THREE
1633 Words
The dress I have on is free and billowy, hanging off my slender frame easily. I am grateful to Mara for this.
After braiding my long hair into a crown around my head and adorning it with accessories, she drapes a cool pendant around my neck and sprits on perfume that smells like roses.
Once she is satisfied with how I look, she leads me down the quiet hallway to the food hall.
“Is it always this quiet?” I ask. The whole palace is so silent it’s unnerving. The only sounds are he occasional steps of the servants.
“No one apart from the tested servants are allowed into the inner palace without permission from His Royal Highness.” Mara explains.
I bite my lip. It seems that the King’s reputation of being brutal and strict is true. I cannot imagine living in close proximity with him forever.
Mara walks very slowly so that I can map out the palace in my head.
After a while of walking, we stop in front of a door.
“This is the Meal hall. No one but the King and serving servants are allowed in. The prime ministers and other attendants eat at another hall, Miss.” Mara says.
“You can call me Hallow.” I offer, shaky voiced.
I am so afraid. How do I face him alone? Our last encounter gave a stomach ache and shaky knees. I can only define this as fear. Something in me can sense just how dangerous he is.
I reach out to grip Mara when she makes to leave. “Can you go in with me? Please?”
She hesitates, shakes her head. “I-” then stops short.
Suddenly she dips in a bow. “His Royal Highness just granted me permission to escort you inside.”
I blink in surprise. “But how?”
She ignores my question and pushes the door open.
I sense him even before I step in.
His aura is so strong I can taste it. The fear coils deep in my stomach and my legs feel like lid.
Mara softly nudges me forward.
When I don’t move, she palms my back and rubs soothing circles. Warmth seeps into me, and I feel the fear loosen up and float away like clouds.
With surprise I realize that she is a Fairy. Fairies have the ability to control emotion, and I am grateful for what she does for me.
As we walk, I take into notice other things. Like the smell of food. The food smells so delicious that my stomach growls. My cheeks heat up and I sense Mara smile.
I smell apple pie and steak cooked with cloves of garlic and spices. With a start I realize that I haven’t had anything to eat since morning. To be frank, my appetite surprises me, as I thought I wouldn’t be able to eat in my predicament.
When we get to the table, Mara moves to help me seat, she is stopped by his strong voice.
“You may leave.”
His voice startles me. Mara bows and steps away from me. Her steps softly echo as she walks away and the door opens and bangs shut.
Once she is gone the feeling of easiness leaves and fear takes over again. I feel like throwing up.
A chair scrapes back, and next thing I know, I feel him beside me. His body is so close I feel it’s heat.
Without saying a word, he reaches around me and pulls the chair out. His big hand slides down my back, burning a trail of fire and making me softly gasp.
He slowly lowers me to seat.
Even as I am sat, he stays standing beside me. Slowly he leans down till we are face to face.
I hold my breathe as he stays this way. I have no idea what exactly he is doing and my heart is hammering so hard in my chest that I am afraid it’ll rip out any minute.
“Zayne wasn’t lying.” He mutters more to himself than me.
I feel tears start to rise and shove them down. “I am sorry. I was born this way, Your Highness.” I have faced more than enough jabs because of my blindness. His disappointment should not hurt.
He starts saying something, but then stops and stands straight. “I do not know what you would like, so, I have asked for every meal. Eat to your fill, you are the future queen.” He stalks back to his seat.
A servant appears from nowhere and places a plate front of me.
“Steak dipped in soy and snails with glazed carrots, your future Highness.” He states and slips away.
With trembling hands I reach forward and feel for my fork and knife.
“The seamstress is going to take your measurements for your wedding dress tomorrow.” The King speaks.
His words startle me so much that the cutlery clangs back onto the table.
“T- tomorrow?”
“Yes. The dress needs to be ready as soon as possible.”
My appetite disappears.
I want to speak up, maybe plead for more time to get used to the idea, but my lips remain sealed.
The rest of dinner goes slower than I would’ve ever imagined. I force food into my mouth, and the only sound is the clanging of our cutlery against the plates and the occasional shuffle of a servant.
Just as I can’t force down any more food, the King abruptly stands.
I drop my cutlery and stand as well, then bow.
The sound of a chair scraping the floor fills the room.
A chair slips beside me and the King sits.
I blink in confusion, still standing and bowed.
“Your Highness?”
“Sit.” He says.
Slowly and unsurely I slide back into my seat. Once I am sat, the King uses his magic to push my chair in till our legs are hovered next to each other.
As I reach to keep eating, my fingers shake so hard that I can barely cut into the meat.
“Here.” And suddenly, warm hands slide smoothly over mine.
A small sound escapes the back of my throat in shock.
The King’s hands hold mine steadily and helps me cut into the meat.
My cheeks are so hot I think they are on fire, and the heat of his hand of mine is even more hot. My breaths are a little more shallow.
“Your Highness...”
“You fear me.” He says. It is not a question but a fact.
I swallow, unsure how to answer and not wanting to displease him. “I...”
In silence he cuts up my meat to smaller sizes.
As I seat here, hands in his, I cannot help but wonder how someone so brute can be this tender...
My cheeks must be rosy, as Qora calls it, because my ears feels hot, and the pitter patter of my heart is almost audible.
When it is done, his hands stay over mine for a moment, and then, he slowly slides them off, pausing at my pulse. My heart beats even faster.
“I do not wish for you to fear me.” He says, voice soft and smooth. It reminds me of hot cocoa on a cold night. “I have a lot of things to say... but I do not want you to fear me.”
His fingers reach out to graze over my cheek. He tucks away some stray hair behind my ear.
My mouth goes dry. I am not sure what to say, or feel...
All I know is that my heart is thumping away in my chest and I am not sure if it is fear or something else.
“I... I do not know what to do. I have only been a priestess all my life, I am no fit for a queen, your Highness .” I bow my head.
“Anyone is fit for a queen Hallow...”
This time, for some reason, my name sounds different coming from his lips.
“But why me?” I whisper.
I have no idea how he could’ve possibly chosen me. Of all the dive kingdoms, Edin is jot the most resourceful nor popular. How could he have chosen me?
He is quiet for a bit, and then I sense him lean back in his chair. His thigh grazes mine. “It is fate.” He simply says.
Fate?
I swallow. “I cannot make sense of anything... I am blind, I am just sixteen with no knowledge of the world as I have been in the temple since I was nine... how am I to be queen?”
I realize that I haven’t really thought of what being queen entails. The idea of ruling over five kingdoms rattles me.
I cannot make sense of any of it. My appetite dies and I push away my plate.
“I apologize for speaking so freely, your Highness.”
I keep forgetting my place, and the fact that it is the High King I speak to.
His fingers find my chin and he tucks it up. “I have invaded your life, and shocked you beyond comprehension, the least I could let you do is speak.”
His voice is so full of emotion, that for the first time in years, I wish for my sight.
I want to see his eyes, I want to know his face.
My fingers itch to reach out a touch him.
I fold my hands in my lap in confusion. These sudden emotions are even more alien than the idea of being queen.
- Writer
