"Oh good, there you are." Achilles said when he saw Myles walk up the stairs. Zale was behind him. "You need something?" Myles asked.
"No, I was just looking for you cos I couldn't find you for a while. Did you go somewhere?"
"I just took a walk in the garden."
Achilles squinted his eyes, and his brows creased.
"A walk? Since when do you take walks?" He asked.
"Uhh... I just needed to clear my head. That's all."
"Ok, well, the coronation is tomorrow, and I was wondering if you could let the handmaiden get Kristen ready for it." Achilles said.
"What handmaiden?" Myles was confused. "The handmaiden you assigned to Kris. What was her name?"
Myles shrugged as if he didn't know what he was talking about.
"Her name was Thea," Zale said from behind. "Oh, right!" Myles banged his forehead. "I completely forgot." He chuckled.
"So will you do it?" Achilles asked. "Of course."
"Alright, but get some sleep, you two." Achilles started to walk away. "You'll need it." He finally left the two alone.
Zale proceeded towards Myles.
"Walk with me, Myles." He said. They both walked side by side, not saying anything to each other. The silence wasn't awkward, but Myles expected Zale to say something as he was the one who asked him to walk with him.
"I wanted to know how you were feeling. " Zale eventually said. "What do you mean? I'm fine. " Myles retorted.
"You were pretty angry before you went on your little walk, so I just...,"
"I'm fine, Zale." He interrupted. Zale nodded. He bid him a good night and left to his room.
As he walked away, he turned to look at Myles, who was still standing there. They met eyes, and Zale smiled before turning to his right and leaving completely.
_ _ _
The next morning...
"This is a glorious day, my king. You should smile." Zale said as he fixed Achilles' hair.
"I'll smile when I see my lady all dolled up and ready to marry me." He replied. Zale didn't say anything more.
"I guess I won't be doing this anymore." Zale added after a while of silence. "You'd be doing more than this. You'd be my hand. You'd counsel me and tell me what you think is right or wrong."
"Then you wouldn't listen and go crying to Lady Kristen as she rakes ur hair with her fingers. She'll sing you to sleep so that you'll forget for a brief moment the ludicrous things you did."
Achilles looked at him. "You got that down to a tee." He said. This caused Zale to chuckle.
"But I'll try my best to listen." Achilles said.
"And I'll try my best to believe that." Zale replied.
Achilles was sitting on the throne with his queen next to him.
Almost everyone was present in the throne room for his coronation. The royal family of Dawn and the royal family of Michilandia were also present.
"Long live the king!" the former king said as he placed the black cast iron diadem embedded with rubies on his son's head.
"Long live the king!" Everyone else said in unison.
Achilles held his wife's hand and stood up. The people stood up after them and applauded them.
Achilles turned to his left and said, "I am Achilles Onasis, king of the Jurrians, ruler of the three realms and the first of my name." And he went on with his heart-felt speech.
It was a basic formality that every king who was crowned had to say those words. It was said so many times that it was almost a cliché.
Everyone knew he was the first of his name, the king of the Jurrians and whatnot, but he just had to say it. It wasn't an issue, though. The issue most people had was regarding their new queen.
They knew nothing of her. What her full name was and how she'd ended up their queen. Murmurs could be vividly heard in the throne room, and it didn't take a genius with an IQ of 160 to know what they were all pressed about. What had really gotten Achilles' attention as he gave his self written speech was his brother nowhere to be seen after the first few minutes. His eyes scanned the enormous room crowded with people with similar facial features. Of course, he didn't find his brother as he needed to focus on the speech as well.
Au contraire, he saw Zale not too far from the massive pillar. Achilles knew he didn't like the attention, so even though his hand had to step forward and be assigned into position with everyone as witnesses, he let him stay on the side lines like he wanted.
He waved at him, but Zale had a frown on his face. A frown that he knew all too well. He stopped talking. His smile turned upside down, and his face fell into confusion. He couldn't leave his position until the ceremony was done.
Zale raised his eyes and met Achilles' gaze. They broke eye contact when a guard burst into the room and fell to the ground a few seconds later. He was stabbed with a familiar dagger.
Everyone panicked. Screaming and running, trying to get out of the throne room. Achilles grabbed his wife's hand. He was looking around for his brother to help get his wife to safety.
Horror filled his eyes when he saw an arrow fly straight into her, piercing her below her collar bone.
She fell to the ground, but he was quick enough to catch her on her way down.
"No!!!" He exclaimed. He was tempted to pull the arrow out of her. However, even kids of the North knew that was a bad idea. Her chiton was dyed red with her blood, and her breaths got shallow.
He was livid. He was going to kill whoever did this to his beloved wife, but he couldn't and didn't want to leave her side. He saw Zale draw out his sword, and it subconsciously made him relax. He knew his hand got his back.
That feeling disappeared when he saw the lycans arrive in the throne room. Was it them who shot that arrow? He couldn't know for sure.
"We'll keep her safe. Let us take her." Helix said. "How the hell did you get in here?" Achilles couldn't help but ask. "We're lycans Achilles." He reminded him of the fact he seemed to have forgotten.
"How do I know you didn't shoot her yourself?"
"If I wanted to kill her, I'd slit her throat with my claws, not shoot her with an arrow."
"I don't thrust you. I killed your brother," Achilles responded.
"That is an issue for another full moon."
Achilles had completely forgotten that night was supposed to be a full moon.
"Trust me, she's of more use to us alive than dead. I'll keep her safe. You have my word."
Something about Helix's gaze made Achilles trust him blindly. He was desperate and didn't have a lot of options to weigh. He agreed and let Helix take her.
"Come to the pack house when you can." He said and disappeared into the corner.