(Bloom POV)
"I knew it!"
It booms through the room and I turn around and my heart beats a thousand miles an hour. Erendor, along with two guards to accompany him are standing in the door way. The look on the king's face could break glass if he tried hard enough. He larches forward and before I know it he has grabbed my wrist and yanked me away from Sky.
"I told you 8 months ago to never see my son again." He yells in my face, his cheeks flush with anger. I yank my arm free of his grasp and step back, closer to the veranda to keep my distance.
"Father don't you touch her again" Sky warns, stepping between us." Why are you here father"
"Why am I here, this is my kingdom" He proclaims, disgust in his voice. He steps closer and nearly face to face with Sky before he is glaring at me inching for the veranda doors.
" I would like to know why this girl, this criminal is with you in your room." He yells, eying me over Sky's shoulder.
"She is not a criminal" Sky glares at his father, holding his ground.
"She is, whether you like it or not, what she is capable of his beyond reason…. I warned you what would happen if I saw you with her again, she brings nothing but war to this realm and always will"
Erendor looks at me with more anger than I have seen. But behind that wall of flames, there is something else. Even in his words there is shakiness of uncertainty.
"Father, you are being cruel-"Sky hisses.
"Cruel, she has killed our people before Son, and I don't care if she says it wasn't her fault. That stunt today proves what I have thought all along."
"And what is that Erendor" I find my own voice, and Sky turns his head to look at me." I have done nothing, but apologize and prove my loyalty but it seems that the problems lie with our leaders."
"How dare you" he condemns" You are nothing but a girl, with a title but have no people and no planet, which means Princess you have no authority to speak for our dimension or talk to me the way you have just done."
Erendor takes strong self-calming breathes although his anger is still there. He takes on step away from Sky.
"Guards please escort Bloom to the throne room, I would like to have a word with her…alone" He says pulling his coat down, to adjust. I begin to shake more. Sky however steps back so he is right in front of me and has an arm protectively stretched out behind him to keep me out of their reach.
"Sky, don't act foolish." Erendor warns, before he nods his guards to us and walks out the room
"Sky stop" I whisper, and step aside him, brushing is arm back down. He looks at me confused that I would do this. I want to know the real reason why Erendor can't stand the site of me. And if this is what it takes to be with Sky, there is no stopping me.
"Bloom get behind me, you are not going to see my father" He says sternly, now more warning in his voice.
"Yes I am, he won't hurt me" I say back. The guards grab my forearms to escort me out but I shake them off and tell them I go willingly. As the guards escort me out, one either side, I turn back to see Sky worried but angry at the same time.
When I get to the throne room Erendor stands in the middle. It is made of the same glossy white marble. Straight ahead of the doors are the thick thrones of the kingdom, as few steps higher of course. There is a long embroidered red carpet that runs to it. I stand a few meters away from the King.
"Leave us" he says, while gesturing his fingers from under his chin before placing them back, thinking. I tremble, there's no way he would hurt me but my knees still wobble because we are alone.
"Princess I don't know what else to say anymore, to keep you away from my son" he gestures quietly turning around so he faces his throne.
"See here Bloom, one day Sky will be sitting there as King… the only thing that is not in that picture is you sitting next to him , being his queen." He says turning back to me, no expression in his eyes.
"I know you plan to make an ally by marriage, but did it ever occur to you what Sky wants." I say, surprisingly calm.
"I know he wants what's best for this Kingdom, which means his wants fall behind the needs"
"So you would purposely make your son unhappy, just to form an alliance with another planet"
"You do not get it" his voice becomes louder" Sky knows his duties, and he will follow them-"
"So you rather Sky rule his kingdom on law he up holds than the love he shows for it." I reason, angrier getting to my voice.
"If that is what it takes to rule our people for the better, then yes, he knows this. And you have warped his mind to think that he can be with you, he can all of a sudden do all that he wants."
I stay silent for a while processing every little detail in my head. The words he speaks are true, and are not. I however, want to end this rally between us. This constant fight he puts up against me.
"Since you have asked me, enough questions over the years Erendor, may I ask you one?" I question, straightening up, strength in my words.
"Go ahead, Princess" he says, annoyance in every word.
"Why is it you feel the need to torment me, criticize me for the sake of me leaving Sky. You have bullied me for reasons that I don't think you even believe in, yourself." I pause my voice growing louder. Erendor looks at me his eyes piecing into mine.
"I know Sky has a heart. And he must have gotten it from somewhere because all those things you said about me are just lies to cover something up, I see it"
"You, have no idea what you are talking about." Erendor hisses. But I resume coming closer to him in the centre of the throne room.
"I do!" I scream out in frustration and continue to" Tell me! Tell me the reason you want me to have nothing to do with Sky. Tell me a good reason and I promise I won't ever see him again… that's all you have to do."
I don't know where those words have come from. But deep down I know I meant them. I can't be with Sky if his father will look at me the way he does for the rest of his life.
"You are my living reminder Princess of what I did" He says, surrendering and I am confused by his words.
"What are you talking about" I ask unsure, I want to know the rest.
"You might not know this Bloom but I was quite close to your father, your birth father." He starts, beginning to pace as I stand there frozen." He was a great man, and you obviously have gained his courage."
"Sky was born a year before you Princess and those were the times when things began to get rougher and more threats spread over this land and obviously the main one was the Ancestral witches."
Erendor takes a seat on the steps before me, his cape draped to the side. I don't like where this is going.
"I had just had a son and I wanted to spend my time with him, for the first months of his life protecting him. If I only knew what I knew now I could have protected a whole lot more people. You see Bloom… Oritel was an honourable man, he was a true leader but he lead people too far sometimes. He would seek out threats, which was brave although one thing you should learn is to never seek out danger. Your father did however beat many of those threats, but you know as well as I do Bloom that there can only be good with evil and evil can't be without the good."
"The company of Light was made to defend the dimension of as much evil as possible and we did, countless times but that year before you were born …well things changed for the worse." Erendor gets up and I watch as he paces over to the window, staring out as if to see the memory come back through the glass.
"The Ancestral witches were becoming more powerful, they were destroying forests then to villages then to cities. Acrom was the city of the skies. It was on the other side of the planet right here in Eraklyon. It was beautiful, and brought us wealth and allies for peace from the trade that went on there."
"One week before Sparks was cursed the three Ancestral witches came to me, only moments after your father telling me about his new baby daughter. We also disgusted the very threat that soon became our worst nightmare. The Asternal witches wanted to know about the power channels that run underneath Sparks, the very veins of the planet. I refused and to show their rage and my mistake they burned Acrum to the ground. Now all there is there is the shadows of the souls that roam there wanting peace that no one can give them."
Ernedor bows his head…
"They came back saying if I refused to tell them what they wanted they would make sure the whole planet would burn to the ground. I put my Kingdom first Bloom; I was the one who told them about the channel routes. I was the reason they were able to destroy Sparks.
"No" I whisper, feeling the wetness on my cheeks.
"A day later, Sparks was nothing but snow and ice. Your people and parents gone with no trace of them ever being there. The reason why you are alone Bloom is because of me. And every time I look at you I see my mistake, I see the man I betrayed and that is why I pushed you away Bloom. I can barely live with it even when you are not here."
"You didn't warn them" I say anger in my voice. My world's being turned upside down. I love the son of the one who is a reason for me being…alone.
"I know…" he sighs regrettably.
"You had one whole day to warn them to do anything about this and you did nothing." I scream. Walking over to Erendor still beside the window now looking at me with remorse filled eyes.
"I was afraid Bloom" he says softly.
"You were a coward" I scream and I can't help but slap him across the face. I glare at his turned face slowing coming back up to face me after the blow.
"I wish I could change the past Bloom… I am so sorry…" he says, and I feel empty. Like the story has drained me of what I thought I knew. What I wanted to be. I say nothing and I rush out of that throne room. But what breaks me more is the fact that the reason that Erendor has just told me means I can't be with the person I love.