Reign

Quira Yunho was the illustrious star of our family. Beauty, intelligence, elegance, and grace. The poor Yunho family bore the bride of the fairy king.

She was fated to marry the fairy king. Some rumors that had circulated, passed from ear to ear stated that he was a barbaric monster while others said that he was a savior of humanity. Well, whatever he was Quira really loved to brag about her future husband.

She loved the attention people gave her and people loved having an ally as powerful as the fairy king. Befriending her meant making the king happy.

Oh, she hasn’t met the king yet. No one had.

He is the stars in the sky, the flowers we admire, and the air we breathe -the history books written by drinkers and drug addicts contain these types of poems. Though all these stories are now seemingly focusing on the fairy king there are many more... people of more power than him, but we will get to that in later chapters.

Where do I fit in the story? Well I, Edith Yunho, am Quira’s younger sister. Neither do I contain any trace of grace -evident by me tripping over a non-existent rock every time I am in town- nor am I beautiful.

Not to go in the wrong direction, I am not ugly nither am I beautiful. I am average, a little less but in round figure I am average.

I don’t have anything special like Quira, she is the star from the start and I am just the fairy king’s bride’s sister.

I like playing the piano, running through town, painting, reading and most important of all, combat. I love long swords and any type of other weapons. It had a thrill I couldn’t seem to find in anything.

When Quira used to go to her cooking classes I would train in any type of combat that my teacher, his name I am still unaware of, taught me. Watching street fights was an absolute favorite of mine. The number of fights I had witnessed in my free time made me used to the sight of blood, while on the other hand, Quira would freak out seeing the blood of her own monthly’s.

The Yunho family didn’t bear a son so there was no heir to inherit the absolute nothing we owned because the family was a bunch of sexists and thought that a girl could not possibly handle herself alone. That is why my parents, mostly mother, kept forcing me to find a nice boy and fall in love.

The only boy who had interactions with me after completely knowing my habits was Killian Farington, our town’s baker boy, and my only friend. Our little town named Nohre was as poor as my family, just specks of riches here and there, and baker Henry Farington was the wealthiest.

He wasn’t on the level of a Lord, he was average but the wealthiest in this place. Nothing and no one exceeded him, he was a greedy bastard, Killian’s exact words. His wife, Katrina, was the town’s gossiper, but humble at heart.

Killian’s friendship was the only one my mother approved of. Guess why? He was a bachelor.

People weren’t nice when I was little. They seemed to be always in competition with each other. Now my reality is just a race. Though I am going off-topic a little here.

An overheated conversation seemed to be going on between my mother, Elisa Tery Yunho, and Giana Rory, the town’s elite tailor. From the words, I could make out they were quarreling about whether to get the material for the frills in blue or black. I made a sullen face, in the end, frills are not probably going to be in the original design.

Quira sat elegantly crossed leg on one of the chairs, quietly sipping her tea. I observed the drama from the stairs, peeking just enough so that no one would see me.

“So what is happening?” My father whispered from behind me.

“Shh, I am trying to figure out” I retorted in the same tone.

“Is the dress pretty?” He asked.

I took a good look at their project and mentally shivered “it’s hideous” I replied.

“Ah, your mother’s choice” He smiled.

I looked at him, puzzled.

“You were mother’s choice” His smile turned upside down.

“Oh shut up you incoherent brat” He whispers “now, is it safe to move?“.

“Of course not, can you not hear the havoc they are causing, I told you we should go through the window” My words were stressed and it was hard whispering everything.

“You idiot if we go through the window then your mother will find out and close that route too, we should at least have one emergency exit” He stated in a whisper again.

“That is a good point, when did you start thinking so sensibly” I was impressed by his strategy.

“When I started helping you with your homework”

I opened my mouth to retort at the fact I never ever had homework, much less asked for his help on it. Then-

“Edith come down here” My mother bellowed from downstairs and my eyes widened.

“What should I do?” I frantically yelled though my voice wasn’t above a whisper.

“Go, maybe she will let you go in town” Father suggested.

“What are you crazy? I am not going down...” I was cut mid-sentence.

“Edith!” Mother yelled again.

“Coming mother” I replied in a voice that will barely reach them, but luckily it did. “Pray for me”

I took slow and steady steps.

“Yes, mother” I worriedly said.

“I need you to get me these materials from town and get the masks from Mrs. Rory’s house” She instructed, “do not be late for dinner”.

Quira observed me with her grey gleaming eyes. Her face was stone but her eyes held disgust and well not quite disgust something quite familiar to that though.

“Please, do not try to ruin anything” Quira stated her voice seemed to be dripping with honey.

“Of course she will not ruin anything, honey” Mother assured her.

Yes, she ruins everyone’s life but no, why would anyone say anything to her. Oh yes, she is the fairy king’s bride that’s why. I hope he is hideous. Doubtful, but a girl can hope.

I slammed the door shut showing my anger but not being disrespectful, it was a hard thing to accomplish.

The beauty of this situation was that I had to go to Mrs. Rory’s house. Mrs. Rory was a tolerable woman, her son, Tristen, not so much. He was a creep, a perverted bastard. At first, I thought of doing this alone, but then I wanted to join Killian in my adventure.

After an internal debate, my first stop became the bakery because dealing with Tristen Rory with back up is a more desirable option than without.

The streets were in a hustle as always. The vendors gave a brief description of their products in a loud voice to attract customers.

There were mouth-watering food stalls, ancient books, charms that were promised to be laced with mountain magic. Some people happily wandered through the shops while others, hopelessly poor, or ill-determined were watching from the shadows.

Most of them were familiar faces. Luna Haria was the most amazing character in town. Her enthusiasm and determination are her power and nothing faze her even though she lives on the streets. She’s new that is why we aren’t well acquainted.

I crossed the street carefully and successfully reached the other side. While walking towards the bakery I noticed that at some point the air around me changed. It was the weirdest feeling ever, I could hear the crackling sounds of thunder when not even a trace of cloud was in eyesight. It became colder, colder than usual. The passersby were unfazed.

What was happening?

I was brought back to reality when I suddenly bumped into someone. I stumbled but quickly regained my composure.

Standing in front of me was a boy no older than the age of eleven. He seemed to be looking around, standing in the middle of the sidewalk completely unaware that someone had just bumped into him. That brat.

“Hey kid, move aside people have to walk through” I scolded him but my tactics were not effective. He was standing there like he was invisible or something.

I snapped my fingers in front of his face, it seemed to have an impact on him as he had turned to look at me.

For a moment I just stood there gazing into his eyes. The crackling increased and was concentrated around the little boy’s figure. I couldn’t move, he was breathtaking even though he was like every other child in the whole wide world. He will grow up to be a heart breaker.

“Umm.. you shouldn’t stand in the middle of the way like this someone could hurt” I tried my scolding tone but it came out soft and gentle.

He seemed shocked at my words. Like he couldn’t even fathom the idea that someone talked to him.

“Who are you?” He spoke after his shock wore of.

“Who am I? Have manners kid, you don’t just go around asking people who they are like seriously” The irony was that I the most ill-mannered of my whole house told this boy to have manners. Apparently, you shouldn’t also go around scolding random children.

Without waiting for a reply I whirled and walked straight into the bakery. Not willing to endure any more of the aura that boy was surrounded by. It was hard shrugging it off as a natural occurrence, but in a world where people could sell magic and my own sister was going to marry a fae, things as such are in the norm.

The smell of freshly baked bread enveloped me. The inside was warm and comforting. Silvia Farington sneered at me as I walked further in.

“Great, what do you want?” Silvia Farington, the esteemed sister of Henry Farington, asked in a rather rude tone.

“Killian” I answered in one word knowing very well if I spoke another word Silvia will pass a snarky comment and I will pass an, even more, snarkier comment, so on.

“Killian!” She shouted. Not wasting a second Killian hurriedly came, stumbling through the wooden archway.

His blue eyes found mine and he smiled. His golden hair, a family trait, was covered in flour as well as his clothes. His tanned skin glowed in the well-lighted room.

“Edith, hi” He approached me.

“Hi, are you busy?” I questioned hoping I didn’t interrupt him.

“Oh” He looked at his state and smiled “no I was just trying to help mother”

“Would you like to help me with some errands?” I asked.

Silvia scoffed. I had forgotten she was still here.

“As a matter of fact I would love to” he climbed the counter and slid over it. Shaking off the flour in his hair and on his clothes he grabbed my hand pulled me outside.

I felt bad leaving the warmth.

“Sorry about Silvia you know how she is” As soon as we were outside he started to talk to me as himself.

“Yeah, yeah let's go” I dismissed his worries “We have a ‘meeting’ with Tristen”

“That bastard, now thinking about it if you were about to go to the Rory’s then me tagging along was inevitable” He stated.

“Oh no, it wasn’t” I retorted “You came because I decided you would, otherwise you would still be causing a disaster”.

After a short journey of conversing with Killian about everyday task, we reached the Rory estate which involved a garden of blue and red roses, thankfully maintained by Olivia Rory, and a dainty house but bigger than most in Nohre.

I knocked on the door. Olivia opened. I breathed a sigh a relief.

“Oh, hello Edith,” Olivia’s said in a soft voice “hello to you too Killian”

Olivia was the kind of girl who was soft and humble through and through. Even her eyes showed kindness.

“Hey, Ol” Killian greeted.

“Hey, can we get the masks, your mother asked us to get it,” I said rather bluntly.

“Oh yes, I will go get them” Olivia went inside.

As soon as she turned in a room an annoying figure came in view.

“Well if it isn’t the gorgeous Edith and the baker boy,” Tristen said while leaning on the doorway. He was handsome, with a muscular body, black hair, and hazel eyes. He was mesmerizing nonetheless annoying.

Olivia’s good timing saved both of us from conversing with him. With a quick goodbye, I snatched the bag from Olivia’s hand and retreated. After that was a blur. I grabbed the silk laces from the shop. Killian bid goodbye and went back. I was alone.

Before going back to the house I decided to visit Misha. Misha was Nohre’s one and only doctor. She was a trustworthy person as well as a witch. A secret only I knew.

Her shop was located in the far end of the town, the sun hadn’t gone down yet which meant that I still had plenty of hours to spare before dinner.

Half of her shop was painted a dark green while the other half a brown color from the outside. Some display windows for the available herbs.

“Hello Misha” I hollered as soon as I pushed open the door.

“Hey Edith” She screamed from upstairs, it was a double story shop, upstairs was where she resided “check out this new recipe I tried.” I cringed. Misha was a horrible cook.

“No thanks I just came to meet Uni” the brazen cat rubbed itself on my leg and purred. She had brown fur and different colored eyes, one blue and one yellow.

“I swear she is more popular than me” She voiced as she descended down the stairs. Her face was covered in black blotches as well as her silver hair. Her green eyes shone with adrenaline.

“Oh, Misha are you still drinking that tea?” I asked.

“What tea?” She answered with a question as her eyes opened and closed several times.

I shook my head in a disappointed manner.

Today was a long day and tomorrow will be an even longer one.