CHAPTER TWO An Unloved Knight?
ESRELLIA
It no longer bothered me. Looking in the mirror I couldn't imagine just me anymore. I saw him too. Of course he'd grown stronger, more handsome in eleven years. Time felt like nothing now that I looked back on it. Still…watching him help prepare for tonight's banquette was surreal. Twenty-two. He was twenty-two now and had grown up from the scrawny little four-year-old I'd been introduced to.
I stood silently in the outdoor corridor and gaped rudely at him. Unbelievably he was barely a centimeter taller than I was. His hair was only shoulder length while mine was at my waist, yes, but I couldn't deny the sight of my own face. Still, to me…
Reith always looked like Reith. No one else, not even me.
"Princess, your brothers have arrived."
I ignored her—the woman who'd been selected to take Reith's place at my side as my confidant when I turned fifteen. A woman's age my father, the fool had called it. To this day I treated the wretch as an outcast to my exclusive world. The world only Reith and I could share together.
Nonetheless she was persistent. "M'lady it is your obligation as a Daiga to greet your contractors."
I whipped around and fought hard not to strike her furiously. "How dare you address me as an item to be bartered?!" The gale of my voice roared through the broad halls without mercy and it pleased me to see the pathetic brunette no more than a third of a year my senior cringe. I cocked my head back and felt the weight of my tightly pinned crescent bun strain my neck. It took great practice with Reith in my early life to learn how to make such gestures as a proud head tilt work without snapping my spine in two.
I almost broke the severity of my expression remembering how stupid he'd looked wearing a lace corset and teaching me how to manage breathing in it. Or how he'd suffered practicing formal curtsies with me. Reith…
I shook the thought from my mind. What idiocy. I was the Crown Princess—by some act of God. My relationship with Reith…
I sighed and at my own pace turned to leave. This little game I was being forced into… "Ridiculous," I snapped. The float of sweet smells from the garden wafted through the corridors like a memory I didn't want. Nevertheless I stayed focused on the task at hand. After all, I had a pack of spoiled brats to tend.
The grandiose main hall of our lavish kingdom was packed with servants and escorts. The air was stifled with low murmurs as I entered quietly. The wretch fell closely behind me with annoying punctuality. Reith would have never made such a stupid mistake as crowding me like that.
Over my shoulder I glared at the woman. "You're in the way."
Apologetic maroon eyes shied away from me as the girl moved backwards. "Forgive me…"
I opened my mouth to snide the bitch further.
"Dear sister!"
What? A chill kissed my spine rudely. With all the reluctance in the world I turned back to look up into the admittedly handsome face of an unfamiliar individual. My eyes…and Reith's. The royal blue attention of a very unique lineage. This man was…
A bow that was too elegant. Dumbfounded I could only watch stupidly as my bare hand was taken from my side and touched to femininely soft lips. Straightened, the man stood nearly a full head taller than I. He had our mother's face. Tenderly waved blonde hair that murmured against his jaw line brushed sensually against the back of my hand as I watched him fully upright himself. Flaxen eyelashes, long and curled back towards the pale lids. Long, graced features. Languid sense of fashion. He wore the neighboring kingdom's red and gold hues so neatly it seemed only natural he look good in them.
I'd heard of this one…my so-called brother just because we shared the same mother. "Cain Mellosaire." His name stung my lips as though it were venom. Already I had no love for this creature. Violently, I snatched my hand out of his caress.
It was only then that I realized how quiet the room had gone about us. They were hopelessly daft, waiting for our declaration as united siblings long lost yet endlessly bound by a natural love!
It never came.
Instead I lurched back from this stranger who'd been so brazenly invited—surely by no good will of mine, into Kingdom Restold. The grimace on my soft face weighed down my normally bubbly mood with recently common practice of ease. I found I sparsely cared.
This idiot prince was bowing again. I didn't so much as blink. Did he think that constantly tipping forward on the half-inch pole he called a waist was supposed to ease my relationship with him? My mind brimmed with laughter unheard. Blue eyed baboon, I mocked him. I am no Daiga for you. But you can waste your time for as long as you please.
Before he had the chance to straighten again I turned heel and made to leave even if I was supposed to play hostess to him. "I will never let you take the throne," I giggled over my shoulder, content with the shocked faces and dumbstruck gazes that haunted my wake.
There was no need to look back at that man. I had no intention of letting him or anyone remotely ideal to his nature use me to gain access to the kingdom of Restold. I am no one's Daiga! The thought was bitter declaration of revolt against my Lord Father's initial wishes. But in the long, suffering fourteen years I'd had to think over the role of my existence as it was to be declared from this day forward, my heart had harbored only distain for the idiot king's plot to unravel my dignity by making me a pawn to hide his infidelity!
I tried a familiar path, making an abrupt turn down the second hall with intentions locked on the gardens as my next destination. Tonight, I would prove my revolt very real. I would free myself of the degrading title as Daiga to the throne of Restold.
I had a plan.
I paid little to no attention to much else as I all but flew down the stairway towards the garden that once belonged to mother. I had to plot this quickly and—
There. My heart floated to my throat and for a second I was in awe.
He stood.
Like a prince.
Beautiful, placid…amid the gently lit platform where the garden dinner had been set up. Caught in the rawest form of his nature. Short wisps of his rich, mahogany hair furrowing over his forehead with the night breeze. His clean, soft-spoken voice raising above its usual murmur as he shouted demands for organization and directions for dinner set up to the lower houseline of servants.
A smile tugged at my mouth again. He looked so…
"R—Reith!" I practically skipped forward to greet him as he startled a bit and slowly turned to receive me.
Secretly I adored him more than I'd ever told. Ignoring the possibility of scandal I threw myself into his arms. Their warmth was the remedy to every ail I harbored. The reek of his labors about the palace no longer bothered me. It was an earthen hint, mixed with the acidic hues of harsh cleaners and detergents.
Carefully, I was folded into his embrace. Reith hugged me the way he did everything else; kind and warm with no perverted expectations. If only he were royal as well…
"Are you alright?"
"I need your help."
Our exchange was kept close to one another's ear as we hugged. I felt his body; lean and hardened with his years of labor for my family shift its weight uneasily. "Alright."
As we finally drew back from one another only we knew that our hands held each other quietly while he called out to some unidentified, green-eyed Househand whom I only just noticed was watching us with pure distain. How dare a common pantry rat make it any business of his to observe us with such a sour expression?!
"Alazay, take over for me, just a moment. I'm coming back."
With a curt nod from the other male Reith brushed by me and began to lead me towards the further section of the garden.
But in the moment before I had to follow with my hand captured by his, I stared back at the servant.
His eyes locked fearlessly on mine and something hit me in the stomach. What eyes!
Green and alight with a hatred that frightened me. Who was this person to despise me silently as he did? That face…strong and graceful, I'd seen its like before by rarely paid Househands any mind.
The moment passed and I turned to leave with Reith. The dislikes of a mere servant were nothing to me. So long as my plan saved me from my premeditated suffering.
CHAPTER TWO
ALAZAY
That devil bothered him. Such a creature was dangerous. All the same, Alazay chose to ignore the idea of the Daiga altogether. The last prince had arrived and the table was set.
He paused briefly to grin at the wok Reith had accomplished. The garden glittered with simple candlelight. The music was exquisite. There was the natural aroma of lilies caressing a gentle midnight breath of air that stirred the emerald silk tablecloth Reith had selected from the Queen's storage. The scene was breathtaking.
At last he signaled for the extra help to leave the garden, leaving only those vital to the dinner's performance. The king had specifically requested a minimum of house help.
His smile faltered at bit. Though the royal line may not have appreciated their hard work, he greatly praised the efforts of his friends. The hierarchy was a flaw—a blemish on their normal lives, maybe. But that did not make house help any less human.
"Thank you for your labors."
Alazay did not show surprise often. Yet as the fluid voice murmured in his ear from only a short distance behind the proud plain of his shoulder, he couldn't help but gasp a little. Whipping around with less grace than usual, he caught the quiet attention of a young man unfamiliar to the kingdom.
Clad in the Kingdom Deporal's violet and black flagging the man was clearly one of the princes. All the same, Alazay couldn't bring himself to bow to the amber-eyed individual. No, instead he stood rather idiotically gaping at an independently astonishing character that bled power and sophistication.
The prince's gaze darkened a shade and with no real purpose or excuse for ding o, he's lifted a casual hand to brush Alazay's flushed cheek. "It's not polite," came the mocking whisper as the younger male moved by him towards the table, "to stare at a guest."
It took effort to suppress the shiver that threatened him. He hadn't even heard the prince arrive. But as he cleared his head and forced himself to forget the contact, another stepped out into the garden; this one seeming unsettled, royal blue eyes flickering without even a sliver of focus to every little movement in the lavish area of blooming lilies. He frowned as the second prince flushed by him indifferently. Blue eyes. He looked away.
Where…was the final prince? Rumor had arisen that there were three. Now that he thought about it, where the hell was Reith?!
"Majesty!"
Shit. He stiffened and caught sight of the king—a balding, old rat of a man whose only rising traits were his sharpened green eyes and distinctly elegant facial features. In all honesty, Alazay had neither love nor respect of this man.
Distracted, he paid his trained courtesies to the proud ruler of the Kingdom Restold. That gaze didn't so much as touch him. He couldn't bring himself to care. "Where the hell are you, Reith?" he muttered reluctantly turning from the direction he's witnessed his friend's escape to begin his duties tending to the cluster of snobs who'd begun taking their seats—with servant aid, at the newly set table.
Reith… he bowed gently to his spoiled guests and master. "Dinner is served."
CHAPTER TWO
ESRELLIA
We walked side-by-side without fear of anything. I watched his movement from the corner of my eye. Good.
Ahead of us curious eyes observed our uncommon duo. I couldn't help but feel self-conscious. One day. That was all I needed. Just one day. My nerves were on end with every movement within my range of vision. Would Reith really be willing to do this for me?
The night air was thick with music and the aroma of fresh foods. The dinner had begun without me! Such a rude gesture! How dare th—
Reith stopped dead and, lost in grueling thoughts, I ran headlong into his newly straightened and taut back. The smell of perfume slapped me before I could even draw a breath and I gagged on the influx. As a not to myself I thought rather decidedly that less was more. Why no one had bothered to tell me before was a little aggravating.
Shoving away the thoughts I focused on what Reith was so intently watching a little ahead of us. Perhaps it was just another overreaction but I couldn't help the chilly flush that radiated down my spine. It felt…
A bow that felt stiff was offered to us.
There wasn't a singled flaw in this person's execution of movement. "Dear sister, it's not very polite for you to miss out on dinner."
I blanched and stared openly at the new character that stood quietly in the candlelight. Further ahead of us and behind him the formal gathering had already begun. Though we were merely returning, it was odd to have encountered…someone so familiar.
"Calin." His name pushed past my lips before I could stop myself and instantly I felt the pressure of his gaze brush over me past the stiff shoulders of my imposter.
"Pardon?"
There was an uncommon tone of hesitation in his voice as Reith sank into a well practiced curtsey ahead of me. "Excuse my counterpart," I heard him utter in perfect mimic of my voice and atmosphere, "Though well informed, he takes it upon himself to display his information too easily."
I ducked my head down and made sure not to risk meeting my brother's—the only I'd ever encountered before this moment, gaze. My thoughts failed my wit and I felt instantly stupefied. It could have been the servant's clothing, but suddenly I felt common; significantly insignificant. And as I overheard their gentle conversation issuing into the atmosphere hushed and languid about me, I could think of no better time to be thankful for my disguise. Calin was…
"Allow me to escort you."
WAIT. Without thinking about it I lurched forward and gripped Reith's wrist, holding him to me. My phase of petrified dumbfoundment passed instantly and I found myself glaring into an all too familiar face. His cool, amethyst eyes smirked mockingly at me. "Excuse me, Highness," I bit out in a perfected copy of Reith's usually quiet drawl, "M'lady already has an escort." To Reith I added finally, allowing no room for pardon, "If you'll come with me, lady Esrellia."
From the corner of my eye I tried to ignore the contemptuous advance of my ever mystique brother. I know how you work, Calin. I won't let you get him! I tugged Reith further from him and began plotting a quick route around and away from the prince.
Uninformed in the masterfully devious talents of the prince of Deporal Kingdom, my best friend hesitated briefly at my hints for abrupt caution, confused. The expression upon his already attractive face was admittedly adorable. Adorable, I reminded myself, but dense. Meanwhile Calin had already drawn within mere yards of us. The light sway of his amber hair over his right eye drew more attention to his beautiful face than what I knew I could allow as distraction. But beautiful he was. All those in the royal line seemed oddly perfect as though there were nothing humanly flawed about our lineage.
In affect my brother's eyes were quite possibly demonic in all their glory.
With no reserve for emotion whatsoever the younger prince's amethyst gaze haunted me. Something in the way he was moving then foreshadowed a heinous plot. I didn't have a second chance to pry Reith as far from the man as I could before Calin was upon us, snatching the Househand from me and shoving me back to the ground with sheer, brute force.
"Impolite rat of filth!"
I staggered back without the natural aide of male reflexes and tripped over my own feet clumsily. My name—no, his was shouted while I struck my head against the bitterly unyielding ground. The impact was a pure shock to the system. As my vision of the night sky above began to fade to black, I could only hear the rampant shrieks of an old childhood friend whom I only realized then I'd forsaken to the wiles of my power hungry kin in my place.
I struggled against unconsciousness.
Reith!
So cruel. I was so cruel to do this to him. Why had I not noticed before?! This was my b—burden…to…to…
The black was all I knew.
END CHAPTER TWO