I leave shortly after admiral Ali leaves to the sound of protesting from the council, but screw them. I already know how rash my decision was, I don't need them to confirm it for me. But really, what did they expect me to say? Ali had my back, more or less, against the wall.

He was ready to declare war against the kingdom, which lets face it, we really can’t afford right now. I’ve seen the ledgers and this kingdom has a lot of problems. Not to mention that Ali commands over half of the military. It would be suicide to disregard his words. He can try calling it a challenge, but a threat by any other name is still a threat.

Besides, Ali made a very good point. The military pledges to the crown, in other words the kingdom, not to the king. They have no loyalty to me, their only loyalty is to their country.

Honestly it's a shit system if you ask me. Whoever thought that it would be a good idea to have the military disconnected from the king should be thrown from a balcony. It was probably one of the stupidest decisions that could have been made.

I bet it was Javis the second. That man was a complete fool. He made such a mess during his rule that we’re still fixing it to this day. I doubt that when his grandfather founded this Kingdom he would have guessed his grandson would nearly drive it to ruin, but c'est la vie.

I roll my eyes and turn another corner, only to stop so suddenly that the guards trailing behind nearly crash into me, but for once I don’t care.

Since when was I going to the dungeons? I think with a confused look around the hallway. Sure enough, the halfway I stand in is the same one that will take me to the dank, lichen covered crap hole we call the dungeon. 

“Is everything alright, your majesty.” One of the guards calls from behind me and I start walking again, even though I hadn’t intended to go down here again today.

“Yes perfectly. I just thought I saw a bird.” I say for lack of anything else. I can’t let them know that I started walking down here without meaning to. It might make me seem incompetent.

“A bird in the palace sir?” The other guard asks, skepticism more than evident in his voice. It sort of ticks me off and I grit my teeth. Does no one in this kingdom take my word seriously? Why is everyone around me always questioning the things I say?

You are technically lying. My brain oh so helpfully reminds me, but I brush the thought aside. It usually has bad opinions anyways, I mean it’s the thing that came up with the stupid bird lie in the first place.

I stop once again and turn to look back at the guards. “Yes a bird. The palace is infested with them.”

“With birds, your highness?” The other guard raises an eyebrow at me and I glare at him.

“Yes with birds. Those filthy flying winged rats. The palace is riddled with them.” I state and the guards blink a few times before sharing a look with each other. “It is actually a very good thing I saw one today. I keep forgetting to get someone to eradicate them.” I continue and the guards turn back to me.

“You want to get someone to eradicate the birds who are infesting the castle?” The guard on the left asks, seemingly a bit confused.

“Forgive me your majesty but I haven’t seen any birds and therefore wasn’t aware there was a problem.” The guard on the right says next.

I feel a slight rise of heat burning through me and my glare deepens. I’m not sure why the conversation is making me so angry, but even if I don’t know why, the feeling is still there and it makes me even angrier.

So with a slight chill to my voice I open my mouth and say, “Yes I do and as you two are here and seem to understand, I would like you to go and eradicate the birds this instant.”

“Forgive us my king.” The guard on the left tells me with a bow. “But we can not just abandon our duty to go off chasing birds around the palace. It would be incredibly irresponsible of us.”

“Excuse me? Who do you think I am?” I ask and the guard gulps at the anger in my voice. “I am your king and I am giving you an order.”

“Yes your majesty we understand, but as your personal guard we can't just leave you unprotected to go chasing down birds.” The guard on the right attempts to alleviate the situation, but I’m not having any of it.

“And as your king I am ordering you to do it.” I shout, my anger slowly growing in force. Why does no one in this palace respect my authority?

“Your majesty we can not-” The rightmost guard begins, but I cut him off.

“I will fire you both from a cannon if you continue to disobey me.” I shout and the guards both startle before bowing lowly to me.

“As you wish, my king.” They say in unison before straightening back up. They don’t move for a moment and I narrow my eyes at them until they finally do.

I watch them leave in search of the bird and it is only when they are out of my sight that I realize they didn’t bother asking which way I saw the bird go.

Well they're going to have a hard time finding it. I think before remembering that the bird wasn’t real and they would have a hell of a time finding it even if they knew where to look.

It's only at this point that I truly take into account what I just did. I sent my guards on a wild goose chase, leaving myself completely unprotected in a castle full of people who don’t think I’m fit for the throne, just because I got a little angry that they questioned my ridiculous lie.

I smack my palm against my forehead with a groan.

Shit. This was such a stupid idea. I think before pulling my hand away from my head. See I told you my brain has bad opinions.

What am I going to do now?