Heir of Golden Storms

The walk towards the castle is not difficult. Now that I am warmer, I feel a little stronger. I am still hungry, and my legs hurt but now that I have a purpose, I keep on going. I have visited many times before the Summer Castle. It is located at the coast. I only must follow the sound of waves and the direction of the breeze.

I end up at a white and light blue town. The floor is made of white and light blue tiles, the light blue forming decorative lines on top of the white. The houses are made of white stones and their windows and doors are open to let the air circulate. Each house has a stairway outside that leads to other houses above them. On the second floor of the houses are cords extended between houses with clothes hanging from them, drying by the sun.

I continue walking, trying not to look at the faeries. The tiles are hot and are burning the soles of my feet, but it hurts less that the iron chains. One woman enters her house and comes back with a yellow shirt. She hands it to me.

“Thanks,” I say.

I am not accustomed to faeries being nice, but she is not the only one. A man hands me a pair of brown worn out boots. I sit on the floor and put it on, even if they are a size bigger. As I finish lacing the boots, a woman brings me a cup of water. I drink it all quickly and she leaves with it.

The first time that Marin came back to the Court of Miracles from the Court of Summer, she said that she loved the Court of Summer. She said that the people were nice and helpful and that they accepted her without hesitation. She said that it was the happiest court that she has ever seen. I was a kid by then and I believed her, but as I grew up and saw that the world was not perfect. I began to doubt her.

I spot some silver knights at a market. They have the yellow band on their right arm, indicating that they are from this court. I walk towards them, passing the wooden kiosks selling fruits and jewelry.

“Good morning,” I say. “I was wondering if you could lead me to the castle.”

“Pleadings were an hour ago and offerings are in a few days,” one knight answers, a woman. “The castle is closed for the public.”

“I need to get there,” I say. I need to find Marin to see if she can help me. “Can you at least point me in the right direction?”

“Listen, kid,” a second knight says, a man. “The king will not see anyone until pleadings tomorrow morning.”

“I do not want to see the king,” I say. “I need to see one of the princesses.”

The three knights laugh. “You are not the first one to ask this,” the second knight says. “Do you think that if one of the princesses see you, she will fall in love with you and ask you to marry her? This is real life, kid, not a fantasy.”

Anger rises in me. They do not know who I am. They think that I am another peasant. I need to draw their attentions and see if they will take me to the castle. I look around. I spot a broom near a kiosk. I walk towards it and grab it. I look at the knights, who are staring at me, smile and swing the broomstick at one of the legs of one of the stands in the market. It breaks and fruits start rolling from the stand.

The knights start running towards me, but I swing again at the next stand. Jewelry and vases fall to the floor, some breaking as it hit and some rolling away. Before I could hit the third stand, a knight pushes me to the ground. It puts shackles, made of something else besides iron, on my wrists in my back. Then it pulls me up.

“You wanted to see the king, now you will,” the female knight says. She shoves me to start walking.

In one day, I have become three prisoners in two different courts and in one forest. Something tells me that this is not going to be the last time. My life is going downhill from this point forward.

It takes a while to get to the castle, but in the end is worth it. A light-yellow castle stands at the end of the town, right at the edge of the coast. It has a gate that other knights open for us. Other than that, the castle is mostly opened. It has a wall-less hall, held by columns, that leads to the main entrance. The doors to the main entrance are opened. The knights stop at the door where other knights are.

“I request a meeting with the king,” one of the knights escorting me says. I do not know if it is one of the knights that spoke last time or the one who did not.

“The king is busy,” one of the knights at the door says. “Only the young prince is in the throne right now.”

The young prince! I could almost shout in joy. The Court of Summer has two princesses and two princes, but the younger prince is Blaise.

The knight pushes me to continue walking. We enter the castle which is a darker yellow inside. Every glass window inside is opened, letting the air spread around. I can see that another room has its doors opened and it leads to a room missing a wall and with view to the sea. The knights take me to another room, where the throne is.

“My prince, we found a troublemaker at the market,” one knight says as he bows.

Blaise is seated at the throne. He wears yellow garments that seems to lay loose on himself. His tanned skin seems darker as if he has spent a day in the sun. His ocean eyes seem ever brighter than before. He looks bored as if someone forced him to sit on the throne.

The female knight that was behind me, shoves me in front of her. I fall, moving my head to the right in order not to hit my chin for the third time. I force myself to kneel and smile.

“Hello,” I say.

Blaise stiffs on his throne. “Free him,” he says, and someone opens my cuffs. “Everybody, leave! And someone fetch Princess Marin at once!”

He stands up from his thrones as the knight leaves. He starts walking side to side, fidgeting, as I stand up. I open my mouth to say something, but he rises a hand, stopping me. A few minutes later, Marin enters the throne room from one of the doors at the end of the room.

“Why did you interrupt my…” she stops talking and walking when she spots me. “Rowan!” She runs towards me and hugs me harder than any time. She then pulls away and says, “You smell of sweat and dirt.”

“Marin, get away from him,” Blaise says. “He killed Zephyrus! He is dangerous.”

“I did no such thing,” I defend myself.

“Blaise, he might not be father’s son, but he is still my brother and I believe him,” Marin says.

The magic that every faerie possess comes from the father. Marin, Zephyrus, Ailsa, and Easton had the magic to do miracles like father. I do not possess that kind of magic. Instead, I curse. That means that my father is not the High King but someone who curses. That explains why I do not have golden hair nor their white skin.

“I am sorry that I left you at the dungeons,” Marin tells me. “I tried to convince father to free you, but it did not work. In the end, he sent me back to the Court of Summer. When did he released you?”

“He did not,” I say. “I escaped.”

“Marin! The High King might be coming for him,” Blaise says as he walks towards us. “We cannot let him stay here. We must return him.”

“Blaise, no,” Marin says, turning to face him. “I am not going to let him be killed by something that he did not do. We have a spare room where he could stay until we figure something out.”

“What about my father, Marin?” Blaise asks. “If he finds out that we have a prisoner from the Court of Miracles, he will force us to send him back.”

“Then we will not tell anyone,” Marin says. “We will keep him in his room until we find what to do with him.” Blaise stays quiet, strategizing if this is a good idea.

“All right,” he says. “Sneak him into a room at the third floor. That is the floor with less flux of people.” He turns to look at me. “Lock the door when you are in. Do not open the doors to the balcony or any window. Do not open to anyone except Marin or me.”

I nod. Marin puts a hand on his shoulder before starting to walk away. I follow her to one of the back doors. It leads to a hallway. She steps in and when she sees that no one is there, signals me to follow her. We sneak through the hallways until we reach the back stairs. We make our way to the third floor. Before we can turn into a hallway, Marin stops me.

“Hi, Marin,” a female voice says. I recognize that voice. It comes from Sky, one of the sisters of Blaise. She and I have had some adventures in the past that I certainly want to forget about. “What are you doing?”

“Walking,” Marin answers. In situations like this is when I would like to be able to lie.

“Really? To where?” Sky asks. She is unto us.

“Around the castle, why?” Marin asks.

“I will accompany you then,” Sky says. She knows that something is wrong.

“Fine, I will tell you what I am doing if you can keep it a secret,” Marin says.

“Of course,” Sky says.

Marin pulls me from the corner to the hall that she is standing in. Sky is standing a few feet from her. She is the same age as me. She has the same ocean eyes as Blaise and black hair that gets to her back. Her tanned skin is lighter than Blaise’s. She also has the same cheekbones and smile as Blaise.

“Rowan!” she exclaims, which Marin tries to tell her to keep down her voice. She jumps in my arms, my back hurting with the impact. She kisses me as light as a feather as her arms circle my neck. We always thought that father and her father were going to arrange for us to marry each other, but then father wanted an alliance with the Court of Storms. “When did you arrive?”

“Minutes ago,” I say as I pull her arms away from my neck.

“Sky, you cannot tell anyone that Rowan is here,” Marin tells her.

“Why not?” Sky asks.

“I will tell you everything later,” Marin says as she starts walking quickly. At the end of the hall, she opens a door. “You are going to stay here, Rowan. Are you hungry?”

“Starving,” I say.

“I will send something to eat,” Marin says. “Remember, do not open the door to anyone.” I nod. She closes the door once I am inside and I lock it.

The room is smaller than what I am used to. It has closed glass windows and two huge glass doors that lead to the balcony. Light brown curtains cover the windows and doors to the balcony, blocking the sun. The floor is covered by a light brown rug with delicate lines of a darker brown. There is another wooden door that must lead to the bathroom. There is a small brown table with two chairs and a big bed opposite from the entrance.

Without thinking of anything else, I jump in the bed. I do not move from the way I land. After sleeping two weeks in a corner of a cell, I feel as if I might die here without worrying. The softness feels nice in my skin. It does not take long before I fall asleep.

I wake by someone playing with the strings of my messy and unwashed hair on my forehead. I see Sky in front of me, laying on her side on the bed. I flinch, not expecting to see her.

“Relax, it is me,” she says. I sit on the bed. I did not even take off the boots that the Summer faerie gave me. “I brought your food.” She points at the table where a tray is.

“How did you enter the room? I thought I locked it,” I say as I stand up. Every bone of my body sounding out loud.

“I picked the lock,” she says. “A little trick that you taught me.”

Years ago, Hesperia taught me to pick a lock. We were thirteen and wanted to sneak into the wine cellar. Caspian offered to break the lock, but everyone would have known that we were there. That is when Hesperia decided to teach us. The trick was to look at the lock as a puzzle and move every single part of it into the right place. After that, I taught Sky when I came to visit once.

My mind drifts to Hesperia and Caspian. I do not know when I will see them again. What are they thinking about me right now? Do they also think that I killed Zephyrus?

“Marin told me what happened,” Sky says, lowering her voice.

Marin did not tell her everything because Marin does not know what I went through. They do not know how I suffered for two weeks in a cell, eating only bread and trying to not die of coldness. They do not know how I had to suffer with iron shackles on my ankles. They do not know how I bargained with the kings and queens of the Slumbering Forest for my safety.

I sit on the chair next to the table, and Sky sits across from me on the other chair. The tray has different kinds of food. It has different fruits, such as apples and grapes, cheese, bread, nuts, and even cake. I stare at the bread; I do not want bread for a long time. Instead, I take an apple and bite into it, chewing quickly and taking another bite of cheese. After I ended one of the apples, my stomach starts hurting. I have only eaten bread for two weeks; my body is not accustomed to eating anything else.

“How long are you staying here?” Sky asks. She noticed that I am not paying attention to her.

“A few days,” I say. “If I do not find anywhere else to go, I am still going to leave. I cannot be a burden for Marin nor your court.”

“I can keep you company until you leave,” Sky says. I know what she means.

“No,” I say.

“Marin told me to bring you new clothes,” she says. That is when I notice that she is holding them. She puts them on the table as she stands up. “Want me to draw a bath and we can relive the old times?”

“No,” I repeat.

“All right, what is wrong with you?” Sky asks, crossing her arms.

“I spent two weeks on a cell,” I say. I drink the water from the goblet. “I do not want to do anything right now.”

“Liar,” she says. I cannot lie but I can bend whatever words I want. I thought about taking every hint that she offered, but I will not. “Tell me the truth.”

“I am married,” I tell her as I stand up. I do not know if that is completely true. I married Thalia, but she married me thinking that I was the prince of the Court of Miracles. I am not that prince anymore. She can deny our marriage and both courts will nullify it.

“She does not have to know,” Sky says as she moves towards me. She puts her arms around my neck and starts kissing it.

“No, Sky, stop,” I say as I push her away. I walk past her to grab the clothes. “I am going to ask you to leave my room.” I do not look at her directly. I walk to the side of the door and opened it. Sky steps out without looking back. I close the door, lock it and sigh.

I walk to the bathroom. The bath is bigger than the one in my rooms at the Court of Miracles. I draw a bath as I take my clothes off. I look at the mirror. I am pale as if I have not taken sun in days. I have dark circles under my brown eyes and dirt on my face and body. My ribs are visible now due to hunger. My hands have black stains due to the burn of the iron. What is worst is my ankles that have burn marks that have eaten through most of my skin. It will leave a permanent scar.

I hop slowly into the bath, releasing a pleasing sound as I enter. I close my eyes when I am laying back. I did not know how stressed out I was these two weeks and taking this bath helps me feel calmed for once. After I am done, I step out and dry myself.

The clothes that Sky left are yellow garments. It is made of some material that is softer than the material used for my older clothes. She did not leave any pair of shoes. After I put them on, I leave to the bed. As I pass beside the tray, I steal some grapes and start eating them. I close my eyes on the bed, beneath the light brown sheets, and dare sleep.

A knock on the door wakes me up. I panic for once second, thinking that I am back at the cell. I move to the edge of the bed after I notice the yellow familiar. I take a few steps towards the window and move a curtain a little to peek at the sky. It is morning; I slept yesterday through all afternoon and night. I move to the door, unlock it, and open it.

Thalia is standing there with two knights that has the dark purple band on their arms. She is holding clothes on her arms. She has a dark purple dress and a small silver crown on her head. She enters the room without being invited and puts the clothes on the bed and boots on the floor. She puts a sword on top of the clothes.

“I need you to change,” she says.

“Thalia? What are you doing here?” I ask. It brings me joy to see that she is all right.

“To pick up my husband,” she says. “Marin sent me a letter that you were here.”

“But-But,” but I do not know where to start.

“I will explain everything outside,” Thalia says. “Right now, change.” She leaves the room and closes the door behind her.

I strip as fast as I scan the clothes. It is exactly like my clothes back at the castle except that it is dark purple. It has a blazer, cape, and boots like my old clothes. I put them on and then noticed that beside them was a silver crown, bigger than the crown that Thalia is wearing. I put it on. Finally, I pull the sword. It is the Cursebreaker. How did she retrieve it? I put it against my belt.

“We are going to walk out of here through the main entrance,” Thalia says once I open the door.

“No one knows that I am here. Marin and Blaise are hiding me,” I say. “I cannot walk through the door without the king knowing. If father knows that I was hiding in the Court of Summer, he will start a war between both courts.”

“It will not,” Thalia says as we start walking. “Marin said that she was going to take the blame and that Blaise, nor anyone knew about this. Besides, you are royalty from the Court of Storms. Let’s act like it.” I open my mouth to say that this is not a good idea, but Thalia adds, “I will explain everything outside. Just trust me.”

With that, she slithers her arm between my right arm. She raises her head and inflates her chest, showing superiority. Then hits me in the arm, indicating that I should show confidence too. I do not know what she is playing at, but I do it anyway.

We walk through the steps, three floors down until we are at the main hall. Blaise, Marin and Sky are there standing on the side. Sky’s mouth is opened, trying to catch every detail. For a second, I feel bad for her. The Summer King is also standing with them and he stares at me as I walk through the hall. I nod at Marin, hoping that she recognizes my gratitude.

As we leave the castle, I spot a black carriage outside. It has one big raven, the size of a horse, attached to it. One of the knights escorting us, opens the door of the carriage. Thalia steps in first and I next. The knight closes the door and sits somewhere outside of the carriage.

“Are you ready?” Thalia asks once we are at the sky.

“For what?” I ask.

“Living at the Court of Storms,” she says, “and ruling beside me as the Storm King.”