Candles embraced the darkness of the room, and I welcomed it.

The flickering flames surrounded me, as I stood in an extremely treasured place within the palace, called 'The Alcove of Amortas'. It was filled with beautiful paintings, jewels and crafts, only designed by the previous Kings and Queens of Yandestine, with their own hands. It was an area purely dedicated to different forms of art, where gigantic frames of nothingness hung on the walls, near the finished paintings, and below the currently lightless chandeliers, waiting to be brought to life by a member of royalty.

But, I wasn't here to do that. I wanted a certain life to be torn down. I wanted a particular female's system to slash and burn, preferably by my own hands.

A woman may have had a reason to attack a prince, and for that, she could have been given a chance to justify herself. Yet, when the same female decides to mutilate the last string of respect that was hanging around her fingers, the mere idea of pity, faded away.

Kidnapping Rayson - our royal messenger, and poisoning the kingdom's war pigeon, sealed her fate.

Every time I thought about that letter from her, the confusion that was present before, burned and inflamed my skin more than ever. It was like an insect bite, that I couldn't control, and someone else was constantly lurking over it, always prepared to strike and trigger the burning to make it more swollen.

That single piece of paper, had set off an effect, in my father too. The moment I had looked up into the eyes of the King of Yandestine, I saw something in him I had never seen before.

Fear.

He was scared. I remembered the way his eyes didn't stray anywhere except around the edges of the letter, his inner consciousness involuntarily captured elsewhere. Unspoken words had lingered in the air, weakly supported by my father gathering the letters in his hands and leaving without a trace of a whisper.

I couldn't sleep that night. The second I had closed my eyes, my reveries leapt into the sight of admiring our white pigeon circling our lands, never knowing its unceremonious end was to arrive soon. It was now resting beneath carefully crafted stones, its soft wings intertwined within the soils.

All of it, combined together, resulted in a storm of tremendously chaotic emotions and thoughts. It was why I found myself standing here. I strongly requested to be left in the darkness of the room, with just candles, and I didn't want a single flare of sunlight to seep through the gaps between the curtains.

I picked up the chalk pencil, and closed my eyes to re-paint the face of who I was going to decorate the frame with, in my head.

I wanted to sketch the dancer. I imagined the outlines and details of her face, as the dark brown shade of her skin splashed my mental picture.

I wanted to capture her eyebrows, the way they cunningly moved as her hands grasped my throat, and how she seemingly forbid her mouth from giving into a genuine smile, even when she wasn't a criminal yet.

The candles were intentionally placed around the blank frame, in a way that only made itself and the painting materials visible to me. Everything else in the room dissolved in a temporary canvas of shadows, just like I wanted it to, so that the only focal point I could allow myself to concentrate on, was her face.

I started off by marking the corners of her face, and before the quick passing of time sunk in, the slow points of art created by the chalk became replaced with tender strokes of the brushes, followed by the meticulous sprinkles of brown and black paint.

Sprinkles turned into splashes, as minutes turned into hours, causing the final candle to lose its fire, the second I filled the last caress of colour onto the frame.

I let out the breath I was holding in, as I stared at nothing but the utter darkness I was in.

The painting was complete. I had to give this to my father, who was currently sending out more soldiers to find the dancer and Rayson. This painting was to help the soldiers question the villagers about her possible whereabouts, particularly to those who recognised her.

But, I didn't want to light the candles again. I didn't want to see the painting, and remember absolutely everything that came with it - the blood-stained memories.

All of a sudden, a candle arrived right in front of my face, causing me to gasp and cover my eyes from the abrupt flame of light.

"Forgive me, your highness, but my memory fails to connect your painting with the dancer's face. Were our sightings of her that different?"

I turned around quickly, moving the candle away from my face. "Vladimir! Has your memory also failed to remind you that you need to make yourself known before entering a room?"

Vladimir's curious expression transformed into a pool of shocked realisation, and he immediately backed away, bowing his head down. "I truly apologise, your highness, but I was extremely concerned when I saw you standing in complete darkness without any movement at all. I thought something was wrong, so I lit the candle without a second thought. But then, I was mesmerised with the painting-"

"It's fine. But I warn you, do not repeat that next time." Though it seemed like I was taken aback at his sudden interruption, it was more than that.

I took the candle from his hands, and brought it near my painting.

The first feature the fire had reached out to, were the eyes. When I moved it closer, to see exactly how I'd drawn it, my breathing and thoughts ceased.

I knew those eyes. Those weren't her eyes. The delicate but strong touches of genuine passion sprawling within its corners, did not belong to the dancer at all. I hadn't painted her.

There was only one woman I knew, whose eyes were the only feature I could depict so vividly, in one painting.

Zyanna Samaria Karas.

But, how?

"I gather the feeling you don't want to discuss this, your highness." Vladimir smiled at the painting, his tone never crossing the confines of respect.

"You gathered right, Vladimir. Could you please tell the King, that I'll have the dancer's painting finished before sunset?"

"Of course, your highness. I actually came here to deliver an important message. The Queen of Yandestine wants you to be present in the search as well. The King is sending out twenty soldiers, including me, in which half of us will be probing the east side of the lands, and the other half will be at the west side. We will be waiting for you." He turned around, swiftly disappearing through the exit.

I lifted my fingers towards the painting, and touched the coloured skin under her eyes. For reasons unknown to me, my breaths became shaky as they arrived out, as I started to trace her cheeks. It almost felt as if her eyelashes fluttered just as mine moved. I began to lower my hands to touch the edges of lips, but in seconds, I immediately shook myself out of it, as if I was in a self-induced trance.

I quickly retracted my hand before they travelled anywhere else. I felt like I was violating her, touching her without her consent, even though it was only a painting.

I couldn't depict any of her other facial features as perfectly as I'd drawn her eyes. The cloth she wore on her face, despite being made from transparent silk, still prevented me from seeing the exact curvature of her lips, or the way her cheeks would expand when she would smile. Therefore it was just a simple portrait, where her eyes calmly looked into mine.

I couldn't understand it. How did I paint Zyanna?

When did I lose my focus to the point of letting my hands get away with losing itself in someone else, entirely different from who I was supposed to illustrate?

But one particular question, felt like it would be the hardest to answer.

Why?

~~~

"Are you sure about this, your highness?" Vladimir appeared confused, and it was clear he didn't know whether to agree or disagree with my suggestion.

"Rayson travelled on one of the kingdom's horses, while he was on investigation, Vladimir. We don't know the whereabouts of him or his horse. Doesn't it make sense to you, that if we tried searching for the horse in the stables our villages contain, we could find some sort of a clue? Instead of just blindly searching for a person that could possibly be anywhere?"

Vladimir let out a deep breath and nodded. "There are two stables on the west side, one of which is located near the forest, and three on the east. Where should we start?"

"I say you take two of our soldiers and visit the stables on the east side, and I shall make my way towards the west. Send the rest of our soldiers, with the painting of the dancer, towards your location, and then mine, where they can also question the villagers."

"Your wish is our command, your highness. We will report back to you on what we find." Vladimir lifted himself onto his horse, and as the other two soldiers rode off before him towards the direction of the eastern lands, he looked at me.

"I hope your hands are leading you in the right direction, your highness. Whoever the female in that painting might have been, I hope it's someone worthy of your time. The whole kingdom is waiting for your answer, at your coronation." Vladimir dipped his head, and took off in the same direction as the others.

I didn't wait long enough to process his words, nevertheless contemplate it.

~~~

The farm, though it was smaller than the whole stable I'd just visited, it fit every animal perfectly, not a thing seeming out of place.

There was a miniature stable located at the corner of the farm, with a fair amount of horses graciously resting next to each other. There were three cows, and numerous numbers of goats and pigs dangerously close to each other's significant territories, but none of them seemed threatened or discomforted by it.

"I've never seen someone come to fulfil a promise this early, Prince Elijah. Please do not tell me you lost sleep over it. I'll have you know, it is extremely unhealthy to do so." Zyanna stood up from the ground, filled with stacks of hay, after pushing a brown barrel towards the goats.

I tried not to grin, as I strode toward the little gate, marking the entrance to the farm. "Stop getting so ahead of yourself. One of these days, you might accidentally offend me, and I'll have you know, that there will be dire consequences."

"There's a little error in that sentence. I'm not too certain on whether I would do it 'accidentally', but we'll see what the future brings, Prince Elijah," She quickly combed through her hair with her hands and put it into a bun, before smirking at me. "Welcome to my humble abode, where I'm found more than I can be spotted at my actual home."

"Don't take it too hard on yourself, Zyanna. Aren't there other workers here, to help you?" I opened the gates, letting myself in.

"There are a few others, but I often insist on doing more of the work, because it also benefits me at the end of the day. It's just a great convenience that I truly do enjoy being around these animals."

"I hope I learn to contain the same passion you do, Zyanna, for performing my role as the King, in the future. You really should be very proud of yourself." She tilted her head at me curiously, appearing as if she didn't slightly doubted my words.

"Pardon me, Prince Elijah, but sudden compliments like that, that doesn't seem to have an obvious intention, always make me take a step back. I have a feeling you aren't here to provide a helping hand with the farm," Her face held an amused expression, as she started to wipe the sweat off her forehead with a kerchief, that was attached to the top of her long skirt.

I rubbed the back of my neck, still maintaining a hopeful smile on my face. "You did say it was too early to fulfil a promise, and I agree with that. However, the compliment wasn't meant to be too sudden to be considered ingenuine. I honestly meant it. But, with that being said, I do need a favour."

She chuckled, shaking her head. "You're the future King, Prince Elijah. You don't need to hesitate to ask me anything. What is it?"

I straightened up, clasping my hands behind my back. "Well, unfortunately, one of our horses have gone missing. We've been looking everywhere, but we still haven't been able to find him. It was a fully black horse, and since you work on the farm, I was wondering whether you would have seen him, come into your stables or somewhere else?"

I couldn't tell her the whole story, as my father, unsurprisingly, did not want anyone outside the palace, to find out the chain of deplorable events that had taken place recently. He was worried that it would trigger anxiety and panic throughout the villages, striking more tension, so we were strictly instructed to limit the information we release, while we search.

Zyanna's eyebrows scrunched together, in a contemplative manner, as she turned her head towards the stables located on our right. "Horses, when they find themselves lost, don't usually decide to enter other stables or farms. Their natural habitat is near rivers, and around trees or cliffs. I think you would find more luck, exploring the areas around that massive river located in the middle of the forest."

"But I just came riding through the forest, and I passed that river. If he was there, wouldn't I have heard him, or seen some sort of a movement?"

Her lips firmly pressed together, as she looked up at me. "There are too many movements in such a wide area, to have remembered or detected a particular sound. I believe you need something specific, to bring the horse to you, instead of going after it yourself."

"What do you suggest, Zyanna?"

The light crinkles in her forehead disappeared, and once again, a graceful smirk settled on her face.

"Fulfiling a promise earlier than expected, has never sounded more fruitful." She dusted the dirt off her hands, and stepped towards the gate, holding it open for me.

It was an action a female was never supposed to perform for a male, ever.

But, when I saw Zyanna standing there, with a calmness to her face that perfectly resembled the painting I drew of her, appearing as if she truly did not realise what she was doing, I wanted to blissfully eradicate all the rules.

"Shall we, your majesty?"

***

The word 'amortas' in 'The Alcove of Amortas', means 'art' in the imaginary language of Annani in Yandestine, just in case you were wondering.

Stay blessed,

OceanaCamerons 🌹🌹🌹