Royal Temptation

Chapter 4: Kingdom of Phoenix

"I have one condition" I said firmly. It's been already a week since the last meeting with King Leo and my decision to marry for alliance. Here we are, after a week, discussing about my conditions in order to marry an unknown king. I have always thought my marriage as something magical and most importantly I have always wanted to marry someone I love. This marriage was gong to be a sacrifice for the kingdom. After what I have done to King Tyrus, I knew that somehow, he would want revenge. 

The Kingdom of Phoenix was going to be my assurance that nothing would happen to Lyra. 

Not to my people. 

"I am all ears, Queen Amara" King Leo responded calmly. My father was not here today. It was just me and King Leo. There was Callum as well who was standing by the door. 

Well, he was guarding the door. 

"I would like to meet The King Orion first" I told him hesitantly. A smile appeared on his face. King Leo seemed so kind that I didn't know where he got the nickname of being ruthless. Well, again, I didn't know the way he ruled his kingdom. 

"That can be done" King Leo said as if it was totally normal for me to ask such thing. "What about you come to the Kingdom of Phoenix for two weeks?" he asked me. I tilted my head in confusion. 

"What about Lyra?" I asked more to myself than to him. 

"You father has ruled this Kingdom for nearly 3 decades now. I am pretty sure he will be able to manage two more weeks" He chuckled. I chuckled along. I haven't realized how protective I have gotten over my people and my kingdom. 

"Well, I agree to come to the kingdom of Phoenix" I said cheerfully.  

"I will be leaving after meeting your father. That will be in an hour. Will that be fine?" he asked me. I nodded then stood up. 

"Is that okay if i bring my lady-in-charge?" I questioned politely. 

"Of course. Don't forget that if you like the King Orion, you will be the new Queen of Lyra and of Phoenix" King Leo mentioned with pride. "This will make Lyra more powerful" he added. All I could really think about in the moment was the responsibilities that would come along. Being the Queen of the most powerful kingdom is surely one hell of a work. I wasn't sure whether I was up for that challenge or not. 

All I could trust at the moment is my instinct. 

Sarah was helping me pack my suitcases. My father agreed with my decision and he didn't fail to mention that It was my decision and my happiness that counted above everything else. Somehow, I knew that by disrespecting King Tyrus, I have indirectly sent an invitation to be attacked. I was ready to fight for my people. But were my people ready for an attack? I gulped, now thinking about the danger that my impulsive-self has put them into. 

"What are you thinking about?" Sarah asked me. 

"How stupid I am?" I hesitated. She shook her head while smiling. 

"Concerning which situation?" She questioned, making me frown in confusion. 

"How many situations are there?" I questioned back. 

"Provoking a heartless king or getting married to a King without knowing him" she told me with a shrug. 

"You have no idea how relieved I feel after telling that piece of s**t everything I had on my mind" I admitted with a sigh. "I was tired of pretending that everything was fine with him. So many people have lost their own. So many families were destroyed. And he dared to think that I would marry his son" I scoffed. "I am ready to marry a stranger if this means that my Kingdom is protected" I told her. 

"A good-looking stranger, let me tell you" She whistled. I turned my attention to her. 

"You know how he is?" I asked curiously. 

"He is really handsome. But cold" Sarah mumbled. 

"How do you know?" I asked. 

"I have family in the Kingdom of Phoenix and I used to live there for a while" She told me. She sat down on my bed. I bet she was tired of folding some of my clothes. I stared at the piece of clothes that was in my hands. I was tired too. "My cousin, Sasha works in the castle there" Sarah told me. 

"Tell me everything you know" I asked her. 

"He's a ladies' man" Sarah grimaced. 

"What do you mean?" I asked with a frown. 

"These are gossips, Amara" She whispered reassuringly. 

"I want to know the gossips, Sarah" I whispered back, very curious to know about the man that I was going to marry. 

"King Orion is very cold and very intimidating. From what Sasha told me before, he usually sleeps around with the ladies that comes for training" she told me. I frowned and grimaced in confusion. 

"Training?" I questioned. 

"Yes. In the Kingdom of Phoenix. They work differently from here. They have a meritocracy base" She explained. What? Mrs Brown never told me all these. 

"Meritocracy base? Not bloodline?" I asked her. She nodded. "You mean that if someone challenge The King for the crown, he doesn't have to be of Royal blood?" She nodded again. I scoffed in disbelief. Somehow that would explain why their kingdom was so powerful. 

"You do realize what it means, right?" Sarah asked hesitantly. 

"If someone else wants to be Queen, they will challenge my position as future Queen Of Phoenix" I replied nonchalantly. "And by what I've just heard, there will be a lot of challengers" i joked. 

"I don't think anyone would dare to challenge you" Sarah responded with confidence. I shrugged before resuming packing my clothes. Other maids were in the room, packing my accessories. They were not the kind to talk much, hence explaining my lack of friends. They were mostly in their forties. Sarah was the only one who was pretty much the same age as me. 

After an hour, King Leo was ready to leave. I kissed my father goodbye. I was only hoping that nothing would happen to the Kingdom of Lyra during my absence. King Tyrus would plan his attack well and that would take some time. I was not even sure that he actually attack but I didn't want to take any risk at the moment. Sarah and I were riding with Callum in a car and King Leo got into another one. 

As we started driving away, my eyes stayed glued on the castle. My father worked hard to make it all better again. it was difficult for me to accept the fact that I might have made a mistake by provoking King Tyrus. Even though, it was hard to admit that the only way I could possibly protect my kingdom was through this marriage. 

As we drove on the road, a smile started making its way on my face as I admire the beauty that Lyra was. Trees adorned the trees. The sun was always shining over the Kingdom. Kids were playing in the parks where so many fountains were places as memorial to all those who lost their lives during the attack. The people of Lyra were happy. 

I intend to keep it that way. 

All I was secretly hoping was that King Orion was a good man. I have always dreamt of marrying a man that I love. However, unlike the Kingdom of Phoenix, in the Kingdom of Lyra, as a Queen by blood, I was supposed to marry a King: someone from a royal bloodline. I assume that King Leo has been doing a good job so far as he has been able to keep his crown for so many decades. Their bloodline was pure royal. Maybe no one had the courage to challenge the Royals of the Kingdom of Phoenix. I was wondering whether there was going to be any woman who would dare to challenge me. I was not scared of a challenge and I was certainly not one to back out of a fight. 

I have never travelled to any other kingdom during my entire existence. The drive to the Kingdom of Phoenix was nearly five long hours. Callum and Sarah have been talking to each other while I slept. When the car stopped, I opened my eyes slowly. I was not surprised to be met by the dark. It was already night time. I yawned then stretched my body before facing Sarah with a smile on my face. 

"Ready?" I asked. 

"I am. Are you?" She asked with wiggling eyebrows, to which I responded by rolling my eyes. I could see Callum staring at our exchange through the rear-view mirror. He must probably be confused by the way I was interacting with Sarah. Queens usually stay formal. 

But f**k that. 

I was no common Queen. 

The world has evolved. The mindset of the people should as well. 

The door opened, breaking my trail of thoughts. It was one of the valet of the castle. It was just then that I took in my surrounding. My eyes widened in shock. The castle of Phoenix was immense. It was nearly twice the size of the Castle of Lyra. It was all white. The walls was entirely white and the plants surrounding it, were flourishing. A sound of surprise escaped my lips. The smile that stretched over my face could tell the happiness that I was feeling at that moment. The warm lights were hung over the walls, making the castle look so magical. 

"I assume that you like it?" King Leo asked as soon as I got off the car. 

"This is heaven, King Leo" I breathed out, taking in the calm atmosphere that was reigning. 

"This is how my late wife has always liked the castle and its environment. My son ensured that it remained that way after her death" King Leo told me, his eyes looking at the castle with pride. 

"He did a good job" I said in amazement. "I am eager to see it in daylight, King Leo" I admitted. 

"It's beautiful" he assured. "Where is King Orion, Stephan?" King Leo asked a man who has been standing next to us for a while now. I guessed that he was the chamberlain by the way he was dressed. 

"King Orion is training for the moment, King Leo" Stephan announced with bowed head. I winced internally. That was too formal for my liking. 

"Can you request his presence in the dining room, Stephan?" King Leo asked politely. 

"He asked not to be interrupted, King Leo. He said that he will meet the Queen Amara when he will feel like" Stephan said, his voice shaking a little bit. I squinted my eyes in disbelief. First impression of King Orion, not so good. 

"Please do tell your King Orion that Queen Amara does not like being disrespected and the least he could do is to acknowledge my presence in his castle" I said firmly. I didn't want to ruin my first impression of this kingdom based on King Orion's disrespect. Maybe he was just having a bad day. 

Still not a good excuse. 

Maybe my expectations of respect were too high as a Queen. 

Stephan looked conflicted at what I just said. He stood in place and for the first time, he rose his head to look at the King Leo. I turned my face slightly to see Sarah and Callum standing behind us while all the valets were running around with our suitcases. Two cars were filled with just my things. Two weeks were going to be long so I decided to come well-equipped. 

"You heard what Queen Amara said. Deliver the message, please Stephan" King Leo ordered with a tint of annoyance in his voice. I didn't want him to feel bad because of his son's behavior. King Leo has been nothing but good to me since I met him. I could see that he was trying his best to make me feel comfortable. 

"Julian, please escort the Queen and Miss Sarah to their rooms" King Leo ordered and out of the air, a man appeared. He had one of the brightest smile that I have ever seen and I couldn't help but smiled. He bowed his head slightly. He had one of his hand behind his back and the other one moved smoothly to direct us the main door. 

"Welcome to Phoenix" He greeted. Sarah and I followed him to the main door. The huge door opened. 

"Wow" Sarah whispered in wonder at the sight of the castle. Everything seemed modern. Plants were everything inside. The atmosphere in the castle was suddenly lively. People were walking around. 

"Excuse the crowd" Julian apologised. "We are preparing for tomorrow's ball" he explained. I nodded. Sarah was too busy contemplating everything that was surrounding us. After a good five minutes of walk, we reached a hall. It was a long hall, with many windows on the opposite wall. The curtains were translucent and they were moving around due to the breeze. It made me want to run and dance through them. I chuckled at my inner thought. I might do it in the coming days. There were several immense wooden carved doors down this hall. "King Leo thought that it would be very suited for you to have your rooms next to each other" Julian announced formally as we stopped in front of one of the doors. He opened it and motioned us to walk in. "This is your room, Queen Amara" he said. 

The room was grandiose. It was nearly the same size of mine. It has a balcony attached to it. The walls was light brown and there was a few plants here and there. The bed was immense. The beige satin sheet that was one top of it matched the room. There were a few shades of brown that were matching perfectly. My suitcases were all packed up on the side of the room. 

"The maids will come unpack your suitcases when you will be having dinner, Queen Amara" Julian explained. "Shall we move on to Miss Sarah's room?" He asked. I nodded with a smile while Sarah stared at me questioningly. 

"I'm having a room for myself?" She asked in surprise. 

"Yes, why?" I answered. 

"I thought I would be sleeping in the servant's quarters" She said as we moved on to the next room. 

"This is your room, Miss Sarah. I will let you settle and I will be back when dinner will be ready" Julian said cheerfully as he bowed one last time before walking away. There was one thing that was troubling me. 

"Have you been sleeping in the servant's quarters back in Lyra?" I asked Sarah. She was busy staring in surprise at the room she has just gotten. It was similar than mine except many smaller in size. 

"yes" she responded calmly while opening the door to the balcony. 

"How come I didn't know about that?" I asked in disbelief. 

"You never asked" She said with a grin. 

"Sarah" I summoned. "You don't have a home back in Lyra?" I asked and she quickly shook her head. 

"I told you that my family is here" She told me. 

"You said that you have family here not that your family is here, Sarah. That's two different things" I muttered. 

"The castle back in Lyra has become my home" Sarah said with a small smile. "As soon as I was able to walk away from my family here, I did" she explained softly. I felt like there was something that was hurting her. "The only place that I thought, is Lyra. I heard so many good things about that kingdom that it made me want to go there. And that's what I did. The next thing I knew, I was working for you" she continued. 

"And look at us now" I tried to joke to ease the tension that was rising. "You're not staying in the servant's quarters anymore. You are my lady-in-charge. Never forget that" I told her. "Now get ready. We will be having dinner soon" I said as I made my way to the door. 

"Amara" she called. "how are you feeling?" She asked curiously. 

"Good. This castle is giving me good energy" I admitted. "Except the King Orion is giving first bad impression" I muttered. Then I quickly shrugged before smiling. "I don't want to judge him so quickly. We will see, I guess" I continued. 

"Do you think that he will be present for dinner?" Sarah asked. 

"I have no idea. I guess we will just have to wait and see" I breathed out. I walked to my room, then sat on my bed. I was not yet realizing what I have put myself into. King Orion had a reputation that I was not fond of. Was I ready to make him my husband and spend the rest of life with him just for the sake of Lyra. 

A sigh escaped my lips because the answer was already present in my head. 

King Orion is a mystery. I have no idea what he looks like and I have been getting bad feedbacks about him. I was wondering if he was really that bad. I could feel an eagerness building inside of me. A mix of emotions was present. I was excited to finally meet him. However, with his reputation preceding him, I was feeling nervous and anxious. I was scared that the gossips that were going around about him was true. I didn't need a manwhore in my life. I wanted the man that I was going to marry to be perfect. 

Nothing is perfect. 

But My King was supposed to be. 

King Orion had to be perfect. 

Was I wrong to be keeping my expectations that high after hearing so much about King Orion?