The Five Princes

The Choice Part Two

"Thank you, everyone, for attending this most gracious occasion as I will be choosing my lifelong partner not only for myself but for the kingdom of Dominic. It's been a long week, a lot of struggles and tribulations happened in such a short span of time. I profoundly wish my father, King Leone, was here for me tonight." A chorus of 'May the King rest in peace' and 'Long Live King Leone' rang through the room, glasses lifting in the air to salute his memory. "Each of the princes proved to be a worthy candidate for the throne and for my affection but only one genuinely proved to me the potential of leadership, compassion, wisdom, and strength needed to be the king by my side. And that man is..."

Looking into his eyes, I knew I was making the right choice. If I were to be queen, this was the best choice for my kingdom and my people, despite what I honestly wanted. I had to listen to my mothers' words.

"...Zeph Enigma, Prince of Lux."

April of 19XX

Rhett won't be visiting as much now that he has been crowned king of Lux after father's death. I hadn't been able to leave the palace of Dominic to visit him that day. I thought he would survive to spring when surveillance would be moderate but I was wrong. I cried all day when I heard, locking myself in my chambers. The only time I let anyone come into my room was when my sweet Serene came to hug me. She's truly by everything.

She's inquisitive, energetic, and can get mad at the drop of a hat like her father but she's better at holding it in than him as well. I can only hope she becomes a phenomenal woman and a splendid queen.

As for my King, my dear Leone, he has grown greatly ill. I've sent word to Rhett about his illness and he said father had the same symptoms. I fear for my husbands' life. I can't lose him. Besides Serene, he's all I have left. We can't pass notes between kingdoms as much nowadays. Especially here with Leone's new advisor, Avant, who is still in training but whatever I do in his sight, he reports to Leone. I can feel my husbands' eyes on me, growing suspicious because of the boy.

Hopefully, after his training, he'll apply to be an advisor to another kingdom. For his own safety. If Avant reports about me being from Lux, I'll be shunned, I could lose my husband, and Serene could lose her title. Avant has filled my husband head with lies of immoral substance towards my people, that they are savages because they do not follow strict customs of Art, Knowledge, Strength, or Concord. Enigma that walks through our gates is seen as threats although they do nothing. I'm the Queen of Dominic but there will always be a piece of my heart that belongs to Lux no matter what.

Is Avant stays and tells my secrets, I will be the first at his throat. May Xen Aiki remain with us for all time. He's good and gentle and open to every kingdom. He's been with Leone since he was a child and he'll need him by his side for further more.

Sincerely, your dearest friend, Queen Lalita of Dominic

It took a minute for the crowd to pick their jaws off the floor and slowly applaud Zeph for gaining the title of my husband and the next King of Dominic. They were resilient at first with scowls and wide eyes, so I motioned for them to clap along. While doing so, I tried my best to avert eye contact with Ajax, feeling his gaze pierce through me like a thrown spear. Taking deep breaths, I focused on Zeph proudly marching the stairs up to me to take my hand in his. It all felt so disorienting, feeling Zeph's hand in mine yet yearning for Ajax's embrace.

I pushed that aside. I had to heed my mothers' warning. Turning to Zeph, he gazed down at me so innocently, I thought my heart would collapse in my gut. Please, don't let this be a mistake, I thought, my eyes taking a quick glance at Ajax who still stared at me with longing. And please don't let him be angry at me...not for too long.

"I would like to take a moment and thank all the princes for their dedication to this competition." I couldn't stray my eyes away from Ajax in fear that I'd never see him again. "You all performed incredibly and I learned so much from each of you. I'll cherish those memories. I hope you will all stay for the night and we'll have a grand feast in the morning to celebrate. Thank you all again and please, enjoy the night festivities."

They all applauded except Ajax who had crossed his arms, eye penetrating through me. My entire body felt like needles were sprouting on my skin. It took everything inside me to not run down the steps and rush into his arms, kissing his soft lips until we were one.

"May I have the pleasure of a dance, My Queen," he asked, dragging me from my thoughts.

This was once a dream of mind to dance with a kind prince within the ballroom. Years ago I watched my parents, when they both were happy and adored one another, I remember them gracefully waltzing on the dance floor. It was the most magical thing in my youth, my mothers' long gown of turquoise and pearl white, swirling around her shoes. My father was dressed in a well-fitted suit of black with a golden sash and a dozen medals. Oh, how I longed for the both of them now. To see their smiling faces and tell me how much they adored me. How much they...love me.

Out of all the things I could remember, I can't remember a time my mother or father told me they loved me. But I knew they did. They might have never said it but they did. And I love them as much as I loved this kingdom and the people who make it so.

"That would be delightful," I replied with a smile. We headed towards the stairs, the orchestra starting to play beautifully. The crowd took several steps back to make room for Zeph and I to dance. When my feet caught the floor, Zeph spun me around to face him delicately, his hands resting on the small of my back. Only a week ago, I craved this man's touch to teach me everything there was to know about s*x and more. And he taught me well. But my heart hurt knowing I didn't feel the same for him and never would.

Zeph, I begged, looking deep into his smiling eyes as he tilted me in his arms, don't let my mothers words be true.

As he sat me up, twirling me, I noticed Ajax had turned his back on me, walking straight for the doorway just as Trinity was walking inside. I brought myself back to Zeph's side as I wrapped my arms around his neck, catching him off guard. He let out an umph at the impact. I didn't mean to twirl that hard into him.

"We're not in the bedroom yet, Serene," he jeered, holding me by the waist. Ignoring his words, I looked through the crowd of spectators to see Ajax about to walk out the door. I widened my eyes at Trinity who noticed just in the nick of time. I point at Ajax with my head, trying to tell her to catch him before he left. He couldn't leave just yet. I needed to speak with him, hold him once more, kiss his lips as he wrapped his strong arms around my waist.

I backed away from Zeph to see Trinity running after Ajax and a sigh of relief came out. Zeph caught my attention, turning his head before I ran a finger along his jaw to direct him back to our dancing. He smiled and whispered, "I'm really happy you chose me, Serene, I thought--"

"Zeph, of course, I was going to choose you. You were...my first and I enjoyed the time we spent together." I could see the corner of his lip twitch before spinning me in his arms, his usual smile glowing beneath the chandeliers. He caressed my cheek caringly before tiling me on last time before the song ended and the crowd applauded. That was short. But when I turned to the stage, I noticed why.

Avant.

He was now standing on the stage with a glass of champagne, capturing everyone's attention. Even Zeph's who was slightly frowning. If I weren't this close to him, I wouldn't have noticed. At least he hated him as much as I did. Throughout this entire week, all Avant did was spout nonsense about Enigma and put Zeph down. And well, I hated him because he was Avant. But his days were adding up before he'd get the boot after my coronation.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to this wonderful occasion," he greeted. The servants were handing out champagne to all the guest, including me and Zeph. "As you all heard, our dearly beloved King, may he rest in peace,"--the crowd lifted their glasses in honor--"was murdered a couple of days ago." There were gasped and many sunk their heads in sorrow. I looked over my shoulder, hearing the doors squeak a bit. Trinity stuck her head inside, waving for me to come out. "But I do not mean to spoil this joyful night to celebrate Serene's choice for the husband who will follow in her father's footsteps."

The crowd clapped and cheered for me. And although I smiled and nodded at their congratulations, I couldn't rub off the feeling that Avant had something up his sleeve. I didn't have time for whatever charade Avant was about to play. But knowing him, I couldn't leave him to his own behalf or I might return to an angry mob.

"I would like to be the first to offer her and the future king of Dominic a present. Soon after the king's death, I began to search high and low for the belated kings' perpetrator. Until one night, I realized one of the princes was acting very odd, so I made it my duty to challenge this prince until he admitted his wrongdoings towards not only our ill-fated king but to this entire kingdom. And that prince is with us tonight."

Two guards drew the velvet curtains to unveil Hayden perched in a chair, his mouth gagged and his left eye swollen shut. His hands were tied behind his back and his feet tied as well. He struggled to get loose without any hope of achieving it. Part of the guests seemed appalled, a few frowned, some booed, and the other parts looked perplexed. I was part of the perplexed as I stepped closer to the stage.

"My dear Queen to be, I would like to present you with your father's murderer, Prince Hayden of Piper, home of the Nature Kingdom."

I glared at him. "I know who he is, Avant. Why is he sitting there, gagged?"

When Hayden heard my voice, he began squirming and murmuring through the cloth in his mouth. One of the guards rose his hand to smack him before I stopped him.

"Don't you dare touch him!" The guard froze in his place for a moment before returning his arm to his sides. "Murderer or not, he is still a prince of our ally kingdom and...one of my guests." Clutching one hand while the other held a glass, I willed the bitter sting of betrayal away. I couldn't let anger control me, not right now. "Avant, please explain the meaning of this?"

He cleared his throat, still trying to entertain the crowd behind me more than give me a definite answer. "Your Grace, are we not all mourning the loss of our beloved king?" This is just another show for him to applaud himself and be recognized as some hero, I realized. "I present you with Prince Hayden here tonight so the people may avenge their king."

"What?" I also dropped my glass, stepping towards him.

"It is the people's right to avenge their beloved king for his wrongful death."

"No, Avant, it isn't!" It took everything inside me not to toss this glass at his feet. Although I was still furious with Hayden for killing my father, I wasn't going to parade him away like this. He looked so defenseless and there was still a deep, dark part inside of me that believed Avant had something to do with my father's death. Right now, I loathed Avant much more than the hatred I harbored for Hayden.

He looked down at me, dramatically wide-eyed and awed at my refusal. "Are you saying your father doesn't deserve to be avenged?" He gasped which motioned for the room to follow with him. "Even by his own daughter?"

I scowled at him, refusing to play his petty games. "He is a prince! We must wait for the council to arrive and serve him with justice! I will not allow you to parade or treat him this way!"

He chuckled. "Your Grace, we all know what his sentence will be. At best, he'll lose his title and be exiled. It would be more like a vacation than a sentence. He must lose his head tonight!"

The crowd roared with applause, wishing to see justice within their own hands than to let Avant's prediction be true. They wanted my father's death to be brought to justice as much as I did, maybe even more as they toasted the ceiling in salute to Avant.

He smiled. "Give the people what they want." He snapped his fingers at the guards, one of them pulling out a shimmering sword as the other leaned Hayden back on the floor as he screamed in horror against his gag.

"STOP IT! ENOUGH!" I marched up the stairs, pushing away the guards that surrounded Hayden. I glowered at the one holding the sword, signaling him to place it back in his sheath. "Help me set him up." The two guards both positioning him upwards, Hayden's eyes red with tears running down his face. He trembled in fear, the scent of the prison cells pouring off of him.

I turned to the crowd that grew silent and quick shame masked their faces. "I want to avenge my father as much as any one of you but this is not the way! Ungag him!"

"What?" Avant exclaimed, looking at me as though I were crazy. "You can't let him loose! He'll run away!"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm only ungagging him. He will tell us what happened and only if I see fit will I allow you to treat him in such a way."

"Your Grace!" he shouted.

"Now!" I told the guards. They swiftly untied the strap around his mouth. Hayden panted loudly for breath, trembling a little less now as he calmed himself. "Hayden, I would like you to tell everyone exactly what made you kill the king."

He gulped, clearing his throat gently. "I...I didn't kill him."

The crowd stirred behind me with shouts of, "Liar! Murderer!" and "You killed our king!" I gestured for them to quiet down, not understanding what was going on.

"What do you mean you didn't kill him?" I asked, taking a step towards him.

Avant interjected, "Your Grace, it could be that he bumped his head in that cramped cell of his."

Hayden looked directly at Avant. "No thanks to you. He bashed my head into the wall until I passed out."

"I did no such thing! The lies he tells!"

My hand gestured for him to stop and shut up. Knowing Avant, he probably did that and wanted to victimize himself by stating Hayden was lying. But why would he lie about that? It was obvious by the swollen eye that they beat him up. My suspicion of Avant rose that second. Why was he so admit on Hayden not speaking? "Let him tell us without your petty accusations, Advisor."

Hayden looked at me and only me while he spoke, everyone around him nonexistent for the time being. "It's the truth. I didn't kill the king. I did make this type of herb patch that...had a lethal dosage but I had no intention of using it. I shouldn't have even brought it. However, I had intentions of killing King Leone because he dismantled the private funds for our environmental project. I showed you a small example of it on our night together, Serene. B-but there are supposed to be different types that help fellow vegetations grow more plentiful, absorbs the toxicity in the air and releases them as pure oxygen, and much more to help all kingdoms. What I'm trying to say is, I didn't kill him. When I got here, I just couldn't kill him, I didn't have it in me, not even for the project. It was stupid anyway. It would have been better to convince him to return our funding than to kill him. I was going to throw them away soon after I got here but they went missing."

"Why didn't you say anything the first day?" I asked, trying to process all this new information. The main objective being Hayden didn't kill my father. I was both relieved and terrified at the same time. Once again, I imprisoned an innocent man.

He shrugged, looking down at his bound feet. "I don't know. I was afraid I'd have to explain what they were. At first, I thought I dropped them on my way here, then I found out the king got poisoned, I started to panic. I wondered if my patches were used to kill him."

"Is that why you were trying to run away?"

He nodded. "I thought it would be better if I left and found a solution to this on my own. But you can't bring back the dead."

Silence engulfed the entire ballroom, no one knowing what to say at this point. He didn't kill the king but he brought in the weapon to do so. "How do these patches work?" I asked him.

"They dissolve in hot substances."

I turned to Avant who tried everything in his power to avert his gaze from mine. "Avant, what did my father eat before he died?"

"Gazpacho with grilled salmon but the salmon was served slightly colder than usual." There was no way I could tell if he was telling the truth at this time. I'd have to ask the chef and the servants who carried it to his quarters if they also knew about the cold salmon.

I made a mental note, swerving back to Hayden who was looking up at me, one-eyed, his hair disheveled, and clothes torn and stained. "Please release him and take him to his room so he may rest for the night. Although he has admitted to supplying the patches that might have killed my father, he has also stated that he did not kill him, and I...believe him. He'll have guards monitoring him outside his doors and make sure to lock his windows so he doesn't escape."

Avant opened his mouth to protest before I shot him a look that told him I was on the verge of strangling him is he said another word. I bent down to untie his feet as one of the guards untied his hands from behind him.

"Serene, I truly am sorry for all this trouble I caused."

I faked a tight smile for him. "Please get some rest, Prince Hayden. I'm sorry for how they treated you." Gesturing to the guards, I caught their attention as they straightened their backs. "I would like you both to escort Hayden to his room, secure his windows, and find the two other guards to post at his doors. After, I'd like you both to scrub clean the prison cells from head to toe, understood."

They scrunched up their noses but couldn't refuse. "Yes, Your Grace."

*~*~*~*~*~*

With a bit of hesitation, I knocked on Ajax's door, looking around in case someone saw me. Now that I was betrothed to Zeph, it wasn't in my place to visit another man's bedchambers. Not hearing anything, I knocked again. Trinity said he would stay in his room but I began to panic that he might have left already. And after Trinity went through all the trouble of catching Zeph's attention so I could sneak out of the ballroom undetected.

Still not hearing anything, I opened the door and crept inside. Ajax was laying on top of his sheets, staring up at the ceiling. "You're late. Trinity said you'd be here in five minutes, that was almost half an hour ago."

"I know." I stepped inside, closing the door and locking it firmly behind me. "There was a situation in the ballroom."

All he said was, "Oh," refusing to look at me. I'd hurt him but I also told him to trust me, to wait for me, and hopefully, it would be worth it.

I inched closer to him. All I wanted to do was lay my body on top of his and kiss his pouty lips until they were numb. But I restrained myself. "Hayden didn't kill my father."

That sparked his attention. He sat up slightly with his eyebrows arched before he realized what he'd done and leaned back into bed. "Is that so? Then who did?"

I was only a foot away from him. If I took another, I'd be over him in a second, admiring his long lashes and thick bone structure as he flexed his arms behind his head. "I think it's Avant but I still have to find proof."

He turned away from me, now facing the windows. "Have fun, detective."

I sighed. "Ajax, please. Sam and Ethan didn't act this way."

Just then, he shot up off his side and looked at me with a frown, lowering his legs to the ground. "Serene, tell me, did you give them any indication that you had genuine feelings for them? That they had the potential to be by your side?"

"No."

"You did for me. This wasn't just some competition for me, Serene. I have feelings for you that go beyond s*x. I want to know you, hold you, tell you things I've never told anyone and laugh about them. Why the f**k do I feel this way?!"

Before he could say another word, I placed my lips on his roughly, wrapping my arms around his neck. He pulled me onto his lap, running his hand through my hair as he pulled me down deeper. Our tongues found one another, dancing vigorously, like animals that couldn't be tamed.

After a minute, we caught our breaths, looking deeply at each other. I wanted more than anything to stay in his arms, to press my body against his for warmth while he continued to run his fingers through my hair.

"I asked you...to trust me...and you....said yes....so please...trust me," I begged, leaning my head on his shoulder. I fit perfectly within him, his arms wrapping me tighter.

"I trust you." Those words caused my heart to thump hard in my chest. He really was the man I wanted in my life, by my side, and I didn't want to let him go.

I sat up, holding his face in the palm of my hands. "Good. Because I need you to leave...tonight."

He looked perplexed but soon took a breath, the facial feature vanishing in a second. "Yes. But may I ask why?"

I whispered the next words in his ears just in case someone was trying to overhear us. "I need you to round up your best soldiers from Ambrose and bring them here. You need to leave tonight and make sure no one spots you leaving, can you do that?"

He leaned in my ear, tickling me on purpose before kissing the nip of my neck. "Of course. What's the meaning of this though?"

"My kingdom. I can't lose it."

"Lose it to who?"

"Zeph."