeed. And also, I wasn't with the maid on purpose. Today was one of those days. And obviously, I don't want the contract to be broken, so I pushed her away."
"So how could she have thought of it in the wrong way?"
"I may have allowed myself to… overstep the line."
"In which way, Simon?"
"I started to be… close to the maid immediately after she entered-"
"Simon Casfen Lotrus! You thought that making her jealous was smart?"
"Well, I thought that it would at least bring out some emotion in her…" I sighed, "But it did not. She looked as if it was only a minor inconvenience."
"Understandable, she didn't choose to be here in the first place. But I'm wondering what caused you to be an absolute prick and do a thing like that?"
"I heard her with her knight last night."
"What?!" He stopped walking alongside me, a shocked expression on his face. "Did she sound like she enjoyed it or not?" I looked at him with a disgusted look on my face, "Don't act like you've never been intimate with a woman and immediately talked about it after.
"No. They weren't being intimate, Javick. She was crying."
"Oh… do you know of what?"
"No. But it seemed as if her knight was trying to comfort her."
"Damn. So you are also the jealous prick." I scoffed at him and continued walking away. He ran to catch up to me, laughing heartedly. I entered the library, ending the conversation.
~
I was selecting a novel to amuse myself for the next few hours since it was a slow day today. I looked up as a knight came inside the library, closing my book, "Yes?" The knight bowed, "Your Majesty, Her Highness, Ruana, left for the nearby market." "With whom?" "Her Knight, Sir Theodore. He left with her." I gripped the spine of the book before placing it back into its spot. A tight smile appeared on my face. "Thank you for informing me. Make sure two other knights also tag along, and have a few follow them." The knight nodded and turned back. I didn't hear the doors shut behind him before I started to head back to my office. The spilled ink was still there, seeming to have stained the carpet a blood red. Sickness rose as I saw the red, memories from my ten-year-old self, reemerged to the front of my mind. The blood, the men trying to kill me, the blood on my hands, the screams from the maids and servants being murdered. All of it returned to me, making my stomach turn. I turn away from the stain, taking calming breaths, and reminding myself that I was stronger than those memories, and that I was better now. I settled myself in the chair and started to go through the new decrees that the court had sent me, and the other papers and letters from the citizens of the kingdom and the royals from different kingdoms.
Hours go by, and I reach a strangely wrapped small package. I carefully open it to reveal a vial filled with seeds. "Huh…" I looked around it, opened the top, and whaffed it. The sweet scent reminded me of Ruana. At the sudden realization that I knew her smell, I pushed it away. As I tried to think of something else, I remembered that she could help. I stood up and went on to see if she returned from her little venture. I tried to find the room that she was in. But the memory from that night was not coming to me. "Birtly, could you lead me to my fiancé's chambers?" He looked at me as I interrupted his conversation with another one of the maids, whom I had a premonition about. He blinked once and then nodded after an uncomfortably long pause. The maid follows along, and it clicked why she felt eerie to me. She was the maid I had assigned to Ruana's sister… before the incident. She kept her eyes averted, and I started to wonder if she had something to do with the murder. "We have arrived, Your Majesty." I gently knocked on the door, and it creaked open. I pushed it open all the way, and it revealed a dark, empty room, devoid of life. "Brictel…"