Moonlit Prince

“Which one of you was it,” The stern tone of Taren Keane left no room for bargains to be made or lies to be had. His stance emanated the power of a Reikeis. Behind him stood what had once been the ballroom, now caked in various degrees of mud and water trekking along on the walls and intricately crafted furniture.     Somewhere in the distance, the New Altana official head of architecture was sobbing.     In front of Reikeis Keane stood the two most likely culprits. Silva looked just about frightened out of her skin and if Keane wasn’t so angry he might have some sympathy for his shaking thirteen-year-old step-daughter but years of spoiling her had created the mess today, it had to stop. Beside her, Cairo looked stone-faced and calm his eyes glued on the Reikeis without giving away a hint of emotion or a lick of fear as if he wasn’t covered head to toe in mud.     Of the two it was obvious who had done it. Silva had a track record of out of control pranks that usually resulted in property damage. And well Cairo had a track record of being on the receiving end.     “Who let the pigs loose in the ballroom, I don’t want to have to ask again.” From the corner of his eye, Keane noticed his wife trying to console the heartbroken architect while the three-year-old Hayes played with the very filthy pigs. They had to have been herded in from the stables near the eastern part of the palace but since this section of the palace is still under construction not a single worker had seen who had done it.     “It was me, sir.” Cairo stepped forward his stonewalled face holding under pressure.     Keane’s gaze slid from his daughter to the fifteen-year-old charged as her personal knight. “Are you sure it was you?” “Yes sir,” There was no hesitation in his voice. Keane was almost proud.     Three years prior Cairo had been ordered by the dragon king to protect his niece from any harm. While Keane enjoyed fighting with King Adan whenever they saw each other he had been more than grateful to know that there would be another dragon on New Altana on days when Keane had to work. Of course given everything that had happened he never believed Cairo would lie to cover up for Silva.     Still, even if he was lying his punish would have to be slightly severe. At the very least to get the point across to his young mistress.     “From this moment on you will take on the sole responsibility of cleaning this entire room. You will follow the architects specifications and you will not leave a single speck of dirt, you will do this alone. We’ll also hold additional training sessions at dawn as it seems you are severely lacking in discipline,” Keane kept his tone stern, the power of a Reikeis could make anyone terrified and Cairo could feel his heart thunder. “Am I clear.”     “Yes sir.”     “I couldn’t hear that.”     “Yes sir!”     Aether looked at them then, she raised her brow at Keane. Hayes hugged her legs and looked at matched gazes with his father giggly innocently.     Compared to his sister Hayes was a saint albeit a bit mischievous like his older sister. But he was still small so dealing with him tended to be a lot easier than Silva.     “Let's give Cairo space to work,” Keane offered his hand, and his son bounded towards him. In one fluid motion, he was in Keane’s arm. Aether glanced from her husband to the two disastrous teens before clearing her throat.     “Uh, Silva darling why don’t you go wash up. Cairo, Hartfield is very emotional right now so I’ll be taking him to his room. Just….just find a  mop or something,” Then she quietly helped the sobbing architect to his feet.     “My—my plans! The glass—the tables!” He cried loudly.     “I know Hartfield, lets just go okay?”     She led him from the room and Keane followed suit.     “Papa is Cai in trouble?” Hayes whispered his question into Keane's ear. To Hayes Cairo was like an older brother, considering the fact that in New Altana there were only a handful of young children Cairo was also Hayes's only friend.     “No sweetheart he’s just…” Keane trailed off. “Well, he just has some cleaning up to do. It's like I told you when you make a mess it's your job to clean it up.”     Hopefully, this punishment would help Silva realize the consequences of her actions. She would one day govern over New Altana she needed to understand the importance of everything.     “Let's just go play outside yeah?” Keane asked in response Hayes lit up, the scene in the ballroom instantly forgotten. Back In THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED “C-Cairo?” Silva was like a small bird hovering over his shoulder and if his anger hadn’t been so palpable he might have made fun of her for it. “A-are you mad?”     “Mad? Mad! Mad doesn’t begin to describe it,” He huffed hauling out the mop and bucket from the storage room. One of the pigs oinked as it hobbled past and Cairo spun around to glare down at her. “I told you to quit playing around with the damn pigs! I said it like ten times, to leave them alone. But noooooo you just had to give them a tour of the freaking palace didn’t you.”     “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know that that would happen,” Silva chirped following him as he stomped after the pig. “Auntie Bella said it ‘would give them wings’ not that it would actually let them fly around. If I’d known I never would have used the spell in the first place.”     “Somehow I doubt that.”     “I’m serious Cairo,” He bent down to grab the pig only to have it bolt right out of his slippery hands. “Pfft—”     “Did you just laugh,” Cairo raised and glared at her again. Her hands flew to cover her mouth and wide-eyed she shook her head. Smirking he took a few steps to her her eyes widening like saucers. “Do you find this funny princess?”     She hesitated but then dropped her hands and tilted her chin up, “So what if I do. You should see your face right now.”        “Oh really, really?” He came closer. “And what exactly does my face look like now?”     Her eyes widened again as the realization hit her but it was too late to run. She tried though, turned to bolt but Cairo's reflexes had been trained for war he caught her in seconds. And with her small stature, she was instantly covered in mud.     “Cairo!”     He laughed pulling away. The mud had stained the back of her dress and most of all of her hair. She huffed trying to wipe it off but only spreading it more. “You’re right this is funny.”     “Two can play at this game!” She glared up at him and Cairo had the good sense to run before the first blast of mud could reach his face.     “Is that all you got?” He laughed back ducking at her terrible aim. Balling up some mud from the floor he smirked. “This is how you throw a mud ball.”     It came into contact with her arm and returned fire with a few that actually hit him this time.     “Oh it is so on.”     Hours later Hartfield would find his ballroom an even bigger mess than the one before and would faint on sight. Silva had to be bathed for two days and Cairo…well lets just say the private lessons were a lot more rigorous than he was used to.