Enemies Rejection (Prequel)

2. Eighteenth

Alice POV.

One year later.

I turn eighteen tomorrow, and its not going to be like every single one of my previous birthdays. What’s different about it? Well, every single birthday, I always had my parents to celebrate with. This year they will not be with me to celebrate it.

It’s been a full year since I got my gift of sight. My parents healer had helped me to have some sort of control over my gift. At first it was hard to control, I had no way of controlling it. I would be having visions of disturbing images that did not make any sense to me. But with the right focus, my gift became easy to control rather than being haywire.

I had begun to find my gift okay, that was until a month ago when my mother fell ill. No one really knows what caused her illness but a week ago she passed. To make the loss of my mother even worst, my father passed two days after. They were mates and most of the time if someone dies and they are mated, then their mate would follow soon after. It was the moment I had doubted my gift.

To say that I was broken was an understatement. I was barely even holding it together. My gift of sight didn’t even show that I would lose both my parents, I don’t understand why it didn’t. Today I lay both my parents to rest, tomorrow I will turn eighteen. As the only heir to the Royal covens throne, I will be crowned by the end of next week.

If you ask me, I don’t feel like that is even enough time to grieve over the loss of both my parents. If I wasn’t even taught from a young age that my people’s safety was my responsibility as a royal, then I don’t even think I would even be hiding my pain right now. Now that the two people I have loved and adored have left me, I only had my two best friends to turn to for support.

Frances and Waylon, my two best friends. Frances is the niece of our healer and she was to take his place at the age of twenty one. Waylon is the son of my father’s right hand man, who had died a month before my mother’s illness. I know that since Waylon’s father had passed, Waylon doesn’t have anyone but Frances and I. The three of us was always there for each other, we are an inseparable trio if anyone who knows us would say.

I have already decided to make Waylon my right hand man once I am crowned. I wanted only those I trusted and right now it was Frances and Waylon. I felt it was right, not just because I trusted them but because I felt it. I am sure that it had something to do with my gift.

I may have gotten better at controlling it but doesn’t mean I have perfected it. I have come into control with my gift not only from the help of Frances uncle but also with the help of Eliphas. Ever since I meet him a year ago on my last birthday, I have continued to see him from time to time.

I have learnt a lot from him, it wasn’t anything extreme but it was things that have allowed me to sense one's emotion and even read people from a single touch. I haven't told anyone about him, including my best friends. However while Frances had been training with her uncle, I would tell her things about my gift that she would write down.

At first I wasn’t up to the fact that everything I said about my gift would be written down by either her or her uncle, but Eliphas had advised that the goddess was okay with it. I don’t know why exactly but it felt right, so I didn’t try to argue on the matter.

During my once a week talk with France and her uncle, I would always seem to come back to one thing about of my gift of sight. Every night after my seventh birthday I would dream of a boy, I knew deep down it was more of a vision than a dream. Out of all my visions, I always see the same thing every night in my dreams, a boy.

His eyes were blue like sapphire with hair as black as night. He was no doubt the most handsomest man I had ever seen. I wasn’t sure if it was a dream or a vision at this point. Only because I am sure that he wasn’t real, he seemed more of a god then a boy, I felt some sort of an attraction to.

“Princess Alice.” I heard the voice of Frances uncle. “I understand that you have just laid the king and queen to rest, your father had in trusted me to give you something.” He added. “but of course, if your not ready and wish to continue to grieve, I can wait.” He said quickly as he saw that my face was a little red and swollen.

“It’s fine, I would be fine to see what ever it is that you have to show me.” I replied as I sniffed in my sadness.

He gave a bow as a show of respect before he pulled out a case of what seemed to belong to a scroll of some sort, as he handed it over to me. I inspected the scroll I now held.

“If your need me princess, you know where to find me or you could fetch Frances.” He said before he left me.

I looked at the case I held before me, I inspected every inch of it before I stopped in my tracked. I looked at some sort of logo that was on it, I know I seen it somewhere but I couldn’t quite place where I had seen it.

I gave a sigh as I knelt down to the ground, I put the case in front of me. I placed both of my hands on to my parents graves. My left on my mothers and my right on my fathers.

“What am I going to do without you two?” I whispered as a single tear rolled down my cheeks.

“Alice,” I heard Frances sad voice from behind me.

I tilted my head to the right as I heard her.

“Hey, you want to come inside now? It looks like it might rain.” This time Waylon spoke.

“Yeah, the weather seems to suit my mood.” I replied to both of my best friends.

I grabbed the scroll casing as I stood up and turned around. I walked towards both of my best friends who both embraced me. I felt their emotions, they both felt sadness towards me. My hurt I was feeling at this very moment, is what they both were also feeling and it only made me hurt even more.

“Let’s go get you cleaned up, well I’ll clean you up. Waylon will get something for you to eat.” Frances said.

The three of us walked to the castle as Waylon left for the kitchen, Frances lead me to my room.

………………..

The boy with the blue sapphire eyes and jet black hair stared at me smiling. His smile was one of love, so much love. I knew it because I felt it, he wanted me, he craved me and he was determined to be with me no matter what.

“I love you Alice.” He spoke.

I opened my mouth to return the words but they never left my mouth. I was confused for a split second but then I realised that I didn’t even know his name. I knew if face and every single feature of the boy but I didn’t know his name. I was about to ask him what his name was when I feel my body jump up. I look around in a panic before I realise that I was dreaming.

I couldn’t understand why I felt panic run though my body right now. It was a feeling I never felt while I dreamt of the boy with blue eyes. I felt specks of sweats rolling of my forehead as I got out of bed and made my way to my bathroom. I on the tap and splash water on my face before I life my head and look at myself in the mirror.

I must admit I look terrible, I thought as I stared at myself in the mirror. I don’t even recognise myself, it’s like I was starting at a completely different person. I haven’t been sleeping well since my mother died and when my father had died two days after her, my sleeping and eating became worse.

The dark circles around my eyes showed the lack of sleep, the red veins standing out in my eyes also showed how much my body needed sleep. My body began to show bone in a few places and if I were someone else, I’d describe myself as a walking skeleton. I walked back out of my room and I saw Frances and Waylon sitting on my bed.

“What are you guys doing here this early?” I asked as I approached them.

Waylon looked at me with concern and Frances gave a sigh that clearly sounded like she was worried.

“Alice, it’s almost midnight and we were sitting here when you woke and walked into the bathroom.” Frances said.

My eyes widen with shock, I haven’t even paid attention to my surroundings. I can’t believe that I didn’t even know that they were here.

“It’s okay, everyone understands that the loss of both parents can take a toll on you.” Waylon says reassuringly.

Of course he of all people understands what I am going through. He lost his mother at the age of eleven and his father just recently. Just like me he didn’t have any siblings. Frances was sort of in our boat, although she had mentioned that she had a sister but she said she had passed.

She never really spoke about her parents but she did say that her mother was still alive but hardly spoke to her and that she never met her father. It was why she was raised by her uncle who had been the royal healer for so long. So it looks like the three of us were orphans, barely even eighteen and orphans but at least we had each other.

“How about, I get you some lunch?” Waylon added.

“It’s fine, I’m not hungry.” I replied as I sat back in bed.

“Alice you’ve barely eaten, you are beginning to look like a skeleton.” Frances said, as I suspected from inspecting myself in the bathroom.

“It’s also your eighth birthday today!” Waylon exclaimed. “Let do something small, like movies and a lot of snacks?” He asked.

“We understand that it’s your first birthday without your parents Alice, but just know we are here for you.” Frances said.

I sighed, “okay, let’s watch movies and get snacks.” I replied.

“Great!” Waylon yelled in excitement as he stood from the bed and opened my room doors.

In walked a few servants pushing a couple of trolley’s with food on it. All the food I cared my nose and my stomach gave a growl. I may not be up to eating but it was clear that my body wanted food.

“Thank you just leave it over here.” Waylon said as he showed them.

Four male servants had come in with a projector and set it up in front of where my couch was. As soon as they left Frances had motioned for me to come sit on the couch and I did.

“So, what kind of movie you feel like watching,” Waylon asked while sitting on the other side of me as Frances was on one side. “you want a happy? A sad? A romantic? A action or a comedy movie?” He asked.

“Maybe a comedy would do me some good.” I replied and he nodded his head as he put on something.

Frances quickly got up and pushed both trolley closer to us before she sat back down. The movie started and both Frances and Waylon handed me so much food throughout the whole movie. I thought that a comedy movie would not change my mood but I was wrong. We had just put on a third movie and about thirty minutes into the movie, I had drifted into darkness as I rested my head on Waylon’s shoulder.