Heir of Golden Storms

“Guards!” I shout. Knights come inside the room with torches on their hands. I do not know where they were minutes ago when I was tracing the halls. They gasp when they find Sephira. One even vomits on the floor. “I need you to gather everyone and take them to the dining room. Do not tell them anything about this!”

I run out of the room, knights following me and some going the other way. I left Thalia in our bedroom. Something could have happened to her because of my own stupidity. I open the door to the room. She is still on the bed. I move towards her and put a hand on her neck. I feel a heartbeat and she is breathing.

“Thalia, wake up,” I say, shaking her shoulders lightly. She wakes up, her blue eyes shining at me. I sigh in relief. “Come on. I need you to come quickly.” I stand up and search for the Cursemaker that I left at the side of my nightstand.

“What is going on?” she asks. She has sat up and is now rubbing her eye with the palm of her hands.

“I found Sephira’s body,” I say. She removes her hands to look at me. “She is dead.”

“What?” she asks, standing up. She is now on alert.

“There is something lurking the castle,” I tell her. I grab her hand moving out of the room. There is no time to waste. “I have told the knights to gather everyone that is in the castle and take them to the dining room.”

I enchant myself as I run with Thalia. It does not take long to arrive to Breeze’s room. She is on the bed asleep.

“Breeze?” Thalia whispers. Breeze opens her eyes slowly, revealing her golden eyes. I sigh. I do not know how much tension I can receive. Breeze turns and goes back to sleep. I pick her up gently and put her on my left shoulder. She moves her arms, circling my neck and continues sleeping.

We walk out of the room. This time we do not run. We walk fast; I am afraid to trip and drop Breeze. Halfway to Kalani’s room I hear the laughter that I heard before.

“What is that?” Thalia asks alarmed.

“Saints,” I say under my breath. Then I say out loud, “That is the creature that is lurking around.”

I decide to jog. If he is near, I am afraid of Kalani’s safety. When we get to the room, I kick the door open, not caring if I break something. Kalani wakes up, sitting on the bed as fast as she can. I scared her, but right now I do not care.

“Kalani, come, quickly,” Thalia says signing her. Kalani stands up from her bed and grabs Thalia’s hand. We run towards the dining room. At one point, I hear the small footsteps. I look around me on the floor, but I do not find where they come from.

The knights open the door to the dining room when we arrive and close it when we are inside. North is sitting on one of the chairs of the dining table. Glade is standing with his arms on the back of the chair two seats near North. Hesperia is talking to a group of knights, probably questioning what is going on. I am relieved to see them here.

“Is this everyone on the castle? No other member of the council spent the night?” I ask.

“This is everyone,” a knight answer.

“Good,” I say. I hand Breeze to Kalani who takes her and pulls a chair where she sits.

“What is going on, Rowan?” Hesperia asks.

“I made a mistake,” I say, pacing around the room.

“What did you do?” Glade asks.

“I did what your kings and queens asked me too,” I say. “They told me to break the curse of the Forbidden Forest and now I have freed the things that were imprisoned on the other side.” I pull the chair that is on the head of the table away. I put my hands on the table. “Something from that forest is roaming around in the castle. It killed Sephira.”

“What?” Glade asks, surprised. Probably Sephira made him feel welcomed in this court.

“How do you know?” Hesperia asks.

“I heard the creature and saw Sephira’s body,” I say.

“How –” North clears her throat. “How did it sound like?” I am surprised to hear her talk in a moment like this.

“I heard his footsteps,” I say. “They sounded tiny and it ran fast. It also had a laugh like a kid’s laugh when they knew that they made something that could get them in trouble.”

“How did the body of Sephira looked like?” North asks.

“Why do you care?” Hesperia asks. “There is something roaming the halls that could kill us at any moment and you are asking about a dead body?”

“Hesperia,” Thalia says, warning her.

“Hesperia, please,” I tell her. She rolls her eyes but does not speak. I look back at North. “She was nailed to the wall, alive when I found her. She did not have her eyes. The thing must have taken them.”

“The creature is an imp,” North says.

“How do you know?” Thalia asks, she pulls the chair to my right and to Kalani’s left. She sits. I pull the chair behind me and sit. Glade and Hesperia do the same, one on each side of North.

“I have been searching how Rowan got his horns and wings,” North says. “I have a theory that he is half-faerie and half something. I started to research creatures and one of the creatures that I found was the imp.” I want to ask about her theory that I am half-faerie and half another creature, but I am more concerned about the imp.

“They are small creatures, often with a small pair of wings,” North says. “They are cruel pranksters. Leaving Sephira alive and nailed to the wall is one of their pranks.” North takes a big breath. She is on the spotlight and she does not like it. “They are obsessed with eyes, specially eyes with rare colors. That is why the imp stole Sephira’s golden eyes.” She looks down. “We are not safe. The only one safe is Rowan because imps do not like brown eyes.”

I look at everyone. Kalani and Breeze have golden eyes. Thalia and North have different shades of blue, and Glade and Hesperia have different shades of green. If imps do not like brown eyes, that means that I can hunt him. I can search for it around the castle.

“How can we get this thing?” I ask North.

“I do not know,” North answers. “What I know is that they are nocturnal creatures because they cannot see in daylight.”

“In daylight only?” Thalia asks.

“What are you thinking?” I ask her.

“We can light up the halls with torches,” Thalia says. “If he cannot see in daylight, maybe they cannot see in torchlight.” I look at North, searching for approval.

“It could work,” North says as she shrugs. “It will not make them completely blind, but it will make it slower.”

“All right,” I say standing up. “You will remain here while I go and light up every torch and lamp in the castle.” I turn to the knights before they can protest. “Every night that has brown or black eyes is going to help me light up every inch of this castle. Do not be afraid of the thing lurking around the castle. It will not attack you.” I look at North and she nods.

“The knights that do not have brown or black eyes, remain here and do not leave,” I continue. “We do not need any more deaths in our hands.” I look at the nearest guard holding a torch. “Give me the torch.” He does it without thinking twice.

“I am coming with you,” North says, standing up and as I am about to walk out of the dining room.

“No,” I say. “It is dangerous outside.”

“I know, but I have to pick the book that is on my room,” she says. “There is information about imps in that book. If I have it, I could search for a way to get rid of the imp.”

“Then I will pick the book from your room and bring it,” I say.

“I have a lot of books in my room,” North says. “It would be faster if I go with you.”

I stare at her, waiting for her to back down. If we were back at the Court of Miracles, where she did not even look at me, she would have backed down. Now, she does not care that I am royalty. She has grown to treat me as a person and not a king or prince.

“Fine,” I say. “but stay close to me, and I want at least three knights following us.” The knights open the door for us. “Do not go alone. Be always on groups of three or more.”

I walk out with North behind me. The halls are quiet with no sign of anything in here other than us. I feel a chill coming from North. She is anticipating what is to come. As I walk through the hall, I press my torch against the torches on the wall, turning them on. We enter to every room, checking to see if the imp is here and lighting each lamp inside. I almost enter Sephira’s room, but I stop and skip it. I will come back in the morning when it is all safe.

North enters her room when we arrive. I turn on the lamps inside. This was the room that Thalia and I took her when I retrieved her from the Court of Miracles. She has made it her home. There are piles of books everywhere that she must have taken from the library. Papers, feathers and ink pots are on her desk. She must be studying, trying to find the reason of why I was born with horns and wings.

North searches in a pile of books next to her bed. She pulls the book out quickly and the column wobbles, but it does not fall. We leave the room and start to make our way back to the dining room the long way. When we are halfway, I find that the torches of the upcoming hallways are already turned on. The other knights must have come through here already. The way to the dining room becomes a short walk.

“What happened outside?” Thalia asks when we come in.

“Nothing,” I say, handing the torch that I am holding to a knight. “We did not hear the imp nor see anything odd.”

“Now what?” Hesperia asks. “We go back to our rooms to sleep with the lights on?”

“No,” I say. “We are going to sleep here with the lights on.”

“Are you joking?” Hesperia says as she sees me sitting on the floor next to Kalani. Breeze is curled up beside her on the floor sleeping.

“No,” I say. “What? Does your princess side do not let you sleep on the dirty floor? Besides, I am sure that the servants clean these floors daily.” She does not laugh. She does not even smile. “Or you can go to your rooms. Nobody is stopping you. If you find the imp on your way there, make sure to tell it that it is not welcomed in this castle and that I will ask it kindly to leave.”

“I do not like living here,” she simply says. She moves to the table and removes the long white hand-knitted tablecloth from it. She drags it through the floor as she walks towards the wall that I am and sits next to sleeping Breeze. She hands one end to Kalani to use it as a sheet. She even covers Breeze with it. I reach to pull it towards me. It is big enough for all of us. “I did not offer it to you,” Hesperia snaps.

“Fine,” I say. I look at Thalia who is still sitting on the table. I extend my arm to my side as if indicating for her to sit beside me. She stands up and moves towards me, sitting beside me. I wrap my arm around her shoulders. “Why don’t you try to sleep a little?” I whisper.

“I will not be able to sleep with that thing in our home,” she says.

“We are safe in here,” I tell her. “I will spend tomorrow hunting that thing.” She does not move, nor shows any sign of calming down. “Come. Lay you head on my lap. I will caress your hair until you fall asleep.”

“That is not fair,” she answers, but she moves to lay her head on my lap. “You know how much I love when someone plays with my hair.”

“I know,” I say as I smile.

I start caressing her hair slowly. Eventually, she closes her eyes, but I continue. I look to my right. Kalani has fallen asleep with the tablecloth on her. Beyond her, Hesperia has also fallen asleep. I look to the table where North and Glade are sitting beside each other.

“Are you not going to sleep?” Glade asks her.

“No,” she answers. “I need to find how to get rid of this imp.” She flips her book. “Are you not going to sleep?”

“No,” he answers. “I will remain here to keep you company.”

“You do not have to,” North answers.

“I know,” Glade says, “but I want to.”

***

I wake by sunshine coming from the windows of the dining room. I slept through the night sitting and with Thalia’s head on my lap. My wings and horns have appeared overnight. I cast the enchantment again on me. I try to stretch my back, my bones on my back popping. Thalia wakes up by the sound of it. She sits up, yawning.

“What time is it?” she asks.

“I do not know,” I say. “Early in the morning.” I stand up, feeling the muscles in my body ache for comfort. “You can go to sleep at our room. I can take care of pleadings today.”

“No,” she says as she stands up. “This is the first pleading after the war. It will be an intense one. I will not like for you to take it all on yourself.”

“Very well,” I say. I turn to the nearest knight. They are not the same knights as last night. They must have changed shifts while we were sleeping. “Have the cooks arrived?”

“Yes, sir,” the knight answers, a feminine voice coming from inside the armor. I remember her being here last night. She must not have agreed to end her shift. “The knights have searched the castle for the creature. There is no sign of it.”

“Thank you for taking initiative,” I say. I remember also that she was the one to look for me when Thalia was crying for North. “What is your name?”

For a second, she looks taken aback. “Erie, my king,” she answers.

“Did you spend the entire night in this room?” I ask, but I feel weird talking to an armor than to a person. “Take the helmet off.”

“Yes, sir,” she says as she takes the helmet off. Brown long hair comes out from the helmet. She has brown eyes, maybe that is why she kept watch for the imp.

“Why did you not switched positions with another knight when your shift ended?” I ask.

“I could not leave knowing that the royal family was in danger,” she answers.

“Well, Erie, from now on you are going to be my personal guard,” I say. Sir Fafner told me in one of the council’s meeting that I should pick a knight to be with me, to protect me at all costs. Erie seems devoted enough for the royal family. She is going to perform this job successfully. “Whenever you can, ask Sir Fafner for a new armor that distinguishes you from a group of knights.”

“Thank you, my king,” she says, bowing. “You will not regret this.”

I turn to the knight that is next to her. “Tell the cooks to bring breakfast to all of us,” I say. “And by all of us, I mean for every night too. It has been a long night. All of us need a strong breakfast to start the day.”

“Of course, my king,” the knight answers and marches out of the room.

I look at the table. North has fallen asleep on top of her book. Glade is next to her, also with his arms and head on the table. I look back to the wall where I was sleeping. Kalani, Breeze, and Hesperia are still sleeping.

“Let them sleep until the food comes,” Thalia tells me. “Let us go to our room to take a bath and change our clothes.”

When we get to our room, I grab the papers with Hesperia’s speech that Master Nidd wrote. I sit on my bed and start reading while Thalia looks for clean clothes. Then, she disappears to the bathroom, but does not close the door. I hear the water running in the bath and then I hear her submerge slowly.

“Rowan?” Thalia asks from the bathroom.

“What?” I ask and continue reading.

“What are we going to do about Sephira’s death?” she asks.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Come here, I am tired of shouting,” she says.

“I rather not.” I do not want to see her without clothes. I want her, and she knows it. I would not know what to do if I see her so vulnerable.

“You are not going to see anything,” she says frustrated. “Just come.”

I stand up, leaving the papers on the bed. I walk to the bathroom and dare peak. She is on the bath with pink flowers on top of the water, covering everything that is underwater. The flowers make her seem as if she is flushing where her freckles are. Her dark purple hair is now wet and has lost the small waves. She looks peaceful and beautiful as if I am seeing her with new eyes. For a second, I pretend that I fell in love with her and chose to marry her instead of being forced to.

“Sephira died last night,” she continues saying. “Several lives were lost during the war. My mother died the day of our wedding. The people of the Court of Storms might be starting to believe that you are a curse.”

I open my mouth but stop to think what I am going to say. “What a choice of words,” I say. I have the magic of cursing. It will make sense if I am a walking curse.

“I do not mean it like that,” Thalia says. “I meant that they might think that making you king was an error. We need to find a way to convince the court that you came for better, not for worst.”

“I could be more involve in their lives,” I say. “I could help rebuild what fell in the attack of the Court of Mountains. I can visit shelters and bring healers that could help. I could hear their pleadings when I am in town and see their problems with my own eyes.”

“That could be helpful,” Thalia says as she smiles. “I like when you show your sweet side instead of your arrogant one.” I plan on saying something flirty, but in this position, I do not think that is a great idea. I nod at her. “Want to come in? The bathtub is big enough for both of us.”

That is an invitation. I have waited a long time for this, but I shake my head. She has a lover, someone that she has not bothered to present her to me. She wants to love her, and I am not going to come between them, even if what Thalia only wants right now is to relieve some tension.

If you want this, you have to win it.

But I have not won her. I have not done anything for her. I have craved for her ever since she laid on my bed, closed to me for the first time. Now, offering herself without a reason seems as if I am cheating. I have not won her. I do not deserve her.

“I will wait for you to finish,” I say, and I leave back to the bed.

***

“Did you find anything last night?” I ask North.

Thalia has seated on the head of the table with North on her left and I on her right. Glade has seated on the left of North. Kalani is on my right and Hesperia next to her. Breeze went to her room to sleep when I told her that the council decided to suspend lecture this week for the people on the Court of Storms to get their things straight after the attack without another distraction. I sent two knights to keep watch of her safety.

“Yes,” she says. She has an oatmeal in front of her that I saw her lay her fingers on the plate to use her magic to cool the oatmeal. “It is not much but imps have masters. They do not live on their free will. If we find that master, we can get rid of it.”

“Where are we going to find the imp’s master?” Kalani asks. I turn to see her. I am not accustomed to hearing her talk during meetings like this.

“We?” Thalia asks as she lays down a corn muffin on her plate. “You are going to do nothing. Let us, the council, decide what to do.”

“But North and Hesperia are not in the council,” Kalani says. “And the imp is in our castle. I think that it concerns us all.”

“No,” Thalia says. “You will not be a part of this.” Kalani is about to protest, but I hold Thalia’s hand on the table.

“She is right,” I tell Thalia. “Do not keep her in the dark. Let her be part of this.” She gives me a look and I know that she is going to tell me why this is bad when we are alone.

“Fine,” she says, pulling her hand away from me. Kalani smiles. “If you want us to treat you as if you were part of the council, you will have to earn your place. You will have lessons of storm magic taught by Hesperia, and I will tell Sir Fafner to teach you how to use a sword.”

“Why me?” Hesperia asks. “I do not know anything about storm magic.”

“Because you live here for free,” Thalia answers. Saints, I do not like their rivalry. “And I also know that your swarm magic is strong, and Sephira was the one that taught me how to use my magic, but she is not here anymore.” I feel that that is the closest thing to a compliment that Hesperia might receive from Thalia.

“All right,” Hesperia says without arguing. She is accepting the compliment.

“Fine,” Kalani agrees.

***

Right after breakfast, Thalia and I head to the throne room with Glade behind us. As a strategist, he wants to know how the Court of Storms is doing. We did not find a way to search the imp’s master. North ended up saying that she will continue reading and will tell us when she finds a solution to get rid of the imp or to contact the imp’s master.

Erie also interrupted me while I was eating. She said that they have removed Sephira’s body from the wall. I told her to contact a family member, but she said that she did not have a family. I told her instead to cremate her. Later, we are going to scatter her ashes in some garden and watch the flowers bloom in her honor.

“What was that at the dining room?” Thalia asks. I raise an eyebrow, questioning. “With Kalani!”

“Ah,” I say as we enter the throne room. “She wanted to help.”

“What if something happens to her, Rowan?” Thalia asks. “She is too young to be a part of this.” Glade slows his pace, clearly not wanting to be a part of this conversation.

I stop. “I understand, Thalia,” I tell her. For a second, I see in her eyes that her anger subdues, but then it arrives again. “Keeping her in the dark will not help; it will make her feel useless. Look at me. The High King and my brothers did not keep me informed of what was going on in the Court of Miracles. The more they pushed me away, the more I wanted to be a part of them. In the end, look where I ended up, exiled from my home court and accused of killing two of my family members.” I sigh. “If they had not kept me in the dark, I would have still ended up here, but I would have been more prepared to rule a court.”

Thalia does not say anything. She only nods and continues walking towards the thrones. She takes my crown that is on the throne and places it on my head. I take her crown and do the same. We sit down on our throne and Thalia smiles at me, her fake smile that she uses when she must play the part of queen. I fake smile too.

“How big is the line today?” I ask Erie, who is standing a couple of meters away from my throne.

“Bigger than usual,” Erie says.

“All right,” Thalia says. “Bring them in.”

The first person to enter the throne room is a woman. She is accompanied by an older woman. They look similar, probably mother and daughter. They both curtsy when they stop in front of us.

“My queen, my king,” the younger woman says. I instantly like her. In other courts it is mandatory to mention the king first and it is optional to mention the queen. Her mentioning Thalia first makes me think that people are seeing us as equal and that is what we want. “Last night, something killed our cattle.”

“Do you mean that someone in your town killed them?” Thalia asks.

“No,” the older woman answers. “It was not the work of a faerie. You see, the cows were flipped and drained of their bloods.”

“Did you manage to see who did this?” I ask.

“No,” the younger woman says. “Without our cows, we do not have an income. We did not come to ask you for money or replacement of our cattle. We only ask you for jobs and to help us find who is responsible for this.”

“Very well,” Thalia says. “Right now, the shelters are seeking help. You can work there until the crisis is over and then we will look for a permanent job for you. We will have our knights search for the culprit of your cows’ deaths.”

“Thank you,” they both say, curtsies and leave.

The next person to come is a man. He is holding a young boy in his arm. The man’s face is stained as if he cried and the tears dried. When I see the boy, I understand why the man is carrying him here. The boy’s eyes are missing.

“Something killed him,” the man says, desperation in his voice. “Something came last night and killed him. It took my boy’s eyes with it.” He starts crying again. “I want justice. I want the person responsible for this to pay.”

“All right,” I say. This is another job of an imp. How many imps are there? I look at the nearest knight besides Erie. “Take this man to have a proper burial of his son. I want you to take a group of knights and search his house for whoever did this.”

The knight nods and takes the man away. When the doors of the throne room close, I sigh and look at Thalia. She is looking me in horror.

“There is more than one imp,” she says.

“And there is something more besides the imps,” I say, thinking about the women’s cows. “I am regretting breaking the curse of the Forbidden Forest. I warned the sprites kings and queens about what breaking the curse might free.”

“Saints,” Thalia says. “We need to find someone from the Forbidden Forest before nighttime that can control all of these creatures. Maybe the master of the imps can return every creature back into the Forbidden Forest.”

When Thalia finishes talking, the doors of the throne room burst open. The knights all pull their swords. A woman starts walking in, shaking her hips. She is wearing a tight long red dress. Her blonde hair is loose, and she is smiling as she walks in. Her blue eyes are fixed on me.

“Were you talking about me?” she asks. I stand up, rising a hand to stop the knights. She is the woman that I danced with on Easton’s engagement ball. She is the woman that asked Glade to keep an eye on me. She is the woman in red.