The Immortal King

14: Meet & Greet

The crowd was silent as the guards walked me toward their king. It was as if they were all expecting me to commit some last daring act of escape before joining Sebastien. 

I internally rolled my eyes toward the theatrics. Everyone was assuming I would fail, but I would prove to them that I was not the previous version they met before.

When I got to Sebastien, he brought out his hand for me to grab. It was nothing short of a show because when I looked into his eyes, I could see that his humanity was still off.

Even after noting that my body could not help, but bask in his presence and it did not help that he looked so good either. 

He wore a black tuxedo with a white dress shirt underneath that led to white cuffs. In his suit pocket held a red handkerchief with black rhinestones outlining the pocket line to match the ones on my dress. His long hair, per usual, was slicked pack into a beautiful bun. On his left ring finger sat a ring with a black diamond in the middle that matched the small ones on the gorgeous crown that sat on his head. 

This was the first time I had ever seen Sebastien in a kingly light. He looked very royal. 

An embarrassing sigh left my lips as we turned toward the cheering crowd. Last time, I didn’t even get to this part of the ceremony.

A false smile spread across my lips as I eyed some of the most powerful people in the kingdom. While there was a whole city being forced to thrive in poverty, these people were attending social events like these. 

Even if Sebastien and I were currently on good terms, my mother and little sister would not have been able to come due to their status in the kingdom. Just like last time.

The wave of sadness that usually came with the thought of my mother came and surpassed as I attempted to be as attentive as possible for the rest of the night. Unfortunately, in order for me to prove my worth to Sebastien, I had to prove my worth to his constituents. 

So no getting distracted and no snarky comments no matter how selfish they were. 

When Sebastien and I made it to the end of the steps, a pair of twins were the first to greet us. They were red headed, both wore Ruby gemstones across their neck, and held red drinks in their fancy glasses. Much like everyone else, their aura screamed wealth.

The one on the right was the first to speak in excitement, “Oh King, she’s beautiful!” 

Her voice was agonizingly high pitched. The other nodded in agreement with her twin as she reached out her hand to touch my dress, “Oh and this dress!”

As the other examined my dress, the one who was the first to speak introduced herself, “I’m Griselda, but you can call me Ri”

“And I’m Gwendolyn, but you can call me Gwen”, the other giggled, her fangs peaking through her smile. The twins seemed to be very bubbly and I wasn’t too sure how to respond, as it was rare for me to have to receive so much personality.

“I’m-“, I attempted to speak. 

“-We know who you are silly”, Gwen spoke again humorously, “You’re our Queen Elizabeth”

My face twisted, but I quickly fixed myself for the sake of my duties. I mentally groaned at the mention of Queen and my name together. This was real. 

Not only was it real, but I was submitting to it. As the girls began to speak about social tea parties and shopping trips to Milan, my eyes left them to look around the party once more. 

I was going to have to do this all night. My mind drifted and brought me to the realization that I would have to do this for the rest of my life as Queen of this kingdom. I would have to be fake friendly

A mental scoff left me. I barely knew how to have friends, let alone spoiled rich ones who grew up without an ounce of struggle. 

I didn’t belong here.

Without saying a word, Sebastien pulled me toward another group of individuals which brought me out of my thoughts. I was not sure if he noticed my checkout or he was just annoyed with the two, but I was thankful for his decision.

We must have looked so rude and uninterested, but the girls did not seem to care as they happily walked toward their next victims. 

I’m sure if his humanity was on, he would have went about our exit more respectfully, but of course, he didn’t care how he was coming across. 

He was King after all. 

As we walked through the crowd, I stole a glance at Sebastien who never met eyes with my own. As individuals continued to come out the woodworks, the only time he would look at me was from my side to examine the interactions between me and the people. Other than that, he ignored my existence. 

I would be lying if I said it didn’t hurt my feelings. 

Throughout the night, people from all over the party would come towards us complimenting my dress, congratulating Sebastien on finding his mate, and anything else they could think of. It was not all good though.

As I suspected, some people who approached us made comments about my last announcement, asked intrusive questions about our mating, and some didn’t walk up to us at all and sent me distasteful looks. It was understandable though. My first impression was not my best and that was my fault. 

I was beginning to grow tired from all the walking and I requested for us to take a seat. Sebastien sent me a dry nod as he led me towards two thrones on a pedestal attached to the side of the palace. Surrounding the pedestal was a theater like structure with images of supernaturals  bowing with spears carved onto the top. There were words encrusted beneath the thrones which stretched from one side of the stage to the other, ubi prophetia defecerit, dissipabitur populus.

Where there is no vision, the people perish.

This was the kingdom’s motto. It was apart of the mission statement warriors were forced to remember when going into battle. The Alpha King along with his Queen were the vision in which the kingdom needed to trust and be indebted to. 

Unfortunately, the saying has loss much of its respect where I’m from due to the poor treatment of people from the previous king. A painful memory flashed of my father reciting the ridiculous statement of loyalty to a kingdom which cared nothing about him. 

The thrones were beautiful and had flecks of gold encrusted onto them with vines lined along the arm rests. They seemed to be modeled after trees. There were roots that spread outward and imitated those of a real tree. The roots led to the cushioned stump which led to the long spine which ultimately led to the twisted branches that served as the headrest.

Sebastien led me to my seat which immediately prompted for a maid to come to my side. 

“Would you like anything to drink Luna?”, I winced. The term Luna was worse than Queen. The two together were like nails to a chalkboard.

“No thank you”, I responded. I could tell that she was one of the newer maids and was only doing what she had to. If I were to give her permission to address me by my real name, she would most likely go against it anyway. Much like Juliet when Sebastien is around.

When the maid walked away, a man approached the protective guards who stood between he and us. He was tall, had grey hair, and wore a luxurious black suit with a Jasmine gemstone embedded into the handkerchief. He also held a silver came with a wolf at the top.

Sebastien gestured for the mysterious man to come up and, if his humanity were on, I’m sure he would have smiled in excitement toward him. 

“Destro”, Sebastien sent out a dry laugh and stood to hug his seemingly longtime friend, “Where have you been old man?”

Destro let out a hardy laugh as he sent multiple pats against Sebastien’s back, “You know, nowhere and everywhere”

When he was up close, I had more time to examine him. Judging by his claws and the hair growing nearly everywhere, he seemed to be a were. 

“And this must be the lovely lady I didn’t get to meet last time”, Destro gestured toward me. The two men awkwardly looked at me as if waiting for me to respond.

I sent a nod toward Destro and he sent a chuckle toward Sebastien who gestured for me to get up. I mentally face palmed myself.

“Your father did mention that she didn’t respect her elders”, Destro spoke as if I weren’t present, “Glad to see that not much has changed”

Destro sent a distasteful look towards me causing me to internally roll my eyes.

Boujie weres were all the same. Much like everyone else around here, they often turned their noses up at others, but it was always worse seeing a were do it. 

Especially when wealthy weres are almost never born into their positions of power so they know the struggle, but yet choose to turn their nose up as if they never stood in the lower position. 

“You should consider yourself very lucky young lady”, he began. He must have heard through the grapevine and by grapevine, I mean Sebastien’s asshole of a father what transpired.

“This position is being handed to you, all you have to do is grab it and bask in it”, He continued, “You are not one of them anymore”

Them.

A scoff left my lips. He must have been referring to the them who helped raise my younger sister and I when his King took my father away. He must have been referring to the them who were forced to live in poor conditions because if they couldn’t be pawns for war or guards, they were otherwise useless to their kingdom. 

“Them?”, Before I could think the word left my tongue, “Aren’t you one of them?”

Destro’s face twisted as if I had just disrespected him. 

“No, I used to be”, He looked from Sebastien to me then approached me to put a hand on my shoulder, “And whether you like it or not, you’re no longer one of them either. You think while you’re up here in this big palace, sleeping with the man they fear the most that they see you as any different than I?”

The reality of his words set in and my eyes went soft. A smile spread across his face. 

Without another word, Destro sent Sebastien a reassuring pat on his back as if not wanting to go any further in our conversation. I didn’t even get to know who he was to Sebastien. It was as if his sole purpose of coming up here was in an attempt to put me in my place.

Must have been Elder’s doing. 

“You two have fun tonight”, He began as he used his cane to walk down the platform, “I know you didn’t get the chance to before”

Destro left us with a sly smile and I glared as his body disappeared into the crowd. 

No words were said between Sebastien and I after Destro’s exit. He did not even reprimand me for my possible disrespect. The maid eventually returned with our drinks, Sebastien with red in his cup, and me with a complimentary water. 

Apparently, it was not okay for the Queen to go without so much as a sip for the night. 

“Am I still getting the silent treatment?”, The terms of which Sebastien and I were on was quite confusing, especially since his humanity wasn’t on to let me know his true feelings. I mean, I was not expecting us to be in love after last night, but I also was not expecting him to go back to the silent treatment. 

It was agonizing. 

Sebastien took a sip from his cup and sat it on the tree stump between the thrones before facing me. An intoxicating aroma came from his cup causing me to shoot it a quick glance before bringing my attention back to him. 

“You want me to talk to you?”, His face was blank. Was that not okay?

“Yes”, I spoke honestly. Sebastien took another sip from his drink and looked forward. Again, I ignored the strong scent.

Sebastien said nothing as he crossed one leg over the other. At first I thought he was going to continue to ignore me, but I guess he decided not to. Maybe the evening was just as boring for him as it was for me and I could be his current source of entertainment.

“About what?”, He questioned. 

“Well...”, I trailed. I knew I had to walk on eggshells with this one so I avoided addressing why he didn’t speak on my disrespect to Destro, “Who was he to you?”

Sebastien looked from me to the crowd, “Destro is an advisor to my father. He also used to help train us with the Kingdom trainers when we were younger”, Sebastien began and I’m sure his face would have lit up if he would have allowed, “Don’t let his first impression get to you, Destro’s not so bad. He‘s just very passionate about this kingdom so when he hears about disrespect to it’s laws or leaders, he takes it personal”

I nodded in understanding as Sebastien began to share his favorite memories with Destro, he, and Luis. As he spoke, my eyes would occasionally avert from the glass to his blood-stained lips. 

Apparently in the beginning of his kingdom career as a beginner trainer, he tried to do good for the weres in the kingdom, but because of the long history of separation for the classes, he realized it was much too difficult so he gave up and became that.

Sebastien went onto explain how he grew up watching his father change the best of hearts for the worst. It was no surprise to me.

How else was someone supposed to turn out when they surrounded themselves with the likes of him.

My nose scrunched as the aroma from the cup grew stronger the more Sebastien spoke, “Liz?”

He noticed my distraction and picked up the glass from the stump to take another sip. My eyes never left the glass in his hands.

“What’s in that?”, I inquired. 

Sebastien looked from the glass to myself as if it were ridiculous for me to ask, “It’s blood”

I nodded in response and shocked even myself with the next question, “Can I have some?”

Sebastien’s brows furrowed. Concern.

That was the first emotion I had seen from him since last night and I internally smiled at the fact that he turned his humanity back on. He must have been enjoying our conversation.

Without saying anything, he handed me the glass. Before I knew it, I was guzzling down a cup of blood. The taste tingled my tastebuds and a euphoric feeling rushed to my head as I requested for more.

Sebastien’s further examines the empty cup and brought his thumb out to wipe the corner of my lips, “You’re in stage 3”

I had almost forgotten I was undergoing the Convergence.

Sebastien chuckled a little as he softly grabbed my ear to examine behind it, “At least you’re not turning blue yet”

I mentally groaned. The sound of his chuckle felt wonderful to my ears, but I was internally disgusted with my previous actions.

“What’s stage 3?”, I questioned exhausted. 

“Attributes”, He spoke looking from the bloodstained glass to me, “It is when our bodies begin to latch onto the stronger of the two’s traits. In this case you’re imitating my cravings and physical attributes”

Sebastien chuckled once more toward the glass and I rolled my eyes not seeing what was funny. Of course. 

“How long am I going to be feigning for blood?”, I spoke licking the top of my mouth in a pathetic attempt to savor the taste. The lack of control my body had in any of these given circumstances was extremely embarrassing, “And what kind of blood is that?”

I was slightly nervous to know what kind of blood I would be craving for.

Sebastien shrugged, “For as long as Stage 3 lasts. And don’t worry, it’s animal blood”

Every time I thought I got the hang of one stage, there was another one waiting for me. It was not like these stages were occurring separately and stopping when the other began. Now I was attached, horny, and possibly turning blue. 

The need to readjust to each stage was draining.

Sebastien gave me a reassuring shoulder squeeze which caused my body to tingle under his touch, “If it makes you feel any better, it’s almost over”

A long exaggerated sign left my lips causing him to scoff a chuckle. Before the words I planned to say could come, loud screams were heard coming from the right direction of the party.

A moment in which things took an extreme turning point for the worst.