Reli and Cookie had somehow managed to convince the three men to visit Nectar with them. They seemed slightly gloomy about meeting her and walked very slowly.
Reli moved around them a lot,telling them about Nectar. It sounded more like she was trying to convince buyers that a product was good enough.
Reli frowned slightly when she saw Eros come out of Nectar's palace but he took another path so theirs didn't cross. She felt her heart slightly ache but she knew she was healing.
They were almost to the palace when they saw something flying in Nectar's courtyard. Though it looked like a person, it went back down just as quickly.
Reli shook her head [ That looked like Liam..but it couldn't be, right? ] When they got to the gates, they heard a slight rumbling sound a lot like thunder which was strange, they were in autumn not spring.
The servants greeted Reli but didn't ask her to wait for Nectar since they recognized her as their empress's regular guest. Reli was slightly worried when she didn't find Nectar at her usual tree when she saw a water sprout not to far away.
Worried, she ran in the direction of the falling water, it even seemed like Nectar was in the falling water and ran faster [ Who would dare to assassinate my empress? ] but when she got there she was dazed and confused. Nectar was straddling Liam who had being pinned to the floor by her.
Though they were both soaked and laughing, Nectar held unto his collar and seemed like she was about to punch Liam with the other one.
Her brothers who had run after her as well felt the concern melt off their face as confusion appeared, pointing at the soaked duo they faced Reli " Isn't that the empress "?
~ ~ ~
Nectar got off of Liam calmly and smiled at Reli " I didn't know you were coming Reli, sorry about that ". Reli who was turning red, shook her head " Nothing to worry about Sister, sorry to interrupt. We can come back later ".
Nectar shook her head and smiled at Reli, She then punched Liam's face who was now standing behind her " We're already done here, nothing to interrupt ".
The five gasped slightly at the sudden action. Though Liam stumbled a bit, he soon got his bearing and rubbed his jaw where she'd hit and smiled " Alright, we'll finish this later ".
A gust of wind suddenly circled Nectar drying her clothes and hair and she smiled sweetly at Liam " I've already won, so suck it up ". Liam rolled his eyes and walked off towards the palace, ruffling his hair.
Nectar was internally panicking [ I curse the gods for toying with me ] Breathing in calmly, she smiled at the three brothers " Its a pleasure to meet you, I hope you didn't mind my hasty invitation "?
They bowed low, speaking in unison " The Sopins brothers greet the empress, the sky that protects the dragon's domain ". Nectar was a bit taken aback [ I could get used to that...makes feel all powerful ]
She waved it off happily " There's no need for that, please rise ". Nosa seemed suspicious, as if he expected her to make his life miserable at that moment.
Nectar led them towards the palace ground floor [ I never thought I'd actually use it ] Though she'd had many visitors in her first life, they were never out of free will, she originally wanted to give this floor to the kids or maybe a training room, anything else but Liam didn't let her. The whole floor brought back bad memories as well.
The servants silently opened the large glass doors, they were mixed hues of white, black and blue covered in snowflakes. It was something she'd found in the store a while ago when she was renovating.
She wasn't entirely sure why she was so attached to it but they were more than enough [ Like having a new lock for an old door, makes you feel protected and secure somehow ]
This was one of the three main entrances that led into her palace and they were all as big and bogus as the one they just passed,but they didn't like the stress of having to push the doors open so they used the servant's doors.
Nectar and Liam didn't mind but the servants refused to allow it. So they replaced one of the wooden doors with a glass and metal swing door that went all the way to her floor and the others while they used the other one for their duties.
Arron was surprised by the decor, it wasn't as extravagant as he'd expected or oppressive or a flamboyant show of power. He'd seen the former emperor's waiting hall when his father was personally summoned years ago but this didn't match his memory at all.
The large room was a sky blue color with many different sized rooms that seemed to be made of thick translucent paper and had different colored fabric draping its corners just like the trees they'd seen outside.
There were many oddly shaped paper figures dangling on the ceiling. It was made of different colored paper that reflected the colors on the polished black wooden floor beneath their feet.
There were even two spiral staircases that led up to a small circular platform wedged into the wall and made the other stain glass doors at the other end of the room look bigger than they already were.
All in all, they felt like they just left reality behind and entered a fairytale.