Blood Ties

Promise

April was rocking her baby when one of the maids entered.

"Your Majesty, I bring a letter for you."

April, upon seeing the seal on the letter, put her daughter in the crib, took the letter, and read it immediately.

The letter was short. It only said:

"Come to the Kingdom of Laios and fulfill your promise.

Enzo Venobich"

April had promised her brother that she would go to the Kingdom of Laios to close the rift that connected to Hades, but since she was pregnant and couldn’t use her power, she had postponed it. Lissana, her daughter, had just turned six months old. Even though it hurt to be separated from her, she had to go to the Kingdom of Laios.

The maid, seeing the Queen’s worried expression, asked, "Your Majesty, is there something that concerns you?"

April shook her head and responded quietly, so as not to wake the baby, "It’s nothing, don’t worry. I need to leave. I entrust Lissa to you."

"Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of the princess."

April went to Alessandro’s office. The two guards stationed at the door bowed and greeted her.

"Blessings to the ruler of the moon."

April found these greetings somewhat exaggerated, but ever since Alessandro had declared in front of everyone that they were a couple made in heaven, everyone had started calling them the sun and moon of the kingdom.

April opened the door. Alessandro, upon seeing her, stood up from his seat and went to meet her. He embraced her, gave her a soft and sweet kiss on the lips, and said, "What a surprise you’ve given me. I didn’t expect to see you until dinner. Where is Lissana?"

"She is sleeping."

Alessandro held her by the waist and, with a seductive voice, said, "Then we should take advantage of being alone to love each other."

April felt tempted for a moment, but then remembered why she had come and said, "It’s not the right time for that. I came because I have something important to tell you."

"What’s wrong?"

"I must go to the Kingdom of Laios."

"What? Why do you have to go to that place?"

"I promised my brother that I would go and help him close the rift in Hades, remember? I’ve been postponing my trip, but I can’t do it anymore."

"Then I’ll go with you. I won’t let you go to that place alone."

"No, Lissana is still too young. I won’t be at ease if we both go."

"But I don’t want you to go alone."

"I didn’t say I would go alone. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I’ll ask Sirius to accompany me."

Alessandro knew that Sirius was a great wizard and that April was not far behind; she was very powerful, but he was still nervous.

"Alright, but also take a few knights with you."

April shook her head. "No, I want my visit to the Kingdom of Laios to be a secret. If I bring many guards with me, that will be impossible."

"I understand."

"But I won’t let you go alone with Sirius. I’ll ask Cassian to come and accompany you, otherwise, I won’t be at ease."

"That’s fine, and you could ask Sirius to come too. I’d like to talk to him and ask him to accompany me."

"You know I can force him, don’t you?"

"Yes, but I’d rather he come willingly."

"If that’s what you want, I won’t object."

"Thank you."

That same afternoon, Alessandro sent a message to the tower of the wizards requesting Sirius’ presence and sent a letter to Cassian asking him to come to the palace. He didn’t want to specify in either of his letters the reason, since it was a very delicate matter.

Sirius arrived early the next morning. He was heading to Alessandro’s office when he ran into April in the hallway.

"Hello, Sirius, it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other."

"Greetings to Her Majesty, the Queen."

"Don’t be so rigid, you can call me just Aby. You are my teacher."

"Alright, even though I’m no longer your teacher, I have nothing else to teach you."

"I don’t think so. I have many questions that need answers, and you are the only one who can answer them, or at least the only one I can ask."

"And I suppose the king cannot know?"

"I would appreciate it if you keep our conversation a secret."

"But why did you come to ambush me?"

"You still haven’t met my daughter, have you?"

"No, I haven’t had the honor of meeting Princess Lissana yet."

"Alessandro will take you to meet her, I’m sure of it. When you see her, don’t say anything unnecessary."

"Is there something wrong with the princess?"

"It’s not that there’s something wrong, but I don’t want Alessandro to know yet."

"Alright."

"Thank you very much, I just wanted to say that. See you later, and thank you."

April started to walk away. Sirius wondered what it was that the queen wanted to hide from the king. Sirius headed to the king’s office, and upon entering, he said, "Why did you take so long?"

"I came as soon as I could, Your Majesty. Even though it may not seem like it, I have a tower to manage."

Alessandro gave him an indifferent look as if to say, “And why should I care about that?”

"Why did you summon me, Your Majesty?"

"I want you to protect Aby."

"Don’t you have knights to take care of that kind of thing?"

"She needs to go to the Kingdom of Laios. Her visit will be in secret, so she will only have two companions, and she wants you to be one of them."

"And I suppose this is not a question of whether I want to accept being her guard, but an order."

"I would prefer that you willingly accept to go, since that is what Aby wants, but if you refuse, I can force you. She chose you, that means she trusts you. I hope you don’t throw away that trust."

"Alright, I’ll be the guardian of Her Majesty, the Queen."

"Take good care of her."

"That’s what I’ll do."

"You still haven’t met my daughter. Come on, I want you to meet her."

Sirius laughed when he realized that the queen had guessed right. The king was doing what she had said.

"The king has truly become a fool who adores his daughter," Sirius muttered to himself.

"Did you say something?"

"No, I didn’t say anything."

"Then let’s go. April must be waiting for us. I told her we would go when you arrived."

"Then let’s go. Let’s not keep the Queen waiting."