A smile was smeared across my face, softly tickling my cheeks as I woke up.

I refused to open my eyes - wanting to stay in the darkness that felt peaceful for the first time - as the previous night's memories washed through my reveries.

She told me she'd stay.

She's going to stay.

Even if it only lasts until the coronation, her presence was going to be enough for my smile to not seem like a necessary facade but a genuine delight, at the royal ceremony.

I had kissed her.

It was soft with a frighteningly sensual featheriness to it; her lips surpassing the taste of a red velvet cream that I was always so sure no other dessert could replace with its aftertaste.

But, Zyanna brought a strong advantage on her side and that was the fact that she was someone that one couldn't decide whether to immediately devour for dessert or instead a sweet course that appeared simply too beautiful to be tainted with a touch.

I stretched my arms and legs - eyes still shut tight - and reigned in an inward chuckle at my thoughts.

She's right, I really am awfully dramatic.

I shrugged to myself because I knew she secretly adored it.

"Elijah, wake up. It's time you started to wake up."

I knowingly smiled, prepared to see Zya's face first thing in the morning without a complaint.

But who I greeted was someone that wouldn't have even been my second guess or the third.

"Rhea." I hesitantly uttered, slightly disappointed.

"Goodmorning, Elijah," She leaned down to cup the side of my face as she embraced me into a comforting hug, and returned to her seat at the edge of my bed - right near my legs. "Did you miss me?"

I cleared my throat and got up to a sitting position, dropping the silky cushion right behind my back.

"I haven't seen you for a full week, have I? Were you busy hiding away the pain and sudden fainting you refuse to explain or is it something else?" I groggily asked with a chuckle.

"It was one time, Elijah. It was just the fatigue from travelling here all the way from Raglezia but I'm happily stable now. You have nothing to worry about."

I breathed out a relieved sigh but still shook my head with disapproval. "You shouldn't have made the draining journey in the first place, princess. There was absolutely no need for it but you just never listen, do you?"

"Eli, just stop talking. We have so many things to do, so many things to prepare for today and tomorrow's celebrations plus rituals, so send me to the corner of your thoughts for now," She tucked her hair behind her ear with a shy pause before continuing. "How are you feeling about the pre-coronation ceremony tonight?"

I rolled my eyes frustratedly. "If someone mentions 'pre-coronation ceremony' one more time, I'm positive that I'll let go of all sanity and make a run for it."

She wrinkled her nose mockingly and shrugged. "That doesn't sound too good, perhaps try and hold onto it for one more hour."

"Is my sister going to poison an important guest's drink and make a warring mess in an hour?" I snorted, because that would definitely be something Lia would do - given that she has strong chances of escaping the scene after.

"Don't hope for that too much, prince. Your sister is keeping her hands to herself tonight, so we're getting through this together, no matter what. Besides, my parents have arrived just this morning. Fresh faces of royalty, so something different for you to think about before everything officially begins."

"The King of Raglezia is here? Well, his presence is definitely going to keep the servants on their feet. I can take a gamble that they won't know whether to run for the far hills or try and approach him to get a closer look." I laughed heartily, but I immediately stopped when I saw the drastic change in Rhea's face.

"Rhea...I didn't mean it like that. I truly didn't. I only meant the amount of fear and respect everyone holds for your father-"

"That's what they call it these days? Terrified, pure fear but combine it with badly disguised respect, and everything becomes better?"

I stayed silent, not knowing what to say.

"Elijah," She shuffled closer to me, crawling under my arm which caused me to settle it over her shoulder. "I know he's a scary man, and he's done some scary things. B-but that only happened where his kingdom's enemies were involved. He's a monster in battles like he's supposed to be. People just come to certain conclusions with only what they see and hear, and think it's the untouched truth."

I slowly rubbed her arm, nodding at her words.

"My father is a good man, Eli. A true king of discipline, courage and war. Please don't believe what anyone else says."

"Why would I believe anyone else when his own daughter is my first source?" I chuckled, playfully bumping her head with mine. "Rhea, rumours are always going to circulate, and we can't be let ourselves be their prey all the time. Crawl out of the net and walk away. You have to learn how to fight some of your own wars without actually fighting at all."

She nodded with a little smile. "It's good that I have you to teach it to me, right?"

I lifted my legs out of the blankets and stepped on the carpet. "I'm not always going to be here, princess, so get yourself adapted to some self-learning." I removed my robe and swung it over the bed frame.

She stood up after me and wiggled her tongue at me. "Reconsider your words, prince, because I'm afraid you'll be gladly changing them soon."

I furrowed my eyebrows questioningly but Rhea just winked at me with a cheerful glow I couldn't help but return.

She brought out a folded maroon-red towel from behind her back and gently placed it over my shoulder, her cheeks gingerly painting itself red in the process.

"Go and bathe yourself, Eli. Don't make me wait for too long. We have no time for one of your irritatingly long body floods in the bathroom."

I recoiled with a mock shudder. "'Body floods'? Something about that wording just doesn't sit well with me. Are you really sure you're still completely stable?"

She almost shoved me onto the floor but I just patted her head, violently ruffling her hair with a loud guffaw.

"I'll be waiting here, Elijah."

I entered the bathroom and peeked out from behind the door, wiggling my eyebrows at her. "Don't wait for too long. Body floods take a while these days, don't you know that, princess?"

I rapidly closed the door with a chortle, just in time to block an attack from a cushion.

I stepped into the shower and pulled a metallic string attached to the ceiling. A cascade of immediate water sprung upon me, and I leaned against the marble wall for a few minutes - letting the water temperature slowly turn from lukewarm to hot.

I'm ready for tonight.

~~~

"The ceremony begins when the clock strikes seven, and from every second after; each hour that follows are filled with meetings between you and different members of royalty - ranging from, every sub-ruler of our forty villages to their subordinates, and so on."

A young servant named Gia was fixing my hair, brushing it with a sharp comb so many times that it was restricting my ability to fully think.

"So that basically means I'll be flung around the area to convince every person across the hierarchy that I am very much capable of being the King of Yandestine." I forcefully smiled at Gia that kept flickering her short gazes up at me, her fingers faintly twitching.

Lia hummed out in agreement, while sat on the dressing table with a clipboard full of papers and scrolls. "The hierarchy includes the civilians, and you'll only be shortly interacting with them tonight - no longer than five minutes." She followed with an amusing grunt.

"That's exactly how it needs to be. Most of them are petty mutts that find faults in a perfect heaven, and they'll only stress Eli out with their pointless complaints." Rhea intruded, comfortingly sprawled out on my bed.

I felt Gia's hands tremble as she fixed my suit, and my expression hardened as I turned to Rhea. "Do not speak about my people like that, Princess Rhea. You might be a close acquaintance, but that doesn't mean your manners and boundaries can just disappear. Am I understood?"

Lia's eyebrows shot up with a smirk and Rhea tentatively got up from my bed and nodded stiffly.

My sister got down from the dressing table and patted Gia's shoulder. "That'll be enough, Gia, my brother is ready. Thank you for your services, love, you've done a wonderful job of making him look somewhat likeable."

The petite girl dipped her head with a sincere smile and left us with a respectful bow.

Rhea walked towards the closed doors and grasped the handle with a deep breath. "My father is waiting for you in the Yelastine. I'll be waiting in the ballroom with the dancers. Good luck, Elijah."

She quickly departed, leaving me and Lia in comfortable solitude.

She beamed at me, quickly reaching her hand out to fix my tie and almost choking me in the process. "Let's hope the King of Raglezia doesn't bite your head off. I'm here if you need me to poison his drink, okay?"

"It'll be fine, so cease all of your unnecessary ideas. I'll be keeping you on watch, sister. Please, behave."

"Our mother's already crossed the line for you, Eli. She has assigned me to palace tours and taking responsibility for the invited civilians, so I'll be too repulsed by the boredom to try and behave."

I jutted my lower lip out, mocking her. "Does that mean you won't be able to join me?"

"I'm afraid my moral support ends here, brother," She playfully slapped my shoulder. "Remember, if anything goes wrong with Rhea's father, just bellow and I'll be there with a nasty drink."

I rolled my eyes with a disturbed grunt. "I'll be leaving now without a comment to that."

From the very second I stepped outside my chamber, I realised how protected my ears had been from the distressing cacophony of desperate feet constantly running around the corridors. Every servant's expressions were all caged within the spectrum of either excitement or an incoming cardiac arrest, or perhaps I was too overwhelmed by it all to tell the difference.

Though the workload for all of them seemed abundant, it definitely failed to stop the chattering and the endless conversations flowing between them - all surprisingly about one person.

The King of Raglezia.

"H-he's here. He's actually here, in this palace. Do you think he'll actually be in the ceremony tonight? Will we be allowed to see his face?"

I took a right and crossed three pillars, coming closer to the doors of the Yelastine.

"Do you know why he's here? What if he's secretly planning to wage war against our kingdom? I've heard that his every enemy - dead or alive - gets the same ending after a brutal battle. They say he dr-"

The words slowly began to drown out as I crossed two more pillars.

"Whispers from the villages around the outskirts of Raglezia say he never lets his people travel a step outside the sand finishing his kingdom's borderline. Is it for protection or do you think there's a different reason?"

One more pillar.

"It's all lies. It's always a lie. Don't believe what anyone else says. The demon of a man has already been married once. Eight years of a soundless union and no one knows who that female was, where she came from or-"

My wavering mind came to a sudden halt as I passed the pair of servants - my ears strangely reaching out to hang onto the last few words.

"-or how she died."

I crossed the last pillar.

Not giving myself the time to process any of it, I entered the Yelastine, crossing many different doors within it to find myself, once again, standing before the one with my father's painting hung upon it.

I can do this.

I dusted non-existent dirt off my fingers and took a deep breath, drumming the correct pattern on the crystal ball-shaped doorknob.

It languidly swung itself open, and I couldn't comprehend exactly when I pushed myself into the room, greeting the same spectacle of the beheaded bodies and brutal souvenirs.

But this time, the feeling of power in the area that felt barren before, was darkened with certain intensity.

An intensity that caused a subtle gulp struggling in my throat, to leap into chills that took a march down my spine.

He's here.

I slowly turned to my right.

A man was leaning against the wall with a cruel nonchalance, body still partly hidden behind one of the tall and transparent boxes of a decapitated body.

He stood near it, his face unseeable and protected in the secluded darkness, as he calmly tapped the glass box with his knuckles.

He halted after three knocks.

"A soft death. Respectful - the way his body is still being preserved with a special medium allocated to it, even when no breath lingers."

I silently observed his stance, keeping myself focused on the way his fingers kept strangely tracing the glass.

"And that's something this bastard doesn't deserve."

With one swift movement, his fist plunged into the box and everything shattered.

Pieces of glass appallingly surrendered to his feet, countered by a suffocating smell of rot coming from the dead skeleton trailing after it.

The sharply stinging sound of his steps pounded down on the broken fragments as his whole body came into view.

A smile - one that seemed to be plotting how to cause crumbles of another - drug itself across his face. He walked forward towards me, consciously kicking forward the splinters of glass along with him in his path.

The fist that broke into one of my kingdom's treasured possessions came up as an open palm, stretched out toward me.

"The name is Marquand Xale Grairian."

***
Thoughts?
Stay blessed,
Oceana Camerons 🌹🌹🌹