TWO
1600 Words
The floor is a soft carpet and my knees barely feel bruised. However, my heart is pounding hard against my ribs.
I hear him stand from his throne.
No one is speaking. The room is deadly silent except for the pad of his feet as he walks towards me. Power resonates even in his footsteps.
I keep my head bent to the ground and my long braid dangles by my side.
The King stops in front of me. My senses are flooded with the smell of power. I do not know how I know what the smell of power is like, but I do.
I feel his eyes boring into me, and my knees tremble with fear. His presence and aura is almost overpowering.
A gasp escapes my lips when I feel his thumb and forefinger on my chin. His hand is warm as fire against my skin and seems to burn it. He uses them to raise my head. “Look at me.”
His voice is deep, bold and rough. It washes me with a sense of dread so deep I feel it in my stomach.
“Hallow, junior Priestess of Edin?”
My voice trembles as I try to force a reply from my lips. “I- it... it is I.”
I sense his smile.
“Look at me.” He says.
“I am blind, sire...” I croak.
“Blind?” He questions.
Like a plant, hope blossoms in my chest. Perhaps a mistake was made? Maybe he had no knowledge of my disability?
Instead of sending me away as I hope, he wraps one hand around my waist and effortlessly lifts me to my feet. His palm seems to burn a hole through my silky drab. And I can barely breathe from how hard and fast my heart is pounding as my side is pressed completely to his.
His torso is long and muscly. As expected of a king.
“The future queen of the five kingdoms shouldn’t be on her kneels...” he whispers in my ear. His breathe tickles the outer shell and my knees knock together as I tremble. My head is slightly foggy.
Seemingly satisfied, he pulls away from me and turns to the other people in the room.
“It is decided. We are to wed in five days.”
Five days?!
I pull away from his grasp as people in the room raise their voices in protest.
“But your highness!!”
“My king you cannot possibly mean that-”
“Is she really blind?!”
“Enough.” The King’s voice is quiet, but it is enough to sink the room back into deadly silence. “It is decided. Magnus?”
The Elf, as I sense, named Magnus speaks. “Sire?”
“Get her to the waiting room and make her stay there as comfortable as possible.”
Panic seizes me again, and without thinking, I grab onto his forearm. “In five days?!”
The silence that follows is even more deadly, and I realize my place. With a gasp I fall back to my knees.
My eyes are filled with tears and my throat hurts. I came here with the knowledge that I was to get married to the king, but I’d hoped, as an i***t, for a chance to get used to the idea, perhaps know him before the wedding.
Five days is barely enough time.
“Is five days too little or too much?” He asks.
I grapple for an excuse. Anything to keep my fate at bay, even for a while. “I- I need some time to get used to the palace... because of my sight.”
“Your sight?”
“I need to familiarize myself with the palace if I am to live here, your highness.”
He laughs. A jarring laugh that makes me bow my head lower. “Rise to your feet. You do not meed more time for that, it can happen after the wedding.”
With that, he turns and walks back up to his throne.
The Eld names Magnus walks to me and holds onto my elbow. “This way your future highness.”
Just like that I am dismissed, and my meeting with the King is over.
****
Magnus leads me around the palace slowly.
I am too afraid to say anything. I have a thousand of questions that need answering.
How was I picked?
Why me?
What the heck is even going on?
Why me?
What happens when I become queen?
Am I to rule as I am blind?
Why me?
Why mee?!
We come to stop in front of a door.
Magnus pauses for me to run my fingers on the door. I trace over it slowly and draw a mental picture in my mind. When I am done I softly nod. “Thank you.”
He nods. “This will be your dwelling for the five days of preparation.” His voice is soft and kind.
I am surprised, as Elves are usually gruff like the guard who took me to the throne room.
I swallow down my fear and summon the courage to ask my most important question. “Why me?”
He keeps silent for a while. And then, “Three maids will be sent to you. The King will expect you to have supper with him every night. The rest will be converged to you by your head maid.”
Tears slowly fill my eyes again. My throat is dry and it hurts so much. I cannot say anything. I am powerless.
As if taking compassion on me, he softly adds. “I look forward to serving you, your future highness.”
With this, he turns and walks away.
Just as I’m about to collapse to the floor and cry, I sense someone approach.
“Miss?” A female asks.
I stare in the direction of her voice.
“My name is Mara. I am your head maid gifted to you from his Highness.” She bows.
I blink slowly and say nothing.
When she realizes that I am not going to speak, she moves to push open the door.
Her hand hovers over my arm, hesitant. “May I?”
I nod.
She carefully wraps her arms around mine and leads me into the room. I breathe in the room. It smells like lavender and vanilla.
Mara slowly walks me around the room and let’s me draw a mental image of it.
After I have every bit of the room, en suite and balcony engraved in my memory, Mara leads me to the bed and sits me down carefully.
I run my fingers over the sheets. They are silky and finely embroidered. Nothing like the plain wool I used at the temple.
Tears fill my eyes again and I lay down on the bed. I feel ashamed by how much I have been crying. Qora would be disappointed.
I am trying to be strong, but the idea of suddenly starting a whole new life is more than scary. It’s horrific.
I miss the temple. I miss the scurrying mice and Qora’s strict voice.
“How do I survive this?” I whisper.
Soft hands startle me when they cup my face. “Don’t cry miss.” Mara’s voice sooths, “Being the Queen is a big task, but you have Me, Harry and Louise.”
“Why are you being nice?” I mutter and sniffle. “And who are those?”
“Your hand maids miss. We have been around the palace for more than ten years and the King has appointed us to help you get used to life here.” She says.
I slowly sit up. “I do not want to be queen...”
“But you have no choice... crying will not change anything miss, all that is left to do is to make the best of everything.”
I wish they could understand. It isn’t easy being thrown suddenly from one life to another. As a priestess I was never to marry, and now, I have a future husband.
“I know nothing of being a wife, talk of a queen.”
Her soft hands cradle mine. “We’ll teach you.”
With that, Mara wipes my tears, pushes me into a tub of warm scented water, and scrubs away dirt I didn’t even know I had on me.
After my bath, she towels me in huge soft towels and drabs me in a soft silky dress.
She sits me down on a cushioned chaise and combs out my hair.
“You have lovely hair.” She says.
I bite my lip. “I’ve no idea what it looks like. All I know is what my Head Priestess has told me, and that is little. A priestess is not to be vain.”
Her laugh is light as feather. “Oh but appreciating your beauty is not vain. Now I know why the King is so smitten by you. You are so beautiful -unearthly beautiful.”
My cheeks are hot. “He barely knows me, and has only seen me just now.”
“Well, we have to make you irresistible for him tonight.” She says.
With a start I remember that remember that I am to dine with the King tonight. The thought of being in the same room with him again makes my stomach tighten in knots.
I am to dine with the King tonight, and I have no idea what to expect.
- Writer
