"Fire!" Azrael shouted and Noelan released the arrow into the wind and watched it stab right through the bullseye.
"Excellent your highness" Azrael clapped and Noelan smiled. Although he did not like fighting or having anything to do with war, he admired archers, the way they were so humble to allow the wind carry their arrow to wherever it wished, most times its target. That was why he started learning archery and there was no better teacher, in the kingdom of Thurtian than Azrael.
"But sometimes, the arrow does not need to stab its target. Sometimes, all you need is a little puncture, which means less strength and more accuracy, and you must be able to replicate silent strikes" Azrael taught and Noelan nodded, "I am glad you are my teacher.
"Azrael got up and smiled, "That is enough lecture today, where is the crown prince? He has not joined us since the first time he came here. Noelan's face fell and he faced the target, "He is probably sulking and painting."
An arrow whooshed past him and went through Noelan's arrow, and stabbed the target. Noelan and Azrael looked at where the arrow had come from and saw Sorin leaning on the rail, with a content smile on his face.
"I guess aggression runs in the family..." Azrael looked at the arrows in the target. Sorin's own had split Noelan's own into two and had gone halfway into the target. Azrael turned back to the two brothers, who were smiling at each other, "...although you all have such calm faces."
A servant ran in and bowed, "The king and queen requests an audience with the princes," Sorin stood up straight, "Come on, little brother" he said and walked inside.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"Mother, father" Sorin bowed and Noelle smiled at him while Soteria just grumbled, with his arm under his chin acting as a pillar to his head.
"Your majesties" Noelan bowed and Soteria looked at him, "Noelan, you are family too, do not act so distant" he said and Noelan looked up, "I address you both depending on the reasons you summoned us, from the atmosphere, I can tell you summoned as princes, and not as sons."
Noelle and Soteria were too stunned to speak. Noelan was too wise for a nineteen years old. "Well Noelan, I think you are overreacting, we just called you here for a friendly chat..." Noelle smiled at her youngest son, then he faced her, "I..."
"Actually, Noelan is right" Soteria said as he sat up straight, "We summoned you here as princes and not sons. If we were not part of the royal family, we would have considered your feelings towards this issue, but we are the royal family and you are the princes..." then he looked at Sorin, "...and you, Sorin, are the crown prince" he finished and leaned into his chair.
Sorin knew he was the reason why they were summoned. His father was about to give him a duty, probably as a punishment for being such a failure.
"That means, we put your feelings below the well-being of the people of Thurtian, so, you are to wed the princess of Guire in order to maintain peace between the two nations."
Sorin's world came crashing down as his father--no, the king said those words. Marriage? He was not ready for that, and why would he marry someone he was not in love with. He still could not get Astraea out of his head.
He opened his mouth to say something, but Soteria spoke, "In case you have forgotten, I am putting my people before you, Sorin. I am your father, but I am also a king. You will do what will keep the nation safe" he eyed Sorin who glared at him. "This is my order as your king" Soteria sneered and Sorin forced himself to bow, "Yes, your majesty" he said through gritted teeth, then he walked out.
Noelle looked at Soteria, her mouth open wide. She had wanted to be the one to tell Sorin the news as a mother, because she knew if Soteria did it, well, what happened would have happened, and it did.
"What the hell was that?" Noelle screamed at her husband and he sighed, "I simply passed an order to the crown prince. Is that not what you wanted?" "I wanted to tell him, as a mother and not a queen. The way you told him shattered him, I could see it on his face" her gaze softened as she remembered the look on Sorin's face when Soteria had ordered him.
Soteria rolled his eyes and Noelan cleared his throat, "I will be taking my leave now," he bowed and was about leaving, but Noelle turned to him, "No! You stay right there! I want to talk to you!" "But the both of you are arguing" he muttered under his breath.
"Do not roll your eyes at me! Before you are a king, you are a father to our sons!" Noelle yelled and Soteria got up from his throne, "You wanted me to do something about Sorin sulking, right? I have done it! What more do you want from me?!" he yelled and stormed off.
Noelle screamed at him as he stormed off, then she calmed down and looked at Noelan who was still waiting for her.
"I am sorry you had to see that Noelan, your father can be infuriating" she gave a small smile and he nodded, "I think father is right though. Getting Sorin married to the Guire princess would give him a sense of responsibility, because then he would have a family and it would help take his mind off Astraea, because well, he is married."
Noelle remembered the time she was still in love with Cassian, then she chuckled, "Sometimes, the love you have for a person is so strong that even when you are married and have a child, all you can think about is the person you want to be with instead."
Noelan just continued staring at her, with a confused look on his face and she smiled, "You will understand some day."
Bithia's face flashed across Noelan's mind and it was like his whole body stopped working. Why is her face showing up when mother is talking about love? his cheeks flushed and he looked away.
"Speaking of love, Lord Artemisia is in the palace right now, and I reckon he brought the twins with him. You have not seen them since they were babies, they have changed so much, I think you will be pleased with Elysia's growth" she smiled mischievously.
Noelan knew what she was trying to do; set him up with Elysia so they would get married. But he was not his brother, he was smart.
"I would love to see them, but I should get back to reading or maybe gardening" he bowed and was about leaving, but Noelle said, "I think Elysia adores flowers. The both of you could take a look together."
Of course, Noelan rolled his eyes and bowed, then he left.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Sorin stormed into the art room and slammed the door, then he pushed the pencils and paint off the table, staining the floor.
Who does he think he is? he thought as he grabbed a large paintbrush and rubbed it on the brown paint on the floor.
He can not control me.
He spread the brown paint on the across the white canvas.
I have a mind of my own, clearly he does not expect me to listen and obey his commands!
He took some more brown paint and almost covered the canvas with it, making a round shape.
Marriage? I do not want to get married!
He loosened his ascot and flung it on the floor, then he removed his blue jacket and dipped it into the black paint and rubbed it above the round brown shape he had made, trying to give a not-too curly nature.
Guire princess? Peace? How can he offer peace to a nation at the expense of his own son's peace?
With his hands, he pushed the white paint closer to the brown one and mixed a bit of white with the brown, then he went back to his painting.
I never asked to be a prince in the first place, he can not treat me like he owns me!
After some minutes of mixing paint to get the right colour, painting, smearing the walls and himself with the paint, and inner monologuing, Sorin yelled, "I will not get married!"
He panted and rubbed his sweat off with his arm, then he looked at his painting.
It was a girl. A brown-skinned girl with grey eyes, full kinky black hair, matte brown lips, which were open to reveal her teeth---he had made sure he got her front chipped tooth---and a chubby face.
Astraea.
She was the only thing he drew and painted.
He put his hand on the canvas and asked, "Where are you Bubbly?"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Astra scooped water in her palms and splashed it on her face, then she sighed and turned around and saw Avriel staring at her.
"What do you want?" she asked and he walked towards her, "What did Sarissa say to you that made you moody?" he asked. "I do not see how that concerns you..." she turned to walk away, but he grabbed her arm, "Answer me properly when I talk to you."
She looked at his hand on her arm, then at him. He still did not get the message. She held his shoulder and pressed him down to the ground on his knees with her telekinesis.
Avriel coughed out blood and looked at her with distraught brown eyes. Her hand left his shoulder and went to his hand on her arm. She tried to pry his fingers off, but his fingers did not budge.
In a test of raw strength, Avriel could beat Astra, but in other things, she was always going to be number one, and him, number two. That was why they were rivals...in a not-so healthy rivalry.
"What...did Sari...ssa tell you...that made you moody?" he managed to ask despite the pressure that was pushing him into the ground.
Her frown deepened and the ground broke below him as she applied more pressure. He gasped and his hand almost left her arm, but he dug his nails into her skin.
She slightly flinched and her hand went back to his fingers. She held the tip of his index finger and with a sly smirk, bent it backwards, hence breaking his finger.
A yelp escaped his mouth when he felt a pop as his ligament got ruptured. She took his other finger and broke it. With each breaking of the finger, Avriel yelped out in pain.
After his fingers had been broken off of her arm, she dropped his arm and then released the pressure she kept on him. He fell to the ground clutching his broken fingers.
She turned to go, but he called out, "Whatever Sarissa does is for our good! He may be harsh, but he saved you...he saved everyone in this fort, which is why we must obey his every command!"
She turned slightly, "Sarissa is my grandfather, there are some things that he does that I can not accept," she said and turned to face him, "Like putting eyes everywhere on my every move..."
She was about going, but then she glanced at him, "You are his eyes too, so do not act like you care so much about me. You are just looking for something to report to him."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"Oh wow, I love flowers. Mother has a whole greenhouse of them! I love sitting there to think. Mother's favorites are lilies and father always brings her a bunch everyday. I absolutely adore petunias because they are pretty..." Elysia went on and on about petunias while Noelan tried to drown out her voice with his thoughts of random things, but to no avail.
Of course, ladies would always like pretty things, he thought as he rolled his eyes.
His mother was right about two things; Elysia loved flowers, and she had grown. The last time he had seen her was when she was in napkins and he was still a shy boy.
Now, he was better at socializing, but still preferred the company of flowers and books to people's. He had also gotten taller, but she had some inches on him.
Her black hair was now past her shoulders, going to her waist and it framed her full face which had the ever-present mole in between her hazel eyes, which had become a bit dull. Due to puberty, she had become curvy, her bust looking big for a sixteen-years old.
He stopped walking, but she did not notice, she kept on talking about petunias. He sighed and shook his head, then he turned to escape, but then he saw her twin brother, Elysium about to put his finger into the mouth of a venus flytrap.
Elysium looked exactly like Elysia, just that his black hair was reaching his nape, he had no mole between his hazel eyes, and he did not have a big bust.
Elysium raised his head and caught Noelan staring, "What are you looking at?" he eyed him and Noelan put hands behind his back and smiled, "Nothing, just an ignoramus about to get an infection from a venus flytrap."
Elysium gave a fake smile and put his finger inside the venus flytrap, to Noelan's shock. The venus flytrap's mouth remained open, then Elysium removed his finger and walked slowly to the prince, "A venus flytrap is incapable of biting off a human finger, let alone giving a human an infection."
"My God! Elsie, come quick! Come see what I found!" Elysia called out to her brother who gave her a smile, "I will be right there Ellie" he said and then turned back to Noelan, "You would have known that if you were not much of a simpleton."
"Elsie..." Elysia whined and Elysium looked at her, "Coming Ellie" he said and walked past Noelan, ensuring his shoulder bumped into his.
Noelan looked back at them and saw Elysia showing her brother the pink petunia she had found, while he looked at it like he was a botanist who had discovered a new species of flower.
Simpleton? Well if I am a simpleton, you are schlemiel, you goddamn fart, he swore and held his shoulder as he looked away.
"Oh..." Elysia suddenly said and he snapped his head at her. She held up a black petunia as her eyes lit up, "Wow! Oh my God! This is beautiful...Elsie, are you seeing this?" she looked at her brother who just smiled.
She looked at the bed of black petunias from where she had gotten the single flower from and sighed happily, "Only the royal garden could grow such a beautiful colour of petunia." She turned to another bed and saw scorpion grasses. "Oh how pretty...they do remind me of someone though..."
She started talking about petunias and scorpion grasses while her brother chipped in a thing or two.
Noelan kept on glaring at them, especially Elysium.
How dare he call me a simpleton? Noelan fumed. He regarded himself as the smartest person in the castle, so Elysium calling him a simpleton degraded him, and it made him uneasy.
He also found it insulting that he was the third wheel when he was the one supposed to be wooing Elysia, not that he wanted to, but still, it seemed she preferred her brother's company to his.
He clenched his fists, but then he heard a chirpy voice, "Noel! Noel! Noel!" His fists loosened when he saw Bithia waving at him. Bithia? he thought.
Elysia stood up and looked at her, then at the scorpion grass, "Oh...forget-me-nots..." she whispered and stared at Bithia.
A guard was passing by, but Bithia was still waving instead of hiding.
"Bithia!" Noelan gasped and ran towards her. When he got to where she was standing, he flung her against a pillar and then blocked her with his body. "Oh..." was all the twins could say as they watched.
Her eyes were on his chest as he looked back to see if the guard was gone. Her cheeks flushed at their proximity and she immediately looked away, "W...What are you doing?" she stuttered and he looked down at her, "I should be asking you that question!"
"Me?" she asked and made the mistake of looking up because he had even leaned closer to her. Her face heated up and she immediately looked away, "I do not understand..."
He tilted his head to look into her eyes, of course she still kept her eyes away from his. "Why are you moving around in the palace without a care in the world that mother or a guard would see you?" "Umm..." she still kept her eyes away, then she remembered why she was in the palace.
She shoved him off her, "That is because I came with Lord Monterey, he is allowed in the palace, I am his guest, so I am also allowed in the palace!" she hmphed and turned around to face the wall.
Noelan raised a brow at her dramatic nature and then what she said hit him. I came with Lord Monterey. "Why is Lord Monterey here?" he asked and she turned to face him, "Well I am not sure because he spends most of his days here, so it could be for a pleasure visit, but I think I remember them whisper about a marriage or something..."
She thought for a while then looked at him, "Who is getting married?" she asked and he waved his hand, "It is nothing for you to worry about," he chuckled.
He could not tell her about the marriage because the king had not yet made a public announcement, perhaps because it was not yet finalized. The king of Guire was not going to finalize the marriage until his daughter saw the man she was getting married to.
Bithia stared at Noelan as he chuckled. There was nervousness in the chuckle. Noelan was almost never nervous. Something was going on.
A royal marriage? Nervousness? Perhaps because he does not want to tell me because it has not been finalized? No, that could not be it, Noel would always tell me.
When they were still children and were in the growing stage of their friendship, Noelan would always tell Bithia everything that was going on within the palace walls, and in return, she too told him what happened in the Monterey manor.
Of course he stopped when he got older and wiser, but Bithia still thought they were in that stage.
Perhaps...
She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand, as he looked at her. What is going on in her head? he thought, could she...
His eyes widened at his realization of her thought, "Are you--" she was about asking but he shook his head, "No, no, no, I am not the one getting married. I am only nineteen, mother would start pressuring me to get married when I am twenty," he chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Oh...that means Sorin is...umm...getting married" she said and he nodded.
A hand held Noelan's shoulder and then Noelle came from behind him with a smile, "And Noelan is already betrothed" "What?" Noelan snapped his head at his mother who grinned.
"Betrothed?" Bithia looked at Noelan who shook his head. "Elysia?" Noelle called and Bithia turned to the twins and watched the older one walk towards them.
"Your majesty," she bowed and Noelle took her hand, "Do you find my son charming?" she asked and Elysia looked at Noelan, "Umm...your majesty..." "Do not be shy, you are his perfect match!" she said then she took her son's hand and was about to put it on Elyisa's, but then she noticed Bithia still staring.
"Bithia, I do not think you are meant to be here..." Noelle laughed and Bithia looked around, she was the only commoner amongst nobles.
"Mother!" Noelan glared at her then Bithia moved back slowly, "You are right, your majesty, I should get back to Lord Monterey" she bowed and ran away.
"Bithia!" Noelan yelled and was about to pursue her, but Noelle held him, "She is nothing but your friend! This woman here, is going to be your wife!" She gave a huge grin as she interlocked his fingers with Elysia's.
Noelan looked at his hand interlocked with Elysia's, then he looked at her, there was a hint of fear in her eyes. "What if I do not want Elysia to be my wife?" he asked and Noelle looked at him, "What? Do you then want that commoner to be your wife?" "What if...I do not want to get married?"
Noelle scoffed, "Do you think you have a choice?" He immediately remembered how Soteria had told Sorin that he would be getting married to the Guire princess. His father had given his brother no choice, and that was what his mother was doing to him.
He broke into a smile, "Of course, I had forgotten that..." he chuckled and looked at Elysia's hand still in his, "Well then..." then he dropped it slowly, "I must take my leave now, your majesty," he said with contempt and bowed then he walked away, leaving his mother in shock.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Bithia stopped running when she was sure she was far enough from the nobles. She panted heavily as she rested her back against a pillar.
Damned nobles! she cursed.
When she was a child, she did not resent them as much as she did now, she liked them, and thought they were all kind because of the ones that visited the Monterey manor, but a year after Astraea's disappearance, she had an encounter with a nobleman.
Her and her mother had gone to the market to get supplies, but then, Lenny had accidentally stepped on a nobleman, and that had earned her a slap on the cheek, many kicks to her abdomen and some degrading insults. When she had tried to step up for her mother, the man's knight had grabbed her and had broken her arm.
From that incident, she had learnt that not all nobles were nice, and as she grew, she realized that they were stuck-up. Even Noelle had shown her true colours when she had been growing. She was just a commoner and Noelle made sure she never forgot her place.
She heard footsteps, guards, she thought and looked around for where she could hide. She had forgotten that she was a palace guest brought by Lord Monterey, because of how Noelle had downgraded her.
She saw a door slightly opened and quietly, but swiftly slipped in. She peeped through the gap and watched the guards walk by as they chatted happily.
She heaved a sigh of relief when they had gone and was about to go out, but then she smelt linseed oil.
Paint? she thought and was about to turn, but then she heard a voice, "What are you doing here?" She turned immediately and saw Sorin staring down at her.
He was covered in paint and there was paint on the floor, that explained the heavy smell of the linseed oil in the air.
She was tempted to wipe off a dot of paint closer to his eye, but she held back, "What happened?" she asked, but he ignored her, "You need to leave now! You are not welcomed here!"
Her eyes moved to a covered painting behind him, "What is that?" she pointed at it and he glanced at it, but it was all Bithia needed to slip past him to look at it herself.
"Miss Oprah, stop!" he yelled, but she dragged the white sheet down and gasped at the painting.
It was a painting of a boy and two girls playing with flowers.
It was a painting of them.
Her, him, and Astraea.