....
After an hour or two, Lyra had lost count, the blizzard only intensified. It showed no signs of stopping nor reducing. She was frustrated. If the blizzard didn't stop...
Luc, who had been reading, had gotten bored and fallen asleep on the floor. The book was placed in his face and his breath, steady.
Lyra looked at the sleeping figure on the floor, not too far away from her. He was sleeping soundly and peacefully. She found it weird. Did he trust her so much that he could sleep in the same room with her awake? She smirked and walked away.
A minute later, she came back with a thick wool blanket. She bent down beside him and carefully draped it over him. Her hand went to his face and took the book. She turned it over and looked a at the page number. He was still in page 27 / 246.
She smiled as she shook her head. Just then, she saw his left arm drop down. She reached out to place it back into the blanket, but stopped. In his hand was a folded piece of paper. But where was it from?
She reached out stealthily and took the paper. Judging from its texture, it was probably from one of her books. She frowned. How could he tear a page out of her books without permission?
She carefully opened the paper to see what was in it. After unfolding, she looked at its content. She couldn't tell what book it was from but she could read. It was about witches, types of witches to be specific. She squinted.
After scanning the page, she put it back in his hand and left the treehouse into the blizzard.
....
SKY PALACE, DARAME.
In the princess' bedroom
The young blonde girl sat at the dressing table while combing her hair. Her fair, delicate hands held the brush as she brushed her hair. She looked extremely elegant. When done, she put the brush down.
Looking at her fair skin in the mirror, she smiled. She picked up a crystal hair clip. Her delicate fingertips played with it for a while before carefully placing it at the right side of her long, wavy, blonde hair. Her blue eyes looked at the mirror, satisfied. She opened the drawer beside her, her movements ever so elegant.
In it was a jewelry box. It was embedded with a lot of gems. It looked extremely extravagant. She picked it up and placed it on the dressing table. Her hands moved to open it. In it was a necklace, a red crystal necklace. The crystal seemed to be the broken part of a whole crystal.
She caressed the crystal before carefully picking it up. She caressed it more as she held it in her hands. Deep affection could be seen in her eyes as she looked at it.
" I hope to see you soon", sshe said.
But then, the crystal glowed brightly, almost as if it was trying to tell the girl something. The girl frowned. " What are you trying to tell me? Why did you glow?"
'knock, knock!'
The girl looked at the door, startled but quickly regained her composure. " Marie? Is that you?" She asked.
A voice responded from the other side of the door, " Yes, Milady. His Royal Highness says to come out for dinner".
The girl nodded as she responded, " Alright, tell my father I'll be down in a minute".
" Yes, Milady".
Followed by the voice were fading footsteps. The girl sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. She took the necklace and put it on. Once again, she caressed the crystal with a gentle smile before standing up to wear her dress.
....
In the dining room, at the long dining table sat King Alexander and his wife, Queen Lirien. They say and ate elegantly, the aura around them exuded royalty.
Alexander paused and turned to the maid beside him, " Where is Aveline?" The maid immediately responded, though stuttering,
" The princess said she'll come down in a minute, Sire".
Alexander nodded. Lirien, his Queen, looked at him as she asked, " The banquet is in three days. You still need to approve the list of the guests and-—"
" Cancel it. I'm not in the mood" Alexander interrupted. Lirien frowned. " But the banquet is an annual event. The people have been looking forward to it, we can't just cancel -—"
" Then, do something else to appease them, you're very good at that. Have a dance or something that doesn't concern me. I want to be alone for the next few days"Lirien frowned. She knew why he wanted to be alone. And she wasn't happy about it. He wanted to be alone because the coming three days, was the period of his missing son's disappearance. His first son was taken away from him.
It had been eighteen years since the prince's disappearance. Eighteen years since the King's health began deteriorating. Eighteen years of her being ignored by Alexander.
It was maddening. They didn't even know if he was alive or dead. Why couldn't he just forget about him. She had also lost a son after all. That prince wasn't the only son of the family.
" Alright. I'll do something about it".
" About what?" A voice sounded on the stairs. It was the blonde girl. Lirien smiled as she said, " Aveline, you're here. Quickly, sit down and have your dinner".
Aveline smiled at Lirien, " Thank you, mother". She sat down at the left side of Alexander. Alexander ate and paused after a while, " How are your classes? Are you taking them seriously?"
Aveline nodded as she said, " Yes, father, I've been making progress. By the way, father, I went through the guest list for the upcoming banquet and saw that the Carranos were not on it. I was wondering if they could be-—"
" There's no need for that. There will be no banquet. Also, make it known that I will not be attending to any matters for the next few days. I wish to be alone. Do not disturb me, Aveline. If you need anything, ask Lirien". Alexander wiped his mouth with a towel and stood up.
" My Queen...."
" Yes, your Majesty?" Lirien answered.
" I trust you can handle this. I do not want any shortcomings. Do not interrupt the only time I have to remember my son". He spoke with sadness in his eyes. He missed his son deeply. He really wanted to be with him. But the Crown Prince of Darame was unfortunately missing. For eighteen years.
He had tried everything to get him back, both the boy and his mother, but nothing worked. There was not a single trace. He missed them, he missed them dearly.
He sighed as he walked away. He didn't notice the underlying resentment in Lirien's eyes when he spoke about his son. Her grip on her cutlery tightened, her knuckles turning white.
Then Alexander seemed to remember something as he stopped, " Aveline, have you heard anything from your sister?"
Aveline placed a piece of meat in her mouth, clearly unbothered, but she answered anyway " No, father. None".
Alexander nodded and went upstairs, clearly deep in thought. Seeing that Alexander was out of sight, Lirien also stood up, " I will be heading to my personal chambers. I am done having dinner". After that, she walked off.
Aveline took a subtle glance at her steo-mother's back. She said nothing as a smirk formed at the corner of her lips.
....
Lirien opened the door and closed it calmly, though when observed closely, one could see her knuckles turn white from the strength used to hold the door's handle. She gritted her teeth in anger as she dropped her fists at her side. She walked to the table and threw all it's contents to the floor.
A loud crash echoed throughout the room, luckily, they were soundproof doors. When done, she threw the bookshelf down to the floor. After that, she screamed in anger.
After a minute of screaming, she finally stopped as she rearranged her appearance. In no time, her ruffled hair and disheveled appearance was returned back to its originally dignified state. Taking a deep breath, she straightened her dress.
Her left fingers gently caressed a gold ring on her right pinky. It had an eye catching red ruby on it. She pressed down on the ruby and a hologram of a rogue man appeared.
Lirien smiled as she said, " I have a job for you".
...