I
My fingers gripped the small bouquet of white roses, my mother's favorite, as I suppressed the urge to shiver in the cold night air. There's only a few memories I could truly remember about my mother, the rest were tales my father would tell me before bedtime. There was this one story I always asked him to repeat after mother passed away about the day he proposed to her. He decided to decorate the entire ballroom in white roses, symbolic of the pure beauty my mother possessed inside and out, and lavender scented candles, her favorite smell. Every time my father told this story, a bright smile would adorn my face as I thought about how happy they must have been on that day. Since the first telling of his story, lavender had been my favorite scent, and white roses always made me smile. Except for today.
I glanced around at the scene happening around me, it was not snowing currently, but the nip in the air foretold snow to come later in the evening. Knights, maidens, and common people were gathered in the courtyard of the palace, dressed in black, mourning around a casket. I blinked away the tears forming in my light blue eyes as I laid the bouquet onto the mahogany wooden casket.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped away from the casket and allowed for others to place their sympathy flowers and speak words of love and sorrow.
Lost in thought, Lucas, my father's first in command, came to my side without my knowledge.
"You're father was a great man, Elodie."
"Hmm.. oh... yes, yes he was..." I trailed off whipping away the tears that continued to form in my eyes with the black lace sleeve on my mourning gown. Lucas took my small hand into his, squeezing lightly.
"He died in honor of his Kingdom, protecting his people... protecting you, Elodie."
"I know..." I sighed looking towards the beautiful casket holding the man I cherished and admired. With my mother passing away after my seventh birthday, my father raised me to be the young, independent woman I am today, and without his devotion and care, I don't think I would have turned out the same.
Lucas squeezed my hand lightly one last time before letting go. As he walked away, a few of my father's knights, a couple maidens and some commoners made their way over to me, offering their sympathies and hugs.
In the midst of all the sorrow, little white snowflakes fell around us slowly beginning to coat the ground. I looked up towards the sky watching the snow, praying for my father back. Instead, someone else approached from behind me.
"Maxon." Not exactly who I was hoping to find.
"Good evening Queen Elodie", my father's third in command nodded solemnly.
"You know, I'm not Queen yet," I sighed, turning to face him. Dressed in all black and a face painted in stress and despair, Maxon looks 10 years older than he actually was. It's unfortunate how much stress Maxon had been putting on himself during the last week. He partially blamed himself for my father's death, and therefore took it upon himself to plan the entire funeral. If only he knew nothing could have prevented the death of my beloved father.
"I know, I'm sorry, but soon you will be..." He lowered his head avoiding my gaze shifting his weight side to side. His more than awkward gestures concerned me, but I couldn’t seem to figure out why.
"I know you're not here to discuss formalities, Maxon." I stated. "What is it you came here to tell me?" I asked a bit more softly.
"Your presence is requested at the round table, your highness," he bowed offering me his glove clad hand. Even in his awkwardness, still a formal gentleman. I sighed one last time.
"Again with the formalities..." I reminded him while grabbing ahold of his hand.
He led the way past my father's crowded casket and through the dimly lit courtyard of the palace. Snow continued to fall to the ground as we left marks of our taken path on the cobblestone sidewalk. Finally making our way inside the palace, Maxon led me up a flight of burgundy carpeted stairs with portraits of family members adorning the walls. At the very top of the grand staircase, my father's bright green eyes stared into my soul.
"Elodie... that painting is there to remember the great man your father was, don't dwell." Maxon reminded me sympathetically. Maxon carefully approached me, placing his hand on my right shoulder for support.
"I know, but just knowing my father will never walk through this palace again... it's disturbing" my weak voice cracked as tears swell up in my eyes. An eeriness fell over the hallway causing goosebumps to crawl over my skin.
Maxon offers me a weak squeeze on my shoulder, sensing my discomfort and finally snapping me out of my gaze at my father's portrait. I slowly walked away from my father's portrait and Maxon to the large set of grand oak doors waiting at the end of the hallway.
Guarding the doors are two doormen, with overly serious faces. I nodded at both the men and they opened the large doors exposing the grand interior of the royal meeting room.
Inside the room, an oak table with gold plated accents, large enough to seat at least twenty was the main piece in the room. Surrounding the table was matching burgundy and gold chairs, except for one. At the head of the table was my great, great grandfather's chair that was hand carved by a local craftsman out of maple as a present for his bravery and devotion to our kingdom.
Looking around at the men sitting at the table, I saw men who were conceived to be my father's most loyal and trusted knights, mainly due to the fact that most had been by my father's side before he even met my mother. While growing in the palace, I considered most of these men to be a part of our family, kind of like my long distance uncles of sorts.
Sitting next to the head of the table, Lucas beckoned me over to him. As I crossed the room, the knights all rose and bowed their heads in respect, a formality I was still not used to, since I was never truly apart of official meetings.
Krys, my father's second in command, pulled out the old maple chair, offering me to sit in my great, great grandfather's chair. Nervously, I sat down and faced sixteen of my father’s most trusted and worthy men all adorning faces of stress and sorrow.
"Queen." Lucas stated.
"She is not queen yet!" A voice across the table boomed, startling me out of my seat. My big doe eyes searched across the table and land on an angry Michael standing out of his chair. The stress and frustration he's clearly under prominent on his face.
"Michael..." Lucas tried to intervene.
"No! She is too young and has no concept of how to rule a kingdom, especially with Faeries trying to take over this land!" his angered voice carried across the table.
Krys now stands attempting to intervene, "Michael you don't..."
"Stop."
All sixteen eyes connected to mine.
"He is right, I am young and I don't know how to rule a kingdom," I stated, shocking myself along with the others.
"But your highness..." Lucas attempted to counter.
"No, Lucas. I've done enough in my life to think I know it all, but I'm smart enough to know I don't. My father never talked about business with me, and when I asked he'd always say 'next time', "I sighed quietly, regaining my trailing thoughts. "So what do we need to do to make sure this kingdom does not crumble to the Faeries?" I addressed the men at the table.
With shocked looks and confused minds, the men stared silently at each other. Michael, finally realizing I agreed with him, sat back down into his chair stumped. Krys also plopped back into his seat realizing the debate was over. I let out a long hefty sigh, slumping back into the old wooden chair. I felt as though I was stuck in between being underestimated with my abilities, but then over expected with what I needed to. I wanted to scream I'm not a little girl! But at the same time, I wanted to crawl under the table and pretend I was only having a nightmare. If only my father was still here, able to teach me the ways of ruling a kingdom, a kingdom under attack by Faeries.
As I lose myself in my thoughts, I'm unaware of the mild chatter beginning around me. Eventually, Krys carefully placed his hand on my knee refocusing my thoughts. I cast my gaze towards him, and he offered me a sad smile.
"Elodie..." Lucas began carefully, gaining my attention from Krys.
"Yes?"
"Maybe you need to get married."
