Lilith
“My god how late can a person be!” Father is pacing back at forth glancing at his pocket watch every two seconds. We were supposed to head out half an hour ago to selection. King Philip didn’t think it wise for me to ride with them. Rumors and all. So, we were going to caravan it. However, asking the king to be on time is laughable. The man will be late for his own funeral.
“Marquess” A man stands in the doorway, a letter in hand. I chuckle to myself as I see the palace seal.
Father reaches forward and yanks the letter from the poor mans hands and rips it open.
“His majesty wishes for us to go ahead and meet them at the inn for breakfast.” Father’s voice is filled with annoyance which of course stuns the messenger. Not many people can get away with this tone when it comes to the palace. My father can though, King Philip and he go way back. They were at selection together, fought together. If it was up to the king, they would have had a joint wedding as well. The council put a stop to that idea though.
“Come on, let’s just head out. You can give him an earful at breakfast” Walking towards my poor irritated father, I put a hand on his shoulder. This earns me a gasp from messenger man. Why the fuck was he still here. The king doesn’t need a reply, hell he hates replies. Just do what he says.
We make our way outside; the wind softly plays with my loose flowing hair. In the sunlight you can really see the lilac color, otherwise my hair looks white. I get that from my mother, my father gave me his emerald, green eyes. I nervously pull at my dress as I wait to be helped into the carriage. Price Max sent the dress a month ago and said I had to wear it. I almost put on the black dress I picked out just to spite him, but I was already a nervous wreck for selection. And didn’t want to add a princely tantrum to my itinerary.
Father extends his hand towards mine and helps me inside. Here we go. I breathe deeply and look out the window to keep my mind off why we left the house. The scenery passes in a splendid blur, from city, to farmland and finally to the forest. On the other side will be the cute little inn, the kings favorite place to eat. And then the temple for selection…. I shake my head trying to shake the worry away. But it eats at me.
I just know something is going to go wrong. What If I am a Source? What if I don’t have a Host? What could be worse than being a spare, having to allow anybody and everyone to draw power from you.
‘Oh, please goddess above let me be a Neither. Let me live a life of safety and peace.’ I silently pray.
The carriage comes to a sudden stop sending me forward. Thank god for father’s quick reflexes as he grabs me and steadies me back in my seat.
“Stay little Lily, I will investigate this. No corrupted during this time of day. Probably an animal in the way” He offers me a gentle smile and opens the door. The soft click of the latch is like an echo in the silence. An eerie, unnatural silence. I wait for what seems like hours, with no sound outside at all, not even the coachman’s voice. The hell was going on.
Max
"Mother! stop fussing. I look fine!" I swat my mother’s hand away as she continues trying to fuss with my hair. Of course, I look fine, I spent months preparing for this day. My outfit was perfectly tailored and fetching, if I do say so myself. And I do.
"Oh, where is your father! We are going to be late." she moves on to fuss with my collar. Which was definitely neat before her fretting.
"We told the marquess we would meet up for breakfast and head out to selection together. If dad wasn’t so worried about how it would look, Lily could have just ridden with us." I point out.
Lilith is my best friend. Being the prince, however, father was worried about having her arrive at selection in the same carriage. People might start gossiping and then she would be placed as the prince’s Source, and when she wasn’t chosen as my Source. God the rumors would be awful.
Being royal comes with drawbacks. Always on guard about your image. I understand why he chose to go separately, the idea of her being caught up in the politics of the castle is unnerving. It was a good choice but does not excuse him being late. Lilith likes to say he will be late for his own funeral and heaven knows how accurate that is.
Mother is now nervously pacing back and forth, if I didn’t know better, I would never guess she was the regal queen who commands the attention of any room she enters. Her graceful air is now replaced with nervous, jittery energy. The person who should be worried is Lily, because I swear to all things holy, if she shows up in that horridly depressing black dress, I will kill her myself. Girl has no taste in fashion. And left to her own devices she would dress like she had a funeral to attend daily.
"My boy! You look splendid! Absolutely handsome. Every girl at selection will be praying to be your Source!" Father enters the room in a flowing red cape. Guess that’s what took so long, deciding what cape to wear.
“Or boy” He says with a obvious wink. I roll my eyes are far as they go. Now is not the time to joke about something like that. God’s above we don’t need that to happen.
"Come. Come. We are already late in meeting up with dear Lily. If it wasn’t for those god forsaken council members, she would go with us." He moves to the door as if he had been waiting for us this entire time. Unsufferable. My father is unsufferable.
We make our way to the carriage with a line of knights on either side of us. Selection isn’t dangerous. But as the only Prince, you can never be too careful. 'Finally,' I think to myself. we can get this show on the road. Knowing the Marquess, he was probably silently cursing his best friend.
Kilian
“Hold her down, I want every ounce of magic drained from her body. Leave nothing but a husk left.”
The disembodied voice yells out. It’s everywhere and yet nowhere. I can’t move. My body pinned to the floor. Fear is all I know. All I feel. I can’t scream, like my voice had been stolen. My strength is slowly ebbing away as I lay on the cold hard ground. The world goes black.
“Fuck” I exclaim through clenched teeth. My body is encased in sweat as I sit up in my bed. What the fuck was that? I slow my breathing to try to calm down. That must be the weirdest nightmare I have ever had. Nerves were probably the reason for the dream. It was the morning of the selection after all.
“Young master?” Butler James peeks his head into the room with a worried look.
“You need to get ready young master, its not like you to waste the morning away.” He quickly walks inside followed by three maids, all hurrying about getting my things ready. After a quick bath, I get dressed. Not paying much attention to what they laid out. I trust their judgement.
“Your father is waiting in the breakfast nook; we must not keep him waiting much longer.” With a quick bow, James leaves with the maids trailing behind.
Walking down the hallway I stop and look up at the portrait of my mother. My hand instinctively moves towards my necklace. An intricate silver chain holds a small glowing vial. Bottled moonlight. My mothers very own creation. She was a genius to be sure. Making sure that she could draw from her class no matter where she was or the time of day.
“Ill make you proud mom. I promise.” I press two fingers to my lips and then to the portrait. Not a day goes by that this manor does not miss her. A dull ache ebbs inside as I continue my walk to the breakfast nook.
“Is today the day to be late, boy?” My father’s stern voice echoes throughout the room. I make quick apologies and sit down at the table. A brilliant spread of food in front of me, I push away the pain of his tone.
“Explain.” His piercing blue eyes look over at me as he shoves food into his mouth. I take after him look wise, Raven colored hair with brilliant blue eyes. I wish I looked like my mother with her delicate features and soft blond hair. But no, I inherited my father’s stern features.
“I had a dream. I’m sorry” Not that would explain much. But honestly it was all I had.
“Nightmare?” He asks, the concern in his voice startled me causing me to drop my fork.
“Sorry.” I mumble
“Yes. But… it wasn’t about me” My mind wanders to the dream. The pure terror. The pain.
“I see.” He looks down for a moment contemplating.
“That… Is not a good sign for today.”
Without
explaining further. He continues to eat, and the room is silent once again. I
was used to the silence. After mother passed away. That’s all this house
knew.
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