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2039 Words
"I must do everything to keep them alive", Silver watched his younger siblings playing.
The youngsters were already in a duel with their wooden swords.
-I will kill you, War Council!
-No, you will never defeat me, little prince!
-Oh, but I will!
-AAaa.... AA.... the one playing the War Council pretended to fall because of an imaginary wound, and was already dead.
All the little ones started laughing.
Silver already decided that he would keep this happiness in his house.
The doors opened and the guard signaled for the guest to enter the room, while everybody looked at her with curiosity.
Senere, with wondering eyes, entered the room and all the princes and princesses stopped the pretend play and suddenly entered the ranks roles. Serious, heads up, emotionless little faces received the young lady that had entered the room and a big smile just shone on her face.
-Hello!
All the children kept quiet and only bowed with serious looking faces and no words.
Senere felt there was something off. They were a little bit too serious, and too formal for this moment.
There was nobody else around, but them. Did they change over night? They were different the last time they have met.
-Hello, only Silver answered her, while the little ones were standing like a bunch of stones.
-AAare we playing a game or something? Senere asked Silver, looking at his siblings.
-No. We are not. We are preparing for dinner and thought we should invite you to join us. I know I have been busy and I have let you spend a lot of time on yourself. Your training should start too. That is, if you still want that to happen?
-Yes, yes! I would, thank you! Thank you!
Senere, without thinking, touched Silver's arm in all the excitement, and one little handling from the wooden sword hit slapped her hand off Silver's arm.
-Do not touch the Royal Blood!
-Nobody touches the Royal Blood! another one took his place near the first one, backing him up.
-Auu! Senere looked at Silver and her eyes told him that his sibling did hit her fingers in order to break their contact and she was not kidding.
-Yes, you need to know that touching us would be unacceptable here, Tiger spoke to her in a strange tone and his face changed it's usual expression.
Senere looked at Silver and the way he was standing there, cold, in front of her, it looked like he was somehow in pain, sad and very distant. Gone was the joy, the kindness in his eyes. He looked so cold that her body shivered unconsciously feeling the cold in her bones.
-I am sorry. I did not know.
-I know. Is alright.
-Did anything happen?
-Yes. Our parents have gone for a while and that means I have to take charge of everything and with this, you know... new problems to solve. I can not wander around like I used to, at least not for a while now. I must be the Crown Prince that I am.
-I understand.
-So I can not go hunting in the woods too soon, therefore, let's have dinner in here.
-Would the king... be... alright with that?
-Of course.
-Alright then.
-Also, we need to talk about some things, very seriously.
-Ohh?
Tiger looked at her and she could not help feeling anxious for some reason.
-We must take into account that, because I can not get out much anymore for a while, people might try to kidnap you and use you for different reasons, knowing that you are in my care. So I would ask you to just move in with your mates, close to us, so at least we know you will be safe.
-Why would anyone try to kidnap me? she smiled as his words felt like a joke to her.
Silver looked at her seriously. He was thinking about the answer and that was not good. He was keeping things from her, and Senere felt it. Why was she in danger? She did not do anything wrong, what would anyone want to hurt her? She would not hurt a fly!
-What is wrong, Silver?
He was looking so serious and preoccupied that she did not feel comfortable. His gaze over her was strange too.
The thing is... for as long my parents are away, I will have to rule. And some of the ministers might not be pleased with that idea. So I will have to make examples out of them and in retribution, they might try to hurt you, knowing that our king left you in my care.
-I see now. So how can I help? What must I do?
-Do you want to help?
-Yes, I do. You helped me, when no one wanted to help me, so now is my turn to help you, right?
-Yes. That is just. Alright. you can stay here for now. With us. But I need to know anyone who would try to speak to you, and I would need to know what they want from you. What are they proposing to you...
-Alright. So... where will I stay?
Silver showed her to the new room. She was excited; she was getting her own room in the castle!
After she settled and all her things were moved into her new room, they went to have dinner. She was hungry, and she did not have to eat alone tonight, and she really felt happy about it because ever since her maids started to work she was feeling mostly alone and she really tried to occupy her time with everything that Silver and Moon taught her. Sometimes would work, and sometimes she would just get bored.
She was missing spending her time with her new friends, and she was sorry to hear how their parents were taken from them and she did not like to see them so worried, but she was happy about being there in the castle now and for a while she was not going to eat alone for some time now. She really wanted to make them feel better, so she just promised herself that she would do anything in her power to put a smile on those little faces.
Dinner was great, as the food was so delicious and the conversation too. The children were a great company even if now they sometimes seemed sad, especially the little ones, probably missing their parents, but the way they were trying to behave so brave, made her love them more. She promised to try to take their worries away every time she could; she promised herself to try to spend time with them and make them feel better. She will help Silver and she will help Moon with anything she could until their parents would come back. And even if they would not... She would still help them with that.
Right after dinner, Senere went to her new room to get to bed, while Moon just took her brother to speak alone, in their parents' bedroom. In there, they felt just like being in a sacred place, and it was safe for them to speak and plan ahead. Even their parents were using the room for it, and they both knew it.
-I need you to keep an eye on her, Moon.
-What is going on, Silver?
-They will try to take her for her blood.
-Do you really believe they would try anything like that? Who?
-Anyone who would want to have a claim to the throne. If anyone would have a Warchild heir with her, it would be a pure-blooded then, and that will have as much claim to the throne as any of us, and one by one, they can take us out all of us...
-But is not going to happen, we have the claim to the throne, and there are so many of us... Look at us... We are the royal blood, Tiger, we are...
-WEAK, Moon. We are alone so we are weak. A bunch of children, we need to keep our siblings safe. Is just me and you now, and them. We are the heirs, Moon, and it is easy to put us down, one by one with a good plan And shadows are not stupid, you know that. The little ones are too little to fight. Only you, me, and Alane are the ones to stand in front of our siblings and protect them right now. WE need to play this smart, Moon.
-True...
Tiger looked at his little sister. She transformed under his eyes too. She also looked cold and hid her emotions under an invisible mask.
-For now, we need to know the enemy's moves. Then we make our own. Until then, I need you to keep an eye on her and anyone who would try to propose anything to her, Tiger made Moon understand how important Senere's positions was.
-I will stand by her and not let anyone get close. Can you turn a berseker yet?
-Not yet, did not have much time to work on it.
-Have you tried it yet?
-YES!!! I did... first thing when I realized where all this is going to go...
-That would mean Mother is alive? But... I am curious, with all the training, you could not? You must try harder, try, brother! Mother could turn a berseker when her father was alive! You should too...
-I don't know, Moon. I am not there yet.
-Brother! You are her blood. Her elder... You must try harder!
-I tried, Moon.
-Good! Then you will try again, and again, and again until you can do it! Understood?
Damn, his sister looking at him with all that trust and her will power was amazing. He nodded in front of her, smiling kindly, knowing he will always count on her to back him up in anything, no matter what. She left to sleep with the little ones, they decided not to leave them alone from now on. Not one second if they could help it.
Silver just sat on his parent's bed, looking so tired and demoralized, with his shoulders bent in front of him as if this responsibility was huge and beyond his means at the moment. Because their mother was still alive, he could not even count on the berseker squadron, because they were controlled by his mother's mind, and he could not take control of their transformation.
He was only 18 years old and was put in a position to take the reins of the kingdom and maintain the order and also keep all his brothers and sisters alive and secure the throne until their mother came back.
Will they ... ever see her again?
Were they alright, where they were right now? Maybe... was she in the same condition as Kaion and Senere were here, in their kingdom, their world? She was the royal blood here, just as they were the royal blood there. Someone could possibly make the connection and kill their father only to force her into a union for her blood.
Ha!! Knowing his mother, he smiled, no, that could never happen. She would not allow it, she would rather die than forge a union with another man that was not their father. They were mates and Senere and Kaion already told them that mates were hard to find in their world. But, on second thought... that could be a good reason to push their mother's button and force her hand with their father's life. She would do anything for him, just as he would do anything for her. And for them, too.
So in this position he found himself today.
There was a way to protect the throne, if anyone from the ministers would try to win Kaion over. He would have to get through Kaion sometime, anyway. Sooner or later, he was an obstacle and a dangerous enemy to be kept alive.
The only way to keep the throne was to send him home faster.
But how, if they did not know yet how the portals were working?
Silver needed a faster resolution about that. And he needed it now.
- Writer
