Kyros Íon Croí, king of the Hero Kingdom at Gardenia, returned home with his mother after finally being released from Unity. His normally handsome face was twisted with anxiety, and he frequently ran his fingers through his dark red hair.
His mother ushered him inside, wearing the same smile she always did. "Come in, my dear."
"I-I…" Kyros stammered out, unable to really string together a coherent sentence.
He followed his mother inside their perfectly tidy home. His stomach was in more knots than a pretzel, and he felt like he could be sick at any moment. He barely managed to stumble inside his home without his mother helping him.
Betha Íon Croí briefly glanced over at her son, her brow momentarily furrowed. "Why don't you take a seat in the living room, dear? I'll make your favorite dinner."
Kyros could only nod, falling onto the couch and burying his face in his hands. He tried for the millionth time to remember what had happened during the past year, but unsurprisingly, he could only remember fear and darkness.
When he—when he came to and was told what had happened, he could scarcely believe it. His fellow kingmates had broken out into heaping sobs and wails of despair. They didn't want to believe they could actually try to murder an innocent child.
Kyros had nothing against the dragons. Nothing at all. His mother's master's sister had married one, after all. Kyros had met the woman—and her draconic husband—a handful of times when he was a child. He had even visited Desoul with his mother and her master, Lord Carrow.
He was as afraid of dragons as he was of a flower.
He rubbed at his face, his stomach starting to ache fiercely from the guilt and anxiety clawing at him.
Obviously, he would have to apologize to the girl. He doubted she would accept it, but he couldn't live with himself if he did nothing to amend what he had done.
A shudder ran through him. A fear potion.
That's what the observers had discovered deep within his magical core. Kyros, and almost all of his kingmates, had been taking a powerful fear potion for the entire year. It was likely that there was more to it than just the one potion—after all, if Kyros was afraid, he doubted he would target a dragon, especially when he fully understood how important it was for her to have a good experience at Gardenia. But the fear potion was the most prevalent and would likely cover up anything further.
A fear potion was not something easy to make. It was illegal to boot, and most of the ingredients were heavily monitored. Only someone with powerful connections would be able to procure the potion without a fuss.
Not to mention the skill and raw magical power it would take to create such a potion… Master potioneers were extremely rare since it took centuries of dedicated learning in order to become one. And certainly nothing short of a master could create such a potent fear potion, not with such frequency and such quantities.
The griffin's eyes roamed around.
Kyros noticed the box of chocolates on the table not far from him. He vaguely remembered his mother sending him chocolates at the beginning of the year.
"Mom, were you going to send me more chocolates?"
"I was, dear, but once I found out what happened…" Betha trailed off, her brow furrowed. "I'll throw those ones out and make you a fresh batch."
"The chocolate went bad?" Kyros asked.
He thought to himself, I didn't realize chocolate could go bad. Human food is so odd.
"This batch did, my child." Betha entered the living room, carrying a tray of warm hot chocolate, one of Kyros's comfort drinks. She handed the steaming cup to him and gently kissed his forehead.
Kyros slowly sat up, staring down at the cup of hot chocolate. His stomach protested against drinking anything, but he hadn't eaten in over a day now. He gave a tentative sip. The moment the warm chocolate hit his stomach, a sense of ease came over him.
"Ah, did you put a calming potion in this, Mom?"
"I did, dear. Auntie Cara stopped by with some before I picked you up. She worried you wouldn't be able to relax on your own."
"Oh," Kyros murmured, drinking the hot chocolate with a bit more gusto. "I'll have to thank her."
Kyros ran his fingers through his hair, glancing around his home. It always changed a tiny bit when he left for Gardenia—I'll have to repeat a year now—and he wondered what else changed. His eyes rested on the little altar his mother had made for her friends and teacher. It was filled with pictures of her and her friends, and Lord Carrow. There were some of Kyros in it as well.
Lord Carrow, the gray man, held Kyros as an infant, smiling at the camera in one of Betha's favorite pictures. Kyros didn't have a lot of memories of Lord Carrow since he was barely coherent when the two met, but he remembered him being someone who drew others to him.
Then he noticed something different about the altar. At the center, where Betha kept a handful of Lord Carrow's gray feathers, was a single rose.
Kyros thought that was odd since his mother didn't like flowers. When he peered further at it, it looked like it was a magically conjured rose, with a thin layer of ice around it.
How queer, Kyros thought. Oh, but I guess it's been over a decade now since Mother last saw Lord Carrow. Maybe she's mourning now?
If that was the case, then Kyros would be sure to act kinder towards his mother. He knew how much she loved Lord Carrow.
She would do anything for the gray man.
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