Heir of Golden Storms

When we return to the Court of Storms, North decides that she can walk on her own. I gave Glade a minute to gather his things and say goodbye to his love ones. He said that he did not need to gather anything from his house and that he does have any love ones that lives in the village. It makes me want to question him, but I remain quiet.

“Thank you,” North says as we step out of the tree.

“What for?” I ask, trying to sound oblivious. She smiles at that.

“For saving me,” she says. “I know it must have cost you a lot.”

“We would have paid anything for your safety,” I say. My arm is around Thalia’s waist. I look at her and she nods in agreement.

“Are you two together?” North asks.

“We are married,” Thalia answers. “You went to our wedding!”

“I know, but I meant romantically,” North says.

“Oh, no,” Thalia says. I do not know why, but her answer hurts me. She is right anyway. I did not feel love at first sight, and she did not either. It is impossible for us to fall in love with each other since there is not a single trace of love.

“Glade, come,” I say as I move away from Thalia. “I will show you your room.”

Glade nods. I walk inside with Glade behind me. For a moment, I think that my horns will not pass the doorframe, but I forgot that I enchanted myself. I move to the empty rooms at the east wing where North’s room is. I open one of the doors and wait for Glade to step into the room.

“This is where you will be staying,” I say. I see that he does not even brough clothes with him. He is only wearing the leaves shirt and twigs pants. He is even barefoot. “I will send a tailor here to get your size and bring you court’s clothes.”

“You are too kind,” he says as he bows. I flinch. That is completely unexpected. I ignore it and close the door, leaving him alone in the room.

***

“If that is all, then you are dismissed,” Thalia says to the council. She waits for the council to stand up and leave. “Rowan, can you find North?”

“Sure, but why?” I say.

“She does not want to talk about what happened at the Miracle Castle,” Thalia says. “She has not even mentioned what happened to her family. Can you talk to her?”

“All right, where is she?” I ask.

“She went to the library before I came here,” Thalia says as she stands up. I nod as I stand up. I open the door for her, and she walks out.

I make my way to the library. It is one of the places of the castle that I know how to get from here without getting lost. I find North at the last floor, sitting near a table with books on it. She does not notice me until I am closed to her.

“Oh, I did not see you there,” she says.

“What are you doing?” I ask as I pull a chair near her.

“Reading,” she says as I sit. “It is funny how much I have not learned at lecture…” If she was going to add something more, she does not. Something dark covers her eyes, sadness.

“Reading about what?” I ask, ignoring her last sentence.

“Oh, sprites,” she says, excitement feeling her voice. What made her last those torturing days at lecture were her thirst for knowledge.

I open one of the books near her. It is titled “Faerie Deals”. I close this one, move it, and open another one titled “Sprites’ Nature”. I do not bother opening another one.

“You want to know what Thalia and I gave up to the kings and queens of sprites for you,” I say, not as a question. I know that she is searching about it. She does not shake her head nor nods. “Let’s do something. I will answer any question that you have, and you will answer any question that I have.” North nods. “You start.”

“What did you give up for me?” North asks.

“Wow, you are worse than Thalia. You two do not like waiting,” I say as I lean back on my chair. I put my right arm on the table. This brings a shy smile on her face. “To whom? I need you to be more specific. What I gave up to the High King or the sprites?”

“The sprites,” she answers, but I can feel that her next question is going to be the one with the High King.

“I had to break the curse of the Slumbering Forest and bring Glade to live with us as their spy,” I say. “My turn. What was your family like?”

North closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she opens them, says, “They wear a common family. Father did not have a permanent job. He worked in construction at the Court of Winter, but as you know, he could have worked one month and the next two months nothing. Mother eventually went to work as a servant in the Winter Castle. She used to go early morning and returned late at night. We hardly saw her, but we knew that she had to pay the debts.

“I had a younger brother and an older brother. My older brother started lectures but ended up leaving to start working. He made the decision on his own because he knew that we needed the money. My younger brother just turned five years old when the Court of Miracles came…” She trails off. She does not want to say what happened to them. She does not want to live it up again. “What did the High King ask for me?”

“He did not ask anything,” I say. I know that I can leave it at that, and I would have, but she answered my question fully. “A knight fetched me yesterday because Thalia needed me. I found her crying. She told me that a spy found that you were being tortured at the Court of Miracles, so I took off. I threatened on torturing Easton if he did not give you to me. He finally agreed. Well, he poisoned you, but he gave you up anyway. The only thing that costed me was our alliance between the courts.”

“You should have not done that for me,” North says.

“You once saved my life with the help of Thalia,” I say. I remember when I was fighting the Court of Autumn and how she saved me with her magic. “It was my turn to return the favor.”

“But it did not cost me anything!” North says. “I only lent my magic to Thalia to create the hail and thunderstorm.”

I shrug. “Whatever. I already paid up,” I say. I can see her judging my answer. “Anyway, it is my turn to question you. Do you want to stay here, or do you want me to take you back to the Court of Winter?”

“No,” she says, closing the book that is on her lap. She lays it on the table. “I cannot go back. The Court of Miracles burned my house down. Even if I go back, I will not feel safe. I would like to stay. I will help around with whatever I can to pay for me staying.”

“No,” I say, and she flinches. “You do not have to work around here. Your presence will bring happiness to Thalia. That is enough for me.”

“Let me do something!” North protests. “You saved me and gave me hospitality. I cannot feel useless.”

“No,” I repeat. “It is your turn for a question.”

“But Storm King –”

“Rowan,” I correct her. “Your question?”

“Fine,” she says, laying back on her chair. “How did you get your wings and horns?”

“I always had them,” I say. “I was enchanted when I was born and that is why I did not know about them. I do not know why I possess them, but it must be linked to my ability to curse and to my father, whoever he is.”

“Then that is what I will do,” North says standing up. She moves to the pedestal with the research book. She writes something and closes it. Books start flying around. “I will research until I find how you got those wings, horns, and curse magic. That is what I will do to earn my place here.”

“North –”

“No, no,” she says as she sits. She opens a book. “Get out. I need to read.” Then she rises her head as if she notices how she spoke to a king. “I am sorry. I did not mean to –”

“Goodbye, North,” I say as I stand up. Without looking back, I march out of the room.

***

A knock on the door interrupts me on the process of putting my boots on. No one in this castle has interrupted me before this early in the morning. Even weirder is that only Thalia knows that I am sleeping in this room alone. I stand up and open the door. Glade is standing there, dressed in dark purple. He is even wearing boots.

“I have come to serve you, my king,” he says as he bows.

“What are you talking about?” I ask. He once told me that he does not care about my title of prince.

“My kings and queens told me that I should serve you while I stay in this castle,” Glade says. I raise an eyebrow.

“I thought that you were only going to keep an eye for me in case that I tell anyone that the Slumbering Forest is awake,” I say as I step out of the room. I close the door.

“I am going to make sure that you keep your promise,” Glade says as I start walking. He follows me. “But I also must serve you.”

“Do you not have anything else to do? What did you do when you were back on the Slumbering Forest?” I ask him as I try to bend my head to see him, but he is keeping his distant. “Walk beside me. I cannot see you.”

“Of course,” he says. He accelerates his pace until he is beside me, but still one step behind me. “My purpose was to serve the queen.” The Earth Queen or the Wind Queen?

“What about the woman that you brought to Easton’s ball?” I ask. The first time that I saw Glade was at the Miracle Castle at a Easton’s engagement ball. He was dancing with the woman in red. “Bring her here. Make her stay a few days. Have your honeymoon.”

“Do not speak about her like that,” he shouts. I stop walking, turning to face him. If he was speaking to the High King, he would have punished him. But I do not care. On the contrary, he has never respected my rank. Why start now? And I have hit a nerve. It intrigues me.

“Why?” I ask. “Who is she to you? A lover? A sister? A friend?” She cannot be a sister because the woman is a faerie and Glade is a sprite.

“None,” he says. “But I will ask that you speak of her with respect.”

“Commanding your king?” I ask but continue walking instead of waiting for an answer. “I will keep you close until I know where to leave you.”

I arrive to the dining room, a huge room with a long brown table that has almost twenty chairs. There are windows and balconies. A lavender rug covers the floor with decorative dark purple shapes and a huge chandelier covers most of the ceiling.

Thalia is sitting on one of the chairs. She is not wearing a dress, but pants and a shirt instead. In front of her, she has half her plate emptied and a chessboard already set up. North is sitting at Thalia’s left. She wears a simple dark purple gown. She has only a teacup and a closed book on the table.

At the other side of the table is Kalani. She is wearing a dark purple gown too, just like Breeze, who is sitting at the head of the table. Breeze has the doll that the boy, Maple, made for her. When she sees me, she stands up and runs towards me.

“Roro!” she shouts. That’s her nickname for me. I pull her up into my arms.

“What are you going to do today, Breeze?” I ask her as I walk towards Thalia.

“I have lecture today,” she says, rolling her eyes the same way that Thalia does.

“Lecture is so boring,” I tell her. I lower myself and kiss Thalia. Breeze makes a disgust sound.

“I slept alone last night,” Breeze says.

“Oh, you did?” I ask, and I look at Thalia for confirmation. She nods. “I am proud of you!” I move towards Kalani. From behind her, I extend one hand and mess up her hair. Breeze stretches herself to help me.

“Rowan! My hair!” Kalani says frustrated as she stands up.

“What? Are you trying to look cute for a boy?” I ask as I put Breeze back on the floor.

“No! Saints, you are embarrassing me and then you all wonder why I do not bring friends over!” Kalani says. “Come on, Breeze. We are going to be late for lecture.”

“Me? Embarrassing you?” I ask but she is already walking towards the door. “I am three years older than you! How can I embarrass you?” But she is already gone.

I sit down where Breeze was, right across from Thalia, and Glade sits at my right, right across from North. North gives him a shy wave which he returns with a normal one. A servant brings me a bowl of oatmeal and a goblet of water. I take a white pawn and move it two spaces to the front.

“Why is Glade with you?” Thalia asks as she moves a black pawn.

“He will not leave me alone,” I say. “He is following me until I find him a certain place where he can serve me.” I take a spoon of my oatmeal and swallow. “How did you sleep last night, darling?”

“Trying to be polite?” Thalia asks, but I give her a look. “Fine. I slept all right.” She moves another pawn. “You are sleeping tonight in our room.” I shake my head. “No, you do not understand. You are sleeping tonight in our room. That is not a question.”

Something about her and me, alone in a bed for the first time, makes me want to do it. Instead, I say, “I cannot hold the enchantment while I sleep.”

“No one asked you to,” she says. That makes me smile. She is not afraid of seeing me for who I am.

“My king and queen,” a knight says, entering the room. She does not even bother to knock.

“What is it?” Thalia asks.

“We found a woman sneaking into the Court of Storms,” the knight says. “She said that she knows the king personally.”

“Can’t you see that I am eating?” I say as I clean my mouth with a cloth. I put it on the table as Thalia and I stand up. “All right, bring her.”

The knight signals someone outside. Two knights enter holding a prisoner. The prisoner has a brown dirt cloak covering its head completely. The figure has its hands restrained on its back. The first knight that came in removes the hood from her revealing a blonde woman. Hesperia’s green eyes look at my face.

“Rowan,” she says. I see North tense near me.

“Remove her chains and leave,” I order. The knights remove Hesperia’s chains and leaves, closing the door behind them. She runs towards me, but I rise a hand and stop her. Glade stands up behind me as if he is planning on protecting me. “What are you doing here?”

Hesperia is one of my best friends, but she is also a princess of the Court of Swarm. The Court of Swarm is allied to the Court of Miracles. If anyone finds out that a Swarm Princess is here, they might think that I kidnapped her. I cannot afford her being here. Being a king comes before me.

“I came to see you,” Hesperia says. I cannot help but remember the kiss we had at my bachelor’s party.

“Why?” Thalia asks in a cold voice before I can speak. She has never liked her, not even North.

“I came to warn you,” Hesperia says, looking at Thalia but then turns to me again. “The Court of Miracles is sending the Court of Swarm to attack you in two days.”

Saints. This court cannot afford an attack right now. “Why are you telling me this?” I ask.

“Because I love you,” she answers. Oh, Saints.

“Excuse me?” Thalia asks, but when I look at her, she is asking the question to me.

“I will tell you everything later,” I say, which is the wrong answer. “Right now, we must think what to do with her. She cannot stay here. We have to send her back.”

“No, no, no, no, no,” she says. This is the first time that I hear desperation on Hesperia’s voice. “I have betrayed my court and the High King. If you send me back, you are sending me to my doom. The High King will execute me.”

“There is no other option,” I tell her. Then I turn to Thalia. “If she remains here, the High King will think that we have her as a hostage. Even if he does not think that she is a hostage, he will make everyone in every court believe otherwise. We do not have any other option.”

“Maybe we do,” Glade says.

“What are you thinking, Glade?” Thalia asks. North has stand up beside her.

“She does not need to leave,” Glade says. “She might have useful information about the attack and, if we send her back, she will die. Here is what we can do. We can ask leverage for her and make them believe that we kidnapped her. That way, when she returns, the High King will not believe that she betrayed him.”

“I like your way of thinking,” Thalia says, taking a hand to her chin.

“That is not an option,” Hesperia says. “I killed the knights of my court when I ran away. They were trying to keep me in the castle. The Court of Swarm knows that I left. They will know that I betrayed them.”

“I am fine with her death,” Thalia tells me. “And I am sure that North is too. She once insulted me, and she made North’s life a living hell.”

“I did not know that you were a princess by then!” Hesperia defends herself, which I think that it is a poor excuse.

“What if we dump her in the Forbidden Forest and let the creatures in there do what they want with her?” Thalia tells me. She is smiling, but Hesperia is shaking.

“I have second option,” Glade says. “She can stay if we make her agree to tell us everything about the attack and to make a public announcement that she renounces to the title of Swarm Princess and that she is going to stay here out of her free-will.”

I look at Thalia. I do not find anything wrong with this solution. This way Hesperia does not need to die. I will not make any decision without Thalia’s opinion. “Fine,” Thalia says. “Make her agree.”

I look at Hesperia, but before I can speak, she says, “I agree to your terms. I will tell you everything about the attack and I will make a public announcement that I will not be the princess of the Court of Swarm anymore and that I am going to stay here out of my free-will.”

“All right,” I say as I turn around to look at Glade. “Take her to a free room.”

“I do not know this castle,” Glade says.

“Ask a knight,” I say. “Just take her away.”

Glade walks past me. Seconds later, I hear the door close and I know that Hesperia and Glade left. North takes a step back as Thalia walks towards me.

“She loves you?” she asks.

“She told me the night before our wedding,” I say. “She only kissed me.”

“Do you like her?” she asks me.

I nod. “Of course, I like her. She is my best friend.”

“I have something to tell you,” Thalia says as she looks into my eyes. “I have a lover.” I lower my head, not looking at her. I can feel something in my heart. She grabs my hand, but I pull it slowly away from hers. “I will not mind if she becomes your lover.”

“I do not want her,” I say, lifting my head to look at her again. “I want…” I want to say to that I want her. I want to let her know that the only lover I want is her.

“Me?” she asks. “Rowan, you are only aroused by me. Want you want is only your animal instincts, not your feelings. We will never love each other. Neither of us fell in love at first sight and because of it, we cannot fall in love with each other.” She sighs. “Hesperia at least loves you. You have a chance to love her. The only thing that I ask is to make it a secret.”

My mouth suddenly feels dry. I wait a few seconds before I speak. “Does he love you?” I ask her.

“She. She does love me,” Thalia answers. “I like both men and women.”

“And do you love her?” I ask.

“No,” she answers. “But I can fall in love with her.” She grabs again my hands for some seconds and then lets them go. She walks pass me and I stay on the same place. “Oh, and we should make Glade the council’s new strategist. He has a great mind for it.”

“Of course,” I say, but all I can think about is this sadness in my heart.