The next morning, Phobos shook Will awake well before the light of dawn peeked over the horizon. Will groaned and tried to crawl deeper into the covers and she regretted not going to bed sooner as her husband suggested. She knew she had to get out of bed but hated the thought of crawling out of warm and comfortable bed and trade the comforts of her home for that of one she knew nothing about. With a tired voice, Will poked a hand out from under the covers and said, "Just five more minutes."
"Wilhelmina, the carriage will arrive in half an hour. The luggage is packed, and everyone is ready, I have already let you sleep well into the day and I want you to have breakfast before we have to go. Now, either get up or I'll force you to eat some toast; you know I have the power to do that to you." At her husband's words, Will groaned even louder before lifting the blanket off her and shooting her husband a look that was supposed to be angry but looked more like a grumpy toddler losing an argument with its' parent. Instead of dignifying the look, she was giving him with a response, he simply pulled the covers further away from her body with a grin and patted her head; at this point, Will had no choice but to get out of bed and prepare for the journey before them. Begrudgingly, Will crawled out of bed and got herself dressed in her favorite red dress, making sure to wear the broach her husband gave her a few days ago. Lovingly, Will stroked the tiny metal frog on her chest and sighed; he had managed to remember that she liked frogs and was happy he accepted that quirk of hers since was teased for liking those little amphibians.
After getting fully dressed and forcing a few slices of toast into her barely awake stomach, she joined her husband, Elyon, Orube, and Cedric in the courtyard where their back luggage sat as well. The courtyard was lit by several torches that bathed the snowy ground in a warm, orange glow; sadly, the torches offered no heat, as the air was biting cold and their breaths were visible as though each was smoking. Miranda had agreed to govern the castle while the group was gone, so she was there to see the group off. Suppressing a yawn, Will walked up to her husband and leaned her head against his shoulder.
"If our ride isn't here soon, I'll go back to bed. It should be illegal to get up this early and in the Winter no less." Muttered Will and Phobos simply rubbed her back to comfort her. Will lazily surveyed the boxes containing their clothes that they would need for the trip and was stumped when she counted one more than there were people. "Is someone else coming with us or is there another reason there are six crates instead of five?"
"The sixth one contains a little present for Princess Elizabeth. I know the invitation told us not to bring anything, but it is something that might be of great use for Isabella and Victor to help to raise a growing toddler." Replied Phobos. Will wanted to keep needling her husband about the contents of the box but dropped the subject; she'd find out tomorrow at the party anyway. Will sighed and straightened her back herself before asking, "So, what is the seating arrangement?"
Quickly and carefully, so no one would notice, Elyon pinched her brother's arm to remind him of her demands; she hadn't forgiven the royal couple yet and she planned on talking with her brother and sister-in-law about the secret they had promised not to keep from her. Her brother suppressed a hiss of pain and replied, "Orube and Cedric in one. You, Elyon, and I will share the other. You and Elyon still need to know a few things about Ero and I am sure Cedric can do the same for Orube."
Cedric wanted to interject since he could imagine a better journey to Ero than spending hours with Will's new bodyguard in closed quarters; however, he was too tired to interject. He had spent another night racked with nightmares that roused him from his sleep; each nightmare being worse than the last. In his last nightmare, he was trapped in a dark void with Will's maniacal laughter chasing like a dog would chase a rabbit. Then again, maybe he could get away with telling Orube the most important information and then napping the rest of the way until they reached Ero. Just as he was thinking about returning inside the Castle and giving Miranda a proper goodbye, he heard the sound of roaring shrieks that signaled the arrival of the wind stallions, so he gave up on that idea just as fast as he had it.
Soon, the shrieks became louder and louder, until Will thought her ears would bleed and she had to squeeze her eyes shut to keep them from vibrating from the soundwaves; then, the sound of creaking wood underlined the shrieks. Just when Will thought she couldn't take any more of this noise, there came a metal scraping sound and the noise stopped; when Will felt it was safe to open her eyes, she was stunned by what she saw. Will had expected creatures that looked like horses with wings, but the wind stallions came nowhere close to what she had imagined. Before her stood two robust, with iron reinforced carriages, each drawn by two creatures that resembled lions. The creatures didn't have wings, but on a closer look were covered in feathers that shimmered golden in the light of the torches. When one of the stallions yawned Will could see that they didn't have teeth, but bony plates meant to crush seeds and tough plant matter. They didn't appear to possess visible ears, so Will presumed they heard like birds. Looking down, Will noticed that, instead of cat paws, the creatures had hands similar to those of a gorilla and stood on their knuckles while on the ground like one. The only part that reminded Will of a horse was the tail. In a shaky voice, Will asked no one in particular, "Why are they called wind stallions? They don't look like horses."
"Well, Wilhelmina, I am not in charge of naming them, so my best guess is that they are called that because of the way they ride through the sky. Once they are in the air, they gallop like wild horses." Replied Phobos. He had seen and ridden on one before but was still mesmerized by them. "They can ride the winds because, according to their creation legend, the wind god Goath created them to pull the chariot of goddess Solas, who was the goddess of light. I can't confirm this though, but it does make for a fun story about them." Slowly, he ushered Elyon and Will closer to the creatures so they could get a better view of them, while the carriage drivers jumped from their seats and loaded the luggage onto the back of the wagons. For a moment, Phobos thought of encouraging Elyon to sit on one of the creatures so she could imagine riding one through the skies when he noticed a black patch of feathers on one of them and remembered his last encounter with it. "I am certain that Myra will encourage you to ride one of these things, but I strongly advise you to keep away from this one. He likes to buck his riders off; at least he did that with me."
"You rode one of these?" Elyon asked with amazement and carefully touched the one with the dark spot. The creature responded by snapping at her hand as a warning to keep away from him. Elyon obeyed the creature's demand and quickly pulled her hand back.
"Myra encouraged me, and I rode the one that just snapped at you. Either I did something wrong, or he just hates people riding him in general, but he threw me off. It is a day I'd rather not remember and not repeat. I'd advise against doing my mistake, but Myra can be very persistent."
"I'll keep that in mind." Replied Elyon and quickly moved to the door of the carriage, wanting more distance between herself and the creature. Without another word to Cedric, Phobos first helped Elyon into the carriage before helping Will and then climbed in himself. The inside of the carriage was warm, and the fur-covered seats and walls invited anyone to sit back and enjoy a comfortable ride; the ride itself, however, was anything but comfortable. Though the stallions galloped gracefully through the skies, the carriage rattled and swayed with every gust of wind, and Elyon was convinced a couple of times that the carriage was going to rip loose from the stallions reigns and drop out of the sky like a rock. Despite being worried about their safety in this box made of wood and iron, Elyon kept the sour demeanor she had chosen to wear until her brother and Will properly apologized for keeping the pregnancy from her. After half an hour of awkward silence, Phobos sighed and leaned closer to his sister, who was sitting across from her.
"Elyon, I am sorry for not telling you sooner. Wilhelmina and I thought we should keep it a secret for a bit until things settled and thought the time was right to announce it. Do you have any idea the stress we'd be through, what stress Wilhelmina would be through if everyone found out? Hundreds of royals from all over Metarmoor would come by to congratulate us, the people would be in a frenzy and make bets on what it would be, Irma would run in circles like a headless chicken, and Susan would try to strangle me if she got the chance. I understand you are angry with me, I'd be angry too if I were in your position." When he got no reaction from his sister, he leaned back in his seat again and sighed. "If it makes you feel better, you can kick me la-"
Elyon quickly decided to take her brother up on his offer and shot her foot out, kicking him hard in the shin and making him yelp in pain.
"Elyon, what has gotten into you?" Will gasped and took hold of her husband's arm, who was holding his throbbing knee and tried to breathe through the pain.
'What has gotten into me? What has gotten into you? At the cabin, you both promised me that you'd tell me the moment you had one. Now, I find out that you two knew for months and decided not to tell me and placate me with dumb excuses! Phobos is right, I have every right to be angry. I don't know why you two decided to keep it a secret since the Oracle knew anyway and has told Orube. Who knows whom she told by the time she got to Meridian. It seems everyone knows everything and is keeping me in the dark on purpose. It feels so unfair!" she snapped back and kept her arms crossed and her face set on a scowl, even though she regretted kicking her brother the moment she did.
"Elyon, we didn't consider the Oracle know about this until we decided to keep it a secret. Now, I am sorry I went back on my promise, but there is little we can do about it now except say we are sorry. I get you are angry, but that kind of behavior is not right. Now, either get over it or keep stewing throughout our trip to Ero." Will snapped back and returned Elyon's scowl. Through she didn't want to, she couldn't help but feel as angry towards Elyon as she did with Phobos back when they were enemies; it didn't help that Elyon resembled her brother a lot when she was angry. Elyon, still trying to appear angry, lowered her gaze to the floor.
"I am sorry." She mumbled. She still felt wronged by their actions but knew she couldn't stay angry at them for long. She loved Will and her brother just as much, so staying mad was an impossible task. Thinking of a way to clear the tension and change the subject at the same time, Elyon asked. "So, you said I had to know a few things about our family in Ero. Anything, in particular, I need to remember?"
"They are distant relatives." Started Phobos as the pain ebbed in his knee. "Seras was cousin to Queen Weria and grew up in Meridian while Ero and Morovia were rattling sabers. She moved back to Ero when she married her husband, King Pegan. She and Pegan have three daughters, but I only ever met two and Seras is pregnant with their fourth child. If I am correct, their youngest daughter is named Korinthia and is only a year or two younger than you; Princess Myra is three months older than me and Queen Isabella is three years younger than me. Myra was supposed to be the next queen of Ero but denied the crown and devoted her life to celibacy and studying everything there is to know in Metarmoor. If there is anything you want to know about this world, Myra is the best to ask. Isabella is the current queen of Ero and married the captain of Ero's guard. His name is Victor and together, they have a daughter who is turning one tomorrow, which is why we are traveling to Ero. Pegan has a sister named Armana and she is the Duchess of Ero. She has a son named Dante; I only ever saw the boy and never really spoke with him, even when he accompanied his mother to the peace negotiation between Ero and Morovia."
"That is a lot to take in," replied Elyon and shook her head as though her brother just dumped a bucket of water on her head.
"It is a lot, that I know, but it is the most important information. It will all become self-explanatory once you meet them. Just remember to keep out of trouble and stay away from the wind stallions, even if Myra dares you. I took her up on that dare once and nearly died because of it." By now the pain in his knee was gone and he could sit comfortably again, though he did keep his knees tucked in so Elyon would have a harder time kicking him, should she decide she wasn't done being angry with him yet.
"Part of me wants to know what happened and another part of me doesn't want to know." Muttered Will and took her husband's hand. If he wanted to, he'd tell her the whole story, but it didn't have to be today.
"All anyone needs to know, is that Myra dared me to ride the one with the dark spot and it bucked me off mid-air. I nearly died but was saved before I turned into a bloody stain on the earth. I don't really remember who saved me since I was just recovering from a bad fever and my memory of that time is hazy at best. I do remember Isabella and Myra gifting me a bag of Ero candies called sugar drops. They are so sweet that they will turn you away from sweets for the rest of your life. I highly advise both of you not to try them." at the memory of sweets, a shiver ran through Phobos. Since he had one of those candies, he could never stomach even the thought of eating another candy. On some days, even the sight of sweets made him nauseous.
"I'll keep that in mind." Replied Elyon, but her curiosity about the candy was awake and she wondered if the sweets were as bad as her brother said they were. He did tend to exaggerate a few things. Will decided, however, to abstain from trying the sweets; too much sugar had to be bad for the baby anyway. Despite the bumpy ride, Will was warm and comfortable, so she leaned her head on her husband's shoulder and closed her eyes; within moments, the Meridian Queen was napping peacefully.
Elyon, who herself, hadn't slept well the previous night only shook her head at her friend. Will seemed to possess the ability to fall asleep anywhere she pleased and, at times, Elyon thought her friend was part cat. Then, Elyon's eyes moved to take in the full picture and shook her head; Will and her brother did make an odd couple. Phobos noticed his sister's questioning expression and asked, "What is the matter?"
"I still can't believe you two are together. It seems like, just yesterday, I discovered you were my brother, you were trying to drain me of my magic, and Will was on the mission to kick your butt. Now you two are all lovey-dovey and are expecting a baby, all because you were poisoned to love her, and she felt too sorry to leave you in the dirt." Answered Elyon with a suppressed chuckle.
"Well, life is strange. Personally, I don't see the attempt on my life with poison as a bad thing. I see it as a final wake-up call and the pain I feel when she is not around as a reminder of how dull my life was without her. With everything Wilhelmina has done for Meridian and I, it is a miracle she decided to give me a chance. I understand how you feel though, I can't believe it myself on some days. It seems like a dream, but if it is, I don't plan on waking up anytime soon." He chuckled and gave the hand of his sleeping wife a light squeeze.
"I hope you never wake up." Replied Elyon cheerfully. "I like the new you better and I bet, so does Meridian." She then relaxed and let her scowl fade away completely. "I still call dibs as the person you call to babysit. It will be my niece or nephew, and Irma might run off with the baby and keep it if what Danny says is true." Her voice tone than changed to a low and calm demeanor so she wouldn't run the risk of waking Will. "How far along are you two? I mean, with the baby."
"We aren't quite sure, but Wilhelmina suspects about two months at most. She said there are ways on Earth to tell how far the development of a baby is in the womb, but I know nothing about it and it would be very difficult for her to get to a clinic without her mother discovering the pregnancy. We did promise Susan to wait until Wilhelmina was older before considering having children. I already survived two attempts on my life, I doubt I'd survive a third." He answered and nervously fiddled with his hands. It felt awkward to include his sister in something so intimate, considering their checkered past. Elyon could only stifle a laugh; for as noble and well-mannered her brother was, he was just a guy with more than normal problems.
"My best friend and my brother had an accident that they are trying to hide. It all sounds so normal if it weren't for the fact that you are from another world and magic exists. On Earth, there are dozens of couples that have kids in their teens by accident. I'll keep your secret, but Susan is going to find out sooner or later; pregnant women do tend to have a noticeable bump after all."
"Don't forget, you are from this world too." Added Phobos, glad his sister didn't hold a grudge and was willing to keep her mouth shut about Will's condition in front of Susan for as long as possible. "We will tell Susan eventually, but when we do, I'll make sure to stir clear of her for a very long time."
XXXXX
In the other wagon, Orube regretted looking forward to being alone with the Lord. She had hoped to talk with him about Meridian, Ero, and each other to make the ride seem shorter but Cedric was as talkative as a brick wall and as grumpy as a wet cat. If anything, the presence of the Lord made the journey seem longer and even less pleasant than it already was. Finally, at the end of her nerves, Orube sighed and muttered. "You knew the trip was going to be like this, so you should have gone to bed earlier as I did."
"I did go to bed early I just didn't sleep well." Cedric snapped back; he too, had imagined a better trip to Ero, but he was stuck with a stranger and had to make the best of it. However, since he was going to be stuck with this stranger for a few hours, he decided to make the best of it. Besides, maybe Orube could be swayed to onto his side instead of serving Will as a bodyguard and second-rate guardian replacement. "Every day Queen Wilhelmina comes up with new ideas for Meridian. King Phobos barely thinks of the implications it will have on the kingdom before giving the order to implement it, and I am the one left with all the work. I have to make sure the guards are fed, trained, new recruits arrive, and old or disabled soldiers get a proper retirement. One would think those two would hire a few more of me to do all the work, but that is not the case, sadly. Worse, my old friend doesn't consider the amount of work I do and thinks I can handle anything. I try to tell him I can't do everything, but I can't get myself to do it. The King thinks so highly of me, after all, we have been through. If it weren't for Phobos, I would be dead and if it weren't for me, so would he. If I failed him now, it would be as though I failed all we have been through."
Orube was stunned. She had known Will had ordered a lot of changes for Meridian since becoming queen, but she had never thought of how the changes were put into order. Part of her had assumed that Meridian had an entire committee dedicated to Meridian's evolving social structure; then again, she should have known that was wishful thinking. Will has only been Queen for less than a year and finding the proper people for all her ideas would take half a decade at the minimum. Where she first, thought the Lord was being a prick, she now pitied the man.
"Well, where I am from, my people talk about their problems. My mother would call you an idiot for keeping quiet about the stress you are under, and my father would tell you that you'll eventually break under the pressure. A King and Queen can run a kingdom, but they need their lords and other subordinates to govern it. If you break, who will be there to help them?" For a moment, Cedric considered what Orube was saying. She was right, if he didn't start being honest with his King, then sooner or later he will break under the pressure of having to run the kingdom for them while they spend their days dreaming up new tasks for him and spending their nights in eat other's arms. Sure, Phobos's life depended on being near Will and having the warm body of a woman in one's bed made the old Meridian nights more bearable, but nothing could change his mind that crowning their former enemy was a good idea. In his eyes, Meridian worked fine before she came along, and he decided to test the waters with Orube by voicing this.
"If Wilhelmina didn't dream up so many unnecessary changes, I could do my work as Lord of Meridian a lot easier. Meridian worked fine before her-"Orube didn't let Cedric finish his sentence before snapping back.
"Meridian wasn't doing fine." Her words were as sharp as a knife and all pity she had for Cedric vanished within the moment he voiced his thoughts. "The people were starving, the soldiers were drunk with power, and if your King kept down that path he was one he'd be dead before the age of thirty. Now, I know the work is hard, but if you two hadn't ridden Meridian into the muck as you had, everyone's lives would have been so much easier."
"When we took control of Meridian, we set out to create the perfect world and we would have succeeded. All construction work looks horrid before turning beautiful." Replied Cedric though it was a week retort. "If you ask me, Phobos should have never married Will; it is the worst mistake of his life."
"Careful what you say, Cedric. Those words could get you severely punished and-"
"And what?" now it was Cedric's turn to cut her off. "What are you going to do? Tell Will and Phobos what I said? Who do you think they are going to believe, me, or a complete stranger?"
"I have been ordered by the Oracle to keep her safe and that is what I intend to do."
"Oh, the Oracle. Pardon me; it isn't like the Oracle could have prevented everything that happened by telling us. It isn't like he knew Queen Weria was going to die by the hands of her own son. It isn't as though he willingly let King Zadan and my father attempt multiple assaults on Phobos's life. The all-knowing Oracle probably didn't even know some low-life rebel boy was going to poison Phobos and bind him to Will for the rest of his life. Sorry love, but I think your boss is keeping a lot from you and the rest of us that could have saved lives. Unlike your boss, Phobos and I worked hard to run the kingdom fair and proper." As he talked, Cedric's voice reached a crescendo that overpowered rattling of the carriage through the skies and made Orube, who usually didn't retreat from fights so easily, shrink back a bit in her seat. Still, she had to defend Will's honor in some way, even if all she could do was point out the flaws in Cedric's logic.
"You call soldiers beating civilians to a pulp because they were missing identification fair and proper?"
"The people were told about the new law long before the soldiers were starting to punish them. It was a necessary law that had to be implemented for tax purposes. The people were going about claiming they had already paid their taxes when they hadn't by pretending to be someone who had. One wheat farmer even claimed to be me and got away with it for three years! The government-issued identification papers put an end to it. Taxes were being properly paid, the troops were kept fed, and the roads were kept working." When Orube didn't interject or reply, Cedric felt that he had won the argument and smiled with satisfaction. Still, he felt that he had to enjoy his victory a little more. "Unless you can come up with a better idea to evade tax fraud. If you do, I'd love to hear it."
"I still don't think having your troop run around the kingdom to frighten the people was a good thing to do." Was her only response and Cedric triumphantly.
"And I don't like people claiming to be me to commit crimes. If you are going to live with us in Meridian and protect the Queen from all that could harm her, you have to face the fact that there are a lot of crooks in Meridian and it was those crooks that the troops were after."
For the rest of the journey, Cedric and Orube remained as quiet as mice; each thinking their own thoughts.
XXXXX
In Ero, Armana was glad when Orlan finally left for Morovia in early hours of the morning as he hadn't allowed the Duchess to sleep a single minute the previous night. The King was convinced that he was an experienced lover, but all he did was give her bruises to the point the inside of her thighs were colors of a grotesque rainbow, with shades of brown, green, purple, blue, and red reaching from her knees to her hips and even colored her breasts. Thankfully, King Orlan found it unnecessary to stay and celebrate her niece's birthday and so Armana had her bed to herself again; however, the royals of Meridian were to arrive soon, so she didn't have the time to catch up on the lost sleet and had to bit her teeth through the day so stay awake. Wanting to stay away from her family, Armana washed up the best she could, got dressed, and walked to Ionah's study. There, she found her advisor seated at her desk with a needle in one hand and a hollow crystal rose in the other; from what she could tell, Ionah was filling the rose with red water through a tiny opening in the rose's base.
"What are you doing?" asked Armana as she looked over her advisor's shoulder. It appeared the horned woman was constructing a broach in the shape of a rose.
"I am making a small gift for the guests. One of them has been going through a very hard time, so I thought they could use a small token of appreciation."
"I thought we were supposed to get rid of the Meridian royals, not keep them as pets." Countered Armana, which earned her a chuckle from her advisor, who simply continued her work on the broach.
"Here, I have to correct you, my Duchess. The plan was that I get to keep the Queen while we get rid of the other royals that pose a threat. Since only the King poses a major threat to our plans, we have to get rid of him and, maybe, his sister."
"Why don't we get rid of the Queen as well?" asked Armana as she poured herself a glass of the wine Ionah kept in her room. The wine was bitter but felt soothing on her dried throat. "She is just going to be unnecessary weight for us."
'You promised me that the Queen is mine to do with as I pleased. She has wronged me in the past, so it is only fair that I get to make her suffer as I had." Ionah lied. Will didn't even know she existed and Ionah hadn't known Will existed until she married into the Meridian royal family, but if Will was pregnant, as she suspected, then she needed to keep her alive long enough for her to give birth. Should the entire Meridian family be eliminated at the party, then Armana's plans might have come to fruition, but all her years of hard work would have been for nothing.
"Fine, I'll keep my promise. I still wonder what giving them a token would do for us except make their corpses more bejeweled."
"The broach is for the Lord of Meridian, Cedric. If we want our plans to work, we need more pawns to protect you. Who else, but a disgruntled servant that is easy to be moved to our side. I already recruited one pawn and am working on a few more, but we need at least two for our plans tomorrow. One to do the dirty work and one as a cover. If all goes well, which it will, then you will be a survivor of a horrendous attack on your family by tomorrow evening."
"And then I'll be Queen of Ero." Armana finished the sentence before Ionah could, "and the rest of Metarmoor by the end of the year."
XXXXXX
After a few more hours of traveling in the rattling carriage, the wind stallions shrieked again to signal the upcoming landing. Elyon carefully pulled back a curtain covering the windows of the carriage to peek at her new surroundings; she didn't have the nerves earlier since she rarely flew and was scared of what she might see. What she saw, surprised her. Underneath them were fields and fields of crops that hugged the mountain-like remains of a giant crater; beyond the walls of the crater, a sparkling city lay nestled within, fully protected by the crater. At the center of the city, surrounded by another set of walls, sat the castle; with its' towers, pointy roofs that were topped by flags, and lush gardens it resembled the castles in Elyon's favorite fairytale books. Seeing the castle in all its' shimmering glory, Elyon couldn't help but compare it to Meridian; however, where Meridian was covered in gloomy weather most of the time, Ero shone like a diamond in the sun. Despite the sunny weather, Elyon felt an odd chill creeping through the window and she hoped that was just because they were at higher altitudes. Seeing the amazement in his sister's eyes, Phobos too glanced out the window and smiled to himself. "You can tell we are their cousins just by the way they constructed their home."
"If all goes well, can we visit ore often?" Asked Elyon; she never once took her eyes off the quickly approaching castle.
"If your parents and Isabella allows it, you might be allowed to live here." Chuckled Phobos, which awoke the napping Will. Groggily, she rubbed her eyes, noticed that both her husband and sister-in-law were gazing out the window, and then looked herself.
"Oh great," she said with a yawn, "we are almost there."
Within minutes, the rattling of the carriage became worse to the point Elyon was certain their wooden box would fall apart before finally landing. The moment they landed, and the shaking stopped, Elyon let out a sigh of relief; they had landed without anything going wrong. Still, her back hurt a little from the constant shakes and she felt as though her butt vibrated worse than the time she traveled to Canada. The moment they were safe on the ground, Phobos opened the door and jumped out to help the girls down safely. First, Elyon demanded to be let out of the carriage; she knew she wouldn't feel completely safe until her feet touched the ground, which was alright with Will since she could feel the cold of the outside creep in through the door and didn't want to trade the carriage for it. Reluctantly, she let her husband lift her out of the carriage, allowing him to sneak a quick kiss to her cheek as he did.
Since they were visiting royals Will, Elyon, and Orube expected some form of a servant to greet them and show them the way to the throne room where Isabella would receive them; to their surprise, it was the retired queen Seras who rushed down the stairs to that led to the courtyard that greeted them. The first one she embraced was Phobos, who was nearly knocked off his feet when the tall woman; this was the first thing Will noticed, the woman's height. The second thing Will noticed was that the woman was rather young to be retired. Seras appeared barely older than Susan; then again, if marrying age was this low, this was to be expected.
"Phobos my boy, it has been so long," she cued before holding him at arm's length to examine him better. "Look how much you have grown. Oh, Isabella and Myra can't wait to see you again. Why did you never write to us?"
"I have," Phobos gasped as the old Queen's embrace nearly crushed his lungs. "You must never have received them. May I introduce you to wife Wilhelmina and my little sister Elyon?"
It was when he mentioned them that Seras's attention was on them and Will was the first to experience the power of the Queen's embrace. Secondly, when her body was pressed against the Queen's body that she noticed the massive bump hidden under the warm winter cloak.
"Wilhelmina Vandom, it is an honor and a pleasure to meet you." The old Queen's voice was warm yet strangely energetic at the same time. When Seras held her too at arm's length to examine her, Will noticed faint wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and forehead, as well as a few gray hairs hidden between the woman's lush blond curls.
"It is a pleasure meeting you too, your highness." Gasped Will and tried to smile at the woman.
"Oh please, we are all family. Call me Seras." She replied with a chuckle, "I wanted to meet you back at your wedding, but I have been a little held back, as you can see." She then placed her hands on her swollen belly for emphasis. "Fell pregnant just before the wedding and haven't been of much use since. This little rascal has been making me sick to my stomach and kept me up at night. I never had this much trouble with my girls, so that means it has to be a boy."
Before Will could congratulate her, Seras had already moved on to greeting Elyon, who was forced to suffer through the same treatment as the others.
"Oh Elyon, it is so great to finally meet you." Instead of examining her at arm's length like the others, Seras proceeded to hold Elyon's face in both hands and squished it like she were a baby. "Your mother and I were awfully close friends. If she could see you now, if she could see both you and your brother now, she'd be over the moon."
From behind the old Queen came dry laughter as though the person from which it stemmed had been smoking for several years. When Will looked up, she spotted a man with shoulder-length black hair, a beard, and a cane standing on top of the stairs. He was leaning heavily on his cane and smiled down at them as though they were all long-expected drinking companions.
"Well, I'll be damned. Prince Phobos finally decided to come out of hibernating in Meridian to visit his family. Who knew all it would take was for him to marry someone." When he finished chuckling, he hobbled down the few steps with such effort, Will was certain that he'd fall over. When he got closer, Will could see why; his legs were crooked and his knees didn't bend, which would explain the reason for the cane. When he approached them, he stuck out his hand in greeting instead of hugging them as the other royal had. "I am King Pegan and it is a pleasure to meet you." Pegan then turned a cheeky eye towards Will and smiled at her. "I have no idea how you met this hermit, but I am glad you did. Who knows where he would be if it weren't for you."
Just then, the carriage carrying Cedric and Orube arrived and when they climbed out, Orube had the demeanor of a cat drenched in water while Cedric carried a smug grin on his face. For a moment, Will thought something had gone on between them, but she wasn't allowed to finish her thought when Seras similarly greeted them both to the rest.
"And here we have Cedric. You look so much like your father now that you are all grown up. You have to tell me everything that has happened since I left. I have heard the news, but you know how things get overdramatized." Her smile was so bright, and her voice so filled with happiness that Cedric felt he were a child again. His smug grin faded and was replaced by a genuine smile directed at the old Queen.
"I'll make sure to tell you everything I know." Replied Cedric, just as Seras's attention turned to Orube.
"And who do we have here, Is she your new lady-love?"
"Oh no no no," Orube responded faster than lighting. "I am Queen Wilhelmina's new bodyguard. I have been ordered by the Oracle to protect her at all times."
"The Oracle," Seras's smile faded and was replaced by one that clearly reflected how low she thought of the man. "That is a surprise to hear considering everything that has happened in recent years."
"The longer I am away from Kandrakar, the more I meet people that think poorly of him and I'd really like to know why since he is my boss." Orube began to get worried that what Cedric had told her was true. She barely ever spoke to the Oracle, but the few times she met him he seemed level-minded and kind; especially since he had chosen her to replace Cornelia as one of the guardians and Will's personal protector.
"I'll tell you about the Oracle and the hand he has played in everything in due time." Replied Seras, her smile quickly returning to her face and she began to usher the group to the stairs. "But first, let's get all of you inside the castle and out of the cold. I know how a ride with wind stallions can be, so I won't be cruel; some soft seats and a warm drink or two should be enough to settle your nerves and we have plenty of both inside."
Author's Note:
With a week of no internet because of road constructions, a successful job interview where I only need a school for the field to accept me, and a creative block on Frozen Heart I managed to crank out three long chapters of Bloody Throne. A lot of what is in this chapter will be a recap of Frozen Heart, but all four stories flow into each other, so that is to be expected.
I hope you guys enjoyed the design of the wind stallions. At first I thought of making them Pegasus, but that would have been too cliché, so I just went nuts on their design. I am not sure how they fly either, without wings, so I am using the excuse that they are magic.
I am assuming all of you know where this story is heading, but it is the journey that counts, not the end. Still, I have to ask again who you all think Ionah is and what her end goal is?