Kingdom of Alba…
"Your majesty! Your majesty! This is an emergency" I hear outside my chamber room. What could be the issue this early in the day?
I walk up to the door and see Helton outside, I close the door as I don't want to wake Thelma up.
"What's going on Helton?" He looks quite anxious before telling me to follow him to my parents chambers , I look at him confused but I go nonetheless.
We reach the chamber and open it , what I see instantly freezes me in place.
My parents are lying down on their bed with a white cloth covering them, the cloth is only used for d-
"What happened here!" I ask as I raise my voice , the servants present have their heads bowed down in sadness and shame.
"Answer me!" I start being aggressive and Helton comes up to me to calm me down and that's when he says something that shatters me , "I'm sorry your grace, they have passed away" No No No I don't want to believe this, how? Yesterday everything was fine , we were celebrating my coronation and wedding , they were healthy so what went wrong?
"Helton explain what happened because I know for a fact my parents were not sick"
"Their majesties seemed to have suffocated in their sleep , the physicians don't know how to explain it either . It was a sudden death your grace"
This doesn't make sense , it doesn't .
At the corner of my eyes I see Hadassa who has a closed face , she is staring into nothing and tears are silently flowing down her face.
I walk up to her and take her in my embrace , I need to be strong for her , she has experience loss a lot lately and she need what is left of family she has , I will make arrangements for our parents royal funeral on my own.
"Helton , please take care of the embalming of the bodies as tradition requests and I guess we should let the people of the kingdom know , do that as well. I be staying with my sister, someone tell the queen that I will be here incase she searches for me. That will be all , you can leave us now" all the servants plus Helton leave the room after taking the bodies of my parents.
Hadassa holds my hand tight as she finally lets out a sob and cries into my shirt "why have they left? Why is everyone in my life leaving? What have I done wrong? What am I to become now? Tell me brother" she looks so lost and devastated , she has been trying to heal from her husband's death and now she has to heal from our parents's death , it's too much for her.
"Don't worry dear sister, I am still here aren't I? You have me to support you emotionally, I will be here by your side all throughout just like before okay?" She nods while I wipe her tears and hug her for comfort as I also need it . My sister is the only close family I have left and I intend on keeping our bond strong and we will go through this patch as a Vos would, my sister might be the eldest but I have always acted as a protector to her and I will keep being that for as long as she needs.
Ethera's pov:
Heizel and I are currently at the market to get fresh fruits for the house when we see royal guards approaching the village , they stop right in front of the central fountain where the flag of the kingdom is and they pull the flag down while pulling their helmets off.
This only means *gasp , a royal family member passed away. But who?
"Attention citizens of Alba!" The head guard begins and attracts everyone's attention as we all gather around the fountain.
"The previous king and queen Marcus and Helena have passed away this morning, we will be commemorating them for the next week . All activities will be stopped for that week and events planned will be pushed back." He finishes and leaves with the rest of the guards.
During the next week the whole kingdom mourns for the previous king and queen . We commemorate them with flowers on the streets leading to the palace and king Tobias actually comes to the different villages to be together with his us in these tough moments , the previous king and queen were loved by everyone and truly had an impact on us so loosing them feels the same as loosing our parents.
During this week I have not talked much to Avery mainly because of this tragic event but also because the ball she was supposed to attend for me was postponed to the other week so there is no reason to alarm her . I did tell her about the king and Queen's passing though but she seemed to be aware as it is written in their history books.
But also poor princess Hadassa she has gone through a lot of loss in short span of time , I will be praying for the gods to be lenient on her and appease her.
King Tobias looks to be holding a lot in . Of course he is now the leader of the kingdom and he has to be strong for all of us, but who will be strong for him when he needs to let go?
Actually today His majesty Tobias is in our village to greet the people and my mother has invited him over to our house for him to rest before heading back to the palace. I am nervous, this is the first time I am meeting him as me and not Avery , what if I stutter or i trip ? Oh Avery where are you when I need you.
We are back at the house an his majesty is in the living room with my parents while I am in the kitchen with Heizel to prepare the snacks for him.
I take a platter with some wine and pastries and place it on the wooden table in front of his majesty , i bow and stand back.
For the first time since I entered the room he looks at me and Avery was not wrong when she said he had mesmerizing green eyes and just his demeanor and aura is very commanding . *chills
"Oh miss Ethera , good to see you again. Regardless of the current situation. I hope you are good?" He smiles as he genuinely asks me that and I can see it in his eyes . What's going on? Did Avery feel this too?
"Uh yes your majesty , I am alright, but how about you?Are you doing okay? Do you need someone to talk to perhaps?" Shoot Ethera who are you to ask that? It's not like he would talk to you , "I am very sorry if it was intruding of me to say that . Pardon me my lord"
He chuckles and says "Don't worry miss , that was very kind of you to ask. And to answer your question yes I am okay , the warmth of my subjects has helped me feel less alone in this and in some way consoled me . I am truly thankful" I nod and go back to my room as my parents chat with his majesty a little longer.
Wow His majesty Tobias really is a great man. Very humble and down to earth when it comes to us commoners.
He really is a great king already.
Can't wait to tell Avery about my thoughts on him as I do always with whatever goes on while she isn't here.
Avery has become like a journal but a live one that can give me feedback on things which I find amazing.